About 60 percent of the state's total river and stream miles, and about 70 percent of the lakes and reservoirs are either threatened or impaired for designated uses. In both cases, the major pollutants are nutrients and sediments from agricultural nonpoint sources.
Agriculture also threatens ground water.
Over application of fertilizer can result in degradation of ground and surface water. Livestock waste has been identified as an increasing source of pollutants. The area occupied by feedlots and other concentrated production units is currently relatively small, however their proximity, relative location in regard to drainage ways, and the concentration of nutrients during snow melt or runoff events, make them a significant factor for pollution of surface and ground water. The irrigated area in North Dakota is increasing in response to the demand for dependable, high yielding, and high quality crops. The potential exists for 500,000 new acres of irrigated crops with sprinkler methods, yet the only high value crop now grown there with irrigation is sugar beets.