Analysis shows staggering pattern among factory farms — and a state agency may be to blame

Factory farming isn't just cruel, but it's also known to be a source of serious pollution. That includes the methane livestock produce, which is a big contributor to our warming planet. It also includes the waste animals produce that can infiltrate groundwater. And in Iowa, this is becoming a real problem.

What's happening?

According to a public health advocacy group called Food & Water Watch, illegal discharges of manure by livestock operations in Iowa have been routinely polluting waterways.

The group reported that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources logged almost 200 incidents of farms illegally discharging water fouled with manure into the state's groundwater supply between 2013 and 2023 — one million gallons of polluted water, in fact.

And, according to Food & Water Watch, many large farms in Iowa lack proper pollution monitoring, so there's probably more pollution than what's being recorded.

Why is livestock pollution a problem?

Livestock waste pollution is combined with toxic runoff from farms that use pesticides and fertilizers to grow crops, which is poisoning more than 700 waterways in Iowa.

"No area of the state is safe," said Food & Water Watch.

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These polluted waterways contain toxic chemicals that are known carcinogens, which can cause birth defects. And many of the drinking water supplies in Iowa are affected by the contamination.

According to US News, one county in northwest Iowa, Palo Alto County, has the highest reported rate of new cancers of any county in the nation. That makes sense because northwest Iowa is absolutely loaded with livestock operations — it's one of the densest such concentrations in the country, according to Food & Water Watch.

As a whole, the state of Iowa has the second-highest incidence of cancer and is seeing the fastest growth in cancer diagnoses in the U.S.

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What's being done to help Iowans?

Unfortunately, not nearly enough. State regulators are letting the farms get away with minimal penalization, relatively speaking. Only $750,000 in fines have been paid by the farms that have been caught dumping polluted wastewater. This isn't exactly a big motivator for these farms to change.

The one potential bright spot: Food & Water Watch, along with other environmental watchdogs, are trying to get the Environmental Protection Agency to step in to help Iowans retake their water supply. Hopefully, petitioning the federal government will be the first step to cleaning up this environmental disaster.