Tag: nitrogen
Too much pee in Walden Pond
April 9, 2018A group of scientists who studied the iconic Walden Pond in Concord, Mass., say that urine from generations of swimmers is not only fouling the water, but changing the ecosystem. “More than half of the summer phosphorus budget of the lake may now be attributable to urine released by swimmers,” states the study published on…
Green up the garden, not the waterways – over-fertilization causes nutrient pollution
March 29, 2017With spring comes the greening of lawns and gardens — and, by extension, the greening of rivers, streams and other bodies of water. The first is a good thing. The second — well, that’s decidedly bad. As we finally dust off the winter doldrums and head outside to start gardening, it’s easy to…
A history of nitrogen pollution
July 22, 2013A University of Washington study of 36 lakes has found evidence of nitrogen from human activities in more than 75 percent of them. Some of the lakes, which range from the U.S. Rocky Mountains to northern Europe, are “thousands of miles from the nearest city, industrial area or farm.” And the pollution dates back to before the…