Water is a detrimental resource for everyone. That is the reason why we care about water quality. We’ve discovered that Park Rapids, MN experiences groundwater contamination by nitrates and phosphates resulting from potato farming. This issue can have major effects on the quality of the Mississippi River water, groundwater can seep into surface water. This is important to investigate because 1.8 million Minnesotans live within the Mississippi River watershed and the contaminants that go into the river water will be carried south to the rest of the communities built off of the river’s waters. Minnesotans are not the only ones who need the Mississippi waters to be clean as, over 18 million people depend on the river for drinking water.