Des Moines Water Works on Thursday said the 111 days it has run its $7,000-a-day nitrate-removal plant this year broke the previous single-year record of 106, set in 1999. Current nitrate levels are 15.31 milligrams per liter in the Raccoon River and 16.28 mg/l in the Des Moines River. The federal limit for tap water is 10. Bill Stowe, Water Works CEO and general manager, said most of the nitrate is coming from farm runoff. Water Works has a pending lawsuit against three northwestern Iowa counties that run drainage districts in which the utility found high levels of nitrate. Read more