PROTECTION OF
WELL-WATER SUPPLIES
FROM NITRATE CONTAMINATION
Principal Investigator:
Dr. James S. Dinger, Kentucky Geological Survey
Co-Investigators:
E. Glynn Beck, Kentucky Geological Survey
Philip G. Conrad, Kentucky Geological Survey
Dr. Joseph L. Taraba, Agricultural Engineering
Dr. John H. Grove, Department of Agronomy
Technician:
Phillip K Fields, Kentucky Geological Survey
Keywords:
nitrate,
domestic water wells,
contamination,
education
Brief Project Summary
The goal of this project is to determine whether
poor well construction or aquifer contamination from domestic and/or
agricultural land use practices are a major cause of nitrate
contamination of water wells in the Obion Creek, Bayou Du Chien
watersheds and other parts of the Jackson Purchase region. Approximately
60 public water utilities and 75 percent of the residents in the
Purchase Area use ground water because regional ground-water aquifers
are generally hundreds of feet thick, provide plentiful water, and in
most locations the water contains a low concentration of dissolved
solids. A greater proportion of private wells in the Purchase Area yield
water with nitrate over the U.S. EPA maximum contaminant level (MCL)
than in other parts of Kentucky. Data collected as part of the Ground
Water Education and Testing Program in the early 1990s shows that an
average of 5.5 percent of wells in the Purchase (1/18) exceed the MCL,
and 13.7 percent (1/7.3) exceed half of the MCL. Based on these data and
because the spatial pattern of wells with high and low concentrations of
nitrate cannot be predicted by the distribution of land uses,
application of nutrients, or hydrogeology, it is believed that the
current study will help to elucidate the causes of nitrate contamination
in areas of the Purchase that are highly dependent on ground-water
resources.
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