Nitrate in natural waterways!!

[esoxlucius]

I found this interesting snippet earlier. duanes is quite particular about testing natural waterway nitrate levels on his travels, and, unsurprisingly he gets negative readings.

However, I wonder if his 0ppm findings are always going to be that way!

It seems the budding biofuels industry and the ongoing agricultural activity could change things in some natural waterways.

Science | AAAS

www.science.org

 

[duanes]

Interesting article.
It touched on one of the problems I suspected with nitrates in aquariums, some of that recent research shows that elevated nitrate inhibits (edges out) dissolved oxygen in water., causing hypoxia.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I found this interesting snippet earlier. duanes is quite particular about testing natural waterway nitrate levels on his travels, and, unsurprisingly he gets negative readings.

However, I wonder if his 0ppm findings are always going to be that way!

It seems the budding biofuels industry and the ongoing agricultural activity could change things in some natural waterways.

Science | AAAS

www.science.org

Pretty common a lot of places to have measurable nitrate levels. Around here the rivers have median test results around .1 up to 1.7. Around the country looks like there are a lot of rivers testing around 10s and 3+ is common anywhere there's farming.

 

[jjohnwm]

I have started to get into the habit of testing water when I go fishing, and have always done it when specifically collecting, but I am really only interested in temperature, pH and hardness. I don't really care about nitrate levels. I am satisfied that my water change schedule keeps my tank water nitrates low, and if levels are high in my collecting spot...so what? I don't worry at all about my fish suffering any stress from the "shock" of going directly from nitrate soup to nitrate-free water; the other parameters I mentioned are much more important to me.

I'm sure that heavily-agricultural areas have some wonky nitrate levels...but that's not really natural, is it? And when I see some nice lakefront home or cottage with a "Doctor Death" van parked out front and some guy in a blue jumpsuit walking around spraying a cloud of pesticide on the lawn...mere feet from the water's edge...because those homeowners can't commune with Gaia or enjoy their natural setting with all those horrid weeds and bugs, can they?...it certainly doesn't change my feelings on pesticide use, and it makes me feel there are much more pressing and immediate concerns than nitrates.

Those high nitrate readings in "nature" are likely a boon to the 20%-water-change-monthly club; makes their tank water readings seem less frightening.

 

[Redshark1]

There's a beautiful river in Yorkshire called the Derwent and in 3 of the samples nitrate was over 60ppm. In general it was 10ppm and the source is agriculture. The resulting plant growth including algae changes the habitat and impacts species living there but I'd have to read more to know more.

 

[Redshark1]

Another thing I'm aware of that makes the nitrate problem worse is that here rivers suffer from excessive extraction of water for agriculture. Sometimes the amount of agricultural waste water and/or sewage effluent going into a river can represent the majority of the flow. This is a shame as Britain is home to some of the world's most fabulous chalk streams but most of these are severely damaged. On my walks I've watched Brown Trout Salmo trutta and Grayling Thymallus thymallus in these rivers. I've also been watching YouTube videos of Brazilian chalk streams where tourists pay to snorkel downstream and watch the huge shoals of Piraputanga Brycon hilarii and other fish that live with them including Streaked Prochilod Prochilodus lineatus and Golden Dorado Salminus brasiliensis.

 

[Redshark1]

The amount of sewage entering our waterways is a national disgrace and is something that is very much in the media at last. I became aware of untreated sewage entering our waterways in 1987 when I walked the length of my local beck Adel Beck in Leeds. I found 13 sewage outfalls, some even flowing with raw untreated sewage in dry weather. When I got in touch with the water authority Yorkshire Water I learned that the victorian sewage system was designed to take six time more water in times of heavy rainfall compared to its dry weather flow. Any more than this and it would overflow into the water courses. Unfortunately more and more houses were plumbed in so the system is at or above capacity before any rain falls. Since them water companies have been privatised and their billions of profits have been paid to shareholders rather than being invested in the infrastructure. I think this will have to change as what is the point of all this profit if it doesn't benefit humanity. People want to enjoy our streams and rivers some even want to swim but not in raw sewage. Of course its cheaper to release raw sewage into our rivers than clean it up first.

 

[Backfromthedead]

In one of my bio classes we tested quite a few waterways and were able to detect measurable nitrate in the sections of flowing water directly downstream from wastewater facilities runoff. These parts of the stream contained no fish or sensitive inverts like crayfish or mayflies but were packed with detritivores like worms and snails.

Most other sections of running water contained no detectable nitrate but small oxbows and backwater streams where water stagnated would sometimes contain measurable nitrate as well.

 

[jjohnwm]

One must wonder if our lackadaisical neglect of our planet will result in future aquarists being unable to change water without extensive treatment beforehand to reduce or eliminate the nitrate present in any and all water found "naturally". What would it be like to know that the water in which our fish have been living/eating/pooping is still better and cleaner than new fresh water coming out of the tap?

I have always felt terrible for those unfortunate sods who get their water from private wells that sometimes contain very noticeable nitrate levels. Are we heading for a future where there is endless debate about "acceptable" levels of nitrate in our tapwater? When will we have to begin testing our "natural" water sources for ammonia and nitrites as well? Or to question whether or not the local lake or pond or river is properly cycled?

I can see it now: a giant convoy of tanker trucks pulling up to a beach and dumping thousands of gallons of one of those "bottled bacteria" concoctions in an effort to combat the latest county-wide ammonia spike...

 

[esoxlucius]

can see it now: a giant convoy of tanker trucks pulling up to a beach and dumping thousands of gallons of one of those "bottled bacteria" concoctions in an effort to combat the latest county-wide ammonia spike...

That wouldn't work currently because the huge sewer pipe just up the beach dumping human excrement into the sea would cancel it out!

Maybe Father Fish no water change policy will be the way to go in the future, lol.