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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Swimmers: Keep Your Mouth Shut

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007   

If you are thinking about going swimming in Iowa lakes, rivers and streams this summer, keep your mouth shut and cover open cuts. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources tests swimming areas weekly for levels of e.coli bacteria. Steve Veysey with the Iowa Sierra Club says manure runoff from livestock operations is a big part of the e.coli problem, but there's other farm runoff that swimmers should be worried about.

“Any of the herbicides, pesticides and other things that have been applied to the crops will stick to the soil particles, and when it rains, it ends up in our rivers, lakes and streams.”

Dangerous bacteria can also come from faulty home septic tanks, or from sewage treatment plants, some of which don't sanitize their discharge. Veysey warns swimmers to take precautions.

“If you are in the water, you want to consciously avoid ingesting any water, and when you get out, you should certainly take a shower. That will minimize the risk, but it doesn't remove the risk.”

Veysey adds that it is possible to improve the state's water quality by encouraging more buffer zones between farms and waterways, requiring city sewage treatment plants to disinfect their wastewater and better control of livestock runoff.

DNR water reports are online at www.wqm.igsb.uiowa.edu/activities/beach/beach.htm.



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