汉娜·芬格赫特（HANNAH FINGERHUT）报道，得梅因，艾奥瓦州——艾奥瓦州正面临预算赤字、高昂成本以及贸易争端带来的经济压力，这些因素已使农民处境艰难。
HANNAH FINGERHUT DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa is facing a budget deficit, high costs and economic strain from trade disputes that have squeezed farmers.
然而，几十年来一直处于酝酿状态的问题——水质和癌症发病率——今年已被推向了该州政治的前沿。它们成为了两党候选人在各类竞选活动中，从选票上的各个层级所关注的辩论议题、圆桌会议和竞选活动的焦点。
But problems that have simmered for decades — water quality and cancer rates — have been forced to the forefront of state politics this year. They are the focus of debate questions, roundtable events and campaign s for candidates from both parties, up and down the ballot.
长期以来，由于要避免指责艾奥瓦州强大的农业产业，这一议题在政治上一直被视为禁忌。艾奥瓦州是全美玉米、大豆和生猪的主要产地之一。化学肥料和动物粪便中含有硝酸盐和磷，这些物质会随着雨水或融雪被冲入该州纵横交错的河流中。
The issue has historically been politically taboo to avoid pointing fingers at the powerful agricultural industry in Iowa, one of the country’s top producers of corn, soybeans and hogs. Chemical fertilizers and animal waste contain nitrates and phosphorus that can get washed with rain or snowmelt into the state’s web of rivers. The problem has long caused tension between Iowa’s more liberal urban centers, which rely on rivers and lakes for drinking water, and mostly conservative stewards of its rich farmland.
长期以来，这一问题在艾奥瓦州较为自由派的城市中心（依赖河流和湖泊获取饮用水）与该州主要由保守派管理的肥沃农田之间造成了紧张关系。尽管批评人士称，缺乏监管迫使下游的艾奥瓦州居民为污染买单，但农民们正越来越多地参与到防止径流的实践中。
Farmers are increasingly participating in practices to prevent runoff, although critics say the lack of regulation forces downstream Iowans to pay for the pollution . The spotlight has grown — and the political calculus has shifted — after back-to-back years of restrictions on water use in the Des Moines area coupled with a burgeoning “Make America Healthy Again” movement in Iowa’s small town and rural communities .
在得梅因地区连续两年实施用水限制，加之艾奥瓦州小城镇和农村社区中新兴的“让美国再次健康”（Make America Healthy Again）运动的影响下，这一问题的关注度不断提高，政治考量也随之发生了转变。
Iowa has the second highest rate of newly diagnosed cancers in the country.
艾奥瓦州的新增癌症确诊率位居全美第二。前列腺癌、乳腺癌和肺癌等特定癌症在艾奥瓦州的增长速度快于全美平均水平。这正影响着该州的城市和农村地区。
Specific diagnoses, like prostate, breast and lung cancer, are increasing in Iowa faster than in the U.S. overall. It’s affecting urban and rural parts of the state. New state-funded research at the University of Iowa shows most — but not all — of Iowa’s above-normal rates for five cancers can be explained by demographic and behavioral factors, such as smoking and binge drinking.
由州政府资助的艾奥瓦大学的一项新研究显示，艾奥瓦州五种癌症发病率高于正常水平的原因，大部分（但并非全部）可以用人口统计学和行为因素来解释，例如吸烟和酗酒。研究人员接下来将评估包括硝酸盐水平在内的环境因素。
Researchers next assess environmental factors, including nitrate levels. “The real issue is the water and the nitrates,” said Democrat Josh Turek, who is running for U.S. Senate, as he talked with cancer patients last week.
“真正的问题在于水和硝酸盐，”正在竞选美国参议员的民主党人乔什·图雷克（Josh Turek）上周在与癌症患者交谈时说道。“每一位爱荷华州居民在打开水龙头时，都理应确保他们的饮用水是干净的，不会让他们患上癌症。”一些研究发现饮用水中的硝酸盐与某些疾病之间存在关联，但这仍是一个存在争议的领域。美国国家环境保护局目前并未将硝酸盐列为致癌风险物质。该机构曾在2017年启动了一项重新评估该结论的计划，但在不同的白宫政府任期内，该计划几经停滞、重启，又再次停滞。
“Every Iowan deserves when they turn on the tap to ensure that their water is clean and not giving them cancer.”Some studies have found a link between nitrates in drinking water and certain diseases, but it remains an area of debate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not currently classify nitrates as a cancer risk. The agency initiated a plan to review that assessment in 2017, but it’s been stalled, revived and stalled again under different White House administrations. The Republican congresswoman running against Turek, Ashley Hinson, recently gathered farmers, researchers and local officials to discuss Iowa’s water problems.
与图雷克竞选对手、共和党众议员阿什莉·欣森（Ashley Hinson）最近召集了农民、研究人员和地方官员，共同讨论爱荷华州的水质问题。她表示，目前仍有必要在基础设施、水质监测和保护项目上进行投资，但同时也表示，爱荷华州居民可以感到安全，因为自来水符合联邦法规。
She said there is an ongoing need for investments in infrastructure, water quality monitoring and conservation programs but also said that Iowans can feel safe because tap water meets federal regulations. “We all know that we have some challenges here in Iowa,” she said.
“我们都知道爱荷华州目前面临一些挑战，”她说。“我不认为水质是一个党派问题。”得梅因地区的水务部门因不堪忍受每天约1.6万美元的硝酸盐去除费用，在十多年前起诉了上游的县，要求他们分担成本。该诉讼最终被驳回，爱荷华州的共和党领导人对这一裁决表示庆祝。
“I don’t think water quality is a partisan issue.”It’s been more than a decade since the Des Moines area’s water utility, fed up with paying roughly $16,000 per day to remove nitrates from water, sued counties further upstream to get them to help cover the cost. The complaint was ultimately dismissed , and Iowa’s Republican leaders celebrated the ruling. Last year, Central Iowa Water Works issued its first-ever ban on lawn watering to reduce demand on its nitrate removal facilities, and state politicians rejected any suggestion of a “blame game” that would implicate farmers.
去年，中央爱荷华水务公司（Central Iowa Water Works）发布了史上首次草坪浇水禁令，以减少其硝酸盐去除设施的负荷，而州政客们拒绝了任何可能将矛头指向农民的“指责游戏”建议。近年来，爱荷华州每年在营养物质削减战略上的投入接近1亿美元。
Iowa had been investing nearly $100 million annually in its nutrient reduction strategy in recent years. In May, though, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and lawmakers committed an additional $320 million for water infrastructure, conservation initiative incentives and other projects, including millions to Central Iowa Water Works to update equipment.
然而，在5月，共和党籍州长金·雷诺兹（Kim Reynolds）与立法者承诺额外投入3.2亿美元，用于水利基础设施、保护倡议激励措施及其他项目，其中包括向中央爱荷华水务公司（Central Iowa Water Works）提供数百万美元用于更新设备。
“Water quality isn’t a farm issue. It isn’t a city issue, and it isn’t a political issue,” Reynolds said.
“水质问题不是农业问题，不是城市问题，也不是政治问题，”雷诺兹说。“但它绝对是不可妥协的。”尽管如此，有关进展缓慢的批评声持续不断，其中包括来自竞选接替雷诺兹职位的候选人们。
“But it absolutely is non-negotiable.”Still, criticism of slow progress has continued, including from candidates running to replace Reynolds. Republican Zach Lahn and Democrat Rob Sand both emphasize that the state needs to better prioritize the water problem, though neither have called for mandating farming conservation practices that reduce runoff.
共和党人扎克·兰（Zach Lahn）和民主党人罗布·桑德（Rob Sand）都强调，州政府需要更好地优先处理水资源问题，尽管两人均未呼吁强制推行减少径流的农业保护措施。
Lahn, who was endorsed early in his primary by political committee MAHA Action, has diverged from many of his Republican peers in directly linking polluted water and agrochemicals to Iowa’s cancer crisis.
兰在初选早期获得了政治委员会“MAHA行动”（MAHA Action）的支持，他与许多共和党同僚不同，直接将水污染和农用化学品与爱荷华州的癌症危机联系起来。
At Lahn’s agriculture-focused town hall in northeast Iowa in August, one attendee raised the issue.
在8月于爱荷华州东北部举行的以农业为主题的市政厅会议上，一名与会者提出了这个问题。
“Right now the farmers, I would say, are really getting blamed for the high cancer rate in Iowa,” she said.
“目前，我认为农民们确实因为爱荷华州的高癌症率而受到指责，”她说。“甚至我们的女儿从得梅因打来电话问：‘我们应该喝这种水吗？’”兰表示，他知道某些农用化学品是“工具箱里的重要工具”。
“Even our daughter calls from Des Moines and says: ‘Should we be drinking this water?’”Lahn said he knows certain agrochemicals are important “tools in the tool chest.”“We’re not here to ban products,” he said, “but we do have to address the water quality issue.”
“我们不是来禁用产品的，”他说，“但我们确实必须解决水质问题。”联邦法规规定，饮用水中硝酸盐含量最高为每升10毫克即为安全。这一阈值的设定是为了预防所谓的“蓝婴综合征”，即婴儿血液中氧气不足的病症，但目前有更多的科学研究正在分析低于该阈值的含硝酸盐水与某些癌症之间的关系。
Federal regulations say drinking water is safe with a maximum nitrate level of 10 milligrams per liter. That threshold was set to prevent what’s known as blue baby syndrome, a condition when an infant’s blood doesn’t have enough oxygen, but more scientific studies are now analyzing the relationship between nitrate-laden water below that threshold and certain cancers. Lahn said he tested the nitrate levels from his well water and creek in rural east-central Iowa, finding both well above the federal limit.
兰表示，他检测了自己位于爱荷华州东中部农村地区的井水和溪水中的硝酸盐含量，发现两者均远高于联邦规定的限值。
Central Iowa Water Works ran its nitrate removal treatment for a record 193 days straight earlier this year, and the treated water’s nitrate levels hovered around eight to nine milligrams per liter in the heart of summer.
今年早些时候，爱荷华州中部水务局（Central Iowa Water Works）连续运行了创纪录的193天硝酸盐去除处理，在盛夏时节，处理后的水中硝酸盐含量徘徊在每升8到9毫克左右。
Sand usually references water early in his stump speech, naming one reason he initiallyed as a Democrat is the party’s advocacy for clean water because he likes to fish .
桑德（Sand）通常会在竞选演说的开头提到水资源问题，他列举自己最初以民主党人身份参政的原因之一，是该党倡导清洁水源，因为他喜欢钓鱼。周二，在与癌症幸存者及癌症患儿的家长会面后，他表示，过去几年里，他看到这一议题在公众意识中不断升温。
He said Tuesday after meeting with cancer survivors and parents of children with cancer that he’s seen the topic rise in the public consciousness over the past few years. “I hear from people regularly who are so concerned about it that they wonder whether or not they want to be in Iowa,” Sand said.
“我经常听到人们表达担忧，他们甚至怀疑自己是否还想留在爱荷华州，”桑德说。
Twenty years ago, research scientist Chris Jones said he’d give his boss at Des Moines’ water utility updates on the rivers’ nitrate levels.
二十年前，研究科学家克里斯·琼斯（Chris Jones）说，他会向他在得梅因水务部门的上司汇报河流的硝酸盐水平。
“He’d say to me, ‘Where’s the outrage?’”
“他会问我：‘愤怒在哪里？’”琼斯回忆道。“现在，愤怒已经到来了。”琼斯后来在爱荷华大学从事水质监测工作，他表示，爱荷华州民众对饮用水失去信心是该州的巨大失败。
Jones recalled. “Now, the outrage has arrived.”Jones, who later worked on water quality monitors at the University of Iowa, says it’s a huge failure of the state for Iowans to lose faith in drinking water.
琼斯是一名民主党人，正在参加爱荷华州农业部长的竞选，试图击败现任共和党人迈克·奈格（Mike Naig）。
Jones is a Democrat running in the election to be Iowa’s secretary of agriculture, trying to unseat incumbent Republican Mike Naig.
他们之间最主要的分歧在于保护方案是否应该具有强制性。在一场辩论中，奈格称琼斯要求农民必须采取保护措施的做法是异类。爱荷华州的农业产业抵制强制令，部分原因是并非所有农民都拥有他们耕种的土地，而且一些保护措施可能会导致利润损失，至少在初期是这样。
Chief among their differences is whether conservation solutions should be mandatory. In a debate, Naig said Jones is an outlier in demanding farmers be required to adopt conservation practices. Iowa’s agricultural industry resists mandates, in part because not all farmers own the land they farm and some conservation efforts might lead to profit loss, at least initially.
奈格曾供职于化学品制造商孟山都（Monsanto），他强调了在他部门在雷诺兹（Reynolds）领导下所创下的记录，并表示保护工作正在扩大规模，以加快进展。
Naig, who previously worked for chemical manufacturer Monsanto, highlighted the records that his department has set under Reynolds’ leadership and said conservation work is being scaled up to accelerate progress.
“这在竞选活动中一直是一个热门话题，”奈格说，但“我们必须以长远的眼光看待这些事情，我们正在取得进展。”
“It’s been a hot topic on the campaign trail,” Naig said, but “we have to have a long view of these things, and we’re making progress.”