AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Soil erosion is a major contributor of phosphorus to streams. Bank erosion occurring during floods can transport a lot of phosphorous from the river banks and adjacent land into a stream, lake, or other water body.

Detailed explanation-2: -Stormwater: When precipitation falls on our cities and towns it runs across hard surfaces-like rooftops, sidewalks and roads-and carries pollutants, including nitrogen and phosphorus, into local waterways.

Detailed explanation-3: -Phosphorus is a common element in agricultural fertilizers, manure, and organic wastes in sewage and industrial discharges. Rain and snowmelt can wash fertilizers and manure off agricultural land and into ditches, streams, and lakes. It can also be in discharges of treated wastewater from communities and businesses.

Detailed explanation-4: -Phosphates enter waterways from human and animal waste, phosphorus-rich bedrock, laundry and cleaning wastewater, industrial effluents, and fertilizer runoff.

Detailed explanation-5: -Phosphorus runoff is causing blooms of harmful algae that deplete waterways of oxygen, resulting in “dead zones” that damage ecosystems vital for aquatic life. It’s a problem in many of the waterways we all depend on for recreation and drinking water, including the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay.