What is water nitrates?
What is nitrate? Nitrate is a compound that is formed naturally when nitrogen combines with oxygen or ozone. Nitrogen is essential for all living things, but high levels of nitrate in drinking water can be dangerous to health, especially for infants and pregnant women.
What are nitrates in groundwater?
Beneath agricultural lands, nitrate is the primary form of nitrogen. It is soluble in water and can easily pass through soil to the ground-water table. Nitrate can persist in ground water for decades and accumulate to high levels as more nitrogen is applied to the land surface every year.
How do nitrates pollute water?
Nitrates are essential plant nutrients, but in excess amounts they can cause significant water quality problems. Together with phosphorus, nitrates in excess amounts can accelerate eutrophication, causing dramatic increases in aquatic plant growth and changes in the types of plants and animals that live in the stream.
Why are nitrates bad in groundwater?
Although a necessary nutrient for plants, high nitrate levels in people can harm the respiratory and reproductive system, kidney, spleen and thyroid in children and adults. It is particularly harmful to infants. In California, nitrate is one of the most common groundwater contaminants.
What nitrate means?
Definition of nitrate 1 : a salt or ester of nitric acid. 2 : sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate used as a fertilizer.
Why is nitrate important in water?
Basically, any excess nitrate in the water is a source of fertilizer for aquatic plants and algae. In many cases, the amount of nitrate in the water is what limits how much plants and algae can grow. If there is an excess level of nitrates, plants and algae will grow excessively.
Does river water have nitrates?
The pollution of nitrate in river water increased gradually from west to east. The distribution nitrate pollution was uneven from north to south. The sources of nitrate in river water are varied and blending of mult-sources. Nitrate pollution was impacted by GDP, fertilizer, wastewater, population.
Are nitrates in drinking water harmful?
You cannot taste, smell, or see nitrate in water. Consuming too much nitrate can be harmful—especially for babies. Consuming too much nitrate can affect how blood carries oxygen and can cause methemoglobinemia (also known as blue baby syndrome).
What do nitrates in water do?
What is nitrate in simple words?
English Language Learners Definition of nitrate : a chemical compound that contains oxygen and nitrogen and that is used in fertilizer.