Growing concern over water contamination from agricultural activities has prompted an expanded effort by states to design policies and programs to monitor and mitigate the contamination problem. Data limitations have forced states to focus first-round policy initiatives on data collection and monitoring efforts, as well as on funding research centers and research projects. Data bases and information systems pertaining to agriculture and water quality were surveyed for five states--Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wisconsin. For these five states, a total of over fifty state agencies, state offices of federal agencies, and research centers were visited. The states are compared in terms of their agricultural activities, hydrogeologic environments, water use, evidence of water contamination, legislation, state agencies, water quality monitoring systems, data bases, and research projects. The comparison provides a framework for discussion of issues related to collection, analysis, and archiving of environmental data.