Agricultural Pollution

One huge source of pollution is caused by agriculture. Agriculture can cause, when not properly managed, a severe amount of water pollution. The type of pollution that is caused by this improper management is called non-point source pollution, or NPS pollution. Since agriculture includes that of raising animals, pollution can originate from animal waste, plowing, pesticides, irrigation, fertilizers, planting and harvesting. So, pretty much all actions that take place on a farm can cause pollution.

In order to manage the sedimentary runoff aspect of agricultural pollution that is caused by wind or water carrying dirt particles to a water body, they can reduce and control the direction and flow of the water they use to water their crops, reduce their amount of transportation of soil, and preventing erosion or planting scrubber plants that act as filtering systems. Taking these measures can reduce the sedimentary pollution by up to 90%. Sedimentary pollution causes water to cloud, which in turn reduces the levels of sunlight that can reach the aquatic plants at the bed of the waterbody in question. This can cause the death of food supplies and can even clog the gills of fish.

Nutrient pollution is caused by nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium from fertilizers, manure, sludge, and irrigation water. When all of these things are used in excess of what the plant needs, they are not absorbed and can run off into water bodies. The fertilizers can cause the plant life in the water to grow out of control, causes a foul taste to the water, and kills fish.

Basically, there are many different types of pollution that are caused from agriculture, but they can be greatly reduced by taking simple management measures. The levels of harmful pesticides can be reduced by using less harmful varieties or by looking in to management plans. Animal waste can be managed by being disposed in waste bins and farmers can easily control the areas in which their grazing animals roam so that waste is not produced in areas where runoff is highest.

In the New York Times today, there was an article about the vast pollution in the waterways of China. This article was titled, China Report Shows More Pollution in Waterways and was written by Jonathan Ansfield and Keith Bradsher. According to the article, China just released their most detailed survey about their terrible problem with pollution. China has had many problems with pollution, most well known is probably the issues that they faced in the months before the Beijing Olympics with air and water pollution. The most dramatic change in results from previous surveys was the levels of water pollution. Before this survey, China never factored in the agricultural pollution caused by pesticides and other forms of agricultural waste. Because of this new inclusion, the levels of pollution reported in 2007 in waterways has jumped more than 200%. This new information means that China's officials who have been working on emissions goals have had their numbers wrong. They now have much more work to do than they previously thought. Agricultural pollution is a huge problem as the pesticides and fertilizers easily leak into waterways and cause lots of damage.

Agricultural information found thanks to the EPA.

-Morgan