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Water for Life: The Quest for Quantity, Quality, Efficiency, and Equity- Part III, Water for a dry land: The impact of agricultural chemicals on municipal water quality

The Infrastructure Show
The Infrastructure Show - Podcasts
Water for Life: The Quest for Quantity, Quality, Efficiency, and Equity- Part III, Water for a dry land: The impact of agricultural chemicals on municipal water quality
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Water needs for municipalities and agriculture can intersect and sometimes conflict. In this third interview in the series exploring some of the nation’s water challenges, we talk with Bill Stowe, General Manager of the Des Moines, Iowa, Water Works, who describes the problems that drainage of chemicals, principally nitrates, from nearby farms affects the quality of input waters and the treatment technologies and costs of potable water. Driven in part by substantial advances in agricultural productivity, solutions may lie in adjustments in farming technologies and regulatory actions that address the externalities of large-scale agriculture