Between 1850 and 1920 human deposit from toilets where flowed through the streets.

Sewages were then built which deposited waste to the most convenient body of water. It caused disastrous for the aquatic environment, and as it continues it affects the plants and animals that inhabit coastal waters. A wastewater-treatment was put into place between 1880 and 1940 to remove visible debris and pathogenic organisms from the sewer By 1960 many treatment plans were removing organic matter as well But these methods failed to take out nitrogen and phosphorus, nutrients indispensable to human life and shows up a lot in human waste. Most aquatic plants are phytoplankton which respond to the fertilizer in Nitrogen and Phosphorus by multiplying explosively, coloring the water green, brown and read with their photosynthetic pigments. The phytoplankton bloom increases supply of organic matter to aquatic ecosystems (eutrophication) Water circulates less readily than air and holds only five to ten grams of oxygen per cubic meter, which can be deadly to aquatic animals because of the small decrease in oxygen. Phytoplankton are short lived they continually die off and sink The more the bloom the heavier he fallout to the lower depths which causes a problem to the bottom living bacteria that digest this dead plant matter consume oxygen. Coastal areas are vulnerable to oxygen depletion b/c freshwater draining into the ocean from rivers and streams ten to float on top of denser saltwater. When a polluted bay or estuary remains still for weeks, months, or whole seasons the surface water receives rich nutrients and bathed in sunlight with phytoplankton and other organisms and the bottom layer becomes chocked with dead plant matter which consumers more oxygen as it decomposes below surface entire bays can suffocate. Oxygen depletion kills fish and nutrients may cause the toxic phytoplankton to bloom contaminating the shellfish that eat them. Fertilizing the coastal waters change life underwater. The mix of phytoplankton may shift in response b/c of changes in nutrient balance. Diatoms need the same amount of silicon as nitrogen cannot benefit the supply of nitrogen goes up but the supply of silicon stays the same. Sunlight doesn't shine all the way to the deep waters b/c of the cloud of phytoplankton up top, they shade out grasses and seaweed making it hard for them to grow and continue being the shelter of crabs and young fish. The food chain is broken apart. B/c of the population boom farmers have to produce more food and fertilize their crops which contain nitrogen and phosphorus, the rain washes these nutrients away sending them into rivers and streams, which continue on to lakes and oceans. Dead zones can be caused from excess fertilizer washed up into that area like the Gulf of Mexico. It is estimated that we will have more than 9 billion people by 2050, release of nutritive nitrogen from fertilizer and fossil fuel combustion will double in the next 25 years.

As population increases so does the need to create more food to feed all the people on this earth. Doing so farmers have to find quicker and better ways to grow crops to keep customers happy, but as farmers grew into big agribusinesses, what became most important was to keep the money flowing to their pockets. One way farming corporations protect their crops from insect damage is by adding fertilizer to them. The problem with this though, is the main ingredients fertilizer contains are nitrogen and phosphorus. These ingredients when it rains get washed away, sending them into rivers and streams

which later flow into lakes and oceans. The excess in nitrogen and phosphorus causes problems for the sea life. Because phytoplankton respond well to it so they multiply at a fast rate creating a large bloom of phytoplankton at the surface of the water. Now when a bay or estuary is polluted and remains still for weeks, months, or whole seasons the surface water receives these rich nutrients and bathed in sunlight with phytoplankton and other organisms. The bottom layer becomes a place for dead plant matter that consumes more oxygen as it decomposes. Below the surface whole bays can suffocate. Since phytoplankton are short lived when they die they fall straight down to the ocean floor. So with more bloom of phytoplankton the heavier the fallout to the lower depths. They cause problems to the bottom living bacteria that digest dead plant matter because they consume oxygen. Fertilizing the coastal waters is a major problem because they are the ones whose growth is affected the most. With the mix of phytoplankton it can shift in response because of changes in nutrient balance. For example diatoms (a single celled alga) need the same amount of silicon as nitrogen, but can't get it since there is an increasing supply of nitrogen and not silicon, to balance it out. Sunlight is also an issue. With phytoplankton at the surface of the water they shade out the deep waters and don't give the grasses and seaweed enough light to survive. Since grasses and seaweed are shelters for crabs and young fish, with this happening the food chain will begin to break apart. Who would've known practically all the things we do to live find a way to affect our oceans. It's amazing that people still don't seem to really pay attention or care. I never knew that the ingredients in fertilizers can run off, I always thought the soil soaked in all the nutrients leaving nothing to have the chance to run off. Those big agribusinesses need to start considering the other environmental things they are messing with, as well as their crops, because eventually it will begin to affect them. For example, what of the people who rely on sea food, fishing to get what they need to eat or make some extra money? With the oceans contaminated and dying, that will become a problem for them as well. A small problem can cause a serious of problems. In the article it stated that it's estimated that by 2050 we will have over 9 billion people. That's ridiculous. This earth barely can hold the 7 billion that exist now, let alone 9 billion. Things need to change now because in the future I can guarantee you life will be 10 times harder, if we don't start paying attention and become a little more responsible and rational.

So What? As life becomes harder for sea life to live, the food chain will break apart. More marine organisms will die leaving the larger fish which we feed on to soon follow after them. Some believe that if our waste goes straight to the ocean it wouldn't matter or effect anything, but this is clearly untrue. Already with the phytoplankton bloom there has been a dead zone in the Gulf Of Mexico thanks to the nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization. Now imagine the dead zone in not just the Gulf of Mexico, but in numbers of areas. With dead zones you never know If the species will ever return or simply stay as an empty ocean. What if..? Change doesn't happen. What will happen to the sea animals how will this effect us? Well with the rising population it will effect us by making food a bit harder to get and the pollution level rising with the fossil fuel we will be continuing to burn, that is if they still exist. There is a possibility we will have already run out because of the rate we burn. Anyways sea life will be scarce, fishing will be harder, and the ocean won't be the same ocean we love and sea today.

Says Who? The article was written by Scott W. Nixon, but throughout it Nixon states that researchers and other scientist have come up with these theories. For example the statement that there will be over 9 billion people by 2050 predicted by many experts who also added that the release of nutritive nitrogen from fertilizer and fossil fuel combustion will double in the next 25 years.

What Does This Remind Me Of? This reminds me of an article how we take too much into our hands at times. Sometimes we mess with the environment when it doesn't need to be messed with like Fertilizing the oceans. Thinking we're doing good, but really things turn out for the worst.