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Lax regulations and improper application in the United States are responsible for tons of nitrogen fertilizers entering waterways each year, contributing to water and air pollution, cancer and environmental damage, according to a report released Monday.
Farmers in the United States apply more than 11 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer each year. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)is the most used fertilizer in Japan. new reportA paper published by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that an estimated half of these nutrients are not absorbed by crops and instead leach into the environment, costing the United States billions of dollars annually in water treatment costs, beach closures, and habitat loss. Most of the costs hit small, rural communities, the report said.
“Excessive fertilizer use is polluting our water, air, and wildlife… It’s outrageous and unacceptable,” said JP Rose, director of soil health and nature at NRDC and co-author of the new report. “We need common sense guardrails against nitrogen overspraying and runoff.”
Regulations, technical assistance, and financial assistance aimed at preventing overuse and mismanagement of fertilizers could help stem this nitrate pollution crisis without reducing farm productivity, the authors write.
“Communities should not have to choose between access to clean water and growing food,” the report states.
“Communities should not have to choose between getting clean water and growing food.” – NRDC report
Farm groups have long defended fertilizer application as an important tool for farmers and resisted efforts to tighten regulations. However, the findings come on the heels of several other reports and studies over the past few months that have revealed that large farms and livestock farms are contributing to nitrate pollution across the United States and may be partly behind increased cancer rates in rural areas.
contaminate water systems and people
The NRDC report adds: Warns against overuse of fertilizer before operation.
The group analyzed scientific studies, federal data, and other past reports and concluded that overuse of nitrogen fertilizers has negative effects on human health, ecosystems, and climate.
Excess nitrogen is converted to nitrates when it enters the water. Agricultural fertilizers and fertilizers from large-scale livestock farming are Major sources of nitratesHowever, it can also occur naturally at low levels in the environment.
Exposure to nitrates can dangerously lower oxygen levels in a baby’s blood, causing a condition known as “blue baby syndrome.” Scientific studies have shown that nitrate exposure is associated with several types of cancer, including kidney cancer, bladder cancer, colorectal cancer, and ovarian cancer. NRDC stated: studyFor example, it is estimated that drinking water contaminated with nitrates may be responsible for up to 12,594 cancer cases in the United States each year.
USDA
In Iowa, one of the nation’s leading agricultural states, researchers released a report in March that found: More than a dozen cancers related to exposure to pesticides, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), nitrates and radon affect Iowans at much higher rates than the U.S. population, according to the latest data.
Iowa has the second highest cancer rate in the nation. Only 1 of 3 states with cancer on the riseaccording to the National Institutes of Health. For many types of cancer, the state’s numbers are well below the national average.
Water treatment plants in agricultural areas often struggle with excess nitrates. For example, last week, the Des Moines water utility asked residents to reduce That’s because nitrate levels in drinking water are so high that utilities are struggling to treat the nitrates in the water. Iowa’s Des Moines and Raccoon rivers are in the top 1% of rivers in the nation for nitrate concentrations, and 80% of the pollution comes from agriculture.
“Clean water is a right, not a luxury,” Rose says.
In addition to human health concerns, excess nitrates can promote algae blooms, kill wildlife, and degrade critical habitat. Nitrogen fertilizers also contribute to nitrous oxide emissions. Estimated 273 times It has a better ability to trap heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide and also damages the ozone layer.
Sylvia Szech, a researcher and professor at the University of Iowa who studies the environmental impacts of agriculture, said the NRDC report is “a little narrow in scope” and ignores two major drivers of nitrate pollution: concentrated feeding operations (CAFOs) and ethanol mandates, which account for about a third of the corn grown in the United States.
“Yes, we use too much fertilizer, but we wouldn’t need to use as much fertilizer if we didn’t have to meet the ethanol mandate,” she said. “And CAFOs are a major source of nitrate pollution. It’s important to have that systemic view.”
Over 80 health and environmental groups last month sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, urging the agencies to protect Americans from a “public health emergency” caused by nitrate pollution.
“It is imperative that EPA and HHS act now to address this public health emergency in Iowa and across the nation,” the letter reads. “Government agencies should immediately identify and eliminate the sources of nitrate contamination in drinking water and provide funding to communities to reduce nitrates to safe levels.”
The National Corn Growers Association and the U.S. Soybean Association did not respond to requests for comment on the NRDC report or growing concerns about nitrate contamination. The Fertilizer Research Institute responded, but there were no experts.
Regulations also need to catch up
The federal Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act are insufficient to address nitrate spills, the report says. The Clean Water Act primarily targets “point source” pollution, such as emissions from heavy industry, and runoff from farms often escapes oversight. The Trump administration has expressed the following intentions: further restrict The Clean Water Act would remove remote and seasonal streams, wetlands and other bodies of water from EPA coverage, which critics say would only make the nitrate pollution crisis worse.
Based on the Safe Drinking Water Act, The EPA has set the threshold for nitrates in drinking water at 10 milligrams per liter (mg/L). but, multiple studies Decades of research have shown that some cancers are associated with nitrate intake in drinking water at levels well below 10 mg/L. and In April, Environmental Working Group (EWG) study More than 60 million Americans were found to be drinking water from water systems that had nitrate levels of 3 mg/L or higher in at least one test from 2021 to 2023. Agricultural states were the most affected.
“Yes, we use too much fertilizer, but we wouldn’t need to use it as much if we didn’t have to meet the ethanol mandate.” -Sylvia Secchi, University of Iowa
An EPA spokesperson said the agency completed its most recent review of the nitrate drinking water regulation in 2024 and “determined that the nitrate regulation is not a candidate for revision at that time, meaning the current regulation is sufficient to keep water clean and safe for human consumption.”
The new report outlines several steps to address the nitrate problem, including mandating nitrogen application limits, increasing monitoring and technical assistance to farmers, and rewarding farmers who reduce nitrogen pollution through cover crops, riparian buffers, and other conservation efforts.
“Legally enforceable standards will help establish a level and level playing field in the agricultural industry,” the report states. “Currently, farmers who invest in voluntary best management practices to reduce nitrogen pollution often have to compete with farmers who refuse to do so.”
Rose said his research team recognizes that nitrogen is essential to modern agriculture. “We’re not trying to ban nitrogen fertilizers at all. This is simply a matter of too much of a good thing being bad,” he said.
Secchi said stronger regulations would help, but “the best way to reduce nutrient pollution in the United States is to grow fewer of the crops that cause the problem in the first place.”
“The off-ramp from corn ethanol is critical because it frees up land for pasture-based livestock production, production of food that humans actually eat, and long-term crop rotations that reduce the need for fertilizers,” she said. “And in the meantime, we can better regulate CAFOs.”
Featured image: Unsplash +/James Baltz
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Brian Bienkowski is the editor-in-chief of The New Lede. He is a veteran journalist with over 15 years of experience covering the environment and human health. Prior to joining TNL, he was a senior editor at Environmental Health News for nearly a decade, overseeing the newsroom and two local bureaus. He was also the founder, producer, and host of the EJ podcast Agents of Change from 2020 to 2024.
Bienkowski has received multiple awards for her editing and reporting, including honors from the Healthcare Journalists Association, Columbia School of Journalism, Hunter College, and the Environmental Journalists Association. He has a master’s degree in environmental journalism from Michigan State University and lives in northern Michigan.
