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Could other sources of nitrate, like agriculture, animals, golf courses, or lawns, cause water-quality problems?

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Could other sources of nitrate, like agriculture, animals, golf courses, or lawns, cause water-quality problems?

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Probably not. Several lines of evidence point to septic systems as the main source of the nitrate (Hinkle, Bhlke, and others, 2007): • Agriculture (primarily pasture) represents only about 4 percent of the study area. The four golf courses in the area cover less than 0.4 percent of the study area and are located where they would affect few if any wells. Animal waste contribution is much less than that of humans, and it is deposited on the land surface, where various processes remove nitrogen. Most homes in the area have natural landscaping or small lawn areas; assuming fertilizer is applied at recommended rates, very little nitrogen infiltrates below the root zone and into the ground water. • Nitrogen isotope (15N) concentrations can be used to identify the source of nitrate in ground water; nitrogen isotope data for the La Pine area indicate that septic systems are the source of nitrate in the shallow ground water. • The occurrence of nitrate in distinct plumes is consistent with loca

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