Full Article: Choking the Gulf: A Story of Industrial Agriculture
Written by Jesse Richardson
Photo Courtesy of Rabalais, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
At the crack of dawn, the farmer of the 21st century wakes up and prepares for the work ahead of him. Today, unlike other days, is especially important: perhaps it’s time for another periodic spraying of pesticides or laying of fertilizer. Maybe it’s time to check the irrigation pipes to the lagoon.
Whatever it may be, all three tasks have something in common: they lead to chemicals and toxins leaching into the water supply, which is then taken down river to the Gulf of Mexico. Slowly, they exacerbate an already terrible environmental situation: increased water pollution and hypoxia, or oxygen starved waters.
A Deadly Trifecta
Pesticides: Pesticides must be sprayed multiple times a year in order to chemically manage whatever may be determined a “pest” – perhaps a certain weed, insect, or fungus. Literally, millions of tons are sprayed over our crops a year, much of it hitting everythingbut the plants targeted due to the surface area of plants, wind, and poorly calibrated machinery.
Fertilizers: Fertilizers are the next challenge that face the Gulf, its ecosystems, and the life within. With more corn than even being grown for ethanol fuel, millions of pounds of nitrogen-based fertilizer is seeping into ground water and soil, and eventually running off to the Mississippi River. As we’ll see later, nitrogen is key to the problem (and that addressing nitrogen as the issue is key to the solution).
Animal Waste: Finally, animal waste is also a major problem. With “lagoons,” a term used for the cesspools of animal waste at farms for such animals as the pig, there is a constant threat of leaking or spreading of waste by storms. Although the nitrates in animal wasteaccount for roughly 15 percent of the nitrogen influx at the gulf, they still spread chemicals, toxins, and throughout the waterways and can contaminate fresh water supplies.
Over the year, each of the above – the pesticides, fertilizers, and leeching waste – slowly make their way to the Mississippi River, or other rivers that flow into the Mississippi, from their respective sources. The massive fields, the empires of dairy and animal farming, the systematic spraying and enhancing of all things contribute to a trail of toxic soup. Along the way, they degrade soil, ravish ecosystems, and threaten human health and safety.
However, the worse place is the final destination: the Gulf of Mexico.
Choking the Gulf
All the chemicals, nitrates, and waste ends up in one place: the Gulf of Mexico. Every years, millions of tons of contaminated water rush into the Gulf and the natural ecosystems that exist there. From aerial views, one can literally see the stark contrast of color: sediment (and nitrate) laden water coming into the blue of the ocean. The picture above shows the two forces clash.
Written by Jesse Richardson
Photo Courtesy of Rabalais, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
At the crack of dawn, the farmer of the 21st century wakes up and prepares for the work ahead of him. Today, unlike other days, is especially important: perhaps it’s time for another periodic spraying of pesticides or laying of fertilizer. Maybe it’s time to check the irrigation pipes to the lagoon.
Whatever it may be, all three tasks have something in common: they lead to chemicals and toxins leaching into the water supply, which is then taken down river to the Gulf of Mexico. Slowly, they exacerbate an already terrible environmental situation: increased water pollution and hypoxia, or oxygen starved waters.
A Deadly Trifecta
Pesticides: Pesticides must be sprayed multiple times a year in order to chemically manage whatever may be determined a “pest” – perhaps a certain weed, insect, or fungus. Literally, millions of tons are sprayed over our crops a year, much of it hitting everythingbut the plants targeted due to the surface area of plants, wind, and poorly calibrated machinery.
Fertilizers: Fertilizers are the next challenge that face the Gulf, its ecosystems, and the life within. With more corn than even being grown for ethanol fuel, millions of pounds of nitrogen-based fertilizer is seeping into ground water and soil, and eventually running off to the Mississippi River. As we’ll see later, nitrogen is key to the problem (and that addressing nitrogen as the issue is key to the solution).
Animal Waste: Finally, animal waste is also a major problem. With “lagoons,” a term used for the cesspools of animal waste at farms for such animals as the pig, there is a constant threat of leaking or spreading of waste by storms. Although the nitrates in animal wasteaccount for roughly 15 percent of the nitrogen influx at the gulf, they still spread chemicals, toxins, and throughout the waterways and can contaminate fresh water supplies.
Over the year, each of the above – the pesticides, fertilizers, and leeching waste – slowly make their way to the Mississippi River, or other rivers that flow into the Mississippi, from their respective sources. The massive fields, the empires of dairy and animal farming, the systematic spraying and enhancing of all things contribute to a trail of toxic soup. Along the way, they degrade soil, ravish ecosystems, and threaten human health and safety.
However, the worse place is the final destination: the Gulf of Mexico.
Choking the Gulf
All the chemicals, nitrates, and waste ends up in one place: the Gulf of Mexico. Every years, millions of tons of contaminated water rush into the Gulf and the natural ecosystems that exist there. From aerial views, one can literally see the stark contrast of color: sediment (and nitrate) laden water coming into the blue of the ocean. The picture above shows the two forces clash.
And despite natural runoff being beneficial to the Gulf, the runoff industrial agriculture produces is something different. Nitrates that accumulate from across the Midwest (picture left) have an extremely adverse effect in the Gulf: hypoxia, or the starving of oxygen.
Nitrates feed life in the water just as they do on land. Each year, huge blooms of algae are spawned. As these grow, they suffocate the waters – literally depleting the water of oxygen. Soon, oxygen dependent ocean-life die off, including fish, crabs, and plankton. Crops contribute the most, especially corn and soybean, but animals waste contributes as well. Pesticides “toxify” the environment along the way, as well as the Gulf itself.
Looking for a Solution
Currently, the EPA has yet to mandate any formal regulation, and while some states have taken initiative, there is little serious focus on runoff and the Gulf specifically.
Three areas must be addressed: 1) the release of these nitrates and toxins, 2) the persistence of runoff, and 3) the effect it has on the environment. First, farms must begin to use less and less pesticides and artificial fertilizers. Not only does organic farming (done with intensive organic methods) yield equal or greater crops, but it does so without the use of synthetic chemicals.
Second, the farms that remain on the current system must work are irrigating and recapturing their waste. Just as a driver cannot throw his trash our the window, a farmer must not be able to pump their waste downstream.
Finally, work must be done to rehabilitate and protect the Gulf. The dead zone, which is now the size of New Jersey and looking to grow with this last season of intense storms, must be minimized and addressed. Not only does the life of the Gulf depend on it, but thelives of coastal resident do as well.
----------------
Des Moines Water Works turned on the world’s largest nitrate-removal facility Friday morning for the first time since 2007 after levels of health-threatening nitrates hit records in both the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, two of the main drinking-water sources.
The predicament shows that voluntary conservation efforts on farms aren’t working and do not bode well for the future of the area’s water supply, said Water Works General Manager Bill Stowe. He added that the nitrates primarily come from crop fertilizers, and that better field drainage systems have worsened the situation.
“We are off our playing field. We haven’t seen this before,” Stowe said.
“The issue is the quality of the water in the Raccoon and the Des Moines. This trend is absolutely off the scale,” Stowe said. “It’s like having serial tornadoes. You can deal with one, you can deal with two, but you can’t deal with them every day.”
“The state’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, with it’s emphasis on the voluntary measure, clearly isn’t working,” Stowe said. “And our ratepayers are paying significantly to remove nitrates.”
The strategy for cutting runoff from farms, developed largely by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, was designed to address concerns about the so-called dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Midwest fertilizers feed algae blooms that eventually suck oxygen from a large part of the Gulf in summer.
Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey has said the voluntary measures are the best bet for action, because they avoid court challenges that regulations bring and avoid “one size fits all” solutions.
Nitrates have been linked to blue-baby syndrome, in which infants suffocate, as well as to various cancers and miscarriages. The federal limit is 10 milligrams per liter nitrate in drinking water; both rivers have posted readings in the range of 20.
The Raccoon River hit 24 this week; the previous record was 22. The Des Moines was just under 18; the record was 14.2.
Stowe said tap water will remain safe, even with the unusual difficulty in finding water with lower nitrate levels to blend with the supplies running high. The $4 million nitrate-removal plant, installed in 1992 costs about $7,000 a day to run. So far, the utility is using four of the eight treatment cells where nitrates are stripped from the water. EPA had ordered Des Moines to act to remove nitrates after the contaminant exceeded the federal limit.
Even the water in the so-called gallery — the shallow wells at the Fleur Drive plant — are running close to the nitrate limit for tap water, further limiting the options for combining water supplies. Water Works has turned on its backup plants at Maffitt Reservoir, Crystal Lake and the Saylor Township plant opened several years ago.
Stowe said the nitrates then are dumped back in the river, an EPA-approved arrangement he hopes to avoid in the future. He is researching better ways to dispose of the slurry.
Some upstream levels were more than twice the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limit for drinking water.
BLOG POSTS TAGGED ‘DEAD ZONE’ --> http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/tag/dead-zone
Tags: D+, dead zone, Des Moines Water Works, nitrate removal, nitrates, Nutrient Reduction Strategy, water pollution
Nitrates feed life in the water just as they do on land. Each year, huge blooms of algae are spawned. As these grow, they suffocate the waters – literally depleting the water of oxygen. Soon, oxygen dependent ocean-life die off, including fish, crabs, and plankton. Crops contribute the most, especially corn and soybean, but animals waste contributes as well. Pesticides “toxify” the environment along the way, as well as the Gulf itself.
Looking for a Solution
Currently, the EPA has yet to mandate any formal regulation, and while some states have taken initiative, there is little serious focus on runoff and the Gulf specifically.
Three areas must be addressed: 1) the release of these nitrates and toxins, 2) the persistence of runoff, and 3) the effect it has on the environment. First, farms must begin to use less and less pesticides and artificial fertilizers. Not only does organic farming (done with intensive organic methods) yield equal or greater crops, but it does so without the use of synthetic chemicals.
Second, the farms that remain on the current system must work are irrigating and recapturing their waste. Just as a driver cannot throw his trash our the window, a farmer must not be able to pump their waste downstream.
Finally, work must be done to rehabilitate and protect the Gulf. The dead zone, which is now the size of New Jersey and looking to grow with this last season of intense storms, must be minimized and addressed. Not only does the life of the Gulf depend on it, but thelives of coastal resident do as well.
----------------
Record nitrate levels in Raccoon, Des Moines threaten Des Moines-area tap water - "voluntary conservation efforts on farms aren’t working"
FULL ARTICLE: Record nitrate levels in Raccoon, Des Moines threaten Des Moines-area tap water | Des Moines Register Staff Blogs
FULL ARTICLE: Record nitrate levels in Raccoon, Des Moines threaten Des Moines-area tap water | Des Moines Register Staff Blogs
Des Moines Water Works turned on the world’s largest nitrate-removal facility Friday morning for the first time since 2007 after levels of health-threatening nitrates hit records in both the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, two of the main drinking-water sources.
The predicament shows that voluntary conservation efforts on farms aren’t working and do not bode well for the future of the area’s water supply, said Water Works General Manager Bill Stowe. He added that the nitrates primarily come from crop fertilizers, and that better field drainage systems have worsened the situation.
“We are off our playing field. We haven’t seen this before,” Stowe said.
“The issue is the quality of the water in the Raccoon and the Des Moines. This trend is absolutely off the scale,” Stowe said. “It’s like having serial tornadoes. You can deal with one, you can deal with two, but you can’t deal with them every day.”
“The state’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, with it’s emphasis on the voluntary measure, clearly isn’t working,” Stowe said. “And our ratepayers are paying significantly to remove nitrates.”
The strategy for cutting runoff from farms, developed largely by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, was designed to address concerns about the so-called dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Midwest fertilizers feed algae blooms that eventually suck oxygen from a large part of the Gulf in summer.
Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey has said the voluntary measures are the best bet for action, because they avoid court challenges that regulations bring and avoid “one size fits all” solutions.
Nitrates have been linked to blue-baby syndrome, in which infants suffocate, as well as to various cancers and miscarriages. The federal limit is 10 milligrams per liter nitrate in drinking water; both rivers have posted readings in the range of 20.
The Raccoon River hit 24 this week; the previous record was 22. The Des Moines was just under 18; the record was 14.2.
Stowe said tap water will remain safe, even with the unusual difficulty in finding water with lower nitrate levels to blend with the supplies running high. The $4 million nitrate-removal plant, installed in 1992 costs about $7,000 a day to run. So far, the utility is using four of the eight treatment cells where nitrates are stripped from the water. EPA had ordered Des Moines to act to remove nitrates after the contaminant exceeded the federal limit.
Even the water in the so-called gallery — the shallow wells at the Fleur Drive plant — are running close to the nitrate limit for tap water, further limiting the options for combining water supplies. Water Works has turned on its backup plants at Maffitt Reservoir, Crystal Lake and the Saylor Township plant opened several years ago.
Stowe said the nitrates then are dumped back in the river, an EPA-approved arrangement he hopes to avoid in the future. He is researching better ways to dispose of the slurry.
Some upstream levels were more than twice the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limit for drinking water.
BLOG POSTS TAGGED ‘DEAD ZONE’ --> http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/tag/dead-zone
Tags: D+, dead zone, Des Moines Water Works, nitrate removal, nitrates, Nutrient Reduction Strategy, water pollution
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