A year ago, the Des Moines Water Works, the state of Iowa’s largest water utility, filed suit against three rural counties, charging that for years they had been polluting the city’s drinking water with impunity. In Iowa, where courtesy and cooperation rule, this was tantamount to a declaration of war.

 

The pollution in question is nitrates, a naturally occurring byproduct of nitrogen in soil but also of the fertilizer that farmers lavish on their crops. Excessive nitrates can choke a river with algae. In extreme cases they can kill infants under six months by robbing them of oxygen, a disorder called “blue baby syndrome.”

 

Nitrates have become so prevalent in the rivers of Iowa that the Des Moines Water Works installed in the 90s a special facility to extract the pollutant from its drinking water to stay within federal guidelines. In 2013, it spent $900,000 just on nitrate removal and it will soon sock its 500,000 customers with a 10-percent rate hike

 

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