2 results for tag: Preventing Water pollution


Let’s talk about microplastics

Your closet and dresser drawers are full of plastic - and not the kind from packaging, straws and shopping bags. Some of our favorite fabrics, whether it’s techy workout gear or your fleece winter pullover, can release upwards of 730,000 synthetic particles per wash. When these synthetic fibers end up in our waterways they become a form of microplastic pollution. Microplastics are exactly what they sound like: tiny pieces of plastic that result from the inevitable breakdown of the plastic products around us. As they get smaller and smaller, microplastics become harder to catch, clean up or keep out of our rivers, oceans and marine food webs. ...

Healthy Soil, Healthy Oregon

Plants need nutrients in order to provide us with the food and fiber we need to survive. And while farmers are cost-conscious, over 50% of the fertilizer applied to major U.S. crops washes out as runoff or leaches into our water supply. The result is wasted money for farmers, contaminated drinking water and increased incidence of toxic algae blooms in our rivers, lakes and streams. Unused nitrogen fertilizer that leaches into groundwater or washes into streams can lead to nitrate pollution in drinking water from wells and eutrophication and hypoxic zones in freshwater and coastal waters. The human and environmental health concerns about nitrogen ...