Agricultural Chemicals in Rural, Private Water Wells in Illinois: Recommendations for a Statewide Survey

摘要

The Illinois State Geological Survey and the Illinois State Water Survey have developed recommendations for the design of a statewide survey to assess the level of occurrence of agricultural chemicals (pesticides and nitrates) in rural private wells. The project is a response to the mandate of the Illinois Groundwater Protection Act to evaluate the impact of pesticides on groundwater, particularly in rural areas where pesticides are used most intensively. The experimental design proposed in the document will maximize the acquisition of data on the potential exposure of the rural population of Illinois to agricultural chemicals in drinking water. The use of stratified random sampling will allow statistically valid inferences to be made regarding the frequency of occurrence of agricultural chemicals in groundwater samples from rural, private wells and in each of four subpopulations, or strata, categorized according to contamination potential. The two Surveys have received funding to conduct a pilot study in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Agriculture to field-test and evaluate the various components of the experimental design proposed in the report.