Monday, January 7, 2013

50 Ways to Leave Your Groundwater (Safe)

I recently ran across a neat compilation of 50 ways farmers can protect their groundwater.  In fact that's the name of the publication - 50 Ways Farmers Can Protect Their Groundwater.  It's a bit dated (1993) but this University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service book has lots of good ideas.  It was written by Michael Hirschi, F. William Simmons, Doug Peterson and Ed Giles.

The 50 ways are each covered in a short (1 to 2 page) description.  There are also 10 featured farmers who share their stories and experience concerning a selection of these suggestions.  It's organized into sections dealing with the following issues:  Fertilizers; Scouting crops; Insecticides; Herbicides; Pesticides; Site conditions, wells and septic systems; Water testing and treatment; and Miscellaneous.

To be honest, it's almost exclusively aimed at groundwater quality, with only a precious few pieces on groundwater quantity, but, hey, quality is pretty important too.  I guess the biggest thing here is that groundwater is being recognized and thought of as important enough to do a compendium on.  I think so too, of course. 

In closing, it caught my eye because I'm a pretty big Paul Simon fan, and I thought I had run across an Extension publication on 50 ways to leave your lover.  Wouldn't that be a first!

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