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In 1990, the multi-agency Management Systems Evaluation Areas Program was established in the Midwest Region of the United States. As part of this study a systems approach was used to evaluate solute transport through the vadose zone into the Scioto River buried valley aquifer in southern Ohio. The site is located on the 260 ha Vanmeter farm in Pike County, Ohio. Fluventic hapludoll and fluventic eutrochrept silt loams are the predominant soil series and overlie sands that grade into gravel at a depth of 2-3 m. Measurements on soil cores, tracer tests, porous cup suction lysimeters, and multiport wells were used to measure agrichemical movement from the ground surface, through the vadose zone, and into the aquifer. Soil cores were collected every few weeks and analyzed for atrazine, alachlor, and nitrate. This paper presents a summary of several studies conducted in Ohio to evaluate the distribution of agrichemicals in water resources and identify the processes and factors that affect their distribution. First-order kinetics and soil heterogeneity controlled agrichemical transport through the soil matrix in the root zone.