Denmark Offers Lessons On Reducing Algal Bloom
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
U.S. policymakers may be wise to look to Denmark for hints on how to structure nutrient policy and improve water quality.
Denmark rules require farmers who want government subsidies to restrict the amount of fertilizer they use, according to the Bay Journal.
So far, the approach appears to be successful, and the nation maintains a healthy agricultural sector, the report said.
“Less than 20 years after [Denmark] first began an effort to reduce farm runoff through nutrient budgeting, the country reported a 50 percent drop in nitrogen and a nearly 90 percent drop in phosphorus levels in its streams and rivers. Major algae blooms decreased. Water quality improved,” the report said.
The idea could be useful in the Chesapeake Bay, according to the report.
“Scientists in the Chesapeake Bay have been looking at nutrient budgets for close to three decades. But to date, no state has implemented one. Tom Simpson, former longtime coordinator of agriculture programs for the Chesapeake Bay Program, said he knew of no such budgets in the United States,” the report said.
The U.S. EPA has mandated that six states limit nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment discharge from reaching the Chesapeake Bay. The EPA's Chesapeake Bay program "is a unique regional partnership that has coordinated the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed since 1983,"according to the agency.
One major problem with runoff: it leads to toxic algae. At a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on cyanotoxins, John Donahue, president of the American Water Works Association, explained this connection.
“There is no uncertainty about one critical aspect of the problem: It is always associated with amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus in the water,” Donahue said, per Roll Call. “Although each watershed is unique and has its own mix of nutrient sources, across the nation the most prominent uncontrolled sources of nitrogen and phosphorus are non-point sources — that is, runoff. These sources are at the same time both the hardest to manage and the furthest from being subject to meaningful federal regulatory authority.”
To learn more about preventing algal bloom visit Water Online’s Nutrient Removal Solutions Center.