As we all know, water is one of our most vital resources, especially un-polluted water. Rice growing regions require abundant water supply during grown-in season as the paddy fields are flooded with water. Ideally, water source is coming from either nearby river tributaries or shallow aquifer. 

As the Mississippi River borders the eastern front of the State of Louisiana, this massive body of river channel is constantly feeding fresh, and un-polluted water into the ecosystem. Contrasting with water sources in Asia, whereby the water quality is compromised as most of the rivers and tributaries are being seriously polluted with industrial wastes. Recent studies have revealed that as a result of using the polluted water for irrigation, the heavy metal has made its way into the crop, SCMP of Hong Kong reported that about 10% of the rice grown in China have excessive amount of heavy metal such as cadmium *. 

Needless to say, rice is a natural crop, having clean and un-polluted water is just a pre-requisite beyond doubt. 

 * Source : South China Morning Post on 16 Feb, 2011