THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY ARTS AND SCIENCES ...

1.1. Overview
CHAPTER ONE
1. INTRODUCTION
Widespread pollution of ground and surface waters from Nitrate ( NO ) is of global
concern to human health and the environment. The presence of
1
−
3
−
NO in drinking water is
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hazardous to health. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has advised that
excessive levels of nitrate in drinking water have been known to cause serious illness and
sometimes death.
Serious illnesses such as methemoglobinemia which can interfere with the oxygen-
carrying capacity of a child's blood are known to be related to increased nitrate levels. In
addition exposure to high levels of nitrate can cause diuresis, increased starchy deposits
and hemorrhaging of the spleen (Department of Ecology). To ensure the safety of the
public the EPA (2009) has established the following standards for Nitrate: Maximum
Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG): 10 mg/l
(MCL): 10 mg/l
−
NO3 -N.
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NO3 -N; Maximum Contaminant Levels
In addition to the adverse impact on the health of humans using the contaminated water,
excess nitrate has unfavorable effects on the ecosystem as well. Excess
−
NO causes
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eutrophication in many aquatic systems (Turner & Rabalais, 1994; Fenn et al., 2003).
While it is apparent that contamination of groundwater supplies by
−
NO 3 is a major issue
and is responsible for blue baby syndrome and cancer, what is currently debatable is the
mechanism of nitrate attenuation.
It is widely accepted that once nitrate is leached into the soils there are 4 accepted
pathways for its removal or reduction (DeBernardi et al., 2008; Rivet et al., 2008).