China, U.S. share nitrate problem

Abstract

Water supplies used for drinking water in both the United States and the People's Republic of China share a common problem of elevated nitrate concentrations, according to a new report by the U.S. Geological Survey conducted in cooperation with China's Ministry of Water Resources and several regional Chinese agencies.“Despite the fact that the agricultural land in China has been farmed for a much longer time relative to land farmed in the U.S., the patterns of nitrate contamination are similar,” said USGS hydrologist Joseph Domagalski, lead author of the report.