EC91-735 The Impact of Nitrogen and Irrigation Management and Vadose Zone Conditions on Ground Water Contamination by Nitrate-Nitrogen

Authors

K.D. Frank, University of Nebraska at LincolnFollow
Darrell Watts, University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Andrew Christiansen, University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Edwin Penas, University of Nebraska at Lincoln

Date of this Version

1991

Document Type

Article

Comments

© 1991, The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska on behalf of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension. All rights reserved.

Abstract

The single largest contaminant found in ground water samples taken throughout Nebraska is nitrate-nitrogen (nitrate-N). Much of it reaches the ground water as a "non-point source" contaminant leached out of the crop root zone.

Nitrate-N is essential to corn production. However, when leached from the crop root zone it can become a major source of ground water contamination. There are serious contamination problems in shallow aquifers beneath several river valleys in Nebraska. Increasing nitrate-N concentrations are beginning to appear in deeper aquifer.