Houston, 11 January (Argus) — Several states are taking action to prevent water pollution caused by a number of factors, including fertilizer run-off, in the form of legislation which will affect how various products are applied.
Indiana law required the Office of Indiana State Chemist (OISC) to implement a rule ensuring the safe and effective distribution and use of fertilizer materials as plant nutrients while maintaining water quality. The rule applies to anyone who uses or distributes commercial fertilizer or manure for the purpose of producing agricultural crops of volumes at or greater than 10yrd³/yr or 4,000g/yr.
The rule, which became final 16 March 2012 and requires full compliance by 16 February 2013, builds off of a previous law requiring users and distributors of fertilizer and manure to become certified before being involved in such practices. According to the rule, both inorganic fertilizers and manure are to be staged at least 300ft away from surface water, water wells and drainage inlets. Manure must be staged at least 100ft from property lines and public roads, and 400ft from residential buildings. Inorganic fertilizers cannot be applied directly to water, from a public road or to saturated ground. Neither type of product can be staged in a waterway, floodway or standing water.
Formation of the rule started about 10 years ago, as the state began thinking about how to protect its water supply, according to OISC. Fertilizer from Indiana farms and fields runs-off into streams and rivers – waterways that eventually find their way to the Gulf of Mexico, causing low water oxygen concentration. This phenomenon, known as hypoxia, results from pollutants including plant nutrients entering a body of water and creating an ideal environment for phytoplankton blooms. These blooms dissolve oxygen, leaving less than ideal conditions for fish and other aquatic life. Nitrogen tends to have this effect in salt water, while phosphorous causes this problem in fresh water.
A similar scenario prompted action in New Jersey, which recently implemented the third and final phase of its fertilizer reduction law on 5 January 2013, after concerns were raised over phosphorous content affecting the water quality of Barnegat Bay, one of the state's premier recreational bodies of water. While the new Indiana rule applies to fertilizer application for agricultural use, the New Jersey law only pertains to turf use, or the personal use of fertilizer on lawns or yards, by individual residents. The first two phases of the law, each put into effect on 5 January of 2011 and 2012, sought to educate the public on how to optimally utilize fertilizer and instilled a certification process for appliers of plant nutrients to become trained in healthy practices. The third phase, which went into effect last week, instills a mandate to manufacturers that only fertilizer containing 20pc slow released nitrogen and 0pc phosphorous is allowed to be sold in the state of New Jersey.
Similar to the Indiana rule, the New Jersey law requires professional appliers of turf fertilizers to become trained and certified, involving registration and application fees, as well as the successful passing of an exam. The state also offers continued education for professional appliers through Rutgers University, according to a spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Though these new laws and rules may present some difficulty for appliers of fertilizer, neither agency expects use of plant nutrients in their respective states to decrease. Fertilizer demand in these states is not expected to suffer as the goal of the legislation is not to be restrictive but rather help users get more out of their resources.
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