6 ms·

I'd say the majority of that ends up in the sea, causing algae blooms and killing life for miles around. So worse than wasted.

• marginalia_nu 4y ago
  Surely there is more farm land away from the sea than adjacent to it. How does for example fertilizer from here[1] or here[2] end up at sea? [1] https://goo.gl/maps/Pm4JGesJZ9xELrBB8 https://goo.gl/maps/Pm4JGesJZ9xELrBB8 [2] https://goo.gl/maps/rzGttw1gMchSWXREA https://goo.gl/maps/rzGttw1gMchSWXREA
  • hammock 4y ago
    The Mississippi and Rhine Rivers
    • eru 4y ago
      Might be the Danube and not the Rhine in the second example. (Not that it matters.)
      • hammock 4y ago
        Probably right, good call
  • soperj 4y ago
    [1] - down the Arkansas river to the Mississippi, and right out to sea. [2] - down the Danube, and right out to sea.
    • marginalia_nu 4y ago
      That still dozens, if not hundreds of kilometers the fertilizer somehow needs to walk.
      • ceejayoz 4y ago
        It doesn't walk, it flows - sometimes above ground, sometimes under - to the nearest tiny gully, creek, stream, spring, etc., with very few exceptions. The network for the USA: https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/21/16/3995911F00000578-0-image-a-10_1477064225642.jpg https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/21/16/3995911F000005...
      • seiferteric 4y ago
        It's water soluble.
        • marginalia_nu 4y ago
          Sure, but why is it pulled sideways and not down, and why does it move toward the river of all directions it could move?
          • Tyrannosaur 4y ago
            For exactly the same reason the river exists in the first place. Why does the water flow to the ocean and not just sink into the ground?
            • marginalia_nu 4y ago
              A lot of it does sink into the ground though. Thats how aquifiers replenish.
              • lukas099 4y ago
                I think the percentage of fertilizer in the groundwater would reach an equilibrium where just as much is going out as is coming in.
              • LarryMullins 4y ago
                Water from shallow aquifers also flows into nearby rivers.
  • contravariant 4y ago
    There's very few places where water does not eventually end up in the sea. Though if it seeps into the groundwater it may take a geological amount of time.
  • 83 4y ago
    For the US, there's a nice app where you can follow the watershed path: https://river-runner.samlearner.com/ https://river-runner.samlearner.com/ Edit, direct link to the pinpoint: https://river-runner.samlearner.com/?lng=-98.92662834458773&lat=38.08379637247655 https://river-runner.samlearner.com/?lng=-98.92662834458773&...
• adrianN 4y ago
  A lot also ends up in the groundwater. It just takes a couple of decades to reach it.