Agriculture, watersheds focus of nitrates report

The P.E.I. government released a long-awaited report Tuesday on nitrates in rivers, streams and groundwater in the province, noting that they are the most common chemical contaminant in Island water.

The report itself contains six key recommendations:

• Improving public education on protecting water quality.
• Reducing nutrient loading from sewage treatment systems.
• Supporting watershed-based water management planning.
• Mandatory three-year crop rotation.
• Matching nutrients with crop needs to reduce nitrogen leaching.
• Identifying high nitrate areas.

The report will be tabled during the fall sitting of the legislature, but provincial officials say the government will begin planning immediately for implementing it. Premier Robert Ghiz told CBC News on Tuesday his government will implement the six main recommendations of the report regardless of the cost.

Armand DesRoches, chair of the commission that wrote the report, was good to his promise of avoiding finger pointing.

"All Islanders have contributed to the problem. All must participate in the solution," the report says.

While the report contains a recommendation regarding sewage systems and a secondary recommendation regarding reducing contamination from cosmetic fertilizers, three of the six main recommendations focus on agriculture.

The report recommends that all exemptions for three-year crop rotations end, and that government work with the agriculture industry to develop better methods for applying nutrients to crops only at times when the crops can use them, and in quantities no greater than they can use, and in this way avoid having nitrates flowing into streams or leaching into groundwater.

In identifying high nitrate areas, the commission recommends reduction of fertilizer inputs in those areas, with specific reference to reducing potato production and increasing tree cover. It also recommends strict control over subdivision development in such areas and encourages wetland restoration.

Environmental impact

Nitrates in drinking water have been linked to illnesses, including cancer and birth defects, but studies have been inconclusive.

The report describes the major health concern as blue-baby syndrome, a potentially fatal condition in which the blood's ability to carry oxygen is reduced. It primarily affects bottle-fed infants under six months of age. There have never been any reported cases of blue-baby syndrome in Prince Edward Island.

A big concern is the effect on rivers and streams, where excess nitrates can lead to algal blooms that consume all the oxygen in the water, suffocating fish and shellfish.