I sincerely hope that among the stakeholders who visit with the EPA and Branstad on the tour of Iowa factory farms are Bill Stowe, Des Moines Waterworks director, and residents of Des Moines like myself, who have to pay for removal of nitrates from our water.

 

It's supremely ironic that, even though our rivers and reservoirs are full, we are being told in Des Moines that we need to conserve water, because the Waterworks is not able to provide enough treated water from their nitrate removal plant.

 

Does anyone have an estimate of the relative amounts of nitrates removed from Des Moines water that come from factory farms and from anhydrous ammonia applications to farm fields, respectively? Which is the higher percentage? I'm sure anhydrous contributes a large percentage.

 

Tom