Excerpts: Ground water is the primary source of domestic water in most of the Midwest. Surface water supplies from lakes and reservoirs account for less than 10 percent of the drinking water within these States. The MSEA (Management Systems Evaluation Areas) program was developed to understand the linkages between farming practices and water quality in the Midwest by studying the system from application to transport. Herbicide and nitrate detections in surface and ground water have prompted concern about the pathway of movement from different farming practices in the surface and ground waters of the Midwest. The MSEA program was formed with a goal to identify and evaluate agricultural management systems that can protect water quality in the Midwest. This progress report will describe the efforts of this program to understand how different farming practices affect surface and ground water quality. Tables included: Table 1. Locations and descriptions of the soil and aquifer materials for MSEA sites --- Table 2. Tillage practices at MSEA research sites
