As title states, what damage does fertilizer do to the sewage or water supply? Was adding fertilizer to my yard today and noticed the earnings on the bag
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In most of North America, storm runoff just goes directly into whatever nearby creek, river, lake, ocean (etc.) is close to the town. If there’s any “treatment” at all, it’s just passed through a filter to get rid of a little bit of road grit.
If you let fertilizer run off of your land, it’ll end up in the storm drains, and eventually end up in those aquatic environments. Algae, which exists naturally in most aquatic ecosystems, will eat the fertilizer and grow really big. Algae blooms then suck up all of the dissolved oxygen in the water, which means that fish and other aquatic lifeforms can literally suffocate.
Now, one homeowner is probably not going to cause an algae bloom that leads to a mass die-off in a creek, but it’s a pretty common consequence of agriculture.
Fertilizers that enter bodies of water can cause algal blooms. Huge amounts of algae grow in the water and release substances that are toxic to people and to aquatic life. The algae also dies and rots, which consumes oxygen. These anoxic conditions are deadly to animals with gills. In the worst cases, these blooms create dead zones, where virtually nothing can survive.
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