Historical and current water quality monitoring shows that nitrate is present in groundwater throughout much of Nebraska. It is when results are at or above the 10mg/L Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) that hazardous health effects become a concern among humans and animals. Nitrate is colorless, odorless, and tasteless and the only way it can be detected in drinking water is through submitting a sample for laboratory testing. 

Where Does Nitrate Come From and What is Nitrification?

Those residences that are not served by a public water system need a source of water for both consumption and daily needs. A private well most often fulfills these needs. While the cost of drilling a well is not a huge expense in the overall purchase or building of a home, it is a necessary expense to provide the residence with a useable water supply and it adds value to the property.

It’s that time of year again in Nebraska, when we can experience severe weather such as flooding, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. These events can create power outages. If you are a private well owner without power your well pump won’t work, therefore you will not have running water and public water customers can also experience disruptions in their water supply. Having an emergency water supply on hand can be very helpful in these situations.

Groundwater Protection: It’s Up to Everyone

 If you think about the water cycle, you begin to realize the water we use every day, is in essence, recycled. There’s no new water, we are drinking some of the same water the dinosaurs drank!

Keeping our drinking water sources safe begins with each of us. There are many things everyone can do to assist with groundwater protection whether you live in an urban or rural area.

Nitrogen (N) budgeting, where accounting principles are applied to measured quantities of individual N sources, is one tool for understanding how long-term fertilizer-N use and irrigation contributes to nitrogen leaching. Here, we explore this tool by going through commonly-used conversions and calculations for N supply and nitrate-N leaching to account for changes in aquifer nitrogen contamination.