Page 38 2024 Logan County Spring Farm Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 2024 It can be confidently stated with little disagreement that pollution is a bad thing. If only it were so easy to also put a stop to pollution. There are many types of pollution and hundreds, if not thousands, of initiatives set up to reduce or end pollution of all different kinds. Back in 2008, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan. This plan calls on all twelve states along the Mississippi River Basin to create plans to reduce the amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen being introduced to the waterway. When these two nutrients make their way into the Mississippi River, they are carried south all the way to the Gulf of Mexico where they are introduced to that ecosystem. Once these pollutants enter the Gulf of Mexico, they can cause algae to bloom. Algae may not seem like a huge deal, but it can become a bigger issue when it blooms in larger amounts. According to the EPA, “harmful algal blooms release toxins that contaminate Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy in 2024 drinking water, causing illness for animals and humans.” How could this be a problem in the Gulf of Mexico? The Gulf is a body of saltwater, and therefore cannot be consumed by people. This is a process that the United States Geological Survey (USGS) calls eutrophication. What many may not have considered is what happens to algae when it dies. Bacteria come in and begin to decompose the dead algae. According to the USGS, “When the algae die, they are decomposed by bacteria—this process consumes the oxygen dissolved in the water and needed by fish and other aquatic life to ‘breathe’.” The USGS goes on to state that if a significant enough amount of oxygen is removed from the water, it becomes hypoxic, and becomes what is known as a “dead zone,” where life cannot be sustained. At this point, you may be beginning to see where this is going. As any farmer worth their salt knows, phosphorus and nitrogen are two of the most abundant nutrients in soil by Continued --
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