Phosphorus and Water Quality Paradox

Paradoxically, phosphorus (P) is one of the major nutrients for higher agricultural production, as well as it causes eutrophication/algal blooms in aquatic and semi-aquatic systems. Phosphorus loadings from agricultural/urban runoffs into lakes and rivers are becoming a global concern for the protection of water quality. Artificial wetlands are considered as a low cost alternative for treating wastewater including removal of P from sources such as agricultural and urban runoffs. However, the selection of the construction site may well determine the effectiveness of these wetlands. Studies show that P transformations in sediments/ soils are crucial for P sequestration in a wetland rather than the amounts of native P. Using 31Phosphorus Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (31P NMR), previously unreported an active organic P form, phosphoarginine, was identified, and the study indicates that abandonment of P impacted sites may not solve the P loading problem to the water bodies as the organic P compounds would not be as stable as they were thought, thus, can play a detrimental role in eutrophication of water bodies, after all.