Together for Waterways
Table of Contents
The Culprits
Wastewater
Acid Rain
Drinking Water
Clean Up
Watch the Rain
Nutrient Pollution
What is nutrient pollution, and why does it matter? In this article, we'll cover everything from fertilizers to waste to beach closures so we can understand how to protect our local water.
Quick Tools
Government
Use the action toolkit to learn how to petition your local legislators to reduce nutrient pollution.
Takeaways
Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) are normal: they naturally occur in our water, soil, and air, and they're essential for life. Often, they're the limiting factor—or bottleneck—for algae and aquatic plants' growth.
When we introduce excessive amounts of these nutrients into our waterways, they fuel an overgrowth of plants and algae (cultural eutrophication).
This overgrowth looks unappealing, smells foul, depletes dissolved oxygen, and blocks sunlight from the water below.
If the overgrowth includes a Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB), the algae produce toxins dangerous to fish, birds, pets, and humans.
The Effects: Fish kills, beach closures, pet deaths, and contaminated drinking water.
Impact: Nutrient pollution affects 2.5 million acres of lakes, reservoirs, and ponds across the United States.
The Solution: Consumers and Businesses (us) can use sustainable products and behaviors to protect our water.
The Process
1
Our Products
A variety of items from our daily lives contain Nitrogen and Phosphorus:
Pet Waste - Since nutrients are important for biological functions, and they're excreted in animal waste. When dog waste is left out or bags are thrown into a storm drain, it adds Nitrogen to water. And more importantly, a single gram of dog waste contains 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, which can itself contaminate water.
Yard Waste - Plant matter like grass clipping and leaves are nutrient-rich
Soaps and Detergents - In MA, common dishwashing detergents contain 0%-8.7% phosphate by weight.
Synthetic Fertilizers - Synthetic or instant-release fertilizers have high concentrations of readily-avaliable nitrogen and phosphorus. It's easy to overfertilize since plants can't take in all these nutrients at once.
2
Our Behaviors
Leaving Products Vulnerable - Sometimes, us consumers can leave these products vulnerable—piles of clippings, unscooped pet waste, bottles of cleaning agents—out in our driveways, lawns, and streets.
Overfertilizing - If plants cannot retain all the nutrients, they're vulnerable to leach into groundwater or be washed away by stormwater.
Care for Septic Tanks - A malfunctioning septic system pollutes with both nutrients and fecal bacteria. 10-20% of septic systems fail at some point in their operational lifetimes.
3
Rain
Runoff: During a rainstorm, the flow of water (runoff) picks up these items—nutrients included.
Leaching: If nutrients aren't bound to plants or soil, rainwater can push them deeper through layer of soil and into groundwater.
Stormwater Runoff: The nutrient-rich runoff can pass over impermeable surfaces, through storm drains, and into our waterways, unfiltered.
4
Nutrient Enrichment (Eutrophication)
Overgrowth: The flood of nutrients fuels the excessive growth of plants, algae, and bacteria.
Symptoms: The organisms cover the waterway, creating an unappealing look and noxious smell. And they block sunlight from the water below, blinding aquatic life and harming photosynthesizers.
(Harmful) Algal Bloom: If the algae are dangerous, like certain species of Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), they make up a Harmful Algal Bloom, releasing toxins: dangerous for humans; deadly for fish, birds, and pets.
5
Oxygen Depletion (Hypoxia)
Overgrowth: When these plants die, they're decomposed by bacteria in a process that uses oxygen, depleting dissolved O2.
Fish Kills: Fish lose their oxygen source, suffocate, and float to the surface.
6
Further Effects
In the Waterway: Fish kills harm the fishing industry, beach closures from toxins harm recreation and tourism, and the surrounding wildlife suffers from eutrophic conditions.
Water Table: Public water sources test and regulate for contaminants, but nutrient pollution can contaminate groundwater through leaching and thus pose a risk to unregulated private well. For example, infants drinking water at nitrate levels greater than 10 mg/L are at risk for methemoglobinemia ("blue baby syndrome").
The Solution
Eutrophication is a bleak situation, but we can protect our water with sustainable products and behaviors
A
Choose Sustainable Products
Cleaning Agents - Use phosphate-free or low-phosphate (less than 1% by weight) detergents.
Fertilizer - Slow-release or organic fertilizers don't allow all their nutrients to be available. Instead, they're made of organic matter and broken down by microorganisms. In the process, nutrients are gradually released at a pace that grass and plants can use.
Organic Fertilizers have other benefits of fewer applications, water retention, no growth spike upon application, pH buffering, and a low risk of nutrient burning.
B
Clean Up
Watch the Rain - In general, but especially before a rainstorm, make sure all cleaning agents, soaps, lawn products, and yard waste are securely tucked away.
Pick up Pet Waste - Use a bag and throw it into a trash can, not down a storm drain. You can flush pet waste down the toilet too, just not the bag.
C
Support Town Initiatives
Prevention - Runoff can pass over impervious surfaces like roads and travel into storm drains. Support your town in Best Management Practices to reduce stormwater: green spaces, wetlands, and permeable pavements, and others.
Dosing - Some towns use an aluminium sulfate (alum) dosing station in waterways. Through flocculation, alum binds to nutrients and settles to the bottom of the waterway, preventing access by algae.
Monitoring - Keeping track of Harmful Algal Blooms and their toxins can help protect aquatic life and public health.
D
Advocate
Case Study - When the EPA studied nutrient flow in the Gulf of Mexico, they found only 10% came from urban sources. The rest came from commercial agriculture, fossil fuels, and industrial facilities.
You - Advocate for sustainable practices across businesses, institutions, and industry in your community.
Advocacy Tools
You can help solve nutrient pollution with these key steps.
Personal
Talk to your community members! You can co-brand, distribute, and print the flyer below.
Institutions
With this PowerPoint, you can present to local institutions about protecting nearby lakes and ponds from nutrient pollution.
Government
Use the action toolkit below to learn how to petition your local legislators to reduce nutrient pollution.
To learn more, schedule a coaching call with one of our community members. Contact learn@togetherforwaterways.org