Surface Water Nitrogen Load Due to Food Production-Supply System in South Asian Megacities: A Model-based Estimation | Chapter 13 | Advances and Trends in Agricultural Sciences Vol. 1
Food
production and supply system contributed more than 90% of the nitrogen
originated in south Asian megacities that pollute the surface water. Five
megacities of three South Asian countries were considered in this study. These
countries are developing and their population is increasing tremendously. All
the five megacities are very densely urbanized. A numerical model has been used
to calculate the anthropogenic nitrogen load on the environment. FAO statistics
on fertilizer consumption and food balance data sheet has been used to
calculate the nitrogen load. Human waste plays the vital role in nitrogen
production of south Asian megacities. So, in these contexts the nitrogen load
for all the study areas extremely harmful for environment and ever increasing population
also increased the load of nitrogen on surface water produced from human waste
which also very awful for the environment. So, a proper sewage treatment
facility is compulsory for all the study areas.
Four findings has been identified are; (1) for all three countries, rice
and wheat production-supply produce the maximum amount of nitrogen. (2) Though
the amount of nitrogen due to fertilizer input more or less same among the
countries but amount of produced nitrogen due to human waste is huge in Bangladesh.
(3) Moreover, in city scale, the amount of nitrogen due to fertilizer input is
maximum in Delhi city and negligible in Kolkata due to an insignificant amount
of farmland. (4) Interestingly, the maximum amount of nitrogen load in surface
water is in Kolkata city due to human waste but Mumbai and Dhaka shows a medium
amount of nitrogen load. This can give the estimation for city wise untreated
nitrate content and this is necessary for the capacity development of existing
sewerage treatment plant as well as the establishment of new plants.
Author Details:
Syeda Jesmin Haque
Graduate School of
Integrated Arts and Science, Hiroshima University, Japan and Assistant
Director, Geological Survey of Bangladesh, Room#415, 153 Pioneer Road,
Segunbagicha, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.
Prof. Dr. Shin-ichi Onodera
Graduate School of
Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan.
Dr. Yuta Shimizu
Graduate School of
Integrated Arts and Science, Hiroshima University, Japan.
View Volume: https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/atias/v1
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