Farmstead Assessments: A strategy to prevent groundwater pollution

Susan A. Jones; Gary W. Jackson

A strategy to prevent groundwater pollution

Excerpt

FARMSTEAD pollution potential assessments are evolving in response to a need for clear, useful information on potential farmstead sources of groundwater contamination and for a method to assess and prioritize action to reduce groundwater pollution potential. Staff members from Wisconsin and Minnesota Extension, Region V of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey are developing and refining farmstead pollution potential assessment procedures. Worksheets explaining these procedures can assist farmers in identifying potential farmstead sources of groundwater contamination and in prioritizing management and structural changes to minimize the risk of groundwater contamination from identified sources.

Farmstead pollution potential assessments can fill a significant gap in rural groundwater protection efforts by improving landowner understanding of how structures and management activities can influence wellwater quality. These assessments can also increase recognition that cost-effective options are available to help reduce pollution risks.

Need for better information

Field management of nutrients and pesticides and its relationship to water quality has received more attention than farmstead sources have in Wisconsin (1, 2, 6) and other states. Regardless of whether farmers perceive farmstead activities as a problem, these activities can pose a significant threat to drinking water quality …

Footnotes

Susan A. Jones is a water quality planner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and University of Wisconsin Extension. Gary W. Jackson is the water quality education coordinator for University of Wisconsin Extension. Both are at the Environmental Resources Center, School of Natural Resources, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 53706. Support for this project was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region V Water Division, the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Copyright 1990 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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