Our summer reading program this year is dedicated to the world's oceans and water supplies. Only about 1% of the world's water is drinkable and every living being needs water. Meanwhile, the Great Lakes account for more than 22% of the world's fresh water supply. It is an incredibly valuable resource that we have been made stewards of by living in the Midwest. It's time we take a look at what we can do to keep it healthy and usable. As such, we are taking a look at some of the things we can do to help take care of our waterways. Every week this summer we will be taking a look at some of the little things we can do to keep our waters clean, healthy, and usable, maintain the ecosystem, and in general do our part to take care of our planet. Let's take a look:
Around the House
You've heard the phrase "Charity begins in the home?" Water conservation does as well. Our first few posts of this series deal in things you can do around the house. We'll look at some easy changes you can put into effect that can have a significant impact on the quality of our drinking water and waterways.
#5 - Eliminate Your Phosphate, Nitrogen, and Sodium Waste
One of the big contributors to water pollution is phosphate and nitrogen waste. While in small amounts, these chemical nutrients can be good for the environment, too often we see an excess. It becomes even more important of an issue when it reaches our ground water. We covered some of this with our look at washing machines and dish washers as both significantly contribute to especially phosphate pollution. Another big concern is runoff from fertilizers, over-salting of driveways and roads, and not picking up after pets. So let's take a closer look at each of these issues.
Over salting Your Driveway, Walkways and Roads:
Okay, so I know this first topic is a little off season, but one of those things that we can do for our waterways is not over salt when de-icing. Think of road salt like the salt you put on food but with impurities, some of which are not for human consumption. There's actually a good article on it from ReconnectWithNature.org with links to National Geographic and Popular Science, among others, if you really want to get in depth. And just like the salt you put on food where too much salt takes away from the dish when just enough enhances food's flavor, adding more salt than needed to the ground won't necessarily improve melting but simply become more salt that is washed off to pollute our waterways and leech nutrients from the soil, harming local flora and fauna.
One of the most surprising parts of this is how little salt you actually need. In the above-mentioned article, it states that the amount of salt that fits into a standard coffee mug is enough for a 20ft driveway or 10 squares of sidewalk. I know I have probably put more than that down, and I'm pretty sure I haven't been alone. Also, putting it on top of snow/ice probably won't do much as salt needs to be somewhat warm in order to help melt snow/ice. Salt is most effective as snow is coming down and stops entirely at 15°F or lower. If this is the case, switch to sand for traction or a deicer meant for colder temperatures instead.
Runoff From Fertilizers:
This next topic, though related, is a little more timely, one of those issues that can have something of a domino effect on the environment. What I'm talking about is overfertilization of your lawn or garden. It causes what is called nutrient pollution. Basically, plants like nitrate and phosphate to various degrees. They are prime ingredients in fertilizers. Too much and either you poison the plants and they get nutrient burn (like that neighbor's yard that is always brown and almost burned looking but you have seen them fertilize regularly... the grass couldn't handle it and they will be struggling with the issue for the next few years until they get the excess fertilizer out of the soil) or plants start to grow out of control and throw the local ecosystem out of whack and choke out other plants and creatures that naturally would coexist (think kudzu).
In the case of our waterways, specifically what we are talking about is when an excess of fertilizer making its way into the water table and feeding into local bodies of water. When this happens, algae, which loves all things phosphate and nitrate, starts growing out of control, blocking any sunlight from getting through thereby keeping underwater plant life from flourishing. The decay of the underwater plants leeching oxygen and the leeching of oxygen by the algae growing above creates water that fish and other sea life can't breath in and they start dying as well. That's when we start seeing beaches close and smelling dead fish out of season and general ecological distress.
So what can we do?
Try only fertilizing when you absolutely need to, only at the recommended amount, and avoid doing so when it is windy, rainy, or near waterways.
Stick to the seasons when plants are most absorbent of nutrients: Spring and Fall.
Fill fertilizer spreaders on paved ground so any spill can be swept up and not wasted. Store any that remains properly and dispose of empty containers as per instructions.
Finally, make sure you maintain your mowers, chainsaws, blowers, and other outdoor power/lawn-care equipment to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.
In a future installment, we'll look at what we can do in the garden.
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