Study Finds Freshwater Pollution Costs At Least $4.3 Billion Annually

December 1, 2008 1:41 p.m. EST

Manhattan, KS (AHN) - Researchers at Kansas State University found that pollutants aren't just bad for lakes and streams-they're bad for American's pocketbooks also.

Walter Dodds, professor of biology of KSU says freshwater pollution impacts individuals on a level as basic as bottled water costs. If the municipal water plant has to spend more to treat water coming through the taps, that cost is passed onto consumer through water bills.

"Monetary damages put environmental problems in terms that make policymakers and the public take notice," Dodds said in a statement from KSU.

The team of researchers looked at U.S. EPA data on nitrogen and phosphorus levels in bodies of water across the country-both these pollutants are applied to plants as nutrients. Most of these pollutants reach lakes and other water from various points, like runoff from row crop agriculture.

The KSU team calculated the money lost from pollution by examining many factors like decreasing lakefront property values, the cost of treating drinking water and revenue lost when fewer people take part in recreational activities like fishing or boating. They found that freshwater pollution by nitrogen and phosphorus costs government, drinking water facilities and individual Americans at least $4.3 billion a year.

"We are providing underestimates," Dodds said in the statement. "Although our accounting of the degree of nutrient pollution in the nation is fairly accurate, the true costs of pollution are probably much greater than $4.3 billion."

The research appeared in the Nov. 12 online issue of Environmental Science and Technology.