Happy Coyote LLC is developing a new biological treatment approach to address Iowa’s growing water quality challenges.

Iowa has the second fastest growing rate of cancer and cases are increasing. Research indicates the steady rise in cancer cases is linked to environmental factors. The state uses more fertilizer and pesticide than any other state in the US. The resulting mix of nitrates, pesticides, and antibiotics flows into rivers, drinking water sources, the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico. These pollutants strain public utilities, endanger private well users, contribute to Iowa’s rising cancer rates and worsen aquatic ecosystems health all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. Happy Coyote LLC is a proud member of Iowa Environmental council. More robust research on the local impacts of Iowa’s poor water quality can be found on the IEC website here.

Local Impacts

• High contamination levels: Many central Iowa rivers regularly exceed drinking-water nitrate limits.

• Health risks: Long-term exposure to nitrates, pesticides, and antibiotics is linked to multiple cancers, harmful algal blooms, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

• Operating Strain: Utilities face increasing costs and capacity issues; rural well users face the highest risk. Despite operating the world's largest ion exchange nitrate removal facility, Des Moines Water Works has faced periods where demand outpaced output, leading to mandatory water bans and daily operating costs upward of $16,000.

Statewide Challenges

• Pace of Progress: Iowa's voluntary Nutrient Reduction Strategy has not yet reduced pollution at the needed scale to meet long-term goals.

• Limitations of Current Technology: While effective tools like woodchip bioreactors and saturated buffers are effective at removing nitrates, they address a limited range of pollutants and current coverage remains far too limited across the landscape to fully address the magnitude of the overall water quality challenge.

Downstream Consequences

• Mississippi River → Gulf of Mexico:
  Iowa is a major contributor to nutrient loads driving the Gulf of Mexico’s annual hypoxic “dead zone,” harming fisheries and coastal ecosystems.

  • Major Contributor: Iowa's land area makes up a relatively small percentage of the total Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB), but it contributes a much higher percentage of the nutrient load. For example, studies show Iowa contributes an average of 29% of the total nitrate load to the entire MARB and 55% of the load to the Missouri River Basin.

  • Disproportionate Impact: Water flowing from Iowa can have seven times more nitrates than water from the rest of the Missouri River watershed, illustrating the outsized role the state plays in the problem.

  • Ecosystem Harm: The excess nutrients trigger massive algae blooms in the Gulf. When the algae die and decompose, the process consumes oxygen in the water, creating a hypoxic (low-oxygen) zone where marine life cannot survive. This "dead zone" forces mobile marine life to flee and suffocates less mobile organisms, causing significant ecological and economic damage to the Gulf Coast states' fishing industries.

Happy Coyote’s Solution

We are developing a novel biological treatment process designed to work alongside and significantly improve the output of existing woodchip bioreactors. Our approach aims to:

• Improve effectiveness of bioreactors and wetlands in treating nitrates

• Address a broader range of modern contaminants than the current capacity of nature-based systems in place can handle like antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, petroleum products, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, pathogens and fine particle sediments.

• Integrate complementary strengths of multiple processes through a stacked system.

• Build off of existing infrastructure made possible through programs like Batch and Build for low-cost and better ease of scalability.

Controlled studies show strong potential for this type of treatment, but adaptation for nonpoint agricultural runoff has yet to be explored on this scale or in this region. That is the core focus of our work.

Where We Are Now

• Patent Pending: Provisional patent application filed November 2025.

• Partnership Building: Working with Iowa-based organizations, farmers, municipalities and institutions.

• Connecting with organizations in California where components of our novel process have been successfully implemented and are in infancy

• Next Step: Fund a feasibility study to validate and refine the process in real-world conditions.

Connect With Us

We welcome conversations with researchers, utilities, nonprofits, landowners, and investors.

If you’re interested in collaboration, please reach out.