Water Pollution with Nitrates from Agricultural Sources

One of the biggest water pollution problem is created by nitrates resulted from agriculture. This paper is areview aimin to emphasiz the main water pollution problems produced by nitrates in Romania and EU. The excessnitrates can accumulate in soil in several ways. First, manure effluents containing both ammonia and organic forms ofnitrogen. Organic nitrogen can be converted to ammonia in the soil. The ammonia, together with any ammoniafertilizer applied, is converted to nitrate by soil bacteria in a process called nitrification. Nitrification is importantbecause plants can only use nitrogen as nitrate. It is equally harmful in both, animals and humans.