Region X Water Issues Alaska

[kiwibird]

Nitrate in drinking water is thought to come mostly from heavy use of nitrate fertilizers on farmland or where wells are contaminated by runoff waters from cattle feedlots and animal pastures where nitrate is contained in effluent from the animals. Nitrate in water can come from completely natural sources also. For example, in the Fairbanks area, certain wells are found to have high nitrate content. These wells are in the low hills north of Fairbanks where there is no indication of a fertilizer or animal source. Since the wells with high nitrate tend to lie just at or below the 750-foot contour level on southerly slopes, ground temperature may be a factor. Very likely the nitrate derives from the decay of peat moss just above freezing temperature.

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF2/248.html