For over a decade, a network of water quality sensors managed by the University of Iowa has provided publicly available data about waterways across the state. And while Iowa grapples with a growing water quality crisis fueled by agricultural runoff, state government funding cuts have threatened the network’s future.

Despite continued contamination and nitrate spikes in Iowa’s rivers and streams this year, University of Iowa researcher Elliot Anderson insists that the state’s water quality issues can be solved.

This summer Des Moines residents couldn't water their lawns — not because of drought, but due to nitrate pollution. Now, the very system that monitors Iowa's water quality faces a shutdown. Host Ben Kieffer speaks with director of IIHR Hydroscience and Engineering Larry Weber about the implications if we no longer track water quality and the effort to fund the network of 60 sensors across the state.

A plan for $600,000 in necessary funding to maintain a University of Iowa water monitoring system vital for tracking nitrate, dissolved oxygen, and pH rates in streams across the state is set to be discussed in a meeting Friday between Johnson County and Polk County officials.

Sixteen scientists compiled 50 years of data on the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, two of the largest sources of drinking water for Des Moines and Polk County. The study found that pollutants have increased by nearly 100 percent in the last 50 years, and researchers say not enough is being done to address the issue.