Water

A plan to make whitewater trails on the rivers in downtown Des Moines is about more than tourism. Supporters of the project say they also have water quality in mind.

A nonprofit organization that provides water to a portion of northwest Iowa received a boost that officials say will keep things flowing for the future.

Native American communities often lack the resources to upgrade drinking and wastewater infrastructure. The Santee Sioux Nation in Nebraska is an extreme example — living without safe drinking water for four years.

The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy launched a decade ago, intended to reduce nutrients flowing into rivers and lakes. A bulk of those cuts fall on farmers.

Few people in Iowa knew about its status as a birthplace of OpenAI’s most advanced large language model, GPT-4, before a top Microsoft executive said in a speech it “was literally made next to cornfields west of Des Moines.”

Guests discuss stories and headlines from the week, including a college health assessment that showed a rise in vaping, the impacts of Iowa's severe drought and more.

Eleven lakes are under an advisory from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources ahead of the long weekend. The department has identified a spike in E. coli bacteria.

A new investigation by The New York Times draws rising concerns over groundwater levels. How could that impact Iowa?

Dry weather, high temperatures and a lack of rainfall across parts of the Midwest and Great Plains have caused a spike in water demand from city residents. In response, some cities are implementing conservation measures to keep their water supplies from drying up.

The EPA is proposing to clean up groundwater contamination at a superfund site in Des Moines.