What Seacrest did discover is that once groundwater is contaminated, it's
hard to clean up. In 1,345 shallow wells sampled by the U.S. Geological
Survey, about 15% exceeded drinking-water standards for nitrate, which at high
enough levels can lead to the potentially fatal "blue-baby" syndrome in infants.
Many of the suspect aquifers were in California, the Great Plains and the Mid-
Atlantic region. Last year 25 communities in Nebraska exceeded the maximum level
of nitrate allowed in drinking water by the federal government. Pesticides have
also shown up in more than half the shallow wells sampled in the USGS's study in
both agricultural and urban areas. "Is it right that people in rural communities
should have to buy bottled water?" Seacrest asks. "What kind of a world are we
going to be living in?"
Her challenge was to form an organization with an authoritative and
educational voice, not just another environmental lobby. Her assets included a
lot of technical knowledge, an exuberance edged with naivete, a winning smile
and awesome energy. "I equated myself to dripping water," she says. "I kept
bothering everyone, and they couldn't turn me off." She coaxed membership lists,
mailing labels and legal work from friends or friends of friends. In 1985 she
decided to hold a statewide conference on groundwater issues and got then
Governor Bob Kerrey to be the keynote speaker, causing local media and
politicians to pay attention.
The Groundwater Foundation--a foundation only in the sense that it gives away
information, not money--will hold its 15th annual conference this fall, not in
Lincoln but in Atlanta, Georgia, attracting experts from all over the U.S. And
over the years Seacrest has found that educating children is a good way to reach
their parents. This year her Foundation picked 25 Nebraska high-school and
junior-high students to attend "Groundwater University," a four-day field trip
to learn all about Seacrest's favorite subject. Every spring since 1989, 3,000
or so 4th to 6th graders have gathered in Grand Island, Nebraska, for the
Foundation's Children's Groundwater Festival, a day of fun, interactive learning
and enlightenment. Similar water festivals have sprung up in about 40 states.
Perhaps most important of all, Seacrest encourages grass-roots action far beyond
Nebraska's borders. In 1994 the Foundation designated eight communities as
"Groundwater Guardians," honoring them with a plaque and their leaders with a
trip to Washington, D.C. One North Carolina community, for example, was fighting
groundwater pollution from hog farms. Last year more than 200 towns across the
U.S. and Canada were named Guardians.
"When I got started in the kitchen of my house," Seacrest says, "I had no idea
it would lead to all this." Now she won't stop until everyone shares her
excitement about guarding the precious water beneath our feet.
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