Nitrogen - vital nutrient, hazardous pollutant
UBA publishes new brochure entitled Stickstoff - Zuviel des Guten? [Nitrogen - too much of a good thing?]
There two different faces of nitrogen: on one hand, as a basic component of nature it is an essential nutrient, but it is a pollutant hazardous to human and ecosystems on the other. The main source of so-called reactive nitrogen emissions to all environmental media is agriculture, which accounts for more than 50 percent. However, emissions from transport, industry and energy production as well as waste water each add about another 15 percent. In its new brochure entitled Stickstoff - Zuviel des Guten? [Nitrogen - too much of a good thing?], the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) introduces the various effects of nitrogen, identifies major sources, and points out ways to reduce harmful nitrogen release.
