Nitrogen Contamination of Surficial Aquifers—A Growing Legacy

Abstract

The virtual ubiquity of fertilizer-fed agriculture, increasing over several decades, has become necessary to support the global human population. Ironically, widespread use of nitrogen (N) has contaminated another vital resource: surficial fresh groundwater. Further, as nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas, anthropogenic manipulation of N budgets has ramifications that can extend far beyond national borders. To get a handle on the size of the problem, Puckett et al. present an approach to track historical contamination and thus analyze trends now and in the past with implications for the future.