Groups sue Iowa over farm runoff in Raccoon River

摘要

An Iowa-based community activist organization and a Washington-based environmental group filed a lawsuit yesterday against the state of Iowa and several state agencies alleging they have deprived residents of their right to clean water by failing to adequately regulate pollution from hog operations and crop farms. Iowa Citizens For Community Improvement and Food & Water Watch filed the lawsuit in Polk County District Court in Des Moines. It claims the state has violated the rights of residents who have a constitutionally protected property interest in clean water in the Raccoon River for recreational and drinking water uses. The river is a primary source of drinking water for about 500,000 central Iowa customers of Des Moines Water Works. Emma Schmitt, an organizer for Food & Water Watch who lives in a northwest Iowa county with 180 hog confinement operations, called the lawsuit a "momentous step in taking back our water for the people of Iowa." The lawsuit asks for the court to order mandatory limits on nitrogen and phosphorus pollution entering the Raccoon River watershed, for a moratorium on new and expanding hog confinement facilities in the river's watershed, and a declaration that the state is violating its duty owed to the people of Iowa, said Brent Newell, an attorney for California-based Public Justice, which is providing legal assistance.