Kumale Fufa
Ramisha Islam
18 November 2014
Period 1, Period 2
The Effect of Different Levels of Nitrate and Phosphate in Fertilizer Runoff Before and After Rain
Water is a major resource and is essential for life. It is naturally recycled through a process called hydrological cycle. The demand of water over the world has been increasing as population and industrialization does, while available drinking water has been deteriorating due to pollution.Fertilizer runoff is a serious anthropogenic issue that has been causing disruptive changes to the biological equilibrium. This effect results from human activity, and it also affects humans in many aspects. It affects our water supplies, wildlife, and health. An effective way should be found …show more content…
Groundwater is being polluted mainly by nitrates. In several areas, the groundwater is polluted to an extent that it is no longer fit to be used as drinking water according to present standards. In some areas, waters have been highly enriched by nutrients associated with natural erosion of fertile soils, such as lakes located in areas of rich agricultural soils. The nation’s waterways contain excessive amounts of nitrogen from fertilizer. As a result of all this excessive nitrate, algae and other microorganisms take up the nitrogen, bloom and, after they die, suck the oxygen out of coastal waters. These nitrates and oxygen molecules that plants need to grow eventually find their way into rivers, lakes, and oceans and create dead zones. They do this by fertilizing blooms of algae that deplete oxygen and leave vast dead zones. There, no sea life can survive. Algae are a very large and diverse group of eukaryotic organisms, ranging from unicellular genera such as Chlorella and the diatoms to multicellular forms such as the giant kelp, a large brown alga that may grow up to 50 meters in length. An algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae (typically microscopic) in an aquatic system. Excess algae growth and oxygen depletion in lakes and stream, and methemoglobinemia, caused by too much nitrate-nitrogen in drinking water, and fish death. The majority of this nitrate comes from fertilizer running off agricultural
Ramisha Islam
18 November 2014
Period 1, Period 2
The Effect of Different Levels of Nitrate and Phosphate in Fertilizer Runoff Before and After Rain
Water is a major resource and is essential for life. It is naturally recycled through a process called hydrological cycle. The demand of water over the world has been increasing as population and industrialization does, while available drinking water has been deteriorating due to pollution.Fertilizer runoff is a serious anthropogenic issue that has been causing disruptive changes to the biological equilibrium. This effect results from human activity, and it also affects humans in many aspects. It affects our water supplies, wildlife, and health. An effective way should be found …show more content…
Groundwater is being polluted mainly by nitrates. In several areas, the groundwater is polluted to an extent that it is no longer fit to be used as drinking water according to present standards. In some areas, waters have been highly enriched by nutrients associated with natural erosion of fertile soils, such as lakes located in areas of rich agricultural soils. The nation’s waterways contain excessive amounts of nitrogen from fertilizer. As a result of all this excessive nitrate, algae and other microorganisms take up the nitrogen, bloom and, after they die, suck the oxygen out of coastal waters. These nitrates and oxygen molecules that plants need to grow eventually find their way into rivers, lakes, and oceans and create dead zones. They do this by fertilizing blooms of algae that deplete oxygen and leave vast dead zones. There, no sea life can survive. Algae are a very large and diverse group of eukaryotic organisms, ranging from unicellular genera such as Chlorella and the diatoms to multicellular forms such as the giant kelp, a large brown alga that may grow up to 50 meters in length. An algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae (typically microscopic) in an aquatic system. Excess algae growth and oxygen depletion in lakes and stream, and methemoglobinemia, caused by too much nitrate-nitrogen in drinking water, and fish death. The majority of this nitrate comes from fertilizer running off agricultural