In Finland, water conservation policy sets equal incentive regardless of the condition of the environment. Before any policy reform, it is vital to investigate landowners’ tendency for adoption. In this study we were particularly interested in examining the tendency for adoption if the soil quality implies a high leaching risk or water quality is already poor. For this purpose, survey data were combined with GIS data. Furthermore the aim was to analyse the effect of farm and farmer characteristics and attitudes on adoption. The findings derived by probit models indicated that, for active farmers, financial variables were the key determinants. For passive owners, adoption was also explained by attitudes. Contrary to our expectations, there is no spontaneous tendency for water conservation in deteriorated areas. Targeted agri-environmental measures, even though costly, cannot be avoided.