June 26, 2018
Nitrogen pollution flowing out of Iowa to the Gulf of Mexico has grown by close to 50 percent over nearly two decades, a new report shows, despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent to stem nutrients entering the state's waterways.
A University of Iowa study shows the state's contribution to the Gulf dead zone spiked 47 percent to 618 million pounds in 2016, based on five-year running annual averages.
"Just based on water quality data, I think we can say we’ve not made much progress over the past 20 years in terms of nitrogen," said Chris Jones, a research engineer at the UI's IIHR–Hydroscience &> Engineering.
Environmentalists say the study raises new questions about the effectiveness of Iowa's approach to improving water quality and its reliance on voluntary ag compliance.
