In between the dog food and the frozen desserts section at our one and only Kroger that exists in Oxford, there is a small section of eco-friendly cleaning and paper products. Before I left Oxford, 4 months ago, I shopped regularly in this section for my preferred brand of laundry detergent and the occasional splurge on recycled paper towels and toilet paper. A week ago, when I checked in with Kroger for the first time in months, I was pleasantly surprised to see these few shelves fully stocked and hosting more products by Seventh Generation and Biokleen. When I shop for products that when used eventually go down the drain, out the pipes and on to the rivers, I only buy Phosphate Free. Why? It's funny how 7th grade Science suddenly becomes more applicable to every day life than 7th grade Math ever did.
If you don't remember things that sounded creepy at the time, like Algal Blooms, here's the latest info about what is happening to our rivers and coastal waters, RIGHT NOW.
Phosphorus, generally in the form of phosphates, has historically been one of the main ingredients in detergent. In the detergents, phosphates served as a “builder” to improve the detergent’s cleaning efficiency. Their strong cleaning performance, however, has increasingly been overshadowed by their harmful effects on rivers, lakes, streams, and other fresh waters. Levels of phosphates in these fresh water bodies can be much higher than normal as the result of contamination from municipal and domestic wastewater that contains phosphates -- some or much of which (depending on your perspective) comes from phosphate-containing detergents that go down the drain after use.
Although phosphates are an important plant nutrient, higher than normal phosphate levels can destroy the health of the lake, stream or other fresh water body, as they allow algae in the water to grow faster than would naturally occur, turning clear lakes and rivers green and cloudy. This extra algal growth is not only unappealing to look at, but can also make the water smell bad and make it unsuitable for swimming. It can also make drinking water more expensive to filter and can spoil the taste or smell of the drinking water. In the long run, the excess algal growth can have devastating impacts on the health and age of a fresh water lake or river, causing eutrophication to speed up, where lakes and other water bodies fill in with dead algae and other organic matter and eventually turn into dry land.
Unfortunately, there are many types of phosphates finding their way to the sea. Some also come from agricultural and urban runoff; more specifically, from agricultural fertilizers and lawn-care products that break down to release phosphates into the soil. Because plant growth can be limited by the amount of phosphorus in the soil, it has become common practice to apply fertilizers which increase the available phosphorus and the crop yield.
So we can debate all day about whether my singular choice in buying phosphate-free products changes the world, but instead of doing so, I would suggest that everyone in Oxford consider all of the chemicals and cleaners that they dispose of on a daily basis. Are they headed to the Gulf, which we have tried so hard to restore? Are they clogging up the muddy shores of the mighty Mississippi? Or worse: are the chemicals we use leaching into our groundwater and ending up in our watertable?
Yeeesh.
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