Hunter
07/13/25
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said regulation is not the answer to address high nitrate levels in the state’s drinking water.
The Gazette reports when the governor was asked about protesters — demanding action on agricultural pollution and linking it to high cancer rates in the state — who were gathered outside a public groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for the Italian American Cultural Center of Iowa, Reynolds told reporters that “regulation is hardly ever the answer” and “is a killer in most instances — it takes out innovation.”
Reynolds’ resistance to calls for regulation to curb agricultural pollution comes as hundreds of thousands of Iowans have been prohibited from watering their lawns to conserve water due to high nitrate levels in drinking water supplies.
Federal law limits nitrate levels in drinking water due to its contributing to “blue baby syndrome,: which causes a bluish tint to the skin due to reduced blood-oxygen levels. Nitrates have also been linked to cancer.
A Polk County study found nitrate levels in central Iowa are among the highest in the nation, and pointed to agricultural runoff from rains as the main source of nitrate pollution.
According to the nonprofit news network States Newsroom, water quality and environmental advocates and researchers say farm conservation practices such as establishing wetlands and landscape buffers can help keep nitrogen out of water supplies. But the growth of the livestock industry, availability of cheap crop fertilizer and lack of regulation over nitrogen application make nitrate levels hard to control,