GRISWOLD, Iowa (KMTV) — Iowa has ranked second in the nation for cancer rates three years in a row. Researchers are pointing to pollutants in the water as one culprit and a local group is taking action — starting with testing.
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Cass County has some of the highest cancer rates in Iowa — a state that ranks second in the nation for cancer rates, according to the 2026 annual report from the Iowa Cancer Registry.
A southwest Iowa group, Nishnabotna Water Defenders, is working to educate neighbors and push for policy changes to address some of the environmental factors linked to cancer.
Nurse practitioner Jodi Reese lives in Cass County and co-founded Nishnabotna Water Defenders following a fertilizer spill into the East Nishnabotna River two years ago this month. She is among neighbors pointing to the state's water quality as a contributing factor.
"What is making Iowa stand out now as the second highest rate of cancer now three years in a row?" Reese said.
Among other priorities, her group would like the state legislature to continue funding water sensors around the state.
"It's just like hunger is a policy choice, our water quality is a policy choice," Reese said.
This week, at the Harkin Institute symposium on wellness, researchers told the audience there is mounting evidence linking chemicals used in conventional agriculture to cancer rates, including cancer in children and young adults.
"When we look at counties in the United States with the highest rates of cancer, you can put Iowa and Nebraska together and we have five of the top 25," said Jesse Bell, a researcher with the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Bell emphasized that there are multiple factors that cause cancer, but his research is especially focused on the effects of nitrates in water supplies — a chemical found in fertilizer as well as human and animal waste.
"Nitrate is probably the biggest environmental factor that we face in Nebraska and I would say probably here in Iowa as well," he said.
The Nishnabotna Water Defenders are working to get neighbors to test their water sources for nitrates. Reese said testing is a starting point that can help pinpoint where problems exist.
"We're really unhappy with the way things are going but this is not just our issue. It's an everybody issue," she said.
The entire seven-hour cancer symposium can be found online through the Harkin Institute.
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