Some public decision makers feel the problem is so serious that, if Extension can't make a difference in agriculture's effects on water quality, our effectiveness and value as educators are open to question. The primary focus of Extension's efforts is on agriculture, because farms and ranches are major land users and are among the polluters of water in both urban and rural areas. People in rural America are especially vulnerable to water pollution. The Safe Drinking Water Act seeks to protect only public water supplies. Private wells, serving over 40 million people across the nation, aren't covered by the act.
Nobody wants bad water.
Issues aren't quite the same as problems, but rather are the public policy questions and choices that surround problems and their solutions. This set of issues makes up the National Initiative and therefore suggests the specific elements of future issues-based programming on water quality. Comprehensive Extension programming on these water quality issues would help achieve the larger goal of overall reduction in pollutants in America's environment. No single law protects drinking water. Instead, there are a variety of laws, some preventative, some remedial, and none comprehensive.