Costs associated with treating water to remove nitrates are high. For example, the citizens of Des Moines, Iowa were forced to pay for a $4 million water treatment system because of the persistent nitrate problems that were caused by fertilizer use. It has also been reported that other communities have had to spend $200,000-$500,000 per contaminated well in order to dig new wells, arrange blending plans with low nitrate water, or close contaminated wells. Statewide costs are even greater. In 1988, a report to the California State Legislature concluded that California had requested over $48 million in state aid in that year alone for remedial measures to solve nitrate contamination problems. In 1996, it was estimated by one source that the United States spends at least $200 million dollars a year to solve nitrate problems .