Cancer and water contamination fuel public outcry in Iowa

Cancer and water contamination fuel public outcry in Iowa

Hundreds of Iowans gathered at Drake University in early August to confront a growing water quality crisis linked to the state’s powerful agricultural industry. Community leaders, scientists and farmers warned of dangerously high levels of nitrates, pesticides and livestock waste contaminating the state’s drinking water — pollution they fear is driving staggeringly high, and rising, cancer rates. Critics accuse state leaders of prioritizing farm…