Nitrate movement to groundwater in the southeastern coastal plain

NITRATE contamination of surface water and groundwater is a concern for both health and environmental reasons. The current public health standard for drinking water requires nitrate concentration to be less than 10 parts per million. One reason for that standard is that methemoglobinemia, or blue baby disease, is associated with infants drinking water with nitrate concentrations above that level ( 15 ). In addition to health concerns, nitrate also may cause eutrophication of ponds and lakes. Nitrate levels greater than 10 parts per million have been documented in ground-water associated with agricultural activities in New York ( 45 ), Wisconsin ( 52 ), Nebraska ( 14, 60 ), Arkansas ( 66 ), Ontario, ( 20 ), England ( 12, 48 ), Georgia ( 25, 26 ), and Oklahoma ( 47, 53 ). These high concentrations are associated primarily with fertilizer use. A Texas study confirmed that agricultural leachates were a major source of nitrate contamination in groundwater (37). Wells in or adjacent to agricultural production areas averaged 21 parts per million of nitrate. Nitrate levels in public supply and household wells in nearby nonagricultural areas ranged from 6 to 14 parts per million. Several investigators have reported large nitrogen fertilizer losses from small grain crops and potatoes grown on coarse-textured soils (5, 13, 14, 17, 44 …