The report issued last week by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources showed a 2-percent increase in the numbers of impaired waters in the state from 2016 to 2018. That list now totals over 600 river, lakes and wetland segments. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement’s State Policy Director Adam Mason says the state has failed to address its water quality problems, which he terms at a crisis level.

He says based on the DNR’s report, state’s legislators need to take action to solve this problem.

Mason says ICCI will push for stronger state legislation when lawmakers convene in January to protect Iowa’s water.

The DNR notes that the most common river impairment in Iowa includes the presence of bacteria and fish kills that come as a result of animal waste.