Posts Tagged ‘Water’
Watching Our Water | Cities Cope with Polluted Ag Runoff, Create Their Own Pollution, Too
Standing on a platform above the eastern bank of the Missouri River at the Kansas City, Missouri, Water Services’ intake plant is like being on the deck of a large ship. Electric turbines create a vibration along the blue railing, where David Greene, laboratory manager for Kansas City Water Services, looks out across the river.…
Read MoreWatching Our Water | Farmers Dabble in Voluntary Measures to Stop Harmful Runoff
On a gray day, just as the rain begins to fall, Roger Zylstra stops his red GMC Sierra pick-up truck on the side of the road and hops down into a ditch in Jasper County, Iowa. It takes two such stops before he unearths amid the tall weeds and grasses what he’s looking for. “Here…
Read MoreWatching Our Water | Farmers Feel Pressure to Fight Agriculture Water Pollution
Living in the Platte River Valley in central Nebraska means understanding that the water in your well may contain high levels of nitrates and may not be safe to drink. “When our first son was born in 1980, we actually put a distiller in for our drinking water here in the house,” says Ken Seim,…
Read MoreWatching Our Water | How Are Nitrates Ending Up In Drinking Water Supplies?
Contaminated drinking water isn’t just a problem for Flint, Michigan. Many towns and cities across the Midwest and Great Plains face pollution seeping into their water supplies. A big part of the problem: farming and ranching. Farmers spread nitrogen- and phosphorous-based fertilizers on their fields to help their crops grow. Excess nutrients, though, can leach…
Read MoreWatching Our Water | A Special Report
Watching Our Water is a five-part series in partnership with Harvest Public Media. Follow the entire series on Flatland through Friday, Sept. 23, and look for the half hour documentary that evening at 8 p.m. on KCPT. How does pristine water running off of snowpack high in the Rocky Mountains end up as a floating chemical…
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