They are creating a map of the world to see the impact of wastewater on coastal ecosystems

Scientists from the United States have designed the first high-resolution map to capture The impact of human wastewater on coastal ecosystems around the world, overrun today.

Created by experts from the University of Santa Barbara in California and the Casade Tuholske . Institute A tool for estimating the amounts of nitrogen and pathogens released into coastal areas from human wastewater sources of all kinds, including sewers, sewage systems, and untreated debris.

According to the article published this Wednesday in PLoS One magazine, Analysis of more than 130,000 watersheds studied indicates that human wastewater introduces 6.2 Tg of nitrogen into coastal ecosystems annually, about 40% of the estimated residues from agriculture.

The text states that 63% of this nitrogen comes from sewage systems. 32% of the waste is not processed; and 5% of human sewage systems.

The researchers also identified nitrogen exposure hotspots for coral reefs in China, Kenya, Haiti, India and Yemen.

Explain that Human wastewater can introduce pathogens and nitrogen into the ocean, affecting human health, as well as coastal ecosystems and communities that depend on fishing as an economic activity.

The scale of the amount of wastewater affecting coastal ecosystems around the world is staggering. The researchers indicated that we hope that this map will lead to the identification of priority areas that help marine conservation groups and the development of public policies to improve the situation.

They lamented that most research on the impact of humans on coastal ecosystems focuses on agricultural residues, while that on human wastewater is “limited”.

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70% of wastewater in Latin America returns to rivers untreated

(with information from PL)