Geography
Nutrient Pollution
Nutrient pollution refers to the excessive presence of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, in water bodies, often due to human activities like agriculture and wastewater discharge. This can lead to harmful algal blooms, oxygen depletion, and overall degradation of water quality, impacting aquatic ecosystems and human health. Efforts to mitigate nutrient pollution involve managing fertilizer use and improving wastewater treatment.
Written by Perlego with AI-assistance
Related key terms
1 of 5
8 Key excerpts on "Nutrient Pollution"
eBook - ePubEnvironmental Contaminants
Impact, Assessment, and Remediation
- Pritam Ganguly, Jajati Mandal, Mariappan Paramsivam, Sandip Patra, Pritam Ganguly, Jajati Mandal, Mariappan Paramsivam, Sandip Patra(Authors)
- 2024(Publication Date)
- Apple Academic Press(Publisher)
The two primary or major nutrients that cause soil and environmental health problems are nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). These two nutrients are together the most widespread cause of water quality impairment in surface water and groundwater pollution. Both point and nonpoint sources of pollution through fertilizer usage have been identified since green revolution as indiscriminate and injudicious application of fertilizers has been practiced globally. The primary means of avoiding the environmental pollution with excessive use of N and P fertilizers is by avoiding the excessive application of these high-analysis fertilizers and their accumulation in soil and/ or groundwater. Nutrient supply through right manner and with judicious fertilizer application could meet the need of growing plants vis-a-vis could reduce the environmental pollution. In most of the surface water, phosphorus is the limiting nutrient that can cause eutrophication. Nitrogen in the form of ammonia in aquatic ecosystems can induce toxicity to aquatic macrofauna in addition to causing eutrophication. The nitrogen in the form of nitrate is also a major issue in certain states of India, where intensive agriculture is practiced, as nitrate levels above 10.0 mg/L are considered toxic for the drinking water. Several issues have been identified that link excessive fertilizer use to environmental issues. The major fertilizer-related pollution issue is the buildup of nitrates in drinking water, a trend that the general public is concerned about and is thought to be caused by the excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers and manures derived from animals. Another issue is nutrient enrichment, eutrophication, and deterioration of fresh water quality as a result of nutrients transported through fertilizers being transported via leaching and/or runoff, as well as sediment erosion. Nutrient management impacts the environment most directly in the area of water quality and soil quality. Widespread Nutrient Pollution through fertilizer usage has highlighted the need for better nutrient management to reduce the contamination of environment.__________________ Environmental Contaminants: Impact, Assessment, and Remediation. Pritam Ganguly, Jajati Mandal, M. Paramsivam, & Sandip Patra, (Eds.) © 2024 Apple Academic Press, Inc. Co-published with CRC Press (Taylor & Francis)8.1 Introduction
The per capita availability of land for agricultural production has decreased substantially in recent decades, not only in India but also around the world, and is predicted to continue to shrink in the near future. The amount of land used in production per person is predicted to be 56% lower by 2025 than it was in 1965. As per the UN report on “The World Population Prospects 2019,” the world’s population will grow by 2 billion people in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion presently to 9.7 billion in 2050. Because of these tendencies, market demand for food will continue to rise, and feeding a world population of 9.7 billion people in 2050 will necessitate increased overall food production, which will further necessitate increased nutrient inputs to meet demand. It is also reasonable to expect that, as public control over production grows, the impact of agriculture on the environment will be evaluated more closely. India removes 25 Mt of plant nutrients from soil each year to harvest 200 MT of food grains, although the annual input from external sources such as fertilizers and manures is only 33% of the actual need. The situation will become even worse in the following years, when the production demand will be substantially higher. Though, this has been estimated only for major nutrients, but taking into account the uptake and demand of micronutrients and secondary nutrients for correcting their widespread deficiency, it can be inferred that the future for these nutrients may also be alarming. In Indian agriculture, less application of nutrients may be of common occurrence, but imbalanced and untimely application of nutrients can lead to detrimental consequences including water, soil, and air pollution. Therefore, the thrust should be on balanced and judicious application of nutrients to achieve higher nutrient use efficiency on one hand and lesser environmental impact on the other. Fertilizers and other agro-chemicals are a non-point source of pollution in intensive agriculture in three ways: groundwater contamination due to leaching, surface water contamination due to runoff of excess nutrients or their derivatives, and emission of greenhouse gases that alter the composition of atmospheric gases, ultimately leading to climate warming.
eBook - PDF- Premasis Sukul(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
Primarily nutrients (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus), sediment, wastes, pesticides and salts are regarded as agricultural nonpoint source pollutant. Realistically, most of the pollutants originate from anthropogenic activities, although there exists many naturally occurring mineral components that may exhibit toxicity towards living system at higher concentration. Land disposal of municipal and industrial wastes, automobile emissions, mining activity, and application of fertilizers and pesticides to agricultural field cause a continuous accumulation of heavy metals and other pollutant components in soils. These pose threats of environmental degradation via soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, climate change etc. 14.2. Soil pollution Soil is a vital part of the natural environment. Soil pollution mostly occurs through incorporation of toxic chemical materials at concentrations higher than normal Soil, Air and Water Pollution 14 472 Soil Chemistry and Plant Nutreints and ultimately adverse effects are exerted on humans or other living organisms. It is commonly polluted with various contaminants such as heavy metals, radioactive materials, toxins, petroleum hydrocarbons from oil spill, seepage from a landfill, excessive amount of fertilizer and pesticides used in agriculture, application of polluted water to irrigate agricultural field, plastics, paper, bottles etc. When trashes are dumped in the soil through improper disposal, they release many chemicals and pollutants into the soil, which may enter the groundwater or surface water through leaching and run off, respectively and thereby contaminating them significantly. Similarly, polluted air can also contaminate the soil by acid rain discharge on to the soil.
- De-Sheng Pei(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Bentham Science Publishers(Publisher)
Pollution in coastal waters is quickly becoming a conspicuous problem throughout the world and the coastal areas of Pakistan are also included in severely affected and therefore no exception. Anthropogenic activities are generally accountable for the deprivation of the marine environment along with their resources across the ocean bodies. The oceans economy not only offers significant development opportunities but also raise some challenges. Not only marine sources, the land-based sources are the prominent contributor of pollution as add in the pollution through direct and indirect wastes discharge as well as effluents in the adjacent coastal waters from untreated domestic and industrial sources. In this chapter, the magnitude of pollution (organic and inorganic) in coastal environments of Pakistan was discussed including plastic pollution as in recent days, it’s a hot issue and a detailed topic itself. The weathering material, river runoff, industrial and domestic waste water enter through different channels and take part in coastal pollution. Most of the pollutants like pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals and macro-nutrients, presented intensification in a marine environment. Nutrient dynamics and their cycling influence the process of eutrophication in the adjacent coastal waters and an enrichment of macro-nutrients in coastal waters reveals an increment in the explosion frequency of harmful algal blooms were reported. The animal manure, sewage treatment, runoff of fertilizers, storm water runoff, plant discharges, and power plant emissions, and failing septic tanks are the primary sources of Nutrient Pollution. The algal blooms are responsible to produce algal toxins or red-tide toxins and these naturally-derived toxins harm the organisms, including humans. These bloom toxins initially contaminated the fish or seafood species, then responsible for significant loss of fish and shellfish species and ultimately economy damage.Keywords: Marine Environment, Coastal Pollution, Nutrient Dynamics, Heavy metal Contamination, Pollution Impacts.* Corresponding author Noor U. Saher: Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan; Tel: +92-21-9261397, +92-21-9261551; Fax: +92-21-9261398; E-mail: [email protected]INTRODUCTION
Coastal and estuarine ecosystems always remain sturdily subjective by the activities of mankind through pollution and habitat loss throughout the world. The environmental degradation, climate change, over-exploitation, pollution, poverty and lack of basic (health, water as well as education) facilities are the conspicuous issues for the coastal areas including the associated population. Pollution, now become one of the most significant challenges to the health of coastal ecology and systems. The pollution sources mainly include the land affected by agricultural or industrial activities, livestock or domestic waste discharge and also from coastal waters by aquaculture as well as other anthropogenic activities. The direct and untreated discharge of industrial and agricultural effluents and domestic sewage are the main contributor of pollution for the 990 km long coastline of Pakistan. The impacts of coastal pollution appeared as a consequence of various environmental issues mainly includes; the enrichment of organic matter leading to eutrophication, pollution through chemicals (metals and oil), sea level rise due to the global climate change and sedimentation as a result of land-based activities. According to preliminary estimation, the fisheries and allied resources are the primary livelihood for 80% of the coastal population of Pakistan as fishery-related exports acquiesce per year on average sum of PKR 8.8 billion (US$ 838 million) for the country. but this trade benefits are significantly dependent on the sustainable utilization of these marine resources. Over 75% of all marine pollution originates from land-based sources, which are primarily industrial, agricultural and urban. Point and non-point source pollutions continue globally, resulting in the steady degradation of coastal and marine ecosystems. There are various means of pollution incorporated through various human activities, including offshore oil and gas production and marine oil transportation. Other contaminants produced either naturally or anthropogenically ultimately flow into marine waters. Pharmaceuticals are also an important pollution source, mostly due to overproduction and incorrect disposal. Ship breaking and recycling industries (SBRIs) also releases various pollutants and substantially deteriorates habitats and marine biodiversity of adjacent coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan coast.
eBook - PDFHandbook of Environmental Health, Volume II
Pollutant Interactions in Air, Water, and Soil
- Herman Koren, Michael S. Bisesi(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
Locally, nutrients may be found in the air coming from lagoons in which manure is processed. Nearly every pesticide has been detected in air, rain, snow, or fog. Atmospheric deposition is not evenly distributed across the country. It is found more heavily in a broad band from the upper Midwest through the Northeast. Eroded soil and sediment can transport considerable amounts of some nutrients such as organic nitrogen and phosphorus. The soil and sediment can also transfer pesticides to rivers and streams. About 1 billion lb of pesticides are used each year. Agriculture accounts for 70 to 80% of total pesticide use. Most of the agricultural pesticides are herbicides. These chemicals along with commercial fertilizers end up in bodies of water. Phosphorus from laundry detergents has declined as an environmental problem. This has resulted from state bans and voluntary removal of phosphates by detergent manufacturers. WATER PROBLEMS Natural water pollution is created through the silt that washes down along water beds due to rain or snow carrying dust, dust particles, and other materials into the water. Artificial pollution, until recently, was mostly created by domestic and simple industrial waste. The pollution problems were usually of a local nature and needed a local solution. However, as the national growth has increased, the production of goods has increased sharply and with it the production of common industrial waste has increased sharply. Further, new processes in manufacturing have produced new complex wastes that have not been easily handled by the current control technologies. The increased use of commercial fertilizers and the wide use of a large number of pesticides have contaminated many of our waters. Radioactive materials have entered waters by means of precipitation from the radioactive dust created by nuclear explosions. At present, long stretches of interstate and intrastate streams have become polluted and are continuing to be polluted.
eBook - PDF- Rose Marie O. Mendoza(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Arcler Press(Publisher)
Most of the human actions can adversely affect the water. The quality of water is influenced by direct point source as well as diffuse pollution which originate from rural and urban populations, farming and industrial emissions. Point source pollution because of sewage treatment, diffuse pollution because of farming and industrial discharge are recognized as the main sources (Drever, 1988; McLaren, 1990) of water pollution. The key pollutants from agriculture include pesticides, nutrients, fecal microbes, and sediment. While harmful chemicals and oxygen-consuming substances are more connected to point source discharges (Masters & Ela, 1991; Stumm & Morgan, 2012). The diagram below shows several sources of nitrogen pollution in water. Usually, a distinction can be made amid: • point sources, such as discharges from industry, urban wastewater, and fish farms; • Diffuse sources, such as losses from agriculture, background losses (for instance, forests), losses from distributed dwellings and atmospheric deposition on water bodies (for instance, lakes or marine areas). Introduction to Water Pollution and Water Quality 3 Figure 1: Illustration of the marine nitrogen cycle and pollution sources with nitrogen. (Source: http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/water-pollution/figures-and-maps/sources-of-pollution/image_view_fullscreen) Figure 2: Sources of water pollution. [Source: http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/water-pollution/figures-and-maps/sources-of-pollution/image_view_fullscreen] Biochemical Ecology of Water Pollution 4 Water has both properties of a solvent as well as the ability to transport particles, and thus, can incorporate into itself several impurities that compromise the quality of water (Odoemelam, Okorie, & Oko, 2014; Jha & Machiwal, 2017). The quality of water is an outcome of natural phenomena and the actions of human beings. By and large, we can say that the quality of water is a function of land usage in the catchment area.
eBook - PDFChemistry and Toxicology of Pollution
Ecological and Human Health
- Des W. Connell, Gregory J. Miller(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
The OECD has defined eutrophication as the nutrient enrichment of waters which results in stimulation of an array of symptomatic changes among which increased production of algae and macrophytes, deterioration of fisheries, deterio- ration of water quality and other symptomatic changes are found to be undesirable and interfere with water uses (Wood 1975, p. 238). In the natural eutrophication process, plant detritus, salts, silt, and so on from a catchment are entrained in runoff water and deposited in the water body over geologi- cal time. This leads to nutrient enrichment, sedimentation, infilling, and increased biomass. Figure 8.15 illustrates in general terms how eutrophication is related to aging. The final stage of the process results in the formation of bogs, swamps, and the extinction of the water body. It is believed the process slows with increasing time due to increased turbidity causing limited light penetration and a consequent fall in primary production. Water bodies with little flushing, such as lakes, dams, and enclosed seas, become eutrophic through nutrient enrichment over an extended time scale as described above. This follows the generally accepted eutrophication pattern. Nutrient enrichment also occurs in situations where infilling and increased sedimentation leading to the formation of swamps, bogs, and wetlands is less likely due to comparatively rapid water movement and flushing. This situation arises in streams, estuaries, the continental shelf, and the open seas. Nevertheless, these water bodies may show many of the characteristics of eutrophication and are often referred to in eutrophic terms. However, it is noteworthy that nutrient-enrichment processes can occur in the oceans as well leading to the enrichment of bottom waters with plant matter and organic carbon. This is described earlier in Section 8.2 and leads to the formation of “dead zones” in the bottom waters of the oceans.
eBook - ePub- Roger Park(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems. Patrick (1972) has pointed out that pollution affects the efficiency of transfer of nutrients and/or energy in aquatic systems, and often an increase in certain species of blue-green or green algae leads to accumulation of massive standing crops of these algae. Eutrophication occurs when nutrients are imported into a lake from the upstream drainage basin. The nutrients can be from domestic, industrial or agricultural sources; and frequently the most acute problems arise when all three sources are providing nutrients in large quantities simultaneously (such as in the Great Lakes in Canada, and in Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland). Bartsch (1970) defines eutrophication as 'the nutrient enrichment of waters which frequently results in an array of symptomatic changes, amongst which increased production of algae and other aquatic plants, deterioration of fisheries, deterioration of water quality, and other responses, are found objectionable and impair water use'. The three least welcomed ecological symptoms identified by Bartsch (1970) are the massive blooms of phytoplankton, large-scale growth of attached algae, and unwanted rooted macrophytes; and Rawson (1956) has summarized the main differences in plankton conditions between natural (oligotrophic) and eutrophic lakesTable 7.6 SUMMARY OF MAIN ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF POLLUTION ON ECOSYSTEMSBefore pollution After pollution complex arrangements of specialist species generalist species common forest ecosystem hardy shrubs and herbs phytoplankton in open ocean algae of sewage plants diversity of species monotony of species integrated nutrient cycles loose nutrient cycles; terrestrial cycles depleted, aquatic ones overloaded stable ecosystem unstable ecosystem Source: Woodwell (1970)(Table 7.7
eBook - PDF- Jurex Cuenca Gallo(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Delve Publishing(Publisher)
The topic of water pollution and contamination is being picked for the reason that it is an indispensable part of all living organisms and from past some time, it is taken for granted by human beings (Figure 1.1). Figure 1.1: Nowadays, water pollution is the most crucial type of pollution. Source: https://blog.ipleaders.in/how-and-where-a-common-citizen-can-file-a-complaint-against-water-pollution-in-india/ Water Pollution Around the World 3 In simple terms, water pollution can be defined as a mere contamination of natural water resources like rivers, oceans, lakes, groundwater, and also aquifers. This kind of environmental degradation and contamination takes place when wastes and disastrous pollutants are indirectly or directly released into water bodies without adequate or proper water treatment in order to remove harmful compounds and chemicals. Water pollution is a global issue to a varying degree, place to place and should be fought back collectively. There can be multiple definitions to the water pollution. In general terms, it says that when one or more harmful compounds start to build up in water and increase to such an extent that they start to create troubles for natural flora and fauna and also for human beings. Lakes, oceans, rivers, and other inland water bodies can automatically and naturally absorb (clean up) a limited amount of pollutants by harmlessly dispersing the pollution. For example, if a small cup of blue ink is poured into a large lake, the ink will disappear very quickly into the lake because of the very large volume of clean water present in the lake. This ink is still present in the lake, but is not visible because of its very low concentration. At this level, which is very small, the chemicals present in the ink, probably will not create some real troubles. While on the other hand, if gallons of blue ink are poured into the lake every second with the help of a pipe, the river water will quickly get contaminated and turn blue.
Index pages curate the most relevant extracts from our library of academic textbooks. They’ve been created using an in-house natural language model (NLM), each adding context and meaning to key research topics.
