Are the Wells Poisoned?

By Christopher Hallowell/Lincoln

Susan Seacrest peers down into the huge gloom of well No. 2, which penetrates 90 ft. into the Platte Aquifer. As her eyes catch the gleam of water destined to salve the thirst of people in Lincoln, Neb., 20 miles away, she begins to jump up and down in the heat of a summer afternoon. "This is so cool!" she exults. "I get so excited when I'm around groundwater."

You don't have to share Seacrest's bizarre idea of excitement to agree that groundwater is a big deal. It's the source of drinking water for half the U.S. population. Nebraska floats on water, sitting atop a gigantic sponge of sand and gravel that contains several aquifers. Farmers can drill into the rich soil, erect a center-pivot sprinkler system and watch corn grow as high as an elephant's eye.

But not without a price. To get big yields, farmers rely on pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers, which can seep below the surface and taint groundwater. That's why Seacrest, 45, launched the Groundwater Foundation, a group that uses everything from publications to educational festivals to teach people about threats to drinking water. Started on a shoestring in 1985 in Lincoln, the foundation has built a national network of activists to protect the fountains of life.

Once groundwater is contaminated, it is hard to clean up. In 1,345 shallow wells sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey, about 15% exceeded drinking-water standards for nitrate (a nitrogen compound), which at high levels can lead to the potentially fatal "blue baby" syndrome in infants. Many suspect aquifers were in California, the Great Plains and the Mid-Atlantic region. Pesticides have shown up in more than half of shallow wells the USGS studied in agricultural and urban areas. "Is it right that people in rural communities should have to buy bottled water?" Seacrest asks. "What kind of a world will we be living in?"

Over the years she found that teaching children was a good way to reach parents. This year her foundation picked 25 Nebraska high school and junior high students to attend "Groundwater University," a four-day field trip devoted to Seacrest's favorite subject. Looking beyond Nebraska, the foundation has since 1994 named hundreds of North American communities as "Groundwater Guardians" and honored their leaders. A North Carolina town, for example, was cited for fighting groundwater pollution from hog farms. "When I started in my kitchen," Seacrest says, "I had no idea it would lead to all this." Now she won't stop until we all share her excitement about guarding the precious water beneath our feet.

--By Christopher Hallowell/Lincoln