As the temperature gradually rises, many Hoosiers anxiously await their first beach trip of the year. But you may want to think twice before hopping headfirst into your favorite swimming spot. A new report by the Environmental Integrity Project finds more than 24,000 miles of Indiana's waterways aren't safe for human contact.

Indiana has more documented impaired rivers and streams than any other state, followed by Oregon, with nearly 18,000 miles. However, Tom Pelton, co-director of the Environmental Integrity Project, noted that the report only takes into account documented stream pollution.

"Indiana does a pretty good job of monitoring streams," he said, "and the more monitoring you do, the more pollution you find."

Pelton said Indiana is 11th in the nation for river and stream impairment when ranked by total percentage of assessed miles. In addition to the miles of impaired streams and rivers, the report noted that nearly 9,300 lake acres in the state are unsafe for human contact. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management offers beach closure notifications via its website, text and email.

The report said the bulk of Indiana's water pollution comes from agriculture, which occupies nearly 60% of the state's total land area. Pelton said the federal Clean Water Act allows Indiana to establish regulations on runoff from its more than 800 concentrated animal feeding operations.

"The Clean Water Act allows the state to impose rules on what you do with that manure, how closely you can put it to streams and how you dispose of it," he said. "States like Indiana really aren't doing that. They're not really strongly regulating this industrial-style animal production like they should."

Pelton said the state also should do more to encourage farmers to create runoff-filtering buffer zones, which include trees and natural vegetation between their land and adjacent waterways. At the federal level, he said the Biden administration should address staffing shortages at the Environmental Protection Agency to help control and monitor pollution.

A new study is focused on concerns for Nebraska waterways.

The three-year, independently funded research identifies rising levels of phosphorus and poultry-related bacteria in streams. The streams are near fields fertilized by litter laced with chicken manure from the Costco-Lincoln Premium Poultry operation outside Fremont.

Matt Sutton, a geologist who conducted the study on behalf of the Nebraska Farmers Union Foundation, said the contaminants will jeopardize streams and even groundwater if left unchecked.

Sutton pointed out phosphorus contributes to harmful bacterial growth and depletes oxygen in waterways, which kills off fish and leads to "dead zones" in the water. He added on farmland, phosphorus poses short and long-term threats.

"As fields become saturated, as they apply more litter, the plants are going to be unable to utilize the excess phosphorus, and our water is going to become more and more contaminated," Sutton explained. "There will be higher amounts of bacteria that grows in the water as a result. And we're talking years, decades down the line, but the expectation is that it will eventually contribute to bacterial growth in people's wells."

One in five Nebraskans relies on well water. A Lincoln Premium Poultry spokesperson said the company's "farm families adhere to the highest levels of environmental stewardship," and a nutrient consultant to the company said the highest levels of contaminants were found before most of the company's production in Nebraska.

Graham Christensen, founder of the environmental consulting and communications company GCResolve, one of the study collaborators, said he and others expressed concern early on about managing the manure from Costco's 500-barn system. He noted researchers from Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health addressed this in a letter to the City of Fremont.

"They said a lot of things, but one of the things they said was, like, 'Look, this is a lot of litter. This is twice the amount of litter that will be produced daily as what is generated by the City of Omaha,' " Christensen stressed.

The study's recommendations included molecular DNA testing, additional testing sites, cover cropping, and buffer strips by waterways.

The Iowa Watershed Planning Advisory Council just released its annual report and said the Iowa Water Plan needs an update.

The report showed climate change is having dramatic effects on the state's watershed, affecting soil quality, erosion and drinking water. The council is made up of people from across the state who want to protect Iowa's water resources.

Alicia Vasto, vice chair and program director for the council, said regenerative farming methods and soil restoration are key to improving water quality in the state, since drought and other weather-related factors are more prominent.

"Climate change is having major impacts on our weather systems here in Iowa, as well as the farming systems, our land management," Vasto outlined. "That includes our soils and waterways."

Vasto noted the council also wants the Iowa Legislature to study water protection, flood risk reduction, crop production systems and wastewater treatment systems when lawmakers convene in January.

The report noted Iowa needs a measurement system to monitor groundwater supplies, which should be analyzed monthly by the State Climatologist. Vasto added it is also important for stakeholders across the state to monitor for nutrients and bacteria, algal blooms, and pharmaceuticals in wastewater.

She pointed out pollutants have been on the increase and the state needs to consider their overall effects on the watershed, a practice summed up as "system resiliency."

"Looking at water quantity, drinking water sources, flooding, wastewater treatment. All of those different factors that are related to water and the landscape really need to be factored in as we are thinking about holistically making plans and trying to protect and improve water quality in a watershed."

Vasto emphasized the council will try to expand the partnership network with more farmers and water officials across the state next year. And after the holidays, the Iowa Water Center hosts an online symposium on harmful algal blooms on Jan. 5.

Drought has devastated the Mississippi River, turning parts of the 2,350-mile channel into dry streambeds and shallow pools.

As barge traffic in parts of the country's "freight superhighway" slows to a crawl, conservation groups are calling it an opportunity to rethink how the waterway is used. They said over time, the river has been dammed, channelized, cut off from its floodplains and otherwise manipulated to serve the shipping industry, with little regard for its ecology.

Robert Hirschfeld, senior water policy specialist for the Prairie Rivers Network, said the "Mighty Mississippi" is exhausted and needs a chance to recover.

"Climate change is causing a drought, and that's problematic for shippers. And it's like, sure, that is true. It is problematic for shipping," Hirschfeld acknowledged. "But we also need to think about why we manage the river the way we do, and whether we should continue to do that in the future."

In a recent blog post, Prairie River Network did not directly address what options the shipping industry might have if access to the river is limited. A spokesman for shipping industry group the Waterways Council called the corridor "irreplaceable" and told CBS News "40% of the global food supply starts in the Mississippi River Basin."

Despite the damage done by the drought, Hirschfeld claimed unrestricted commerce causes pollution, changes the river's original course and wreaks environmental damage along the waterway. He emphasized time is running short to begin restoring the river to its original, uninterrupted channel.

"I think we need to let rivers be rivers and stop trying to force them to be large highways," Hirschfeld asserted. "There's a lot that would entail. But one of the big things would be allowing rivers to reconnect to their natural floodplains."

Hirschfeld pointed out the Mississippi is a public waterway, and said it should be managed for the public's benefit. For example, he said, rather than growing corn ethanol in floodplains, trees could be grown. His view is rivers and their floodplains could help preserve the climate, not hasten its collapse.

"The West has seen this in the Colorado River basin. So much water is used for agriculture. Now, the West has been drier, but even in historically wet places like Illinois, we're not immune from this," Hirschfeld stressed. "You can see it in the Mississippi River right now."