While the western United States is critically short of water for agriculture and city dwellers alike, the eastern part of the country has more than enough water with much of it polluted leaving some of it not fit to drink nor even fit for agricultural use.
For several years here in Ohio, the western basin of Lake Erie has been in the spotlight, especially when the city of Toledo’s water supply was shut off because of the toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie. These toxic algae blooms are the result of the agricultural runoff of phosphorus from farms in the Maumee River drainage basin, the Detroit sewer plant overflows and failing septic systems. While phosphorus is the major culprit concerning the algae blooms in Lake Erie, another nutrient in water not receiving as much attention is that of nitrates. Excessive nitrates in drinking water have been linked to birth defects, increased risk of cancer, fatal conditions in infants and thyroid problems.
A few years ago the city of Des Moines, Iowa sued three counties as they actually administered the farm drain tile runoff into waterways feeding the city’s water supply. According to the suit, the city has spent more than one million dollars per year in removing nitrates from the municipal water and therefore was seeking reimbursement.
In northeast Wisconsin according to a Wall Street Journal article on January 19, 2019; “nowhere is the problem more evident than in Keewaunee County”. Increasing and more concentrated dairy herds has meant more cows and more manure increasing the potential for runoff and ground water contamination from nitrates and accompanying pathogens such as E-coli, salmonella, rotavirus and cryptosporidium.
In addition, cows have been getting bigger and need to eat more resulting in even more manure. According to the USDA, milk production per cow has more than doubled between 1970 and 2017. In addition to nitrates from manure, chemical fertilizers of nitrates are seeping into the water supply, as farmers grow more corn to feed cows to supplement the more traditional alfalfa feed.
According to a U.S. G.S. survey report, the amount of contaminated wells with excessive nitrates greater than 10 parts per millions is growing with most of the problem occurring in rural areas and not all of the residents can be defined as “urban transplants” as some farmers call them. In Keewaunee County, 30% of water wells have elevated amounts of bacteria and/or nitrates.
Farmers are taking steps to mitigate their farms’ impacts on the ground water such as planting more cover crops, building pits full of tree bark that filter out nitrates and digesters to produce methane gas from manure that can be used to generate electricity. Farmers are caught in a squeeze in waiting to expand their dairy herds in Wisconsin due to a push back from residents dealing with contaminated wells from agricultural runoff and seepage into the aquifer. A case now is up for review in the Wisconsin Supreme Court that is dealing with the above situation.
How farmers, rural residents depending on ground water and even municipalities, will adequately deal with the nitrate problems from runoff and seepage into the aquifer remains to be seen. The potential for prolonged and expensive litigation is real.