Algal blooms, like the ones visible through satellite photography of Lake Erie, are thought to be caused by excess phosphorous and nitrogen in groundwater and surface water. The rapid growth and death of these marine organisms uses up oxygen necessary for other aquatic life and reduces the ability of sunlight to make its way below the water’s surface. Photo courtesy NASA Earth Observatory
By Christopher Murray, PhD
The danger to water quality posed by fertilization is a generally easy one to identify: algal blooms that contribute to decreased available dissolved oxygen and the death of aquatic ecosystems are a visible indicator of high amounts of nutrients making their way into the water supply. At first glance, there appears to be many reasons to restrict using fertilizer on turfgrass. The esthetic and recreational value of a healthy stand of turf is appreciated, but these ‘soft’ benefits are much less important than maintaining a supply of clean water.
Of course, there are many people who do not have any interest in turfgrass as a playing surface or as decoration and are happy to pave over it for an extra parking space or replace it with something not so labour-intensive to maintain, such as artificial turf. This approach, and similarly the idea of banning turfgrass fertilization, makes sense if there is little benefit and plenty of risk and labour associated with turfgrass maintenance, but what if there is an important role for turfgrass to play in improving water quality? What might be at risk by ignoring any potential benefit?
Read the full article: Turf Fertilization: Decreasing contamination of runoff
