Environmental monitoring will expand starting this week, according to Iowa Insight

DES MOINES, Iowa —

Iowa Insight will start this week expanding environmental monitoring across the state, tracking air and water quality.

The program aims to pinpoint factors that could be contributing to Iowa’s high cancer rates.

“The environment challenges we have in Iowa are fairly complex, and they vary depending on where you live in the state, and there’s really just a need to expand the type of monitoring that we do,” David Cwiertny, director of The Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination at The University of Iowa, said.

Researchers will collect data on Nitrates, like Arsenic and Uranium, which are naturally occurring contaminants.