FERTILIZER AND WATER QUALITY
Fertilizers are commercially available for a variety of specialized applications: for lawns, houseplants, gardens, and farming applications. One fertilizer application that has been of particular interest has been the use of fertilizers on golf courses. It is feared that the large quantities of fertilizers used to keep fairways and greens lush and beautiful are also damaging surface and ground water supplies around the courses. Fertilizers do, in fact, contain a number of compounds that may cause specific problems in water supplies if they are present in high enough quantities. The question then becomes, “how much is too much?” and “how much fertilizer stays where it’s put?”
You have been assigned to a group of researchers working for a local golf course. The owner has several concerns about the use of fertilizers on his course. First, he does not trust the manufacturer. He wants to know if the stuff he has bought really contains what it says it does. Secondly, he has heard that the government may soon pass regulations on how much of the nutrients present in fertilizer can end up in ground water supplies. Your team has been hired to address these concerns.
GOALS
Determine the nutrients most commonly present in commercially available fertilizers. You will find these fall into three categories: macronutrients, secondary nutrients, and micronutrients.
Determine the sources for these nutrients in commercially available fertilizers.
Determine for which of the macronutrients can you perform qualitative and quantitative tests.
Practice these tests on known compounds.
Perform these tests on the fertilizer(s) provided by the golf course owner.
Develop a model for determining the amount of these nutrients entering the groundwater supply.
Use this model to determine if these nutrients may be present in groundwater after their application.
Known Compounds
Samples of compounds, which contain the macronutrients found in fertilizer, are available in the lab. You may use these to determine properties of these compounds, which may be useful in developing qualitative and quantitative tests. You may want to investigate properties such as odor, solubility, and others. Remember, you have a limited supply of your fertilizer so you will want to test your procedures before you carry them out on the fertilizer itself.