Phosphorus Education

Phosphorus is an essential and naturally occurring nutrient needed for all forms of life. It is commonly found in human and animal waste, as well as in commercial fertilizers. as

It is a valuable nutrient in plant growth and imperative to the agriculture sector to provide healthy fields and higher yields, however when in excess it can become harmful to the environment.

Point Sources: These are distinct, identifiable sources, such as effluent discharged from industrial or sewage treatment plants. They are common in urban areas and can be easily measured.

Non-Point Sources: Non-point sources of phosphorus come from a wide variety of sources over a large spread area, making it more difficult to measure. Non-point sources tend to be the most common in our watershed with agriculture making up 85% of the land use in the region.

Non-point source examples:

• surface runoff
• subsurface tile drainage
• erosion

Commercial fertilizers, manure, compost, and biosolids are examples of nutrients that are applied to the land to promote plant growth and crop yields, all of which contain phosphorous.

If excess nutrients from these fertilizers or manure are washed off the land in a rainstorm or during spring snow melt, they are carried into local watercourses and can have negatives effects on the ecosystem, such as causing algae blooms.

Phosphorus bound to soil particles (particulate phosphorus) accounts for a large portion of the phosphorus carried by surface runoff.

Water quality samples are collected monthly throughout the watershed to monitor changes to the health of the local environment, identify regional issues and direct on the ground actions.

Additional sampling occurs during rain or weather events to monitor conditions. The change in stream water quality over the course of a stormwater runoff event is visible in the samples collected at 2-hour intervals by the high frequency automatic sampler.

Noticeable changes in water can be seen while comparing samples from the beginning or the peak of the stormwater runoff event. As the event develops, water becomes progressively cloudier due to the nutrient-rich sediment that has been washed off the land into the stream. After the storm peaks and the streamflow normalizes, the water returns to a clearer state.

LTVCA’s field technicians monitor on-site, collecting data on:

• water temperature
• pH
• dissolved oxygen
• turbidity
• conductivity

Samples are shipped to a lab for further precise analysis of parameters such as but not limited to, total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorous (TP), dissolved reactive phosphorous (DRP), nitrates and ammonia.