(Iowa News Service) – Rural Iowans are asking lawmakers to be more aggressive in fighting for cleaner water in the state’s notoriously dirty rivers, lakes, and streams. Advocates from across the country gathered in Des Moines this month to exchange ideas on how to address the issue.

People from as far away as Maine and Arizona gathered at the Rural Policy Action Summit in Des Moines to address health care costs, a labor shortage in rural America, declining funding for public schools – and manure runoff from large ag operations polluting the state’s waterways.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement’s Executive Director Lisa Whelan said ag pollution keeps many lakes closed for recreation in the summer. “We need clean water,” said Whelan. “We are facing a real water crisis here – not only about quality, but also about quantity.”

Lake Okoboji is a popular Tourist Area known as the Great Lakes of Iowa

Corporate ag operators contend they consistently look for ways to be more environmentally conscious, but are often cited for ground and surface water pollution. Beyond clean and healthy water, Rural Democracy Initiative Communications Director Michael Chameides said there was also consensus at the summit on addressing concerns about worker safety, especially in Iowa’s rural towns.

“And so, we saw this concern for agricultural communities where there can be really harsh conditions for farm workers or for workers who are working in meat processing plants,” said Chameides, “but also other small factories, for people sort of needing a safe work environment.”

Chameides said people at the summit also expressed frustration about corporate consolidation and the undue influence of special interest groups in Washington, D.C. having an outsize influence on policies that affect rural Americans.