ABSTRACT
In 1987, the state of Iowa enacted comprehensive legislation to address groundwater contamination from a range of sources, including agricultural chemicals. Although environmental and health effects from chemicals had long been a cause for concern — warnings about the potential dangers from accumulations of DDT had been sounded as early as the 1960s in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring — the risk of water pollution from non-point farm chemicals was not fully addressed for some time because the substances were believed to break down easily over time.
