Disclaimer: This is an example of a student written essay.
Click here for sample essays written by our professional writers.

Any scientific information contained within this essay should not be treated as fact, this content is to be used for educational purposes only and may contain factual inaccuracies or be out of date.

Proposal to Reduce Nitrate Loads in Moving Water for Crop Production

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Environmental Sciences
Wordcount: 7275 words Published: 18th May 2020

Reference this

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

North America is witnessing a reduction in the production of crops in the recent year mainly due to the unstable form of the nitrogen cycle. The primary problem is mainly caused due to the nitrate leaching, denitrification, and volatilization. Runoff water in the crop field has led to the formation of algae bloom in the nearby lakes and pollute the water bodies.  The denitrification causes the harmful nitrogen gas to the surrounding due to the absence of nitrogen and volatilization dominantly takes place because of the lack of nitrogen in the soil to convert ammonia into ammonium. Over the past two decades, the production of nitrogen fertilizer in North America has reached more than 100 million according to the report provided by UN food and agricultural organization.

Get Help With Your Essay

If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!

Essay Writing Service

The following report outlines a proposal to reduce the nitrate loads in the moving water and takes the following measure to control the denitrification and volatilization process to ensure efficient crop production in all the seasons. North America has a signification production of crops like corn soybeans, peanut, potatoes, and other grains. The use of water management and water recycling method have considerably reduced the amount of water leaving the farmland using controlled drainage structure and reuse the water stored in the pond, later during the summer season to meet the water requirement for the crop field in all the season. We have 3 main problems that exist in the current situation that are nitrate leaching, denitrification, and volatilization.

The proposed solution provides the following benefits:

 

  • Drainage water management can reduce the nutrient losses by controlling the drainage outlet both growing seasons and winter months.
  • Agriculture water reuse method can provide access to water as well as generate valuable products like nutrient contents in the soil.
  • Recycling water decreases the amount of wastewater and water pollution.
  • Cope up with the increased demand for organic foods.
  • We have also included a solution for reducing the ammonia volatilization through slurry manure, liquid manure, and manure slurry.

The implementation of the entire solution has been divided into four stages: Detailed research, Project approval, and Design layout, Purchasing raw material and Project Construction, and Project completion and evaluation. We have also provided our solution with cost estimation. Successful implementation of the solution will provide awareness among the public and farmer with the significant importance of maintaining nitrogen management through the natural way.

FINAL INTRODUCTION

The atmosphere is full of nitrogen. Nitrogen is a key component for all the world’s living beings. Essentially, the nitrogen cycle portrays how transports of nitrogen happen in the atmosphere and on the ground through different species by their normal activity. The atmosphere contains very less amount of nitrogen in the purest form. By following the four-cycle measures, nitrogen is converted into a functional shape, as can most living organisms, such as (1) Nitrogen fixations, (2) ammonification, (3) Nitrification and (4). One of the most important roles in nitrogen is that of micro-organisms [1]. In North America, crop production is increasing every year. Farming has been one of the major industries in North America. Industries in North America uses a wide range of variety fertilizers which contains nitrogen in Nitrogen forms compounds that are helpful in fertilizers for a plant, organic food, and explosive products with a range of chemical elements. An excess of nitrogen may contribute to environmental pollution [1]. 78% of the air is nitrogen (N). Most of the nitrogen is available in the raw form and the plant cannot absorb it. To become accessible to crops, nitrogen should be fixed. It is possible to fix these in the legume plant, by creating nitrogen-based fertilizers or nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Most of the nitrogen is organic and therefore cannot be used by crops immediately. The mineralization should be done first. Inorganic nitrogen plants are only available. In crops, it is easy to access these materials. Plants may be damaged by an excess of inorganic nitrogen. It then combines with soil or groundwater, which affects aquatic existence. The primary purpose is to reduce soluble nitrogen and to make the plant more available with nitrogen. The management of the nitrogen cycle in the land should achieve this goal [2].

In this project, we have discussed the 3 main problems that existed in North America. They are nitrate leaching, denitrification, and volatilization which is unbalancing the nitrogen cycle in the atmosphere. We also provided a technical solution and general solution in accordance with the specific problem.

Groundwater serves as the domestic water supply in the majority over (90%) of the rural population and 50% of the total North America population. Protection of the groundwater is the main concern to prevent contamination. Accumulation of nitrate in the groundwater is caused due to a different source for a different region. Even though there are several factors causing the problem out of which primary factor is considered to be the nitrate leaching.  Temperature and moisture at different places have considerably reduced the oxygen content in the soil which causes denitrification and starts to convert the excess nitrogen in the soil to nitrogen gas which results in the decline of crop production. Urea sprayed to improve the nitrogen percentage in the soil has successfully converted to ammonium but failed to convert ammonium to ammonia gas this also corresponds to the reduction of crop production. High soil PH increases volatilization losses. As soil PH increases from 6.5 to 7.5 volatilization losses double from 10 to 20% for urea left on the soil surface.

BACKGROUND

Nitrogen consists of the major part in the atmosphere as an inert gas. This inert gas cannot be absorbed by all the living creatures on earth. It has to be converted to usable form to be absorbed by plants. After the conversion of the inert nitrogen into a usable form, its excessive use can damage the environment as well as human health. It also destroys flora and fauna on the earth. Our project focuses on solving the problems like nitrate leaching, denitrification, and volatilization which overall helps to reduce the nitrogen content from soil and water.

In North America, the contribution of the agricultural industry is significant for the economy. The United States of America is the largest exporter of agro-products to the different parts of the world (10). The US consists of 922 million acres of agricultural land which is 400 acres per farm. The total number of farms were around 2.2 million according to the 2007 agricultural census (2). From this data, we should understand that agricultural is the foremost occupation of the people in North America.

As agricultural has been the main business of the people which includes the growing of crops and plants with nitrogen and phosphorous based fertilizer. As soil is not the same at every place, the use of fertilizer prevails at some places. The figure states that form 1960 to 2014, the use of nitrogen in agriculture has increased in the cropland (3).

The usage of nitrogen-based fertilizer has increased steadily in the past few years. Excessive use of fertilizer can lead to many different types of pollution such as contamination of the soil and groundwater collection system. It also affects the drinking water in places of the country. It also damages the air quality due to giving out greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The maximum concentration in drinking water is set to 10 ppm nitrate-N (4). The nitrate causes serious damage to human health if this limit is exceeded.

Nitrogen also affects human health, environment, and economic system. Here is some of the background of the nitrogen pollution on these entities. The water containing an excess amount of nitrate can lead to the production of algae and toxic blooms which ultimately pass through the groundwater system. Unwanted algae can cause rashes, abdomen pain, respiratory problems, and neurological effects. About 2/3rd of the total agricultural wells and drinking water have maximum nitrate concentration according to the U.S. Geological survey. The algae can cause disruption to the food chain ecosystem of the aquatic animals. The major disadvantage is algae blocks the sunlight for marine life and also consumes oxygen. Therefore, it creates a dead zone for marine animals where survival is not possible without oxygen. The Gulf of Mexico contains the largest dead zone which is about 5800 square miles approximately affecting the major states of the United States. In summer, Mississippi River has also been affected by nitrogen pollution which unsettles the 31 states. (EPA)

LITERATURE REVIEW

Most of the available literature that we have found out is based on managing the nitrogen cycle in the atmosphere. We also presented the previous literature works on our current specific problems. Most of the studies had been presented in the past attempts to solve the problem of nitrate leaching, denitrification, and volatilization. A brief review of the different techniques executed by various researchers has been presented in this section.

  1. The present study had been done by Kevin for understanding the nitrogen balance in the grassland ecosystem. In his work, he selected the grassland ecosystem of New Zealand and North America to understand the difference between the two different soil subsystems. In his research, he explained the effect of climatic variation on the nitrogen cycle. He particularly selected tussocks grassland in New Zealand to study about the nitrogen loss as well as nitrogen circulation. He had also described the importance of different microorganism which helps to prevent the nitrogen soil. He had supported his work by proposing different management techniques to improve the nitrogen availability in the ecosystem.
  1. Patrick et al. had studied the nonpoint source nitrogen which is a major pollutant disrupting the nitrogen balance in the water system. For that, he had presented different technique to tackle the problem of denitrification in the groundwater system. His idea was to use the immobilized denitrifying sludge (IDS) for excess removal of nitrogen in the agricultural drainage system. He developed the cubically shaped bioreactor with immobilized denitrifying sludge for the nitrogen removal process. After the implementation of the strategy, he got better results than any other bioreactors. He also gave different suggestion such as nutrient management plans, improved sewage system to maintain the nitrogen cycle.
  1. Norton and Silvertooth had investigated the problem of nitrogen volatilization in the Arizona irrigation water system. He took samples of water from different places in Arizona. He wanted to analyze the effects of temperature and water quality level on the nitrogen loss through volatilization. All these samples were then taken to the laboratory for testing. They found that nitrogen loss increased to 90 % from 40 % with the temperature increasing from 25 ℃

    to 45

    . The point of this study was to make a decision regarding the use of agricultural fertilizer for crop production in North America.

  1. Abbas et al. carried out the work to increase the efficiency of the bio-electrochemical denitrification process with a bio-cathode incorporated with carbon nanotube composite. He selected some of the inputs to assess the capability of the biochemical bioreactor to enhance nitrate removal efficiency. There was a significant increase from 76 % to 93 % in removal efficiency under normal settings of the inputs. Operating time has also increased from 4 hours to 6 hours.
  1. The present research had been presented by Ritter discussing the diverse solutions of nitrate leaching problem in the United States. In his work, he gave more importance to water and nitrogen management techniques to reduce the nitrate leaching in the water. He then developed simulation models to evaluate the strategies.

REQUIREMENTS AND CRITERIA

 

Requirements:

  1. Proper land requirements for controlled drainage system: The land is required for proper installation of the improved drainage system to work effectively. The system should be properly installed into the soil according to the standard procedure. The system should work efficiently to hold the water and nutrients in the soil.

 

  1. Funding from the Government: The investment cost of the project should be calculated on the basis of human resource, machinery, and maintenance cost requirements. The government should try to provide financial support to farmers.

 

  1. Changes in government policies: Government should bring new policies or rules and change the present policies to limit the use of nitrogen-based fertilizer in the agricultural.

 

  1. Awareness campaign: Awareness campaign should be organized in a timely manner to aware people about the advantages and disadvantages of nitrogen-based fertilizer. The government should also help in the campaign through social media.

 

Criteria:

  1. Increasing the availability of nitrogen for crops: Nitrogen is a vital component for all living being. Plants also require nitrogen to grow rapidly. The problems like nitrate leaching, volatilization, and denitrification in the soil which hinder the growth of the plant should be mitigated quickly.

 

  1. Improving the drainage system: The conventional drainage system should be upgraded with a newly designed drain pipe with a water leveling structure. This system will only provide the necessary amount of water required and stores the extra amount of water for future use.

 

  1. Participation of people: Volunteering work is required to spread the message about nitrogen pollution which is harmful to the environment. They should regularly check the drinking water quality level in their community.

 

  1. Nutrients Criteria: Government should set the limit of flushing out the nitrogen content into the lakes, rivers, and seas which is negatively disrupting the aquatic ecosystem. They should also set the limit of nitrogen removal from a point source origin.

PROPOSED SOLUTION:

 

Nitrate leaching is taking place due to the excess amount of nitrogen and water present on the agricultural land is a common problem faced in North America. During the spring season or while facing heavy rainfall nitrate can leach into the pond or drainage water naturally. Primary ways of reducing nitrate leaching can take place by following ways (1) reduce the nitrate concentration in the drain flow, (2) reducing the amount of drain flow.

An agricultural drainage system is one of the technical ways to remove the excess water from the farmland leaving behind the natural minerals to enhance crop production. The groundwater level is controlled by this system to ensure the balance of water and nitrogen in the soil. They usually prevent crop loss from flooding and maintain the soil moisture so as to maximize the yield. Water collected through the drainage system can be used in the future during the period of dry weather. Staging water also prevents the root to grow deeper into the soil with the help of agricultural drainage system drain only what is necessary for good trafficability and crop growth and not deeper.

An ancient method of nitrogen cycle balancing:

Nitrogen Management:

Before implementing the drainage system on the soil surface which is designed to remove the standing water from the soil surface. Nitrogen management is a foremost and important element for managing the nitrogen content on the soil. The most widely used concept for improving nitrogen management is “4R” practices. The main aim of the nitrogen management application is to find Right nitrogen applied at the Right rate, Right time and Right place in layman’s term what is needed when it is needed and the amount is needed.  In other words, nitrate leaching can also be reduced by the way of following improved nitrogen management strategies.

Rate of Nitrogen:

Initially, the soil test needs to be taken to check the soil characteristics such as texture, Nitrogen content, and nutrients present in the soil. Fertilizer needs to apply in the appropriate rate to meet the optimum nitrogen content of the soil, excess amount of nitrogen applying to the soil will lead to nitrate leaching.  Determination of the proper rate of nitrogen to apply on the soil can be enhanced by the new method of monitoring to determine crop nitrogen status.

Timing of Nitrogen application:

Timing is very critical; Applying Nitrogen fertilizer on spring is more effective than applying it on fall because the amount of crop uptake is decreased. In other words, fertilizer applying during springtime relatively has a greater advantage in years with the pre-planting condition. Application of the right amount of nitrogen fertilizer on the right time will help us to avoid nitrate leaching following to the drainage system. So, water quality can also be improved by applying the nitrogen in the spring season than in fall.

Nitrification Inhibitors for reducing denitrification:

Nitrification inhibitors are mainly used to slow down the process of converting the ammonium to nitrate. Nitrification inhibitor such as Nitra pyrin is added to ammonium fertilizer to retard the process. Ammoniums have the power to hold tightly to the soil and it is less suspected to get lost in the drainage water. These have the ability to get hold to the soil until the plant after ready to use it can potentially increase the yield and reduce the amount of nitrate getting lost in moving water. The benefits will greatest in situations where there is potential for large drainage nitrate losses to occur before the inhibitor becomes inactive through degradation by soil microbes.

PROPOSING METHOD

Drainage Water Management:

Drainage water management reduces the nitrate loads in the moving water. It is also known as a controlled drainage system. The main aim of the drainage system is to retain the water in the soil during the period of the year when drainage is less critical. The dominant mechanism of reducing nitrate loss from a controlled drainage system is the reduction in drainage volume.  The entire system comprises of lower drainage pipe attached to the controlled structure. The controlled structure consists of the adjustable water table.

The following steps would help us to reduce nitrate loss and increase crop production.

  • Raise the water table after the harvest period to reduce drainage water and nitrate loss during the non- growing seasons.
  • Lower the water table, if necessary, to improve water trafficability and to allow field operation.
  • Raise the water table to the optimum level for the field operation to potentially store water from early-season rains for use later in the growing seasons.

The drainage system is designed to remove the excess water from the soil during the wettest period. The system has been designed to remove ¼ to ½ inch of excess water from the soil. The arrangement has a free-flowing outlet so drainage occurs as long as the water table is above the elevation of the pipes. Since the optimum water table depth for most of the crops is in the range of 18 to 36 inches, drainage may continue long after the water table has been lowered sufficiently to satisfy crop requirements. Simply preserving the drainage water in the fields also retains the nitrate in the field. One potential advantage of drainage water management is enhancing crop production. The benefit of water saved depends upon the amount of rainfall during the year and distribution during the growing seasons coupled with the water requirements for the crop. This method can reduce up to 60 % of nitrate in the soil. It also increases the yield rate up to 25 %.

Recycling Drainage Water:

Drainage water recycling is an ancient method of storing drainage water in the reservoir or in the pond, later returning it to the soil during the summertime. In the old practice system, the drainage water is routed to the lake as quickly as possible and there will be no water available in the future to meet the crop production demands in a dry period. During this kind of situation having access to the water which was routed to the reservoir earlier would be advantageous.

Recycling the drainage water can efficiently reduce or even potentially eliminate nitrate loss, by reducing the nitrate getting lost in the moving water. Always there should be a minimum nitrate available in the soil at the end of the growing season to the demand in the non-cultivation season. In addition, if the wetland reservoir is constructed. An amount of nitrate reaching the wetland will be consumed by the vegetation process present in the wetland and may remove by the process of de-nitrification, thus further reducing the nitrate losses.

Infrastructure and construction of drainage water recycling system require an initial investment. This concept needs some land for constructing a reservoir, which makes that portion to be out of production and may want a pumping facility to move the drainage water to the reservoir and back to the soil. Site selection for constructing a reservoir within the landscape is most important to hold the drainage water.

Drainage water recycling method has the potential to completely reduce the consumption of water and reduce the excess nitrate loads. Using the recycled water for irrigation purpose of crops makes the system more practical and cost-efficient. This practice improves the water quality by controlling the level of drainage water getting mixed with the nearby lake.

REDUCTION OF VOLATILIZATION

The following methods are explained to reduce the ammonia volatilization in agricultural which will help to improve the nitrogen availability for the crops to grow. This solution depends on the type of soil and weather condition.

  1. Solid manure: Solid Manure is prepared from the animal feces (leftovers of food that could not be digested) which contains many nutrients which benefits farming and improves the soil texture. Different sizes of piles are made according to the use of manure and are left to dry under the sunlight. This dry solid manure is mixed into the agricultural farms which reduces the ammonia volatilization. It also helps to hold the many nutrients in the soil. Solid manure should be added to soil at an approximate of 2-4 inches into the ground to get maximum benefits. The incorporation of solid manure into agricultural depends on several factors such as the availability of workers and machinery, weather, and timing of the applying manure. Thus, this method will benefit to diminish the effects of ammonia on agricultural.
  1. Liquid manure: The production procedure is the same as the solid manure. Liquid manure contains minute particles which can be mix into water. In this type, the compost is collected using a flush system which is in the liquid form. It is sprinkled through the irrigation system onto the plants. This is a combined approach in which manure and water of appropriate amount into the fields. The proportion of water is approximately 95 % in the liquid manure. The main limiting factor of liquid manure is the machinery which is very expensive to build and maintain. There is also much small equipment available in the market for farmers to start on a smaller scale.
  1. Manure slurry: It is same as liquid manure form but uses a different system for collection. It is collected using a vacuum system and generally injected into the soil. It is the easiest way to incorporate the slurry into the agricultural fields. It has many advantages over liquid manure such as investment cost of machines is inexpensive. There are 3 types of methods for applying the manure slurry into the soil.
  • Broadcast application: This application is very inexpensive, and it quickly distributes the manure onto the surface of the soil. It uses the mechanism of splash plate where the compost is spread unequally onto the surface of the soil. It is the most effective and efficient way of reducing ammonia content from the soil.
  • Shallow injection: This method is better than broadcast application as it holds more on nitrogen and distributes to the soil. This method will work with every equipment in the market. Shallow injection mainly used only on the flat surface soil. The efficiency of this method is more than 90 % of nitrogen penetration into the soil.   
  • Deep injection: This is another type of method in which nitrogen is introduced into deep layers of soil through specialized equipment. This is method is very effective when the rate of manure is applied according to the soil holding capacity. There are two factors which play a major role in the effectiveness of the injection. One of them is soil condition and the other one is the design of machinery.

 

OTHER SOLUTIONS

We have also provided different solutions for developed and developing countries. It will help not only North America but the entire world. It will help to mitigate the problems of nitrogen on the environment.

Solutions for Developed countries:

The developed countries include North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. These are developed in every field and are prosperous in terms of natural resources. The following are the different methods for quickly tackling the problem.

  • The farming industry has been one of the major contributions to the economy in North America. Many farmers use nitrogen-based fertilizer to grow crops, but their excessive use can cause severe damage to water, air, and land. It also affects the drinking water in some parts of North America. So, the government should implement such policies that will limit the use of nitrogen for farmers. It will help to mitigate nitrogen pollution. Secondly, heavy fines should be levied if found disrupting the ecosystem with nitrogen pollution. This strategy will be disadvantageous for farmers as their profit on selling the crops will be lowered.
  • On the contrary to the above policy, the government should also provide the fertilizer at a subsidized rate and should also control the market selling price of the crops to get more profits for farmers. This collective effort will reduce the usage of the nitrogen-based fertilizer and the profit on selling the crops to the consumer will not be decreased.

Solutions for Developing countries:

  • Community Control: For any developing country, community effort will be required to control nitrogen pollution. In this method, people need to be aware of the pollution that is caused by different entities. An awareness campaign should be organized at that place where is agricultural is flourishing. The government should also be included in this program to spread awareness of limiting fertilizer usage through newspaper, television, and radio.
  • Economic Policy: This is a legal procedure which needs to be implemented in developing countries. The changes in economic policy will be done by the Federal government. The Provincial government will act accordingly adhering to the structural changes in the economy. The government tries to implement pay per pollute method to reduce the pollution in rivers, lakes, and seas. Companies will need to pay according to the units of pollution. For that, the provincial government should collect the data on different types of pollution occurring through the various industries.

STRENGTH AND LIMITATIONS

Strengths:

  • The proposed design will help the soil to hold more water and nutrients which will ultimately help the crops to grow rapidly.

 

  • The nutrients management practice will be applied for spraying the nitrogen on the soil.

 

  • With this method, recycling of drainage water is also possible which can reduce nitrate loads from the soil.

 

  • Nitrogen inhibitors will help in the reduction of denitrification problem. Thus, dangerous gases will not pollute nature.

 

  • The solution for volatilization will benefit the farmers to reduce the ammonia content in the soil by approximately 90 %.

Limitations:

  • The proposed drainage system will only on those places who are experiencing moderate to heavy rainfalls.

 

  • The solid manure process for reducing the ammonia volatilization will negatively impact the mountain ecosystem.
  • The limitation of the manure slurry is unnecessary excessive use of manure can cause grass and plants to contaminate. It also destroys silage fermentation which gives rise to unwanted growth of bloom and algae.
  • The disadvantage of the liquid manure is that it does not work on inclined or stony land.
  • Another limiting factor is the high investment cost of equipment for distributing manure onto the surface of the land.

COST

The cost mentioned below is just an approximation of the project implemented in the Windsor area for an area of 125 cubic yard. The farmland consists of a single working mechanism with the drainage pipe system.  We will require farmland which has the following problems of nitrate leaching and denitrification. The cost estimation is shown in the table ():

Sr. No.

Description

Cost of Item (CAD)

Quantity

Total cost

(CAD)

1

Drainage pipe system

65-250 per yard

1

 $ 65-250

2

Controlled structure with water table mechanism

500-3000 per structure

1

 $ 500-3000

3

Construction cost

 1000

1

$ 700

4

Transportation cost

200

1

200

5

Labor cost

14 per hour

4 * (24 hours)

 $ 1344

Calculations of the total cost for 150 cubic yard:

  • Total cost: [ (80*150) + (750) + (700) + (200) + (1344)] = CAD 12,994
  • Maintenance cost = CAD 100 per year

Remaining cost analysis:

The other cost includes the cost of advertisement, awareness campaign, and volunteering work by the individuals. The cost of advertisement on television cost around 400 to 1000 CAD for 35 seconds video. Another technique is door to door campaigning by the individual. The government should pay the individual as per the minimum labor charges, usually 14 CAD per hour. The government should bring students for volunteering work to save labor charges. The accommodation cost of the students is also included in the final cost which is usually CAD 75 per person per day. For social awareness in a community area, the cost of renting a place or ground is also included which is around 500 to 1000 CAD per day.

TIMELINE

We have also included the timeline for the proposed solution if our design is selected by the government. This timeline shows the description of the task on a full-scale implementation.

 

Tasks

Start date

Approximated end date

Approval of government

11th Jul,19

16th Jul,19

Site selection

17th Jul,19

31st Jul,19

Budget approval

1st Aug,19

15th Aug,19

Component purchase

16th Aug,19

26th Aug,19

Implementation of the new system

27th Aug,19

30th Aug,22

Changes if require

1st Sep,22

10th Sep,22

TASKS

11th Jul,19

16th Jul,19

17th Jul,19

31st Jul,19

1st Aug,19

15thAug,19

Approval of government

Site selection

Budget approval

TASKS

16thAug,19

26thAug,19

27thAug,19

30thAug,22

1st Sep,22

10th Sep,22

Component purchase

Implementation of the new system

Changes if require

CONCLUSION

 

Nitrogen is the basic atmospheric element consisting of 78% of the entire atmosphere in the form of 3 pairs of 2N2 bond which is unbreakable. N2 cannot be converted straight into a practical form either by crops or humans. Nitrogen is also used for making fertilizers. The excessive use of nitrogen-based fertilizer puts a lot of stress on the ecosystem. This unbalance creates pollution, particularly in marine life, climate, soil, and water. A rising nitrogen content at sea level does not lower the level of oxygen which changes the ecosystem of nutrient cycles.

Find Out How UKEssays.com Can Help You!

Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs.

View our services

In this project, we have discussed the nitrate leaching, denitrification, and volatilization which have a major contribution to nitrogen pollution. Our newly improved drainage system will solve the problem of leaching and reduces its content by almost 60 %. Nitrification inhibitors will mitigate the denitrification process. As a result, greenhouse gases which are harmful to the atmosphere will be reduced. We have also provided a solution to tackle the problem of volatilization. The solution includes slurry manure, liquid manure, and manure slurry which has efficiency up to 90 % in reduction of ammonia in the soil.

The design cost for the enhanced drainage system will be around CAD 13,000 and additional cost includes maintenance cost which incurs every year. There is also some additional cost of advertisement, awareness campaign, and living cost of the students during volunteering activities. The government of Ontario should also support farmers for giving the incentives and should also collect taxes on industries who pollute the atmosphere. Also, the government should encourage the community to check the nitrogen levels on their own. The implementation of this project on a larger scale basis will take more time.

All in all, nitrogen cycles are difficult to regulate due to individual mistakes, which could end or be attributed to the growth of a nitrogen-related issue and are growing worldwide. There are many effects of nitrogen on the soil, air, and water which imbalances the whole system. Therefore, this project will solve the major problems of the nitrogen cycle and will have a great impact on the environment.

RECOMMENDATION

  1.  
  1.  
  1.  The government should assist in all the activities which should curb the problem of nitrogen misbalance.
  1.  The Government of Ontario should include a basic course in school on the nitrogen cycle and its importance to nature. So, the future generation will also understand problems regarding the nitrogen cycle.
  1. The Government of Ontario should also provide incentives to farmers for purchasing the different types of modern machinery and manure to reduce the problems in the soil.
  1.  The project is only implemented on that where the farmland is in the worst condition. Another new solution in the present scenario for reducing denitrification is biochemical reactor.  
  1.  It is required to maintain the drainage system machinery for a longer period of time which increases the efficiency in future and timely maintenance is also required.

 

 

 

Cite This Work

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:

Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.

Related Services

View all

DMCA / Removal Request

If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please: