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patienceisfun2018 t1_ja9leg2 wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in ELI5: Why is it that when fertilizers make their way into waterways, all the oxygen disappears, killing the fish? by Psychological-Dog994

So how to prevent this or clean up the water quality in a large amount of water?

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VRFireRetardant t1_ja9nku9 wrote

The best preventions for excess fetilizer runoff are

Not using more than needed

Not spreading during wet weather

Ensuring creeks and streams next to the fields are well vegetated around the sides to slow the runoff, absorb nutrients, and slow the water in the creek which slows down the nutrients that do still get in.

There are other more complicsted methods but most follow those guidelines.

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Archaris t1_ja9u78b wrote

>Not spreading during wet weather

Farmers will respond: "Farming doesn't wait for weather"

So to get them to comply you need some laws, monitoring (water testing, sensors), and enforcement vehicle (serious fines that help pay for the monitoring).

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VRFireRetardant t1_jaa2cvd wrote

There often are laws and regulations around spreading and even for riparian zones (vegetation next to streams). The places with a lack of regulations for this are often the places nutrient run off is a signifcant issue in watersheds. A lot of the monitoring for my area is done by local watershed conservation groups who share their data with other authorities or authorities in their organization. They often work together with policy makers to find a good balance for the watershed and the economy.

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dbx999 t1_jabbqj1 wrote

You would think that fertilizer is expensive and you wouldn’t want to let it go to waste by running off places that won’t help you grow your cash crops.

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patienceisfun2018 t1_jaakvha wrote

But what about cleanup, past prevention

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VRFireRetardant t1_jaav27f wrote

Nutrient clean up is incredibly hard. The life in the water uses the nutrients quickly and exponentially multiply. Watershed restoration can help reduce impacts by increasing wetland and stream health and allowing these ecosystems to take up more nutirents before they enter the lake or ocean. These strategies can take a few years to fully reestablish and must be protected and maintained from invasive species or erosion removing the vegetated portions.

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[deleted] t1_ja9mcqj wrote

Preventing excess fertilizer and other pollutants from entering waterways is the best way to ensure the water quality stays high. But

  1. using less fertilizer and pesticides on plants and crops,
  2. using organic and natural alternatives to chemicals when possible And
  3. dispose of hazardous waste properly are other ways to prevent it
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sickeningly_sweet t1_jaaih6e wrote

'organic' and 'natural' are dangerous words to use, as they don't really mean anything, and often are worse for the environment than synthetic chemicals.

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Mr_BriXXX t1_jaavx7x wrote

They can be. But most are lower concentration and work by supporting microbial action which aids in carbohydrate exchange instead of heavy loading of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Depends on a what they are using and how much. In poor soils in harsh growing environments organics alone aren't always sufficient or heavy applications of high urea content are required (not great for the waterways, to be sure). Ideally, you need to manage your soil carefully over a prolonged period - and even, then, it's not always possible if the environment is inhospitable. Like most things, the truth is complicated.

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Naive_Composer2808 t1_jaa0cqn wrote

Don’t discount mechanical aeration, as a fast way to remediate.

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Soranic t1_jaafguq wrote

Since these zones are usually dead anyway, could we detonate a nuke at the bottom of the dead zone so it mixes everything?

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CBus660R t1_jaavpnb wrote

That won't do anything except make it radioactive too. The dead zones are in shallow waters, they're not out past the continental shelf where the depths are in the thousands of feet deep.

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