Fertilizers, Animal Wastes Both Culprits in Gulf Dead Zone

Every year, beginning right about now, an area of the ocean the size of New Jersey dies at the mouth of the Mississippi.

A new USGS study shows that the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone is caused mainly from corn and soy fertilizers and animal wastes running off of the seven states abutting the Mississippi, and also Indiana and Ohio along the Ohio River, which drains into the Mississippi.

Ocean dead zones are caused by extremely low oxygen levels in the water – a condition known as hypoxia. Hypoxic conditions develop where there is an excess of agricultural run-off, because of the high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in fertilizer and manure.

Massive algal blooms occur where there is an abundance of these two nutrients. As the algae die and sink to the ocean floor, brigades of bacteria decompose it – sucking copious amounts of oxygen from the water, and creating a “dead zone” where no other organisms (save a few invasive species of jellyfish) can live.

Fertilizer is not currently viewed as a pollutant by the EPA, and farmers have no regulations on their release of it. Animal wastes from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are supposed to be contained in lagoons capable of handling up to a “25-year rain.” Of course, upon a 25-year rain (inevitable) a legal sewage fest flows straight into our rivers.

Interestingly, the USGS study found that phosphorous from manure is not just coming from CAFOs - range and pastured animals are contributing to over a third of the phosphorous pollution as well.

Seems the fisherfolk of the Gulf and the farmers of the Midwest might need to have a little throwdown over this Gulf Dead Zone. In the meantime, we can help by supporting rising initiatives for wetland restoration (which help remove pollutants) and regulations of fertilizer and animal waste run-off. And of course, by minimizing our consumption of industrial agricultural products - including soybeans and meat.
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