Storm water runoff containing fertilizer from homes and golf courses can cause just as much damage to rivers and streams as toxic waste from industry and untreated sewage discharge, according to UAB biology professors Ken Marion, Ph.D., and Robert Angus, Ph.D.
The nutrients in these products, while often not considered pollutants, are swept from yards into storm drains and are carried into waterways. The chemicals in fertilizer can poison fish, bugs and plant life and can cause large amounts of algae growth that robs water of oxygen. If you must fertilize, then don't over fertilize, Marion says.
"People tend to put too much fertilizer on their lawns and fertilize too often." Not fertilizing before a heavy rain also minimizes the potential for runoff. "If you fertilize before it rains heavily, the fertilizer does not have time to work. It ends up washing into the storm drain, with no benefits to your grass or the environment," Angus says.
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