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r' ~4,5~; ~~ ~ ~* ~'}`n~4~ u~~`~===~ Water quality is being compromised because of the need for more and more food and the related heavy reliance on fertilizers and pesticides. Because the world's need for inexpensive, wholesome food will only increase, controls to reduce water contamination while still using pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers are necessary. lfltV~at ~icic Saw One day, in the late 1960s, Freshwater Society founder Richard (Dick) Gray walked out on his dock to view his Lake Minnetonka waterfront, then sensed something was wrong. The algae that he saw didn't look familiar. In addition to being a successful business leader, Dick Gray was and is a respected naturalist. He understood natural history and appreciated the beauty of a healthy lake or stream. He also understood when biological processes were upset. Today we know what probably caused the changes Dick saw -the "collateral damage" from chemicals pumped into the environment in order to turbo- charge our agriculture. The algae blooms Dick saw were different and more prolific than in the past, and most likely connected to the introduction. of heavy levels of nitrogen-based fertilizer and, to a lesser extent, pesticides. Two changes occurred to alter the algae population. First, more pesticides were being introduced into agriculture and running off into waterways and groundwater. Secondly, and probably more significantly, there was an explosive increase in use of nitrogen-based fertilizer. In his remarkable book on U.S. food, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," Michael Pollan describes the algae bloom and the eutrophication of lakes and streams as part of a "Faustian bargain." The explosions of vegetation in our waterways were the result of the powerful global demand for food and the simultaneous discoveries in chemical production being made available to U.S. agriculture. legumes replenished the nitrogen in soil in small ways over time, and eventually, the crops were more likely to flourish. By the turn of the 20th century, German researchers developed an eccentric way to pull nitrogen out of the atmosphere. It required the use of a tremendous amount of fossil fuel, but the process successfully "manufactured" nitrogen. This was important, since nitrogen was also necessary for making explosives. By 1900, it had become an important chemical in war time. During World War I, when the British closed off access to Chilean nitrogen, the Germans tried to produce nitrogen synthetically, for weapons.. It worked, but not efficiently. By the start of World War II ,German weapons makers had developed a successful nitrogen-making process. U.S. factories also began mass production of synthetic nitrogen. The largest munitions plant in the U.S., at Muscle Shoals, Alabama, was producing enough explosives to arm all U.S. allies with nitrogen. At the end of the war, the corporate leaders of Muscle Shoals asked: "What do we do with the ability to produce mass nitrogen?" Soon after, the Marshall Plan, the U.S. commitment to feed the starving European population, was launched and the U.S. Department of Agriculture found a use for synthetic nitrogen. Beginning in 1947, Muscle Shoals nitrogen became readily available to U.S. farmers at low prices to escalate food production. Cbas•~acier~stacs of E~~~ro~ers One of the most abundant chemicals on earth is nitrogen. It represents a little less than 80% of the air we breathe, and it programs all carbon-based life. However, access to nitrogen is limited. It is biologically "locked- up" and was denied to human agriculture for thousands of years. Simply, it is difficult for nitrogen atoms to be released so they benefit plant growth. For decades, adding nitrogen to crops was achieved by means of animal waste products or using plants, usually legumes, which pull nitrogen out of the air and infuse it into the soil. This is the reason, for generations, pastureland was rotated with growing certain crops, and the crops, themselves, were rotated. The animal waste or This is the "Faustian bargain" Pollan describes in his book. Rotating crops for nitrogen became less important and, in some cases, unnecessary, with the mass production of nitrogen. The subsequent explosion in food production changed the nature of U.S. agriculture, and nitrogen began to run off the land and into our freshwater resources. With the increased amount of U.S. food production came insects, molds, weeds and other pests that threatened the crop yield. By using toxins intended, at first, for poison gas warfare, a new generation of pesticides could be inexpensively produced and used on crops to assure the health of the massive new monoculture of agriculture. Interestingly, the same German scientist continued on next page =~ ~ FACETS December 2007