DES MOINES, Iowa ( IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH ) - Polk County supervisors voted Tuesday to invest $200,000 to keep water quality monitors functioning across the state — a move officials said they hope other counties will mirror.

The funding will help a University of Iowa-headed monitoring system that was set to end in summer 2026 due to a lapse in funding. Polk County officials said the data provided by the system is “vital” to the state as it implements different practices to improve water quality.

The Iowa Water Quality Information System, or IWQIS , provides real-time measurements of pH, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, discharge rates and temperature at about 80 locations in streams across the state.

Funding for the program, which is run by researchers at the University of Iowa’s IIHR Hydr

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