Have a glass of nitrates

There's been more than a little talk about high nitrate levels in our springs and rivers over the past couple of years. All one has to do to know it's more than talk is take a peek at Silver Springs and the brown algae now carpeting its once silvery bottom. Or look at almost any lake or stream hereabouts and see the water plants slowly blanketing them into non-existence. Heck, Orange Lake has veritable islands of water weeds floating on its surface making parts of it unnavigable.

But the nitrate pollution that is caused by homeowner fertilizer, septic tanks, livestock manure and stormwater runoff is not just tainting our once crystal clear springs, or choking our beautiful fishing holes. It's also contaminating our drinking water.

Yeah, yeah, you say. Scare tactics of environmental nuts. After all, our tap water looks just fine, tastes as good as ever.

Well, for those who think the nitrate pollution threat is only about trees and fish and eel grass, I invite you to Google the Silver River Alliance's website and click the section called “High Nitrate Levels” (http://www.silverspringsalliance.org...lsInOurSprings). You will find a map of Marion County, based on hundreds of recent wellwater tests, showing areas where the nitrate levels are at or exceeding 10 milligrams per liter. Here's what the website says:

“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website ... states that 'nitrates may cause problems if present in public or private water supplies in amounts greater than the drinking water standard set by EPA.' The maximum contaminant level (MCL) is 10 milligrams per liter (mg/l). The same EPA website states that 'infants below the age of six months who drink water containing nitrate in excess of the MCL could become seriously ill, and if untreated, may die.' ”

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Now, do I have your attention? A significant portion of Marion County, especially along the U.S. 441 and State Road 200 corridors and around the north side of Ocala, are glowing with red — denoting high nitrate levels in drinking water wells. Also the Golden Ocala and Pedro areas have pretty high levels.

Essentially, wherever there are high concentrations of houses or livestock, there is a good bet there will be high concentrations of nitrates in our drinking water. Did I say our drinking water?

It's easy to tune out the incessant drumbeat of doom about our water supply because, let's be real, as long as the water keeps flowing from our kitchen tap and our shower, we don't figure we have much to worry about. And it's a good bet no one's going to die from a 10 mg/l cocktail — not anytime soon, anyway.

But make no mistake. Even the state, which hates to acknowledge it has allowed our drinking water to become overpolluted and overpumped, is worried, having set goals of reducing nitrate load levels in Silver and Rainbow springs — which spew forth the same water we drink everyday — to .35 mg/l. Think about it. That's the goal. Meanwhile, hundreds of private and community wells in our community are already at 10 mg/l. The nitrate threat is not only real, it's coming out of too many faucets.

http://www.ocala.com/article/2014090...nion?p=2&tc=pg


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