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A long-awaited scientific report commissioned by Polk County says farm pollution threatens the ability to drink clean water and to safely interact with central Iowa streams, Iowa Capital Dispatch has learned.Related video above: Answers to frequently asked questions about Iowa water quality, nitrates, testing and moreThe county announced its Central Iowa Source Water Research Assessment in 2023 and heralded it as a first-of-its-kind, unbiased and comprehensive examination of the watersheds that feed the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers, which converge near downtown Des Moines.The topic is acutely important: Central Iowa Water Works recently banned lawn watering — for the first time ever — to prevent nitrate concentrations in its treated drinking water from exceeding a federal health limit.Further, there are plans to spend more than $120 million to make the area a major destination for water recreation. That includes installing a machine near the confluence of the rivers to generate waves suitable for surfing.But sampling shows the rivers routinely have fecal bacteria concentrations that exceed safe limits for swimming.The assessment’s final report — dubbed “Currents of Change” — was expected to be released earlier this year, but the county has thus far declined to make it public. The county has denied requests to release it under the state’s open records law on the basis that the report is still in draft form.A county spokesperson has declined to comment about the situation.Groups that are potentially affected by researchers’ findings have reviewed some or all of the report.“This is not new information that we have a water quality issue in Iowa,” said Stephanie Oppel, executive director of Iowa Confluence Water Trails, which seeks to enhance water recreation in central Iowa with public funding.Oppel said her organization — commonly known as ICON — does not dispute the underlying data that was collected for the project but disagrees with conclusions that central Iowa streams might be unhealthy for recreational activities. She said she didn’t know why the county has delayed the release of the report.“All recreation is not without risk,” Oppel said. “There is some sort of risk.”A spokesperson for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, a powerful group that advocates for agriculture, did not respond to requests to comment for this article.The report is more than 200 pages and is the result of about 4,000 hours of analysis and assessment by a team of researchers who were commissioned by the county, according to a copy of the report obtained by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.Two people who examined that copy and have viewed the original report confirmed the copy is authentic.The analysis is based on data and research that spans decades. It is the product of work by 16 researchers at a variety of institutions, including the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Drake University, the U.S. Geological Survey and a federal lab in Illinois, the Argonne National Laboratory.The report contains a detailed look at the characteristics of the region, the river contaminants and their sources, and their effects on water quality. The researchers also made about two dozen recommendations to help remedy the problems and for future research.The analysis covered a wide variety of contaminants but focused on several tied to agriculture, including nitrate, phosphorus, fecal bacteria and toxins produced by microbes.Nitrate problem is uniquely IowanFederal data show that the highest stream nitrate concentrations are “predominantly found in Iowa,” the report said.And an analysis of intensively farmed areas in four other states showed that the high concentrations are an anomaly: “Successful agriculture can coexist with substantially lower river nitrate levels,” the report said.Nitrate is limited by federal regulators for drinking water to prevent blue baby syndrome, a condition in which infants are deprived of oxygen. But research has tied elevated nitrate consumption to colorectal cancer, thyroid disease and other ailments in adults.Central Iowa Water Works, the largest drinking water utility in the state that serves more than a half million people, implemented this month a first-ever lawn watering ban for the Des Moines metro. That has helped prevent the utility’s water from exceeding the federal nitrate limit.The utility employs a robust nitrate-removal facility, but nitrate concentrations in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers — its primary water sources — have spiked in recent weeks along with summer water demand. The utility also blends the river water with other sources to reduce nitrate but was struggling to keep pace with demand.River nitrate in Iowa has ballooned in the past two years, according to Iowa Water Quality Information System data. That follows a nearly four-year drought that ended last year and likely allowed nitrate concentrations to build in cropland soil.The report Polk County commissioned concludes that nearly 80% of nitrate in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers is directly tied to agriculture.Specifically, the nitrate sources are synthetic fertilizers, livestock manure and soybeans, which have a symbiotic relationship with microbes that produce nitrate.The report said an additional, unspecified amount of nitrate contaminates the landscape when ammonia from manure goes into the atmosphere and disperses.Nitrate is an important fertilizer for corn, but it can quickly leach into streams via surface runoff and through the vast expanses of underground tubing that drain saturated crop fields.More than three-quarters of cropland in the upper Des Moines River watershed has the drainage tiling, the researchers found.The state’s 12-year-old Nutrient Reduction Strategy has encouraged farmers to voluntarily reduce their stream pollution with a variety of conservation practices, often with the help of state funding. But the researchers said such efforts need to be “outcome based,” meaning those practices should be monitored to determine their effectiveness at reducing the pollution.An example is sampling water going into and out of wetlands that are designed to reduce pollution to measure nitrate reductions.Further, the researchers said state regulators need to improve their oversight of livestock manure disposal. They said the records related to the disposals and soil testing are not digitized and make it difficult to discern whether certain areas are getting too much manure.It’s common for hog confinement operators in Iowa to store manure for months and then spread the animal waste on fields. The fecal material contains nitrogen and phosphorus that crops need to thrive, although not in ideal ratios, so farmers might also use commercial fertilizers.Iowa is the nation’s top pork-producing state, with about 24 million pigs at any given time. That stresses the environment, the researchers determined.“In parts of the watersheds, manure produced exceeds the capacity of surrounding lands to absorb it as fertilizer,” the report says. “This surplus manure becomes waste, contributing to the contamination of surface and groundwater.”A threat to paddlers?Excessive bacteria concentrations are the most pervasive stream impairment in the state, according to a biannual analysis that is required by the federal government.Water is sampled for E. coli bacteria to gauge its overall risk for pathogens that can sicken people. That includes a range of ailments from skin rashes to digestive diseases.The state routinely monitors its park beaches for bacteria and their toxins and posts swim advisories when beach water is unsafe during summer months. There is no similar program that monitors streams.And the rivers have more bacteria, according to the researchers’ analysis of sampling data.For example, data from warm months of the year revealed that the Raccoon River near Fleur Drive in Des Moines exceeded safe swimming concentrations in a little more than half of the samples. The concentrations exceeded safe limits for recreational activities that require less contact with river water about 15% of the time.Fecal bacteria can come from livestock and wildlife, and numerous human wastewater treatment facilities discharge into streams.“Microorganisms, such as viruses and bacteria, that cause diseases in humans have been found in central Iowa’s waterbodies and pose risks to aquatic recreators,” the researchers concluded. “Targeted efforts to remove human and animal pathogen sources and improve monitoring are needed to reduce risks of illness.”What’s next?Polk County has said it will release the report next week. A spokesperson for the county declined to comment further about its release and how much the county spent to commission the report.The researchers condensed their work into a summary that included a list of their primary concerns:Livestock manure and its regulation to prevention stream contamination.Nitrate and phosphorus pollution from agriculture.Pathogens from human and animal waste.Algal blooms that emit toxins and are fed by fertilizers and manure.Urban and rural land alterations close to streams that introduce contaminants and promote flooding and erosion.They also developed about two dozen recommendations to improve water quality. Key among them are:The state should provide more money to improve wastewater treatment facilities that discharge to streams.The state should create a public database that shows where and how much manure is applied to land, and it should also take steps to reduce the impacts of manure on water quality. That includes reducing the overapplication of manure and regulating the timing of its application to reduce stream contamination.Prepare for further restrictions on drinking water contamination, including a potential reduction in the allowable amount of nitrate concentrations. Research has indicated that current regulations might not be sufficient.Implement “outcome-based” water quality conservation practices and improve row crop production sustainability.Improve data collection to further evaluate contaminants.Improve the understanding of health risks and communicate them to the public.“The suggested initiatives not only address immediate concerns such as nutrient pollution, microbial contamination, and chemical spills, but also pave the way for long-term sustainability and resilience of the regions’ water resources,” the researchers concluded.Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.Recent coverage of central Iowa water issuesCentral Iowa officials ban lawn watering to avoid potential 'water crisis'What are nitrates in drinking water and why Iowa officials are watching closelyLIST: Which Iowans are included in the ban on lawn watering?Des Moines shuts down spraygrounds as central Iowa cities work to conserve waterClive residents respond to lawn watering ban amid high nitrate levelsCentral Iowa landscaping businesses adapt to lawn watering banLawn watering ban still in place for more than 600,000 central Iowans; water usage drops by 30%Des Moines Water Works CEO links nitrate issue to farm fertilizers Communities can reopen splash pads and spraygrounds, Central Iowa Water Works says Get the Facts: How much water do West Des Moines data centers actually use?Splash pads turn back on one week later after new guidance from CIWWCentral Iowa water officials squash rumors that drinking water is unsafeCentral Iowa water quality experts say at-home nitrate test kits are unreliableMore Iowans considering at-home water treatment systems amid water quality concerns����vlog Investigates: Water demand shot up day before lawn watering ban began, data shows This week's rain doesn't help high nitrate levels and the watering ban. Here's why.Answers to frequently asked questions about Iowa water quality, nitrates, testing and moreInside Central Iowa Water Works' testing laboratoryStudy of births in Iowa finds potential prenatal risk linked to nitrates in drinking waterSource water nitrate levels still elevated, but are improving, Central Iowa Water Works saysPolk County supervisor speaks on new water quality report and its findings