Dr. Tim Davie, Environment Canterbury's Chief Scientist response to the claimed link between low levels of nitrates and bowel cancer.
What is Nitrate and what happens if Nitrate levels are to high in water?
Nitrate (NO3) is a compound that is formed when nitrogen combines with oxygen. The main adult intake of nitrate is from food rather than water; but sometimes high amounts of nitrate get into drinking water.
Drinking water that has high levels of nitrate can cause health effects such as: Methemoglobinemia or
"blue baby syndrome," which results from nitrate decreasing the blood's capacity to carry oxygen, especially in infants who receive baby formula mixed with water containing nitrate above 10 mg/L.
How do you fix high nitrate levels in drinking water?
Nitrates can be removed
from water by reverse osmosis, distillation, or through ion exchange resin. Nitrates are difficult contaminants to eliminate from water. Nitrates will not be removed by sediment filters, carbon filters, or by the hollow fiber membrane of an ultrafiltration system.
How does Nitrate get into water?
High levels of nitrate in water can be a result of runoff or leakage from fertilized soil, wastewater, landfills, animal feedlots, septic systems, or urban drainage.
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