ABSTRACT:
This study shows that the potential for ground water contamination related to agricultural use of chemicals is geographically diverse both nationally and regionally. Agricultural areas of the county that have the highest priority for further study and program implementation are in the Midwest and the Coastal Plain in the South and East. Areas of the county identified as being in a high risk group were shown to also have significant acreage that appear not to be at risk. This mix of relative vulnerability has important policy implications. Government policies addressing ground water quality must be flexible enough to account for this geographic diversity to avoid unnecessarily penalizing agricultural producers in some areas in attempts to solve problems in other areas.
Footnotes
Robert Kellogg works for USDA, Soil Conservation Service (P.O. Box 2890, Washington D.C., 20013). Margaret Maizel is the executive director of the National Center for Resource Innovations in Rosslyn, Virginia (1925 North Lynn Street, Suite 305, 22209). Don Goss is at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Blackland Research Center, Temple, Texas (808 East Blackland Road, 76502).
- Copyright 1994 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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