Excerpt
ALMOST every aspect of the rural groundwater quality issue breaks with tradition. Compared with soil erosion and surface water quality, groundwater quality problems and solutions are more complex and scientifically uncertain. Because most rural land uses represent contamination threats, stakeholders in the groundwater issue run the gamut from farmers to homeowners to municipal water suppliers. Perhaps the issue's most important feature is that human health is the primary force driving demands for policy change. Concerns over adverse human health effects from drinking contaminated groundwater have added intensity and urgency to the issue and is bringing it to the forefront of environmental policymaking at federal, state, and local levels.
The emergence of rural groundwater quality as a public policy issue has forced us to reexamine our views, approaches, and public policies for managing natural resources. Existing programs and policies are fragmented along disciplinary, government agency, and other boundaries and thus are ill-suited for systematically and comprehensively addressing groundwater quality issues. Some stakeholders may perceive or understand one part of the larger complex problem and promote solutions that advance their individual interests without seeing the broader issues, solutions, or consequences. Given the uncertainty and controversial nature of groundwater issues …
Footnotes
Charles W. Abdalla is project director, Groundwater Policy Education Project, and assistant professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, and guest editor for this special JSWC issue, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802. Verlon K. “Tony” Vrana is executive vice-president of the Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, Iowa 50021-9764. Marty Jessen. is president and chief executive officer of the Freshwater Foundation, Navarre, Minnesota, 55392.
- Copyright 1990 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.