Mismanagement of any of these resources will reduce future productivity or sustainability of the operation. Major groundwater concerns center around nitrates, pesticides, salts and bacteria. Elevated concentrations of these can be hazardous to human health. Pesticides can cause adverse health problems including nervous disorders. Salts can degrade water below drinking water standards or provide an undesirable environment for crop growth when water is used for irrigation.
Bacterial contamination can spread diseases to humans and livestock.
These contaminants are quite costly to remove or reduce from water. In some cases such treatment is impossible or costprohibitive. It is far more effective and efficient to prevent contamination than to try to treat contaminated water. Reduced beneficial uses of contaminated surface water include losses to municipal, fishery, wildlife and recreational uses. Also, there are increased costs to end users if treatment is needed to attain adequate standards for a beneficial use.