This concern is heightened by the fact that a majority of the population of the state receives their drinking water supply from private wells. Most of these wells are shallow and are vulnerable to water pollution, especially from nitrate. Many government programs are available to help people design and pay for management approaches to prevent and control nutrient losses from agricultural land to surface and groundwater. Many farmers use their own resources to adopt technologies and practices to limit water quality degradation by plant nutrients. Adoption of technologies and practices for nutrient loss reduction from farms can be promoted when farmers understand the factors that contribute to water contamination.
Many farmers apply nitrogen as fertilizers or manures to their crops.
The growing plants consume part of these nitrates. Growing bacteria also consume nitrates. When sufficient decomposable organic matter is present, soil bacteria can remove a significant amount of nitrate-nitrogen through a process called immobilization. Another group of bacteria use nitrates as a substitute for oxygen when oxygen is limited. These bacteria convert nitrate-nitrogen to gases such as nitrogen, nitrous oxide, and nitrogen dioxide.