Climate-driven extreme weather conditions, such as droughts and intense precipitation, may be accelerating the pace at which toxic nitrates are polluting groundwater, a recent study has found.

Heavy rains following a drought caused nitrates — byproducts of nitrogen-based fertilizers — to seep 33 feet under Northern California farm fields in as little as 10 days, scientists observed in the study, published in Water Resources Research.

“In California, we often say we swing between droughts and floods,” corresponding author Isaya Kisekka, a professor of agricultural water management at the University of California Davis, said in a statement.

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