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Rain washing off fields can pollute waterways with fertilizer. Wetlands help remove that excess nitrogen. ANT Photo Library/Science Source
Targeting U.S. wetland restoration could make cleaning up water much cheaper
Dec. 18, 2020 , 2:15 PM
Wetlands do a great job of filtering and cleaning up polluted water. But in the United States, many of those natural filters have been destroyed: filled in, paved over, or drained to become farm fields. Now, a study suggests policymakers responsible for managing wetlands could do a better job by strategically locating restored or created wetlands near sources of pollution, such as farms and livestock operations. Such a targeted approach would remove much more nitrogen which pollutes groundwater, lakes, and coastal waters than current scattershot policies, the researchers say.