North Carolina’s Water Quality In Danger Due to Excess Nutrients

May 13, 2016 by in category Science, Technology with 0 and 2
Home > North Carolina’s Water Quality In Danger Due to Excess Nutrients > Science > North Carolina’s Water Quality In Danger Due to Excess Nutrients

Stories about water quality have dominated the news lately.  While lead and other toxins are dangerous additions to our drinking water systems, they are not the only dangers.  Case in point, B. Everett Jordan Lake  in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.  The lake is a man-made reservoir created by the construction of the self-named dam across the Haw River and provides drinking water for 300,000 nearby citizens as well as nearly 40,000 workers in Research Triangle Park. Since 1983, when the lake reached its expected capacity,  Jordan Lake has been designated as nutrient-sensitive waters which is leading to eutrophication, in some cases occurring at a hyper rate. 

Eutrophication is the process by which local run off of animal wastes, fertilizers, sewage and industrial pollution create excess plant growth in a water body.  This plant growth eventually depletes the available oxygen in the lake killing plant and animal life and making the water toxic for human consumption.

By 2007, North Carolina had reached agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to improve water quality as required by the Clean Water Act.  The agreement and the associated rules were developed after public hearings and negotiations between residents, environmental groups, local and state government agencies and other stakeholders. The rules required the reduction of pollution from wastewater discharges, stormwater runoff, development restrictions, agriculture and fertilizer application and were designed to reduce phosphorus by 5%.

Unfortunately, the agreement has never been implemented as North Carolina has passed legislation delaying the execution of the rules or even feebling the restrictions.  Instead the State deployed devices called SolarBees from Medora Corp., which are designed to agitate the water to prevent the growth of cyanobacteria, thus improving water quality.  While it is possible for the SolarBees to possibly make some improvement in the lake, it does nothing to decrease the chemicals that led to the creation of the problem in the first place.  Even the Medora Corp. suggests a program to reduce the phosphates as well as implementing the SolarBees.

Before Nutrients PLUS, the problems like this region is having were harder to solve.  

The NP Pathway to Solutions and NP way of responsible use of plant nutrients is vital to our nation to help feed an ever growing population.  Nutrients Plus is proud to create a product that would reduce the eutrophication of water bodies like Jordan Lake. 

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