nitrates
Credit: Jasmina Seidl/Unsplash
Iowa faces a severe surge in stream contamination due to nitrate buildup
Iowa's prolonged drought has led to nitrate accumulation in soils, risking a significant increase in stream pollution levels.
In short:
- The state's drought has heightened the potential for nitrate from fertilizers to wash into streams during heavy rains.
- Records show a 400% nitrate rise in streams post-drought in 2013, and current trends suggest a repeat.
- Conservation efforts are in place, but their impact on overall water quality remains uncertain.
In short:
“I think there can be no doubt that the long-term trend for nitrogen is up. At the same time that we’re implementing conservation, we’re also doing stuff to make it worse.”
— Chris Jones, former University of Iowa researcher
Why this matters:
High levels of nitrates in drinking water have been linked to conditions such as methemoglobinemia, or "blue baby syndrome," in infants, where the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood is reduced.
Efforts to mitigate nitrate pollution involve improving agricultural practices, such as optimizing fertilizer use and implementing buffer zones to intercept runoff before it reaches water bodies.
EHN coverage: In Pennsylvania, more than 5.8 million pounds of toxic substances were dumped into waterways by industrial sites in 2020, including chemicals like nitrates from farming and byproducts from petroleum, steel and coal-related industries that are linked to cancer, reproductive harm and developmental issues in children.
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The Monongahela river in Pittsburgh. Photo Credit: Kristina Marusic
Chemicals linked to birth defects are being dumped in Pittsburgh’s rivers: Report
Chemicals linked to cancer and developmental harm are also released in large quantities into the city’s three rivers.
PITTSBURGH—More than 50 years after the passage of the national Clean Water Act, industrial polluters still regularly dump toxic chemicals linked to birth defects and cancer into local waterways, according to a new report.
Among major watershed regions nationwide, the Ohio River basin received the largest volume of toxic chemical discharges by weight in 2020, according to the report, published today by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center. Other heavily polluted watersheds included the Mid-Atlantic watershed, which encompasses parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland Delaware and New York; and the South Atlantic-Gulf, which encompasses Florida and parts of surrounding states.
The report looked at data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Toxic Release Inventory, which documents self-reported emissions of toxic chemicals from industrial sources across the country. It found that western Pennsylvania’s waterways see particularly large releases of chemicals like compounds of nickel and chromium, which are linked to reproductive harm, including reduced sperm count, birth defects, miscarriages and premature births.
The lower Monongahela watershed, which encompasses much of southwestern Pennsylvania (and falls within the Ohio River basin), ranks 4th nationally for releases of chemicals that cause reproductive harm into waterways. Around 7,364 pounds of these chemicals were dumped into the watershed’s rivers and streams in 2020, according to the report.
“Pennsylvania’s waterways should be clean — for swimming, fishing, providing drinking water and supporting wildlife,” Ashleigh Deemer, deputy director with the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, said in a statement. “But all too often, polluters use our rivers as open sewers with no repercussions.”
Under the Clean Water Act, pollution released into waterways is regulated and monitored in various ways. Most of the pollutants reported under the Toxic Release Inventory are released into waterways legally, but some environmental advocates argue that pollution allowances under the law are too high, given the health harms of these chemicals and improved availability of better pollution control technology in recent years.
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