Des Moines Water Works’ lawsuit addresses issues in rural Iowa, too. The controversial lawsuit that pits the Des Moines Water Works against drainage districts in three Iowa counties is an unfortunate necessity.

Litigation is never an ideal way to resolve a dispute, but this particular lawsuit could actually force the state to address a growing problem many Iowa leaders refuse to even acknowledge: agriculture’s contribution to high nitrate levels in our drinking water.

That said, the lawsuit has also had the undesirable effect of appearing to pit urban Iowa against rural Iowa – a divisive and destructive characterization that Gov. Terry Branstad has actually helped foster.

“Des Moines has declared war on rural Iowa,” Branstad said after the Des Moines Water Works’ governing board first decided to sue Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun counties due to their drainage districts that feed into the North Raccoon River. “Instead of filing a lawsuit, Des Moines should sit down with the farmers and people who want to do something about it.”

As the governor knows, wanting to do something is not the same thing as doing something. Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy includes several methods to reduce nitrate pollution, but it is voluntary, and there are no deadlines for the state to reach its alleged goal of a 45 percent reduction in nitrogen and phosphorous levels. It’s not so much a “strategy” for action as it is a case study in wishful thinking.

And as Donnelle Eller’s Des Moines Sunday Register story on July 5 explained, water quality is not an urban problem. It is an Iowa problem.

More than 60 Iowa cities and towns have struggled with high nitrate levels in their drinking water over the past five years. In fact, nitrate pollution affects not only Iowa’s largest cities, such as Des Moines, but many of its smallest, including Woodbine, Griswold, Elliott and Manchester.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the water supplies of about 260 Iowa cities and towns are highly susceptible to contamination from nitrates and pollutants. That’s about 30 percent of the state’s 880 municipal water systems. Unlike Des Moines, many of these cities and towns don’t even have the ability to filter out excess nitrates, which means this isn’t just a budgetary problem. It’s also a major public health problem.

Consider the fact that the federal government requires that nitrates not exceed 10 milligrams per liter of water, which is a level that can prove deadly to infants 6 months and younger.