South Dakota’s water quality reports grow more polished and less honest

By: Brad Johnson

Outlets: South Dakota Searchlight

Published: May 23, 2026

Words: 903

Last Updated: 1 month, 4 weeks ago

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South Dakota didn’t stop polluting its water. It stopped talking honestly about what’s polluting it.

In 2018, the state’s own water quality report plainly identified the causes fouling South Dakota rivers and lakes: livestock waste, manure runoff, cropland erosion, nutrient loading and failing septic systems. Agriculture was identified as the primary source of surface water pollution, and the report said so directly.

That wasn’t partisan. It wasn’t controversial. It was the state’s own science.

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