Sep 22, 2015

Saving the Planet from Too Much Man Made Nitrogen

Biogeochemical flows, carbon cycle, climate change, nitrogen, nitrogen pollution, phosphorus, Septic Smart, Wastewater 1 Comment

By Kristina Heinemann

Planetary Boundaries: A Safe Operating Space for Humanity, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University (http://www.stockholmresilience.org/)

Environmental sustainability is all the rage right now. Much of the focus when talking about sustainability is on the global carbon cycle and climate change, but there are other global cycles that have been disturbed to an even greater extent than the carbon cycle. Since the Industrial Revolution biogeochemical flows of nitrogen and phosphorus or the Earth’s nitrogen and phosphorus cycles have been disrupted even more than the carbon cycle. Biogeochemical flows of nitrogen and phosphorous is a scientific way of talking about the pathways and interactions the elements nitrogen and phosphorus have with the physical and biological world. Human beings have altered these pathways and systems dramatically to the point that we and the planet are at great risk. You can see this represented in the figure above – we are clearly in the “red zone” when it comes to disturbance of nitrogen and phosphorous cycles!

One dramatic consequence of too much nitrogen – the Peconic River Fish Kill, Riverhead (NY) Yacht Club, June 15, 2015 Photo credit: Andrew Seal

One important source of “too much nitrogen” in the coastal areas of our Region — New York, New Jersey, and the Caribbean — are conventional onsite wastewater disposal or septic systems many of which were never designed to remove or reduce nitrogen. We face a serious need to upgrade many of these systems to technologies that will reduce nitrogen flow to our estuaries and coastal ecosystems.

Being SepticSmart Also Means Using Appropriate and Well Designed Septic Technology To Protect Water Quality

SepticSmart Week, which kicks off this year on Sept. 21, will educate public officials and the public at large about the importance of using well designed and appropriate septic treatment technology that is protective of water quality. Advanced onsite treatment systems can remove as much as 74 percent of nitrogen before it enters the environment. Part of my job at EPA is to help state and local governments meet this need. As an example Suffolk County, New York declared nitrogen public enemy #1 and launched an advanced treatment septic demonstration program to install and test nitrogen removal systems on almost 20 residential properties throughout the County.

EPA, in cooperation with states and partners, works hard during SepticSmart Week and year-round to educate local decision makers, engineers and homeowners about managing and upgrading their wastewater infrastructure in order to protect the waters they swim in, fish from, and drink. (By the way this also happens to be National Estuaries Week – take a look at all the great resources aimed at restoring estuaries like the Long Island Sound, Peconic Bay, the New York – New Jersey Harbor, Barnegat Bay, Delaware Estuary, and San Juan Bay in Puerto Rico at: https://www.estuaries.org/national-estuaries-week !)

About the Author: Kristina Heinemann is EPA Region 2’s Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Coordinator and lives on Long Island’s North Shore where she is the not-so-proud owner of two antiquated cesspools one of which often acts more like a holding tank than a wastewater disposal system!

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone. EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog, nor does EPA endorse the opinions or positions expressed. You may share this post. However, please do not change the title or the content. If you do make changes, please do not attribute the edited title or content to EPA or the author.

EPA's official web site is www.epa.gov. Some links on this page may redirect users from the EPA website to a non-EPA, third-party site. In doing so, EPA is directing you only to the specific content referenced at the time of publication, not to any other content that may appear on the same webpage or elsewhere on the third-party site, or be added at a later date.

EPA is providing this link for informational purposes only. EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of non-EPA information provided by any third-party sites or any other linked site. EPA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies, internet applications or any policies or information expressed therein.

Dec 13, 2012

Around the Water Cooler: Can Innovations Solve Our Nutrient Problem?

Around the Water Cooler, Cleantech Innovations, environmental innovation, innovation, nitrogen, nitrogen pollution 1 Comment

By Lahne Mattas-Curry

Nitrogen is an integral part of proteins, the building blocks of life. But in excess, like anything else, it can have negative effects. In fact, too many nutrients, including nitrogen, can cause depletion of available oxygen in surface waters, toxic algal blooms, hypoxia and acid rain.

The consequences aren’t pretty. Excess nitrogen threatens our air and water quality as well as disrupts the health of our communities, people and land. In other words, some plants and animals can’t live in this kind of environment. I’ve written about this problem before. For example, check out this post on seagrasses.

Nutrient pollution is a problem that affects many areas in the United States, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Chesapeake Bay, and New England’s Narragansett Bay.

To help combat this overwhelming nutrient problem Cleantech Innovations New England is providing awards to applicant teams of up to $130,000 as part of the i6 Green Challenge, funded by EPA in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Department of Energy.

The funds will be awarded to develop ground-breaking and affordable technologies that can reduce nitrogen discharge from septic systems by 95%. (A high proportion of New England communities and more than 20% of U.S. Residents rely on septic systems). In addition, these new technologies should be able to recover nutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and preferably potassium (K)) from the wastewater and/or also create energy.

The technologies must be scalable and affordable, with retrofits to existing septic systems costing in the range of $5,000 to $10,000, and no more than $25,000 for new installations. Of course, on-site nutrient monitoring should also be considered in order to monitor performance.

For more information and to apply for the award, please visit Cleantech Innovations New England. The deadline to apply is January 18th, 2013.

About the Author: Lahne Mattas-Curry works with EPA’s Safe and Sustainable Water Resources research team and is a frequent “Around the Water Cooler” contributor.

May 31, 2012

Wondrous Wetlands

denitrification, nitrogen pollution, wetlands 3 Comments

By Tarlie Townsend

What’s your favorite ecosystem? Rainforest? Tundra?

After talking with EPA postdoctoral researcher Amanda Nahlik, I’d answer “wetlands”— those water-saturated areas like swamps, bogs, and marshes. They’re so much more than the dreary, monster-infested settings of the movies. In fact, they do great things for us!

Here are just three examples of benefits (“ecosystem services”) we all get from wetlands:

Wetland as barrier (storm protection): They reduce the size and speed of waves hitting the shore, helping protect coastal communities during storms.
Wetland as sponge (flood amelioration): Amanda recounted one firsthand example: it was springtime in Ohio, the snow had just melted, and heavy rains were imminent. Scientists at The Ohio State University (OSU) Olentangy River Wetland Research Park (where Amanda worked), were concerned that their downstream campus might flood. The solution: manage the nearby experimental wetlands by installing weirs so the wetlands could hold and absorb the floodwater. It worked! The wetland functioned like a sponge, and OSU went flood-free. After the storm, the scientists removed the weirs and slowly released the water back into the river.
Wetland as kidney (water purification): Wetlands even clean our water! Myriad wetland organisms absorb contaminants and excessive nutrients (primarily nitrogen and phosphrous) cleaning the water flowing through them.

Here’s where Amanda’s current research comes in. One substance “cleaned” by wetlands is excess nitrogen (primarily from fertilizer runoff). How much nitrogen is absorbed, and how that correlates with other wetland conditions, isn’t well understood. But it matters, because wetlands across the world—under stress from physical destruction, climate change, pollution, and more—are changing, compromising their ability to provide ecosystem services in the form of nitrogen removal.

Existing methods of measuring nitrogen removal are both expensive and time-intensive. And because the amount of denitrification varies, numerous rounds of testing are necessary.

Amanda and colleague J. Renée Brooks may have a solution: comparing the ratio of different nitrogen isotopes (Nitrogen-15 and Nitrogen-14) to measure how much denitrification occurs in a given wetland over time. If more nitrogen-15 is found in the soil, they reason, the wetland is reducing nitrogen pollution and its harmful effects—a good way to help assess the condition of the wetland, and the “ecosystem services” it provides.

Amanda is in the preliminary phase of testing soil isotope measurements in order to develop an indicator of denitrification. So far, the results look good, and could lead to a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to measure how much nitrogen is being removed. Learning about the research also gave me better appreciation for the value of wetlands—my new favorite ecosystem!

About the Author: Tarlie Townsend recently completed an internship in EPA’s Office of Research and Development.