(C) Wisconsin Watch This story was originally published by Wisconsin Watch and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What is nitrate? [1] ['Dee J. Hall', 'Wisconsin Watch', 'More Dee J. Hall', 'Managing Editor'] Date: 2015-11-15 05:01:34+00:00 Reading Time: < 1 minute Main Story Nitrate in water widespread, current rules no match for it Nitrate is a compound made up of nitrogen and oxygen. It is formed when nitrogen from ammonia or other sources combines with oxygen in water. Nitrate is naturally found in plants and in vegetables and can be found in groundwater, depending on how much fertilizer and manure is applied to fields. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, most adults who are eating a balanced diet may consume 10 to 25 milligrams of nitrate or nitrogen per day in their food. Most comes from leafy vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, celery and spinach but also from cured meats such as bacon. Additional exposure to nitrate from contaminated drinking water may pose significant health risks. Potentially fatal “blue baby syndrome” has been linked to the presence of nitrate in drinking water. It is also suspected of causing thyroid disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer. Common sources of nitrate include nitrogen fertilizers, manure, septic systems and sewage treatment practices. Nitrate can be carried into the groundwater by rainwater and melting snow that percolates through the soil and bedrock into the underlying aquifer. Nitrate can also run off fields and pollute surface water, causing overstimulation of aquatic plants and algae, resulting in unsightly scum and occasional fish kills. Sources: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Nitrate in Drinking Water fact sheet and U.S. Geological Survey Water Science School website. The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates. Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Close window X Republish this article This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Scroll down to copy and paste the code of our article into your CMS. The codes for images, graphics and other embeddable elements may not transfer exactly as they appear on our site. You are welcome to republish our articles for free using the following ground rules. Credit should be given, in this format: “By Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin Watch” Editing material is prohibited, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and in-house style (for example, using “Waunakee, Wis.” instead of “Waunakee” or changing “yesterday” to “last week”) Other than minor cosmetic and font changes, you may not change the structural appearance or visual format of a story. If published online, you must include the links and link to wisconsinwatch.org If you share the story on social media, please mention @wisconsinwatch (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), and ensure that the original featured image associated with the story is visible on the social media post. Don’t sell the story or any part of it — it may not be marketed as a product. Don’t extract, store or resell Wisconsin Watch content as a database. Don’t sell ads against the story. But you can publish it with pre-sold ads. Your website must include a prominent way to contact you. Additional elements that are packaged with our story must be labeled. Users can republish our photos, illustrations, graphics and multimedia elements ONLY with stories with which they originally appeared. You may not separate multimedia elements for standalone use. If we send you a request to change or remove Wisconsin Watch content from your site, you must agree to do so immediately. You are welcome to republish our articles forusing the following ground rules. For questions regarding republishing rules please contact Coburn Dukehart, associate director, at cdukehart@wisconsinwatch.org What is nitrate?
Nitrate is a compound made up of nitrogen and oxygen. It is formed when nitrogen from ammonia or other sources combines with oxygen in water.
Nitrate is naturally found in plants and in vegetables and can be found in groundwater, depending on how much fertilizer and manure is applied to fields.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, most adults who are eating a balanced diet may consume 10 to 25 milligrams of nitrate or nitrogen per day in their food. Most comes from leafy vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, celery and spinach but also from cured meats such as bacon.
Additional exposure to nitrate from contaminated drinking water may pose significant health risks. Potentially fatal “blue baby syndrome” has been linked to the presence of nitrate in drinking water. It is also suspected of causing thyroid disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer.
Common sources of nitrate include nitrogen fertilizers, manure, septic systems and sewage treatment practices. Nitrate can be carried into the groundwater by rainwater and melting snow that percolates through the soil and bedrock into the underlying aquifer.
Nitrate can also run off fields and pollute surface water, causing overstimulation of aquatic plants and algae, resulting in unsightly scum and occasional fish kills.
Sources: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Nitrate in Drinking Water fact sheet and U.S. Geological Survey Water Science School website.
The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.
This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.