Nitrate Pollution and its Remediation

Humans have had a major impact on the earth’s water reservoirs: rivers, lakes, oceans as well as groundwater. Nitrate is listed as second most common pollutant of groundwater next to pesticides. Whether it is by deforestation of riparian zones, inundating agricultural fields with fertilizer, faulty septic systems or poorly designed waste water overflow systems, the detrimental effects of human activities have started to become apparent. With the growing awareness of the increasing nitrate problem and its impact on ecosystems as well as human health, the question remains: what alternatives do we have? Are our only choices to reduce the human population, dig millions upon millions of miles of tunnels underneath towns and cities, prohibit the use of fertilizers, or fund tertiary waste water treatment? Some of these suggestions are more farfetched than others. In the past fifty years or so, strides have been made using processes which incorporate physico-chemical or biological means to help restore an area or remove this pollutant from soil and water. The fact is that most of the above actions are either extremely expensive or completely unethical, a much less expensive, and more environment friendly alternative could be phytoremediation. Taking into consideration the world’s growing population and the adverse effect humans have had on the nitrate concentrations of water bodies, more measures both effective and eco-friendly are needed to remedy the menace of growing NO3

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pollution in groundwater.