Monitoring soil health, leading to improved farming and land use practices can radically mitigate soil contamination and the migration of pollutants. Several recent incidents around the world involving drinking water contaminated with various strains of Coliform bacteria traced primarily to the application of animal waste to rural land indicate how vulnerable and important is the health of the soil and the quality of the landscape. Much land use activity in forestry and agriculture involves large equipment leading to soil compaction, increased runoff, soil erosion and contamination of surface waters. Urban, agricultural, industrial, forestry and mining activity all introduce potential contaminants into the earth's soils. Landfills leach chemical and organic waste into the soil.
Cities add sewage sludge and septage waste.
Poor agricultural practices promote increases in salinity in rural areas, which is exacerbated by overuse of fertilizers. Industry and mining produce heavy metals and other toxic waste which is added to the mix. Contamination in aquaculture water quickly finds its way into the food chain. To understand soil health and ultimately its effect on human health, one must be able to monitor the quantity, the path and the speed at which the contaminants travel in the soil. These technologies hold the key to understanding the behavior of most pollutants and their transfer through soil, which lies in their electrical and chemical properties.