#human pollution

Nitrogen pollution is one of the lesser known yet equally problematic forms of pollution.

In nature, nitrogen is an essential nutrient for life. Plants take in nitrogen from the soil. It is then passed up the food chain and distributed to all organisms.

However, when humans let too much nitrogen escape into the environment, it can have disastrous consequences.

Over applying fertilizer, which is very nitrogen-rich, or improperly disposing of manure (feces and urine from either farm animals or pets) deposits excess nitrogen into the environment.

The excess nitrogen eventually flows into streams, rivers, lakes, and even the ocean via rain or runoff. There it promotes the rapid growth of algae and algal blooms.

However, the algae die quickly too, and as the dead algae decay, they use up all the oxygen in the water. Other aquatic life gets choked out, and a dead zone is created.

Two images of algae blooms: one image shows a body of water covered in a bright green-yellow algae bloom; the bloom covers the whole image and not one spot of clear water can be seen. Two ducks are swimming in the middle of the algae bloom. The second image shows several dead fish lying belly up in a dark green algae bloom. The images are captioned “Examples of algae blooms”

Nitrogen pollution leads to:

Loss of biodiversity in ecosystems because of creation of dead zones

Money lost decontaminating drinking water

Tourism losses from algae blooms (not a pretty sight)

Fishing industry losses from dead fish and shellfish

Health problems and disease from toxic algae

Another image of an algae bloom follows. The image is a zoomed out picture of an ocean or sea, and over most of the image is a red algae bloom. The image is captioned: “Famous red tides like the annual algae bloom in. the Gulf Coast kill many fish, shellfish, mammals, and seabirds, and make a lot of seafood.. dangerous to eat.”

Other types of nitrogen pollution contribute to:

acid rain. Nitrous oxide from burning fossil fuels mixes with water and increases precipitation acidity

greenhouse gas emissions. Nitrous oxide has 300 times the effect on atmospheric warming as the same amount of CO2.

soil acidification, which can lead to crop failures. Ammonia fertilizers (which contain nitrogen and hydrogen) are the main cause of soil acidification. groundwater and drinking water contamination. 

Nitrate, another fertilizer compound, can find its way into groundwater and well water.

How to reduce nitrogen pollution:

If you walk a pet, pick up after them (for the sake of the envi- ronment and your neighbors)

Use public transportation when possible, and increase your car’s fuel efficiency

If you have a yard, DO NOT OVERUSE FERTILIZER!

Most of all, use only the necessary amount of anything. Don’t overuse household or lawn chemicals.

As with reducing carbon emissions, much of the change will have to come from industries, companies, and government legislation.