- Often, crops cannot absorb all the nutrients from fertilizer, forcing the excess into the air and water. This loss also affects farmers' profitability as they spend more and more on fertilizer.
- The presence of nitrogen fertilizers in water encourages algae blooms, both toxic and non-toxic, which deplete oxygen and reduce light penetration in water. This in turn promotes the growth of weeds and negatively affects aquatic life.
- When algae populations get too large, their resulting death reduces oxygen in the water, suffocates fish and creates dead zones in the oceans.
- Nitrogen in fertilizer filters into groundwater, thus ending up in drinking water. In the human body, nitrogen becomes nitrate, which inhibits the movement of oxygen through the body.
- Unabsorbed nitrogen from fertilizer can also leach into the air, contributing to greenhouse gases and air pollution.
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