Phosphorus: A Loomng Crisis

PART A

The U.S. is the worlds second-largest producer of phosphorus (after China), at 19 percent of the total, but 65 percent of that amount comes from a single source: pit mines near Tampa, Fla Morocco, sometimes referred to as the Saudi Arabia of phosphorus. phosphorus flows now add up to an estimated 37 million metric tons per year. Of that, about 22 million metric tons come from phosphate mining treat our wastewater to recover phosphorus from solid waste This task is difficult because residual biosolids are contaminated with many pollutants, especially heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, which leach from old pipes. Making agriculture sustainable over the long term begins with renewing our efforts to phase out toxic metals from our plumbing. running out of phosphorus deposits that are relatively easily and cheaply exploitable.

PART B

The article Phosphorus: A looming crisis is about how we mine for our fertilizer. Since phosphorus doesnt have a gas phase and can be found in rock. We had to mine for it. It had said that there isnt that much phosphorus for farm, because so muc has been exported out. Excess of the phosphorus from farms are leading to dead zones, because it feeds to algal blooms. Then we have to clean the wastewater to recover phosphorus from solid waste/ We have todo the big 3 Rs to secure the phosphorus. PART C I chose this article because of the title. It is very intriguing because I never would have thought that phosphorus is becoming more scarce than I thought. The most interesting is that phosphorus is running out. I thought you can just mine anywhere and you can find phosphorus. I guess I was wrong. And I didnt know urine is rich in nitrogen and that you can

recycle it. You can relate this to how everything will run out soon if there was not in proper care. And since phosphorus is considered to be non-renewable resource it will take time to replenish. I think we should stop using phosphorus, or even use it less. If there was other nutrients that can altered then that would be good too. If there were runs that means that were are over using our resources. We should have a lot ofplants before the river so that it can lessen the eutrophication. We have to compromise on how many resources to use so we are being economically and environmentally wise on our decisions. The importance of this article is that it opened my eyes that phosphorus is scare and we can thave that since it is essential for plants