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Transcript: Water quality monitoring contract 

Iowa has recently taken greater steps to improve water quality.  

This is the Iowa Environmental Focus. 

The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission has approved the contract with Iowa State University for $522,000 to test and monitor 138 Iowa lakes. The lakes will be tested three times a year to measure water quality. 

The information gathered will be used to determine water impairment, lake restoration actions, and to assess the state’s overall nutrient reduction strategy. 

The state nutrient reduction plan aims to reduce the amount of nutrients running into Iowa’s waterways that cause the expansion of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.  

Concerned citizens have been pushing the state to adopt stricter standards on water quality monitoring, as the state saw dangerous levels of algal blooms, and record nitrate levels this past year which can be hazardous to health. 

To learn more about water quality in Iowa, visit iowaenvironmentalfocus.org. 

From the UI Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, I’m Jerry Schnoor.

Iowa Environmental Focus