Excessive Nitrates Polluting Drinking Water In Central Provinces

[sbk]

as reported by Green Peace:

Manila, Bangkok — Water in key agricultural areas in the Philippines and Thailand are already contaminated with nitrate pollution, Greenpeace warned today at the launch of a new report, Nitrates in drinking water in the Philippines and Thailand. The report, launched simultaneously in both countries, is the result of a Greenpeace Water Patrol investigation which studied nitrate levels in drinking water sources and their relation to nitrogen fertilizer use in farming areas.

The study shows that drinking water from 30% of all groundwater wells sampled in both countries showed nitrates levels above the World Heath Organization safety limit of 50 mg l-1 of nitrate (NO3-). This nitrate pollution was highest in the most intensive crops, with nitrate levels 3 times the WHO safety limit (>150 mg l-1) in asparagus farms in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Groundwater wells in vegetable farming areas in Benguet, Philippines were also polluted with nitrates levels above WHO limits.

"Greenpeace has been sending out warning signals that the quality of freshwater sources in both the Philippines and Thailand is declining, and this study is yet another shocking example of how water protection measures are inadequate. The nitrates pollution that we discovered in farming areas is particularly worrisome--communities think that the water they drink everyday is clean because physically, it doesn't smell bad or look bad. But it is actually laced with nitrates from fertilizers which people don't normally associate with pollution," said Greenpeace Campaigner Daniel Ocampo. ......

....Examples of water pollution with nitrates were found in intensive farming areas in Thailand's Central Plain (Kanchanaburi and Suphanburi). Samples taken from Kanchanaburi show a clear example of heavy fertilizer use related to water pollution with nitrates in asparagus farms. In six out of 11 asparagus farms surveyed, nitrates levels in groundwater wells were above the WHO drinking water safety limit, and even in the other five wells nitrate levels showed evidence of pollution. In Suphanburi, two of the five wells in farms sampled had nitrates levels higher than the WHO safety limit

According to Reyes Tirado of Greenpeace Research Laboratories in the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, and author of the report, the results of the study indicate that the nitrates pollution in drinking water sources sampled in the study correlates with intensive farming practices where nitrogen fertilizers are applied in excess. Nitrates pollution could have serious health implications for the local populations. Groundwater is the main source of drinking water in the selected sampling sites.

Drinking water with high levels of nitrate can cause serious health problems, especially in children. The greatest risk of nitrate poisoning is 'blue baby syndrome' or methemoglobinemia, which occurs in infants given nitrate-laden water, and particularly affects babies under four months of age. Blue-baby syndrome can provoke cyanosis, headache, stupor, fatigue, tachycardia, coma, convulsions, asphyxia and ultimately death. Drinking water contaminated with nitrates also has a potential role in developing cancers of the digestive tract, and has also been associated with other types of cancer such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, bladder and ovarian cancers....

Source: www.greenpeace.org/seasia/en/news/drinking-water-in-benguet-bul

and the Bangkok Post: Excessive fertiliser use leading to water contamination: