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Nitrate in the News

Nitrate News -- May, 2000

Red tides prolific in China seas (Environmental News Network, Friday, May 26, 2000, By Xinhua News Agency) China has experienced an increase in red tides off its coasts since the 1990s due to industrial waste water pollution, according to an official report. There have been 200 red tides over the past three years and 45 major red tides during the decade that have caused U.S.$240 million in losses, according to a recent report by the State Oceanic Administration of China. The report predicts that about 20 to 30 red tides are expected to occur this year in the coastal sea waters compared with 19 last year. The report is based on the results of China's largest survey of 2.68 million square kilometers of sea waters under its jurisdiction. The 45 major red tides occurred in the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Most took place in the seas off the coasts of Guangdong, Shandong, Zhejiang and Liaoning provinces and Shanghai. About 4 billion tons of industrial waste water are discharged annually into the sea, resulting in an accumulation of organic pollutants that are blamed for the growing outbreaks of disastrous red tides, the administration said. Red tides may also destroy marine life and bring harm to marine cultivation industries. China has monitored a large red tide spotted last week off the coast of east China's Zhejiang Province, the first discovered this year in Chinese waters. The red tide covered 1,000 square kilometers in the Zhoushan area between the north latitude of 28 and 29 degrees.

Ontario official sets new water regulations amid E. coli epidemic (The Associated Press) WALKERTON, Ontario (May 29, 2000 5:12 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Ontario's environment minister announced Monday new regulations to improve water testing and guarantee immediate reporting on contamination, in the wake of an E. coli epidemic that killed five and sickened hundreds. Police and health officials were still investigating how the wells in Walkerton, 90 miles west of Toronto, were infected with the intestinal bacteria E. coli, and whether local officials broke laws by failing to report water problems immediately. While the number of people getting sick has decreased, health officials said some of the two dozen hospitalized could still die, including an elderly patient regarded as terminally ill. The province's environmental minister, Dan Newman, said new health regulations would require all of Ontario's municipalities to use accredited water-testing labs and to inform the government when hiring a new private testing firm. Water plants would be reviewed and certified every three years, and the ministry would clarify procedures requiring laboratories to notify health officials, city officials and the environment ministry of irregularities, Newman said. One class-action lawsuit already has been filed, accusing local officials of failing to notify Walkerton residents of the E. coli contamination for days after finding out. Authorities on Monday shut down a school in a Wingham, 25 miles southwest of Walkerton, after its water source tested positive for E. coli contamination. The type of E. coli detected in the school's well was unknown, but more tests were being done. No sickness has been reported, but officials told parents they should seek immediate treatment for children suffering from diarrhea, nausea, cramps, and other symptoms associated with E. coli, Huron County health inspector Klaus Seeger said. Often spread through animal or human feces, E. coli bacteria may have entered Walkerton's wells in flooding that followed a storm on May 12. City officials acknowledged that the chlorinating system on one of the town's two main wells was malfunctioning for weeks before people started getting sick. A provincial water agency took control of the local water utility last week, after Mayor Dave Thomson of Brockton municipality, which includes Walkerton, disclosed that the utility knew as early as May 18 of the E. coli contamination. According to Thomson and a local health official, the utility failed to tell them about the problem, and a boil order for Walkerton water was issued only on May 21 after increasing reports of bloody diarrhea. Garry Palmateer of GAP EnviroMicrobial Services said his company had found another type of bacteria in the town's water supply as far back as January. Palmateer said the findings showed surface water was seeping into the town wells and that he notified local and Ontario officials about the problem. The ministry received test results in January and April that showed coliform bacteria, but no E. coli, a ministry statement said Sunday. Coliform bacteria can cause illnesses, but it is not as deadly as certain strains of E. coli. On April 10, Walkerton's water utility assured the province by phone that "corrective measures were being taken," including extra chlorinating and additional tests, the ministry said. The Walkerton utilities commission submitted a lab report to the ministry May 3, saying follow-up testing showed no traces of coliform or E. coli bacteria, the ministry said.

Authorities search for faulty fertilizer tanks (By CHARLEY GILLESPIE, Associated Press) COLUMBUS, Ohio (May 29, 2000 5:31 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Seconds after hearing the booming sound of a massive tank's seams bursting, the workers saw a giant wave of liquid fertilizer coming at them. One worker escaped injury as the million gallons of liquid pushed the forklift he was riding over a containing wall. Two workers cutting grass outside the dike weren't as lucky. The liquid swept them up like driftwood and knocked them into other tanks and equipment. Both were hospitalized. The accident last July at the Anderson Facility in Webberville, Mich., was one of a series of ruptures of fertilizer tanks in several states. Five tanks, all the same brand, ruptured in Ohio within a few months. State Fire Marshal Robert Rielag alerted his counterparts around the country about problems with the welding of tanks, which were built by two southwest Ohio companies, Carolyn Equipment Co. and Nationwide Tanks Inc., that are now out of business. As a result, authorities around the country are inspecting for faulty welding that could allow spills that threaten lives, property and drinking water. The steel tanks, which hold liquid fertilizer used for farming, range in size from 50,000 to 2 million gallons and can be as big as a four-story building. The heavy liquid can burst through a bad weld with such force that protective dikes fail to contain spills. One of the most serious ruptures happened at Southside River Rail in Cincinnati on Jan. 8. Liquid fertilizer exploded out of a million-gallon tank, destroyed two reinforced concrete containing walls and pushed two tractor-trailers into the Ohio River. "One million gallons of fertilizer is like a mini tidal wave," said Mike Kroeger, an assistant fire chief in Cincinnati. "Thank goodness we haven't had anyone killed. If anybody is standing next to a tank when it goes they wouldn't survive." Testing of six other tanks at Southside River Rail found faulty welding on all. Another tank farm, the Queen City terminal, found five tanks with weak welds. In 1997, at United Suppliers in Pacific Junction, Iowa, a million-gallon tank burst with such force the liquid fertilizer moved rail cars off their track. John Whipple, fertilizer bureau chief for Iowa's Department of Agriculture, said that after the Ohio fire marshal's warnings his staff spent a month looking for the suspect tanks. It found about a dozen, and "all of them have had to be re-welded," Whipple said. Gary King, plant industry manager for the Michigan Department of Agriculture, said the state began regulating fertilizer tanks last October. King said Michigan now does yearly inspections and will require the manufacturer's name be listed on tank registration applications. The earliest known problem with a tank built by Carolyn or Nationwide was in 1995 in Indiana when a 500,000 gallon container ruptured. Since then, officials have made a slide show of the damage for presentations to groups in the fertilizer industry, said Mike Hancock, Indiana's fertilizer administrator. "The slide show forced them to check all of the tanks in their system," Hancock said. "At least one location did have one of those tanks and had to do a reweld." Kroeger, who is trying to assemble a national database of fertilizer tanks, says he doesn't know how many are out there. He estimates there are 12,000 similar tanks in the Cincinnati area alone. Both Carolyn Equipment and Nationwide Tanks were owned by Donald and Carolyn Walters of West Chester, Ohio. Carolyn Equipment was foreclosed on by its lender in 1990, while Nationwide filed for bankruptcy protection in 1995 and then went out of business. Between 1980 and 1995, the two companies built above-ground liquid storage tanks in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, according to court records. Rielag believes tanks in other states should be checked on the possibility that the problem goes beyond one brand. Carolyn Walters said neither she nor her husband were aware of any widespread problems with welding on tanks built by their companies. They used subcontractors to do the welding, but Carolyn Walters said she couldn't recall who they were. She said all records of who bought the tanks were destroyed after the bankruptcy. Because tanks that the companies built had one-year warranties, it was tank owners' responsibility to have them inspected regularly "because you never know what the companies will put in them," she said. Most of the liquid nitrogen in the tanks is synthetic and is trucked in from processing plants where ammonia is derived from natural gas. Other fertilizer tanks hold phosphorous, potassium or natural fertilizer. The Ohio fire marshal's office, which only regulates tanks containing petroleum, said records on the location of fertilizer tanks are sketchy. Rielag said some city and county building codes require permits to erect the tanks, but for the most part, nobody regulates them. The Ohio Agriculture Department issued an advisory to all fertilizer facilities in the state recommending they have structural engineers test the welds on all of their tanks. Spokeswoman Deb Abbott says her department is legally required to inspect the diking system but not the tanks. Officials at the Morral Chemical Co. said it's important to get the word out now because the tanks are more likely to burst in the spring when they are full. Morral, located in Marion County, had two tank ruptures in four days. The most recent, on March 8, forced the evacuation of a middle school and nearby homes.

UC innovation helps dairy farmers better manage wastewater (Univ. of California, UC Newswire, May 17, 2000, CONTACT: Jeannette Warnert, (510) 241-7514, jwarnert@uckac.edu) A quick test developed by UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Marsha Campbell Mathews allows farmers to measure nitrogen in dairy wastewater in minutes, giving them an important tool in the complex and environmentally sensitive task of managing wastewater lagoons. Typically dairy lagoon water is pumped onto adjacent farmland where farmers grow corn or winter forage for cow feed. To ensure a good crop, commercial fertilizer is commonly added. But the practice can result in more nitrogen being applied than the crop can use. The leftover could seep down into the aquifer and pollute groundwater. Campbell Mathews has found that, with careful monitoring and application procedures, using the nutrients in the wastewater alone produces a top-yielding crop and reduces the risk of contaminating groundwater. In just four minutes, right on the banks of dairy lagoons, the quick test tells farmers the level of ammonia nitrogen and estimates organic nitrogen in the water. The ammonia nitrogen is chemically the same as the fertilizer purchased by most dairies. The organic nitrogen also contributes to the nutrient needs of the crop. "The amount of nitrogen in dairy lagoon water varies widely," Campbell Mathews said. "You can't take a sample in spring and use the same number all season long. With the quick test, we've given dairy farmers a way to calculate the amount of nitrogen in the water minutes before it's pumped onto the field." Campbell Mathews said the reagent used in performing the quick test produces a tiny amount of mercury in about three-quarters of an ounce of water, which must be handled as a hazardous waste. However, in Stanislaus County, disposal is not an obstacle. The waste may be collected in a bottle and dropped off at a hazardous waste disposal site, just like used batteries and leftover paint. Applying the correct amount of lagoon water is another important component of an ecologically sound disbursement system, Campbell Mathews said. She has tested a system that uses a special clog-resistant valve to adjust the flow of lagoon water and a flow meter to monitor the exact amount of nitrogen being applied. With funding from the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, the California Dairy Research Foundation and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the system was demonstrated at three commercial dairies near Modesto. "We have grown fantastic corn," Campbell Mathews said. "And we didn't apply any commercial water-run fertilizer. We were able to apply just the amount of ammonia-form nitrogen we intended to. This coming season we plan to account for organic-form nitrogen as well." The task has not been simple, nor does Campbell Mathews expect it to be for dairy farmers who must reconfigure their lagoon water distribution systems. Particularly in the sandy soils of the northern San Joaquin Valley, timing of lagoon water applications must be coordinated precisely with the crop's nutritional needs. That means there must be sufficient space to store dairy wastewater when it cannot be used. "A lot of dairy operators didn't have the capacity in a wet winter to hold all the water in their ponds," said Thomas Harter, UC Davis groundwater hydrologist based at the UC Kearney Ag Center near Parlier and a cooperator on some of the projects. "It was standard practice to empty the pond in the fall. But if the soil is sandy, you can't put fertilizer on one part of the year and hope it is there six months later to help plants grow well. In the Modesto area, you have to spoon feed the fertilizer to the crop." At the dairies where the UCCE demonstrations were conducted, the operators built additional water storage lagoons, modified irrigation systems and/or purchased state-of-the-art pumps and valves to make optimum use of lagoon water. Campbell Mathews and Tulare County UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Carol Frate have offered six workshops on the proper use of dairy lagoon water. More than 75 individuals completed the three-part series. Additional classes will be offered in the fall. "There are going to be quite a few flow meters installed in the coming season," she said. "Using a flow meter is by far the easiest way to implement the system, but it's not the only way. Flow can also be measured by calculating pond drop or pump output." Campbell Mathews said she is heartened by the interest and enthusiasm of dairy operators in the dairy wastewater management system and is beginning to see a shift in the way they think about the lagoon water. "Some people are used to thinking of it as waste, but now they realize it can actually be a precious resource," she said.

MINE WASTE CLEANUP PLAN RECALLED (GREENLines, Issue #1122, 3May200; greenlines@envirolink.org): Environmentalists are hailing as a "major victory " a FWS decision to have the Nuclear Regulatory Commission "reassess" the groundwater cleanup and endangered species protection plans for the abandoned uranium tailings "dump" near Moab, Utah says ENS 4/28. The abandoned mine waste is "leaching deadly levels of ammonia and other toxic contaminants" into the Colorado river imperiling the endangered Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker.

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