Hormones, such as 17β-estradiol (E2), have the potential of causing widespread physiological and reproductive disorders in numerous species due to their potency and presence in the environment. The occurrence of E2 in the unsaturated zone (0.60 m depth) was determined with wick lysimeters and compared with water flux rates and the transport of known tracers at a hog (Sus scrofa domesticus) farm. Also, a reconnaissance of subsurface water was done at this farmstead using strategically placed wells and lysimeters. Lysimter plot studies were used to develop water balances; identify the transport of conservative, non-sorbing tracers; and to identify the occurrence of E2 in subsurface water under corn-cropped soil that had swine manure mixtures applied. These lysimeter plot experiments were also compared to laboratory experiment results on the fate and transport of E2, and compared with E2 measurements from the farmstead reconnaissance. In the first year of this study, the lysimeters collected 50% – 100% of expected percolation per plot, and also 1–12% of pentafluorobenzoic acid tracer was collected. Significant concentrations of E2 (128 ng L^-1) were found in the first lysimeter sample set and E2 continued to leach in variable amounts throughout the season. The highest cumulative mass of E2 was recovered in the control plot, which had no manure applied. Results indicated that it was likely that E2 was antecedently present at high concentrations in the soil. Also, the results suggested that manures had some influence on the persistence of E2 in the test plots.