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Impacts

Nutrients and pesticides releases as well as sediment run-off from agriculture have high impacts on surface waters and groundwater. The presence of too many nutrients leads to eutrophication with high levels of algae and aquatic plant growth in surface. Algae blooms also reduce transparency and lead to a lack of oxygen with a high risk for fish and other aquatic communities. In lakes, high nutrient concentrations can induce potentially toxic blue-green algae proliferation, that can be detrimental to human health. Coastal water bodies show similar reactions to excessive nutrient inputs (Ibisch et al., 2016).

Figure 4             Toxic blue-green algae bloom in a dam in Germany

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Source: © J. Völker

Elevated groundwater nitrate concentrations are affecting raw water for drinking water and thus create a risk to human health. Groundwater containing nitrates can also be emitted into surface water bodies that are fed by groundwater (BMU/UBA, 2016).