Nitrate pollution in the U.S., too

After yesterday's post, I thought I'd check on nitrate pollution in the U.S.  It turns out it's a major problem here, too.  Just yesterday, protesters were gathered outside an EPA hearing in Tampa, Florida, demanding action to deal with nitrates and phosphorous pollution.  According to the Tampa Bay Times, when the weather warms up, algae blooms in Florida waterways have become an annual problem, killing fish and closing swimming areas.  And back in November the New York Times had an article on nitrate contamination of water supplies in poorer, rural areas of the California Central Valley.

[I]n Tulare County, one of the country’s leading dairy producers, where animal waste lagoons penetrate the air and soil, most residents rely on groundwater as the source for drinking water. A study by the University of California, Davis, this year estimated that 254,000 people in the Tulare Basin and Salinas Valley, prime agricultural regions with about 2.6 million residents, were at risk for nitrate contamination of their drinking water. Nitrates have been linked to thyroid disease and make infants susceptible to “blue baby syndrome,” a potentially fatal condition that interferes with the blood’s capacity to carry oxygen.

Amazing!

I've only begun to learn about the issues involved here.  Still, I have a sense that the U.S. tends to approach the problem as one of water treatment.  I may be overstating it, but it generally seems that farmers can fertilize and operate feed lots as they wish.  Local water systems, if they exist and can afford it, will remove the pollutants.  By contrast, the E.U., with the 1991 nitrates directive, seems to be moving towards direct regulation of these pollution sources.