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Aquatic Life Nutrient Cycling
Nitrogen and phosphorous are important nutrients that provide the fuel, or food, for algae. These nutrients make their way through the food web as marine organisms, eat the algae and are, in turn, eaten by larger organisms. When the plants and animals eventually die, they decay and release the nutrients back into the water where algae can access it for food again. When marine life excretes waste or dies and decays, it releases back into the system the nutrients it used to grow.
Human Excessive Nutrients
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the leading source of water pollution comes from the land, mostly as nutrient overload. Rain washes agricultural fertilizer and animal waste into the water, and nutrient-rich sewage is discharged into waterways. These excessive nutrients stimulate the overgrowth of algae, which causes low-oxygen zones where most marine life cannot survive. According to the National Environmental Planning Agency of Jamaica, approximately 10 million gallons of sewage are dumped into the world̵7;s oceans every year. According to NOAA, farm fertilizer and animal waste accounts for 70 percent of nutrient overload in the Gulf of Mexico.
Human Trash
According to NOAA, approximately 1.4 billion pounds of trash per year enters the oceans. Cans, bottles, plastic bags, forks, and even old toys, end up in the sea where they are not only mistaken for food by marine life, but combine to form patches of garbage that, according to a study published in the June 2013 issue of the journal ̶0;Environmental Science & Technology,̶1; are creating a new ecological habitat that has unknown affect on the marine ecosystem.
Human Air Pollution
Coal-fired power plants and manufacturing plants release mercury and other heavy metals high into the atmosphere where much of it eventually falls into lakes and oceans. Heavy metals exist in nature, but according to the National Environmental Planning Agency of Jamaica human activities release five times more mercury and 17 times more lead than natural sources. Another form of air pollution, called acid rain, occurs when sulfur and nitrogen oxides from industrial and automobile emissions are converted to sulfuric acid and nitric acid in the air. Eventually, these acids fall to the earth in rainwater, promote the release of soil metals into lakes and streams and raise the pH of the oceans, killing coral and making reefs decay.
Human Chemical Pollutants
Chemical pollutants, such as lead and asbestos, are discharged into waterways by industrial plants. Sewage contains toxic household chemicals that people wash down the drain and pharmaceutical products, such as antibiotics and other medicines in human waste. Petroleum is washed into the water as runoff when people dispose of motor oil in storm drains, and in the United States alone, NOAA responds to more than 150 oil spills from ships and oil rigs every year.