Water pollution “disappointing, tragic”

To the editor:
My family went to Pine Lake State Park for a greatly anticipated weekend of camp-ing, swimming and beach pic-nics. When we arrived we learned the water was unsafe due to bacterial contamination. How disappointing for the weekend, and how tragic for life!
I’m happy to pay taxes to protect public land but now we can’t even enjoy them. In Iowa where there are seven times more pigs than people, our waterways are under perpetual toxic harm. We know that corporate agriculture is the biggest contributor to water pollution in Iowa.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Can you imagine the amazing recreational tourist possibilities of our rivers and public parks if our waters were pollutant free?
Bottom line, this isn’t just our swimming water, this is our drinking water, irrigating wa-ter, life-sustaining water. To get the clean water that Iowa’s families deserve, we need pol-luters to pay to clean up the mess they made.
Kristyn Arnold, Des Moines