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LIMITING DEAD ZONES

How to curb river pollution and save the Gulf of Mexico

BY JANET RALOFF

Second of two parts

very second, the mighty Mississippi gushes

another 4.5 million gallons of water into the
Gulf of Mexico. Along with the water come
nitrate and other pollutants. In the Gulf and
other large bodies around the globe, plant nutrientsespecially nitratehave created coastal dead
zones. The nutrients fertilize the growth of algae,

Its kind of like were playing roulette, he says. In most venues, such as the Gulf of Mexico, we havent seen really pervasive damage to fisheries yet. But if present trends continue, that
should happen over time, he notes. So, its like were in a race to
avoid some crash.
As with disease, he argues, practicing preventive medicine is
always easier and less expensive than coping with the ravages of
illness. So, Daigle hopes that these voluntary programs can kickstart a new conservation ethic that will protect coastal waters in
the Gulf and elsewhere from the ecosystem devastation that nutrient overenrichment can foster.

which soon die, settle to the seafloor, and decay. Bacteria feeding
on the algal corpses consume so much oxygen that the water FERTILIZE LESS According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, nitrate releases throughout the Mississippi
becomes unsuitable for most forms of life.
In the face of an increasing number and persistence of dead River watershedsome 1.2 million square miles encompassing all
or parts of 31 states and two Canazones worldwide (SN: 6/5/04, p.
dian provinceshave to be cut
360), some researchers are trying
nearly in half from current amounts
to stem the flood of plant nutrients
to significantly shrink the annual
into rivers and eventually seas. The
Gulf dead zone. In many recent
U.S. government limits major
years, that hypoxic zone has been
releases of nitrate into the environabout the size of New Jersey.
ment because high concentrations
The U.S. Geological Survey,
of the nutrient can be toxic to
which monitors the nations waters,
wildlife and even people.
reports that quantities of nitrate in
Low, diffuse nitrate emissions,
the Mississippi increase from north
such as farm runoff, remain largely
Nitrogen in
to south as tributaries add their
unregulated, even though this nutriCommercial
Fertilizer
loads. For instance, in Royalton,
ent concentrates in waterways, where
kg/km /year
Missing or zero
Minn., near the Mississippis headit can severely damage water quality
less than 100
waters, some 930 tons of nitrate
and aquatic organisms health.
101 to 500
501 to 2,000
pass between the rivers banks in a
Without new regulations, U.S.
2,001 to 5,000
more than 5,000
typical year. At Clinton, Iowa, the
attempts to reduce low-level nitrate
river moves about 81,800 tons of
pollutionand reverse the trend of
RIVER OF NITROGEN Map quantifies nitrogen in
nitrate annually. By Memphis, just
increasing dead zonesmust rely
commercial fertilizer, in kilograms per square kilometer per
below the inflow of the Missouri
on voluntary efforts by farmers and
year, that farmers apply to their fields throughout the
and Ohio Rivers, the annual nitrate
others whose activities also conMississippi River watershed. Typically, 15 percent of the
flow reaches some 1 million tons
tribute to the problem. Therefore,
total drains into rivers that feed the Gulf of Mexico.
per year. Amounts in recent years
financial carrots must be incorpohave been roughly triple those in
rated into the programs.
A variety of projects, especially in the United States and Europe, the 1950s to 1970s.
Fertilizer applied to crops is the greatest contributor to the polare beginning to test novel approaches to reducing nutrients in the
waters that eventually drain into coastal seas. Pilot programs in lution that has created a Gulf of Mexico dead zone. Farmers find
the Midwest focus on farming because that activity sends the most that, other than water, fertilizer is the primary limiter of growth
in most plants. So, to avoid the possibility of any decreased pronitrate via the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico.
Some programs are simple, such as just encouraging cuts in ductivity, they typically apply more fertilizer than their crops need,
fertilizer use, observes Doug Daigle in the New Orleans office of observes agronomist Brian Brandt of the American Farmland
the Mississippi River Basin Alliance, a nonprofit group repre- Trusts Agricultural Conservation Innovation Center in Columsenting 150 organizations along the river. Other projects are bus, Ohio.
For any given area, U.S. Department of Agriculture extension
more creative, even visionary, he says, such as changing crop
choices or expanding or creating wetlands. But the important agents provide an estimate, called the agronomic rate, of how
thing is to start putting these programs in place, he contends, much fertilizer is needed in a typical year. For instance, a county
because the problem of coastal hypoxia, should be reversible agent might advise that farmers apply 150 pounds of nitrate per
acre of planted corn. However, every 4 or 5 years, rainy weather
if society doesnt wait too long.
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SCIENCE NEWS

S. NORCROSS, ADAPTED FROM USGS

WETLANDS INITIATIVE

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creates an environment in which plants could grow even better

The foundation is also testing crop diversificationmoving
with an extra 40 pounds or so of nitrate.
away from reliance on corn-soybean rotation cycles. The ideal
Since farmers apply fertilizer at planting, when they cant yet would be to restore perenniality to the agricultural landscape,
know how the seasons weather will pan out, most apply the extra says Steve Morse of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
fertilizer every year. If the extra rain doesnt materialize at the right
Fields that had been planted with corn and other traditional
time, the excess fertilizer remains in the soil until after-harvest row crops often lie bare from October until June, a period when
rains wash it into nearby streams.
they can produce heavy concentrations of nitrogen runoff, he says.
Conservation groups are looking for ways to convince farmers Indeed, he notes, studies show that the nitrate concentration in
to limit fertilizer applications to the agronomic rate. Brandts cen- runoff from a field planted with row crops is more than 20 times
ter has undertaken a no-risk solution: low-cost insurance to corn as much as that from one thats fully covered year-round with
growers.
plantsbe they pasture grasses or a succession of seasonal cover
Policyholders fertilize virtually all of their acreage at the agro- crops, such as red clover and white rye.
nomic rate. In a few small patches, however, they apply as much
The goal is to create acreage that performs all year long in
extra fertilizer as they wish. At harsome fashion. This differs from the
vest, if these overfertilized patches
agricultural strategy in which fields
have outperformed the other fields,
lie fallow to recover their producthe farmer is compensated for the
tivity.
diminished yield on the less-fertilMorse has just launched a conized plots.
sortium of universities and conserAlthough the insurance would
vation groups that will investigate
cost about $8.50 an acre, Brandt
the potential profitability of new
explains that it spares farmers from
perennial-cover options that might
buying extra fertilizer, which costs
entice corn and soybean farmers.
around $18 per acre.
Development of wetlands is
The federal government
another strategy being investigated
approved the plan as a pilot proby the Sand County Foundation and
gram, but insurance companies
other conservation groups. Bogs,
have been reluctant to join in and
swamps, marshes, and other soggy
only a few farmers are participatenvironments provide a host of bening, says Brandt.
efits, not the least of which is that
With that in mind, his organizathey can convert nitrate to nitrogen
tion is teaming up with the farmgas, permanently removing this polservices company Agflex of Carroll,
lutant from water.
Iowa, to offer the program in a warHowever, because well-drained
ranty form that can be offered by
crop soil can be twice as productive
companies that dont handle tradias wet soil, farmers have traditionSUBMERGED This central Illinois wetland, formerly a
tional insurance. The program
ally been among the most aggrescornfield, is designed to remove nitrate from water. Its the
would still compensate growers for
sive drainers of wetlands. Hydroloprototype of a for-profit nutrient-farming system.
yield losses associated with fertilizgist Donald L. Hey of the
ing at the agronomic rate.
Chicago-based Wetlands Initiative
hopes to change that practice. Hes promoting the potential enviFRIENDLY COMPETITION The nonprofit Sand County Foun- ronmental and economical benefits of renewing or creating wetdation of Madison, Wis., is beginning to test various strategies lands to soak up nitrate. He calls this approach nutrient farming,
to evaluate which one gives us the biggest bang for the buck in although the goal is to get rid of nitrate rather than to harvest it.
reducing nitrogen discharges to the environment, explains Alex
To create a nitrate-removing marsh, a farmer would smooth
Echols, a Washington, D.C., consultant to the project.
out a parcel of low-lying land and then flood it to a depth of
Echols contends that current antipollution efforts often fail about 2 feet. Pumps would control the flow of polluted water
because they focus on compliance with laws and adoption of envi- into and through the marsh to ensure prolonged contact between
ronmentally oriented programs, rather than on results. So, the nitrate-laden water and denitrifying bacteria. These wont be
Sand County Foundation decided to instead set performance goals, disease-breeding, bug-infested swamps, but open marshes that
such as nitrate-runoff limits for farms, and test how best to meet host fish and waterfowl, Hey says.
them, he says.
His group is currently studying 2,600 acres in north-central
Among the competing technologies is a practice called con- Illinois that were recently transformed from cornfields into a mantrolled drainage. Ordinarily, farmers in the upper Midwest install aged wetland (see http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/
porous pipes below their fields to carry away excess water and 20040515/food.asp).
keep fields from being soggy in the spring. Usually, the open pipes
continuously funnel their outflow through a primary drainage WHO PAYS? Hey projects that a nutrient farm could cost $5,000
pipe to a stream. In controlled drainage, a control box is inserted a year per acre to operate. He proposes that upstream growers
near the final outlet, and farmers can insert boards into it to tem- shouldnt bear the cost of cleaning up their fertilizer runoff. Instead,
porarily raise the outlets elevation. This raises the height that the he argues that the emissions credits purchased by other polluters
cities and industriescould indirectly subsidize farms and keep
water table must reach before the field will drain.
Controlled drainage can keep more water in the ground during food prices low. Urban and industrial nitrogen wastes include
crop germination and growth and limit nitrate washout before sewage, fallout from automotive and power plant combustion
emissions, and industrial releases.
planting and after harvest.
The Environmental Protection Agency has devised an emissionsWere hoping its going to produce higher yields in income to
farmers as well as higher environmental quality, Echols says. The trading scheme for nitrate but hasnt yet implemented it.
If corn growers do have to ante up for nitrate cleanups, Loni
Sand County Foundation plans to measure the farms nitrate
Kemp of the Minnesota Project in St. Paul points to an alternawashout, taking costs into account.
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tive financing source that will become available this summer: The
The institutes approach would encourage states to target
Conservation Security Program within the 2002 U.S. Farm Bill their conservation funds and pilot programs to areas offering
offers farmers incentives to make investments in soil- and water- the biggest returns, Faeth argues. Today, many such programs
conservation projects. Subsidies can run up to $45,000 a year are available throughout a region, he says, but it simply doesper farm.
nt pay to put money for nitrate cleanup into sites well upstream
Kemp notes that participating farmers are going to have to sign of major nitrate sources. Yet theres significant political resista contract for 5 to 10 years, promance to targeting, he notes,
ising to implement a set of practices
because politicians want public
that solve a targeted problem, such
money spread out broadly.
as cutting nitrate releases.
The cost of not targeting efforts is
Wed like the dominant farm
high, Faeth says. Our own study
policy to become one where we pay
and an Iowa study show that you
farmers for achieving [conservacan get 4 to 10 times the [nitratetion] benefits while they produce
cleanup] performance for the same
commodities. Kemp says.
dollar investment if that money is
All these ventures for controlling
targeted, Faeth says.
nitrate rely on voluntary participaRobert W. Howarth of Cornell
tion, notes Paul Faeth, managing
University would also expand regudirector of the Washington,
lation of nitrate pollution. He notes
D.C.based World Resources Instithat a committee of the National
tute. The size of cutbacks necessary
Academy of Sciences that he chaired
to make a dent in the Gulf s dead
4 years ago found the nitrate-polluzone is so large that voluntary
tion problem so big that it recomTABLED Temporarily covering the lower holes in this
action is not going to solve the probmended that even small sources of
drainage-control box effectively raises the height that
lem, he contends.
the pollutant be more stringently
water must reach before it drains from a field into a
He says that hed like to see a fedregulated.
stream. The drainage carries nitrate pollution.
erally mandated cap on nitrate
For instance, Howarth would like
emissions within each state. Those
to see EPA tighten controls on air
jurisdictions could then individually decide how to cut back nitrate pollution sources such as sport-utility vehicles and small trucks,
pollution, including through an emissions-trading system that which produce nitrogen oxide that in turn becomes airborne
Faeths institute is brokering independently of the EPA.
nitrateand ultimately rains out into waterways.
If states exceed the cap on their emissions, he says, EPA should
Keep in mind, he warns, two-thirds of coastal rivers and bays
step in with mandatory rules on nitrate, as authorized by the Clean in the United States have some sort of degradation from nitrogen
Water Act.
pollutionand its only getting worse.

OF
NOTE
BIOMEDICINE

Statins might fight

multiple sclerosis
Statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs
taken by millions of people, might also help
those with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a preliminary study appearing in the
May 15 Lancet.
Various studies have indicated that
statinsin addition to slashing the harmful low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
have anti-inflammatory effects. Scientists
reasoned that this might help MS patients,
who have areas of brain tissue where the
fatty sheath that insulates nerves has been
stripped away by an inflammation-based
immune onslaught. The damage to these
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JUNE 12, 2004

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structures, called myelin sheaths, can

adversely affect coordination, vision, stamina, speech, and thinking, and it can lead to
a shorter lifespan.
In the new study, researchers gave simvastatin (Zocor) to 28 MS patients for
6 months. The scientists used magnetic
resonance imaging to reveal brain lesions
before and after treatment. They found
about half as many lesions, on average,
after treatment as there had been before
treatment. They also observed a reduction
in the size of remaining lesions. As such,
simvastatin was about as effective as standard MS drugs, says study coauthor Inderjit Singh of the Medical University of
South Carolina in Charleston.
The five drugs approved for MS in the
past decade are only partially effective in
protecting myelin and require visits to a
clinic for injection, Singh says. Simvastatin,
like other statins, is available in a pill and
is considerably less expensive than the MS
drugs, he says.
To establish clearly that a statin works
against MS, he says, the drug will need to

be tested for at least 2 years in a study in

which some patients receive inert pills.
Meanwhile, Singh cautions doctors against
prescribing statins for MS. However, the
decision may soon be out of doctors control in some places: Britain plans to permit
the sale of statins without a prescription
starting this summer. N.S.
CHEMISTRY

Crystal could
generate pure
hydrogen fuel
The bizarre behavior of an organic crystal
called calixarene could help drive a hydrogen economy, suggests a new study.
Researchers describe a crystal that, when
exposed to air, absorbs molecules such as
carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxygen,
and nitrogen. The crystal consists of two
calixarene molecules joined together,
resembling a pair of cups attached at a their
open ends to leave a cavity inside.
SCIENCE NEWS

L.C. BROWN, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

JAR.BOB.6-12