Agricultural Issues By: Julieta Carrillo

Nonpoint Source Pollution • Caused from many diffuse sources, refers to both water

and air pollution

• Is a result of land runoff; as water sources travel through land, they pick up human-made pollutants and deliver them to bodies of water

• Nonpoint source pollution includes fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides associated with agricultural lands

• Agriculture also provokes nonpoint source pollution due to overgrazing, unsuitable animal feeding operations, and improper plowing techniques

• The pollutants that farming and ranching engender are:

-Sediment -Nutrients -Pathogens -Pesticides -Metals

-Salts

Sedimentation• Occurs when rain water transports sediment, which is essentially soil

particles, to neighboring lakes/streams• Damages of sediment:

-Clouds water -Has the ability to clog the gills of fish • If fertilizers and pesticides are an aspect of the sediment, they will

go along with it as well• This poses a threat to aquatic life, reduces water quality

The image to the left is an example of sedimentation in

Chattahoochee River, Atlanta, Georgia.

Nutrients• Chemical fertilizers, manure, and sludge often

contain nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium

• Usually end up in ecosystem

• End result= Algae

• Produces malodorous, distasteful water

• Harms/kills fish

• Baby blue syndrome

Animal Feeding Operations

New Mexico is actually the seventh largest milk producing stateIs made up by large-scale dairiesNew Mexico also obtains “the highest average number of animals per facility of any state in the country”End result= 5.6 million gallons of manure dailyPollutes the groundwater

Animal Feeding Operations• There are approximately 150

diaries in New Mexico

• 2/3 of this quantity is polluting groundwater due to nitrogen

• Diary Row, located in the midst of Las Cruces and El Paso, contains an estimated amount of 30,000 cows

• These cows live in farms alongside one another

• The cow’s manure manages to end up in the Rio Grande because of storms, which is essentially a form of non point source pollution

• Situated in southeastern New Mexico, inhabitants of the town of Dexter are forced to buy gallon bottles of water to drink from and cook with, given that the local well water is contaminated

• Not only is groundwater contaminated, surface water is as well

An image of Dairy Row, taken in southwest New Mexico.

Overgrazing• Increases erosion

• Harmful to fish habitat

• Threaten “floodplain vegetation necessary for habitat and water quality filtration”

Irrigation• Has the ability to create issues concerning water quality

• Immoderate irrigation gives way to:

• -Erosion -The transportation of nutrients -Pesticides

• Amount of water that flows naturally is decreased

• Its evaporation can lead to the concentration of salts

• The picture to the left

• was taken in Utah.

Pesticides• Includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides

• Runoff can make them end up in the water

• Dangerous to fish and wildlife

• Can spoil food sources

• Destructive towards habitats

The Rio Grande Basin

• Measure 1,896 miles

• Runs from the Southwestern portion of Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico

• In New Mexico, the river is parallel to the towns and cities of Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Socorro, Truth or Consequences, Mesilla, and Las Cruces

• Due to the fact that the Rio Grande is an interstate stream, it dispenses drinking water to approximately 30 million people, given that it flows through countless towns and cities of each state it traverses

• Although the fair distribution of the river is critical, the majority of it is consumed for agricultural purposes

• The primary use of the Rio Grande Basin actually traces back to irrigation

• To allocate water to arid regions, irrigation canals have been constructed, transferring water from the river to the very soil utilized for farming

The Rio Grande Basin• This systematic transportation of water records

back to the 17th and 18th centuries, when the Spanish colonists instituted an arrangement of irrigation ditches

• These ditches, also referred to as acequias, have created manifold irrigation techniques

• One method of irrigation that derives from acequias is known as flood irrigation

• In this process, gravity is used to efficiently distribute water over the soil surface

• This form of irrigation is extremely traditional and has been practiced for centuries, often with buckets full of water

• The Rio Grande is now one of the top ten most endangered rivers in the world

An acequia located in Albuquerque.

• Unfortunately, the fact that most of the water is actually used for irrigation has created a local and threatening problem

• The amount of pollution in the basin is making both the fish within the water and the water itself too hazardous for humans to ingest

• The current agriculture use of the Rio Grande is eliminating the recreational use of the river and depriving the locals from two fundamental sources of food

• The tribes and indigenous communities alongside the basin have been affected in the sense that their values of conserving nature are being challenged with the new damaging change surrounding them

• The Rio Grande silvery minnow (a species of fish native to the water) are at risk, having once inhabited 2,400 river miles in New Mexico

• Irrigation is damaging to ecosystems and wildlife

The Rio Grande Basin

Source• "Agricultural Nonpoint Source Fact Sheet." EPA. N.p., 2 Oct.

2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. <http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/agriculture_facts.cfm>.

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July 22, 2012 Footer text here14

July 22, 2012 Footer text here15