Man-made phosphorus pollution is reaching dangerously high levels in freshwater basins around the world, according to new research.
A new study published in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, estimated the global amount of phosphorus from human activities that entered Earth’s freshwater bodies from 2002 to 2010.
The results of the new study show global human activity emitted 1.62 million tons of phosphorus per year into the world’s major freshwater basins, four times greater than the weight of the Empire State Building.
The study also assessed whether human activity had surpassed the earth’s ability to dilute and assimilate
