What are Nitrates?
Nitrates are salts or ester of nitric acid, containing anion No 3 or the group -No 3, or to put it simply, they are a nitrogen-containing nutrient that plants take in. However, if the concentration of nitrates in soil or water becomes too high, it can lead to problems. Nitrates that accumulate in soil can wash into streams and lakes along with runoff. This causes algae populations (which feed on nitrates)to grow too large. These occurrences of rapid population growth are called algal blooms. When the algae die, they sink to the bottom and bacteria will come to decompose the dead algae. The large amounts of bacteria will use up much of the oxygen in that body of water. This takes oxygen away from the other organisms in the water, creating 'dead zones' of deceased animals and low biodiversity due to the lack of oxygen. This has been happening in \ Lake Erie for the past forty years.
Surface runoff carrying wastewater, fertilizers, detergents, and animal waste can be the cause of excessive nitrates entering watershed Reducing the amount of nitrates that enter water systems would be a way to deal with this issue.
Surface runoff carrying wastewater, fertilizers, detergents, and animal waste can be the cause of excessive nitrates entering watershed Reducing the amount of nitrates that enter water systems would be a way to deal with this issue.
How Can We Reduce Nitrates?
We've looked into many possible solutions to the problem of nitrate accumulation in soil and water. One thing people can do is use organic fertilizers. This will reduce the amount of synthetic, or 'man-made', nitrates that end up in groundwater and lakes. Another thing people should do is pick up after their pets because their waste can carry nitrates, and when it rains, the precipitation can push the waste into streams and rivers that lead to bigger bodies of water, carrying the nitrates to them. Finally, our team became curious about using certain plants to pull excessive nitrates from the soil - after researching several plant species, we designed an experiment (see 'Our Experiment') to find out if certain native grasses would be more effective at this than nonnative grass.