‘Agricultural pollution’ is an umbrella term used to describe the sources of wastes, emissions, and discharges arising from farming activities, and includes, but is not limited to: livestock and livestock manure, poultry litter, chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, sediment, agro-chemicals, organic containments, heavy metals, and general farm procedures. This form of pollution greatly affects bodies of water across the globe. According to 2015 estimates from the Bay Program, “agriculture contributes 42 percent of the nitrogen, 55 percent of the phosphorus and 60 percent of the sediment entering the Bay,” making it the largest source of sediment and nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the two most common
The effects caused by overcropping can be lowered through the use of organic manure, i.e cattle dung, to the soil through irrigation. However, in areas such as the Sahel, deforestation is also happening in some of the areas suffering from soil erosion. This means that people are using cow dung for fuel instead of as an organic fertiliser. This means that there is no cattle dung to fertilise the land. Aspect 3: The effect desertification has on soils.
Many people rely indirectly or directly from agriculture. Agricultural activities heavily rely on water for sustenance. In many countries, fresh water resources are used for irrigation of crops and feeding of animals. The use of freshwater sources for irrigation strains the water resource and creates shortages especially when agriculture is practiced in large scale (Buchanan & Horwitz 67-69). In developing countries, areas which have large scale agricultural activities especially in water intensive agricultural activities such as horticulture usually experience water shortages due to the amount of water used in agriculture.
To follow up that staggering number, the EPA estimates that 75 percent of all water-quality problems in America’s rivers and streams. Water polluted with agricultural runoff can destroy whole ecosystems and be toxic, if not lethal to humans and animals alike”(5 Ways Factory Farming is Killing the Environment by Kate last name N/A). if factory farms keep running their businesses then they will soon lead to all of our water sources being polluted and destroyed leaving us with no fresh clean water. Factory farms are damaging our environment to a point where it will not be able to be
As global population increases rapidly, the demand for food increases as well, which in turn, leads to a steep rise in agricultural activities to meet the growing need for food, to feed more of the global population. However, agricultural activities have been proven to pollute water resources. Richard (2015) noted that Agricultural activities account for 53% of water pollution incidents during the years 2010 to 2012. As technology advances, fertilizers and pesticides are easily available, and also more potent in enhancing plant growth and keeping away pests. These fertilizers and pesticides that are used to speed up the growth of these crops are not disposed of properly, and pollute water resources when the pesticides or fertilizers are disposed into the water resources.
Excessive amount of nitrogen affects the water quality when agricultural runoff flows to the estuary and affects aquatic environment. These runoff had cause changes in aquatic environments and leads to Eutrophication, High Biochemical oxygen demand in aquatic environment, and death of aquatic organism.
Contaminated water may contain high levels of nitrates and nitrites, causing haemoglobin disorders. Moreover, (April 2015) Environment associations says that most of the people all know that fertilizers are used for proper and healthy growth of plan but are they really healthy and what exactly are fertilizers and how do fertilizers affect the environment. It is a fertilizer is a substance, be it synthetic or organic which is added to the soil in order to increase the supply of essential nutrients that boost the growth of plants and vegetation in that soil. With the rapid increase in population globally, the demand of food and agricultural give in has been rising very highly. This is the reason why statistics show that almost 40-60% of agricultural crops are grown with the use of different types of fertilizers not only this, more than 50 percent
That is why water should be taken into great concern. However, the problem of water shortage has recently been becoming more serious which can affect the world as a whole. The three main factors of this global problem are population growth, water pollution, and water abuse - management. Nowadays, water is no longer regarded as a plentiful resource that can never be used up. What we are obviously having to face is the problem of worldwide water scarcity, especially the clean one.
Contribution of chemical fertilizer and pesticide industries to climate change is well known (Leis, 2008). Food is and will remain at the centre of this unfolding climate crisis. Everyone agrees that agricultural production has to continue to rise significantly over coming decades to feed the growing population. Climate change however is likely to put agricultural production into reverse. Impact of global warming on agriculture is estimated that in future climate change will reduce the potential output of global agriculture by more than 3.2 percent as compared to today (William R. Cline,
Recharge by runoff from irrigation water into groundwater as well as leaching of agrochemicals cause serious groundwater contamination problems. The clearing of natural vegetation and ploughing up of virgin land for new cultivation also affect the groundwater quality. Irrigation is one of the major sources of salinity in the soil through which rainwater flows to the water table. The dissolution of these salts finally