One major trade-off comes in the form of excess nutrients, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus, that runoff from fertilizers used on local farm fields and from discharges from wastewater treatment plants and factories.

In an effort to make the water safe to drink, Decatur, Illinois constructed a $7.6 million nitrate reduction facility in 2002. But, that does not mean the nutrients have gone away as runoff from farms in the lake’s watershed and wastewater discharge from heavy industry find their way into the lake and, eventually, beyond.

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Des Moines Water Works, after dumping as much as $250,000 a year into buying water from the increasingly polluted Saylorville Lake, is now considering a $50 million treatment plant expansion. But who will pay for it?

The report that labeled the Raccoon River endangered blamed the problem on the farm chemicals and livestock manure that are running from those emerald fields into our increasingly sickly green rivers and streams. However a lawsuit to share the cost with upstream polluters failed along with a separate case against the state of Iowa alleging the state was violating the public trust by failing to protect the Raccoon River from pollution.

Read More https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2021/07/12/green-water-is-costing-iowans-millions-of-greenbacks/

Water treatment plants do a good job of killing the viruses and bacteria that cause waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. But dealing with chemicals seems more complicated for regulators. Only recently PFAS was discovered in drinking water, but it had been there for decades. More than likely there are other chemicals not yet detected.

Scientists don’t have the research facilities and money necessary to study what the complex mixtures of chemicals do to human health.

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Phosphorus in the soil flushed out of agricultural soils into wetlands and local bodies because of the erosion. The excess of nutrients harms the aquatic plant and animals.

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Phosphorus can easily bind to soil particles, a state in which plants don’t usually access it. The nutrient generally must be in water in order for the plants to use it. Moreover, as farmers spread more fertilizer, new quantities of phosphorus are made available to crops. But as land erodes or heavy rains hit fields, some of that older phosphorus will make its way into streams, rivers, lakes and ultimately groundwater. In coming decades, greater quantities of legacy phosphorus could get flushed into water sources due to climate change, which is projected to increase heavy precipitation events in the Midwest.

Government and independent scientists believe nutrient runoff is the main cause of the dead zone.  Pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus flow into the gulf of Mexico by way of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

For many, the ethanol industry and the government’s 2005 Renewable Fuel Standard carry a lot of the blame.  Since the governments introduction of the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005, acreage of U.S. land to farm corn and soy beans has grown by 16.8 million and over 1.2 million acres of grassland has been lost.

Flooding in 2015 and earlier this year washed away tremendous amounts of pollutants that had accumulated on land during the prolonged drought. The sources of much of these nutrients were cornfields, 40% of which are dedicated to producing ethanol, which fuel companies are compelled by Congress to blend with gasoline.

NOAA officials estimate the Dead Zone costs the nation’s seafood and tourism industries $82 million a year. And it likely will get worse, scientists believe. The gulf produces about 40 percent of the nation’s seafood, which includes offshore species such as shrimp and red snapper. And Louisiana is second in seafood production to Alaska, according to The Nature Conservancy.

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Dr. Tyrone Hayes of the University of California- Berkley has been slammed in the media for being a scientist turned activist; of which he is proud. He did not set off to be an activist, but trusts what one man said, “Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act.” ~ Albert Einstein

Dr. Hayes interest in frogs began as a child at his grandmother’s home. He was particularly interested in frog hormones which are similar to human hormones. After being asked to join a panel of experts conducting studies for Novartis (later Syngenta) on the herbicide atrazine, Dr. Hayes made a surprising discovery. Developing male African clawed frogs and leopard frogs exhibited female characteristics after exposure to atrazine.

Since that discovery and additional research, Dr. Hayes has become an advocate for banning atrazine. For those that don’t know, atrazine is an herbicide that is most often used in corn fields and on lawns. 76 million pounds of it are applied each year and it is one of the most widely used herbicides in the U.S., second to glyphosate. Atrazine is also the most commonly detected pesticide contaminating drinking water.

Hayes as well as well as other scientists studying atrazine in North and South America, Europe and Japan has found links between atrazine exposure and abnormal male hormone levels in fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Co-author professor Val Beasley says at least 10 studies found that exposure to atrazine feminizes male frogs, sometimes to the point of sex reversal.

While human experiments aren’t possible a study shows that men with .1 parts per billion of atrazine in their urine have low sperm counts. Atrazine applicators have 24,000 times that amount in their urine that is known to “chemically” castrate frogs. Dr. Hayes questions what those applicators reproductive health is like.

Listen to Dr. Hayes Story https://youtu.be/_OHd2rPrtuE?si=yEuq9FADmE7FWvuf

The reef supports a wide diversity of life including many endangered species, some of which are unique to the Great Barrier Reef.  More than 1,500 fish species call the reef home, including the clownfish like Nemo from the Disney movie, Finding Nemo.  There are six species of sea turtles, 30 species of dolphins, porpoises, and whales; including the humpback whale.  There are species of sea grass, coral, birds, sea snakes, mollusk, sea horses and frogs   that all call the Great Barrier Reef home.

Tropical cyclones, which can produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain, can also produce high waves and storm surges which can damage the Great Barrier Reef.  However, most of the environmental threats to the reef are manmade.  Pollution, shipping accidents, oil spills, and climate change have all resulted in the loss of more than two-thirds of the reefs coral since 1985.

Pollution and declining water quality are a couple of key threats faced by the Great Barrier Reef.  In 2009 a pesticide monitoring program collected samples at eleven sites; at least two pesticides were detected at every site.  Diuron, atrazine, and metolachlor exceeded Australian and New Zealand water quality guidelines at eight sites.

Over 90% of this pollution comes from farm runoff which is caused by over grazing, excessive fertilizer and pesticide use.  The runoff problem is exacerbated by the loss of coastal wetlands which are necessary to act as filters for the toxins and to help trap the sediment.  The declines in water quality and pesticide pollution have made the reef less resilient to climate change.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was created in 1975 to help manage the reef in a sustainable manner.  Their goal is reduce non-point sources of pollution and it specifically targets nutrients, pesticides and sediment that make their way into the reef due to agricultural activities.  The Center for Biological Diversity is also hoping to protect the reef; they filed a petition with the National Marine Fisheries Service to protect clownfish under the Endangered Species Act.

While there is no evidence that the clownfish population is in decline, the concern is the deteriorating health of the coral reefs.  A critical element of the Endangered Species Act is protecting species’ natural habitats as opposed to merely protecting the population.  The loss of the clownfish’s habitat is a long-term threat to the species which has prompted environmentalists to begin seeking protection now.

The Great Barrier Reef is Australia’s best documented case of contamination of an ecosystem by pesticides.  The Australian government put in place a three-month moratorium on diuron.  The ban covered the season, which began in December, when soil run-off is at its greatest.  Spraying has resumed, but with restrictions; spraying is not allowed if about two inches of rain is expected within three days of application or if the land has a slope greater than 3%.  Some believe it is a good start to saving the Great Barrier Reef while others feel it is too little of an effort.