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Agriculture Practices and Nitrate Pollution of Water

Nitrate in water is present as highly soluble salts. Standard water treatment practices, such as sedimentation, filtration, chlorination or pH adjustment with lime application, do not affect nitrate concentrations in the water. Nitrates from water can be removed by specialized water treatment technologies, such as ion exchange, biochemical denitrification, and reverse osmosis. Incorporation of these technologies for removal of nitrates into a water treatment system could substantially increase the cost of water treatment. One California water district estimated that wellhead nitrate-N treatment cost $375 per million gallons.

Thus, once an aquifer is contaminated with nitrate, it will cost a large amount of money to use that aquifer as a source of drinking water. A more prudent approach is to prevent nitrate contamination of ground water. Before initiating pollution prevention practices for nitrate, knowing the factors that contribute to nitrate contamination of an aquifer is important.

Source: us-rem.com

This was the moment "the crisis got real for a lot of people," says Richard Bosman, the city's executive director for safety and security.

Residents were restricted to just 50 litres of water and a host of everyday practices are prohibited under a series of measures known locally as "level 6B".

Source: Skynews.com - 4.1.2018