Hundreds of Iowans recently crowded into an auditorium at Drake University, eager and anxious to hear from a panel of scientists who stressed the ongoing threat of Iowa’s agricultural practices to the state’s drinking water.

The packed meeting — formed to discuss the results of a new 227-page water quality assessment — came amid renewed alarm over the state’s drinking water.

Central Iowa Water Works responded to high levels of nitrate pollution by imposing a mandatory lawn-watering ban in June for its 600,000 customers.

Even as the watering ban eased and nitrate levels returned to safer levels, some Iowans remain concerned that the state is not doing enough to tackle what has become a persistent problem in the state.

"When are we going to start to make the choices that put us in a po

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