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Pollutants from agriculture a serious threat to world's water

New report paints a worrying picture, provides recommendations on what can be done

Water pollution from agriculture affects billions of people and generates annual costs exceeding billions of
dollars.

20 June 2018, Rome - Water pollution from unsustainable agricultural practices poses a serious risk to
human health and the planet's ecosystems, a problem often underestimated by policymakers and farmers
alike, cautions a new report.

In many countries the biggest source of water pollution today is agriculture — not cities or industry —
while worldwide, the most common chemical contaminant found in groundwater aquifers is nitrate from
farming, according to More People, More Food, Worse Water? A Global Review of Water Pollution from
Agriculture, launched by FAO and the International Water Management Institute at a conference in
Tajikistan (19-22 June).
Modern agriculture is responsible for the discharge of large quantities of agrochemicals, organic matter,
sediments and saline trading into water bodies, the report says.

This pollution affects billions of people and generates annual costs exceeding billions of dollars.

"Agriculture is the single largest producer of wastewater, by volume, and livestock generates far more
excreta than do humans. As land use has intensified, countries have greatly increased the use of
synthetic pesticides, fertilizers and other inputs," write Eduardo Mansur, Director of FAO's Land and
Water Division, and Claudia Sadoff, IWMI Director-General, in their introduction to the report.

"While these inputs have helped boost food production, they have also given rise to environmental
threats, as well as to potential human health concerns," they add.

The agropollutants of greatest concern for human health are pathogens from livestock, pesticides,
nitrates in groundwater, trace metallic elements and emerging pollutants, including antibiotics and
antibiotic-resistant genes excreted by livestock.

The new report represents the most comprehensive review of the dispersed scientific literature on the
issue complied to date, and aims to fill information gaps and lay out policy and farm-level solutions in one
consolidated reference.

How agriculture affects water quality

The boom in global agricultural productivity that followed the Second World War was achieved in large
part through the intensive use of inputs such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

Since 1960 the use of mineral fertilizer has grown ten times, while since 1970 global sales of pesticides
climbed from around $one billion to $35 billion a year.

Meanwhile, the intensification of livestock production — world livestock numbers have more than tripled
since 1970 — has seen a new class of pollutants emerge: antibiotics, vaccines and hormonal growth
promoters that travel from farms through water into ecosystems and our drinking water.

At the same time, water pollution by organic matter from livestock farming is now significantly more
widespread than organic pollution from urban areas.

And another booming sector, aquaculture (which has expanded twenty-fold since 1980) is now releasing
ever greater amounts of fish excreta, uneaten feed, antibiotics, fungicides and anti-fouling agents into
surface waters.

What can be done

Water pollution from agriculture is a complex challenge and effectively managing it requires a range of
responses, according to More People, More Food, Worse Water.

The most effective way to mitigate pressure on aquatic ecosystems and rural ecologies is to limit the
export of pollutants at the source or to intercept them before they reach vulnerable ecosystems. Once off-
farm, the costs of remediation progressively increase.

One way to do this is to develop policies and incentives that encourage people to adopt more sustainable
diets and limit increases in demand for food with a large environmental footprint — for example taxes and
subsidies.

At the consumer level, reducing food waste can help. One study covered in the report estimated that
nitrogen pollution from food waste adds up to 6.3 teragrams per year.

"Traditional" regulatory instruments will also continue to be a key tool in reducing farm outputs of
pollutants. These include water quality standards; pollution discharge permits; mandatory best practices;
environmental impact assessments for certain farming activities; buffer zones around farms; restrictions
on agricultural practices or the location of farms; and limits on the marketing and sale of dangerous
products.

However, the report acknowledges that well-known principles for reducing pollution, such as ‘polluter
pays,' are hard to apply to non-point agricultural pollution because identifying the actual polluters is
neither easy nor cheap.

That means that measures that promote farmer "buy in" are critical to preening pollution at the source —
such as tax breaks for the adoption of practices that minimize farm export of nutrients and pesticides or
payments to for "landscape maintenance."

On the farm, a number of best practices can reduce the export of pollutants into surrounding ecosystems,
for example: minimizing the use of fertilizers and pesticides, establishing buffer zones along watercourses
and farm boundaries, or improving drainage control schemes.

Integrated pest management, which combines the strategic use of pest-resistant crop varieties with crop
rotation and the introduction of natural predators of common pests is another helpful tool

On livestock operations, traditional techniques such as restoring degraded pasturelands and better
managing animal diets, feed additives and medicines are needed — while more also needs to be done
with new nutrient recycling techniques and technologies, such as farm waste biodigesters.

Agricultural water pollution: Numbers of note

• Irrigation is the world's largest producer in volume of wastewater (in the form of agricultural
drainage).

• Globally, around 115 million tonnes of mineral nitrogen fertilizers are applied to croplands each
year. Around 20 percent of these nitrogen inputs end up accumulating in soils and biomass,
whereas 35 percent enters the oceans.

• Worldwide, 4.6 million tonnes of chemical pesticides are sprayed into the environment every year.

• Developing countries account for 25 percent of world pesticide use in farming, but 99 percent of
the world's deaths due to pesticides.

• Recent estimates that the economic impact of pesticides on non-target species (including
humans) is approximately $8 billion annually in developing countries.

• Oxygen-depletion (hypoxia) resulting from manmade nutrient overloading affects an area of 240
000 km2 globally, comprising 70 000 km2 of inland waters and 170 000 km2 of coastal areas

• Worldwide, an estimated 24 percent of the area under irrigation is affected by salinization

• Currently, more than 700 emerging pollutants, their metabolites and transformation products, are
listed as being present in the European aquatic environment.
 Agriculture has played an important role in the economy of the country. It has also
supplied different types of food and other products that are needed for us to survive. Since
food is the primary source of energy, farmers and other food producers have adapted to
different types of practices in agriculture. Mostly, chemical fertilizers for plants and antibiotics
or vaccines for livestock have been extensively used to ensure that there is fast and at the
same time high production. Little do they know that the use of synthetic fertilizers and
chemicals can not only contaminate the plant they are producing but also to the soil and the
water to where the chemicals from the fertilizers would percolate. These pollutants pose a
serious threat to our environment- climate change, soil degradation, pollution, water scarcity,
etc.
Since we have already taken advantage of what the Creator has provided for us, we
must also do our part in giving back to our home and take the necessary steps to rehabilitate
and return our waters to its original state or at least minimize the harmful effects of
conventional farming which includes the use of different fertilizers and growers. First and
foremost, as local citizens, we must expand our knowledge about agriculture and other
alternative ways to produce plants and livestock without compromising the state of our
environment.
Upon further research, I have obtained some valuable information that can help to
protect the environment against the harmful effects of unsafe agricultural practices-- which is
through sustainable farming. This type of farming incorporates both the conservation of
available resources as well as employing farming practices aimed at environmental
protection. This incorporates the use of organic and natural fertilizers. We must practice
organic agriculture so that we would be able to live a healthy and illness-free life. Through
this practice, we could grow and consume vegetables, fruits and livestock products that are
full of nutrients essential to our bodies, clean and chemical-free. Not only are these beneficial
to our own bodies but also to our environment. Lastly, sustainable agriculture encourages
biodiversity. We must encourage a healthy biodiversity, which plays a critical role in how
resilient our grounds are to issues like bad weather, diseases, and pests. Increased
biodiversity also directly correlates with a decrease in infectious diseases not only for the
plants and livestock we grow but also for us.
These learnings must also be shared to our fellow citizens, especially to our local
producers so that little by little we can restore our waters and eventually the environment.