07/17/2026
Iowa has the 2nd-highest cancer rate in America, and it's one of only two states where it's still rising.
Almost everywhere else, rates are finally falling. Not here. A lot of it traces back to four things in our environment, and they all end up in the same place: our water.
• Pesticides. Iowa sprays the 4th-most by weight of any state. The report's own words: the impact "may be similar to that of smoking."
• Nitrate. The Des Moines and Raccoon rivers rank in the top 1% of U.S. rivers for nitrate, 80% of it linked to farm runoff.
• PFAS, the "forever chemicals," found in 94% of Iowa's surface water.
• Radon. The EPA doesn't even regulate it in drinking water.
Here's the number that stuck with me: the legal limit for nitrate is 10 mg/L. But a study found people drinking well water above just 2.5, a quarter of the limit, had a 200% higher risk of colorectal cancer over 10 years. And only 4% of Iowa's water systems can even remove nitrate. So a test that "passes" still isn't the same thing as safe.
Behind those numbers are 170,000 Iowans living with a diagnosis right now. Everything on that list has one thing in common: it's in our drinking water. The risk you never agreed to, and the one you can actually filter out.
Source: Environmental Risk Factors and Iowa's Cancer Crisis, from the Iowa Environmental Council and The Harkin Institute, 2026. These are associations researchers are studying, not proof any single factor causes cancer.
Want to know what's actually in your water? We'll test it free anywhere in the Des Moines metro, no pitch. Link in bio.