#Andrew Schechinger

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this Think Progress story:

Private wells used for drinking water in Iowa face widespread contamination due to agricultural practices, according to a new report out Wednesday, highlighting the latest in a series of major drinking water issues unfolding across the country.

Authored by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the Iowa Environmental Council, the report finds that agriculture, a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and the leading industry in Iowa, is also endangering water sources for nearly 300,000 Iowans who rely on private wells. Rural areas in particular are bearing the brunt of the contamination, impacting communities that could play a key role in the 2020 election. Moreover, polling shows that clean water has emerged as a top environmental concern for Americans across the country, including in the Midwest.

But while Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler has argued water issues are the world’s leading environmental crisis — outranking climate change — clean water advocates say the agency has done little to address the problem. This month, the EPA halted a study probing the health impacts of the ion nitrate, which is often produced as fertilizer and is one of the substances contaminating private wells in Iowa.

“EPA only regulates drinking water provided by public water systems,” said Anne Weir Schechinger, a senior economics analyst with EWG and the study’s primary author. She told ThinkProgress that both public and private water contamination is “a national issue” but that private wells in particular have emerged as a major health problem, one without any real governmental oversight, from either state or the federal agencies.

[andrewschechinger-blog]

[andrewschechinger-blog]