MARINE POLLUTION AND PREVENTION

ASSIGNMENT

ON

“MARINE NUTRIENT POLLUTION”

COMPILED BY

NWEKE CLEVER ECHEZULOR

Nutrient pollution
Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs
of nutrients. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters, in which excess
nutrients, usually nitrogen or phosphorus, stimulate algal growth. Sources of nutrient
pollution include surface runoff from farm fields and pastures, discharges from septic
tanks and feedlots, and emissions from combustion. Excess nutrients have been
summarized as potentially leading to:

 Population effects: excess growth of algae (blooms);

 Community effects: species composition shifts (dominant taxa);
 Ecological effects:food web changes, light limitation;
 Biogeochemical effects: excess organic carbon (eutrophication); dissolved
oxygen deficits (environmental hypoxia); toxin production;
 Human health effects: excess nitrate in drinking water (blue baby syndrome);
disinfection by-products in drinking water.

In a 2011 United States Environmental Protection Agency report, the agency's Science
Advisory Board succinctly stated: “Excess reactive nitrogen compounds in the
environment are associated with many large-scale environmental concerns, including
eutrophication of surface waters, toxic algae blooms, hypoxia, acid rain, nitrogen
saturation in forests, and global warming.”[2]Nutrient pollution

Excess nutrients and TMDLs

The regulatory mechanism in the United States, a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL),
prescribes the maximum amount of a pollutant (including nutrients) that a body of water
can receive while still meeting U.S. Clean Water Act water quality standards.
Specifically, Section 303 of the Clean Water Act requires each state to generate a
TMDL report for each body of water impaired by pollutants. TMDL reports identify
pollutant levels and strategies to accomplish pollutant reduction goals. EPA has
described TMDLs as establishing a pollutant budget then allocating portions of the
overall budget to the pollutant's sources. For many coastal water bodies, the main
pollutant issue is excess nutrients, also termed nutrient over-enrichment.[4] A TMDL
can prescribe the minimum level of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) available in a body of water,
which is directly related to nutrient levels. (See Aquatic Hypoxia.) In 2010, 18 percent of
TMDLs nationwide were related to nutrient levels including organic enrichment/oxygen
depletion, noxious plants, algal growth, and ammonia. In Long Island Sound the TMDL
development process enabled the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
(CTDEP) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
(NYSDEC) to incorporate a 58.5 percent nitrogen reduction target into a regulatory and
legal framework.[6]

Nutrient Remediation
Innovative solutions have been conceived to deal with nutrient pollution in aquatic
systems by altering or enhancing natural processes to shift nutrient effects away from
detrimental ecological impacts.[citation needed] Nutrient remediation is a form of
environmental remediation, but concerns only biologically active nutrients such as
nitrogen and phosphorus. “Remediation” refers to the removal of pollution or
contaminants, generally for the protection of human health. In environmental
remediation nutrient removal technologies include biofiltration, which uses living
material to capture and biologically degrade pollutants. Examples include green belts,
riparian areas, natural and constructed wetlands, and treatment ponds. These areas
most commonly capture anthropogenic discharges such as wastewater, stormwater
runoff, or sewage treatment, for land reclamation after mining, refinery activity, or land
development.[citation needed] Biofiltration utilizes biological assimilation to capture,
absorb, and eventually incorporate the pollutants (including nutrients) into living tissue.
Another form of nutrient removal is bioremediation, which uses microorganisms to
remove pollutants. Bioremediation can occur on its own as natural attenuation or
intrinsic bioremediation or can be encouraged by the addition of fertilizers, called
biostimulation.[citation needed]

Nutrient bioextraction is bioremediation involving cultured plants and animals. Nutrient

bioextraction or bioharvesting is the practice of farming and harvesting shellfish and
seaweed for the purpose of removing nitrogen and other nutrients from natural water
bodies. It has been suggested that nitrogen removal by oyster reefs could generate net
benefits for sources facing nitrogen emission restrictions, similar to other nutrient trading
scenarios. Specifically, if oysters maintain nitrogen levels in estuaries below thresholds
that would lead to the imposition of emission limits, oysters effectively save the sources
the compliance costs they otherwise would incur. Several studies have shown that
oysters and mussels have the capacity to dramatically impact nitrogen levels in e stuaries.

Reference
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrient_pollution