1. Hannah Light
Business Law 265
Russell Michaletz
May 26, 2015.
Pollution by Agriculture: Soil Nitrates in Iowa Water Lead to Lawsuit by State Utility
As the spring and summer months approach, Iowa farmers fire up their machines
and prepare to start planting crops for (quite obviously) their busiest season of the year.
However, the excitement of finally getting back to business cultivating the land again is
diminished by a lawsuit filed in federal court by Des Moines Water Works, Iowa’s largest
water utility. The suit seeks to sue the three rural counties of Buena Vista, Sac and
Calhoun for too little effort in preventing nitrates from flowing out of farm fields and into
the Raccoon River and eventually into the drinking water supply of around 500,000 Iowa
residents. Nitrates are potentially dangerous, causing serious health problems such as
leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (Hytrek) 2015). Another goal of the suit is to
make the farmers comply with federal clean water standards already in place for nitrates
applying to factories as well as commercial users (Smith 2015). The suit begs the
question of whether the government should regulate the water draining off the farmers’
land or if the utility and rural Iowans can come together to solve these issues in a state
with a large portion of its economy driven by agriculture.
From the perspective of the utility, the worry is caused by the federal regulations
placed upon them by the government. Des Moines Water Works has an obligation to
the government to keep the water clean. The Clean Water Act (CWA), established in
1972 as amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, created the

2. goals of making waters safe for swimming, protecting fish and wildlife, and eliminating
the discharge of pollutants into the water (Clarkson 882). In accordance with the act, the
CWA established a permit system named the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) to regulate discharges from pollution “point sources,” which include
industrial, municipal (plants), and agricultural facilities. These facilities must have a
permit in order to emit pollutants into the water. However, pollution from farms is not
subject to much regulation and do not require a permit (Clarkson 882). In the case of
Des Moines Water Works, they are upset because they have a duty to the city under the
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which requires the EPA to set maximum levels for
pollutants in public water systems. The water utility operators must come as close as
possible to meeting the EPA’s standards by using the best available technology that is
economically and technologically feasible. The federal standard for nitrate levels today
is 10 mg/L (Eller 2015). According to the Chief Executive of Des Moines Water Works,
for the past 3 years the nitrate levels in the water have been so high that they have
barely been able to remove nitrates quickly enough to keep up with demand and had
gotten dangerously close to violating federal regulations (Smith 2015).
In addition, the cost of operating the tanks that remove nitrates is expensive. The
utility has spent over $1 million to remove nitrates (Eller 2015). If the nitrate levels
remain this high, it will increase the need to purchase a new water treatment system
costing $75 to $175 million (Hytrek 2015).
What does this mean for the counties and rural farmers involved? Sean
McMahon, Executive Director of the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance (a farmer-led effort
to improve water quality), says that Des Moines Water Works is taking too

3. confrontational of an approach towards the nitrate issue. He, among other farmers,
believe in a more collaborative approach (McMahon 1). Rick Fonken, a field sales
agronomist at Farmer’s Cooperative in Lytton, says that 99% of farmers in the three
counties are concerned about protecting the environment (Charles 2015). Most farmers
have already started conservation practices by their own accord such as cover crops,
limited-tilling, edges of switch grass and wetland filling. Thus, most farmers and
agricultural groups are more for a voluntary system of changing farming practices to
better suit the needs of the environment than the imposition of more regulatory actions.
With that, the argument on the side of the rural counties is that these actions have not
been given enough time to demonstrate meaningful results.
Looking at both sides of the Iowa nitrate issue, I can see why Des Moines Water
Works filed the suit. They are simply looking out for their own interests as they do not
want to violate the Clean Water Act and get in trouble with the Environmental Protection
Agency, which could be quite costly for them. However, I do think they are going about
it the wrong way in filing a suit against the counties. If most of the farmers in the
counties are said to care about the environment and the way their land contributes to
that, the suit seems a little hostile rather than neighborly.
I do not think that this case will win in court from the regulatory standpoint.
Pollution from farm runoff has never been regulated and I do not think it will ever be due
to the nature of agricultural practices. Agriculture being such an important part of Iowa’s
(and many other U.S. states’) economy, limiting the way they can grow their crops is
detrimental. Crops need at least a little bit of nitrate or they will not grow up to
expectations.

4. There is also the money issue. It is costly for individual farmers to employ their
own conservation practices themselves. I think that the end result of this case will bring
about a collaborative effort between the local government and the farmers. Whether it
be through a tax or something similar to a Superfund, I imagine that there will need to
be some inflow of cash available to farmers in order to continue their conservation
practices.
Ultimately, the utility and the farmers need to be working together on this issue
rather than strictly blaming it on the farmers in a fit of worry over the EPA shutting them
down. The utility needs to be a little more faithful in the farmer’s current environmental
efforts and should wait until they gain a little more stride until they start thinking of
regulatory actions. Farmers need time to prove their efforts are making progress, along
with the resources to do so down the line.

5. Works Cited
Charles, Dan. "Here's How To End Iowa's Great Nitrate Fight." NPR. NPR, 2 Feb. 2015.
Web. 22 May 2015.
Clarkson, Kenneth W., Roger Miller, and Frank Cross. Business Law: Text and Cases.
13th ed. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2015. 882-87. Print. 22 May 2015.
Eller, Donnelle. "The Real Story on Nitrate Levels in Iowa's Rivers." Des Moines
Register. N.p., 13 Apr. 2015. Web. 22 May 2015.
Hytrek, Nick. "Iowa Farmers Ponder Effects of Des Moines Water Works Lawsuit."
AgWeb. Souix City Journal, 9 May 2015. Web. 22 May 2015.
McMahon, Sean. “Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance Responds to Des Moines Water
Works Lawsuit.” Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance. Jan 9 2015. Web. 22 May
2015.
Smith, Mitch. "Conflict Over Soil and Water Quality Puts 'Iowa Nice' to a Test." The New
York Times. The New York Times, 18 Apr. 2015. Web. 21 May 2015.