The Gazette published an op-ed written by the Northeast-Midwest Institute’s Director of the Safe Drinking Water Research and Policy Program, Dr. Sridhar Vedachalam, in July 2018. This piece addressed how the increase in nitrate pollution will threaten the quality of drinking water in America, especially in “agriculture-heavy regions such as the Upper Mississippi River Basin, the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and Central California.” This conclusion was based on the Institute’s recent study which found that communities can spend $10 to $15 million on the treatment of nitrate-polluted water, an undertaking that results in higher utility bills for consumers. Dr. Vedachalam also wrote that “the U.S. should work to bolster conservation programs that mitigate the runoff causing nitrate pollution [, and] . . . consider various methods of capital support –grants, zero-interest loans, or debt forgiveness – to smaller communities” which struggle with these expenses.
The full article titled “Our Food Is Making Our Water Rates Go Up” can be read here.