Water Pollution with Nitrates from Agricultural Sources

  • Fleşeriu A. USAMV-CN, IPM
  • I. Oroian

Abstract

One of the biggest water pollution problem is created by nitrates resulted from agriculture. This paper is a review aimin to emphasiz the main water pollution problems produced by nitrates in Romania and EU. The excess nitrates can accumulate in soil in several ways. First, manure effluents containing both ammonia and organic forms of nitrogen. Organic nitrogen can be converted to ammonia in the soil. The ammonia, together with any ammonia fertilizer applied, is converted to nitrate by soil bacteria in a process called nitrification. Nitrification is important because plants can only use nitrogen as nitrate. It is equally harmful in both, animals and humans.