Most pathogens are bacteria. Algae blooms can occur when too much nitrogen and phosphorus enter a waterway. Algae block sunlight needed by underwater plants that provide habitat, and algae's decay robs the water of dissolved oxygen needed by aquatic life. You're probably an NPS polluter - Just about everyone who owns or uses land contributes to nonpoint source pollution. In Virginia, most efforts concentrate on NPS pollution leaving farmland, urban areas, construction sites and forest land.
Farms yield sediment, toxic substances and excess nutrients.
Statewide, farmland loses several tons of soil per acre per year. While this soil is productive on land, in the water it cuts light needed by aquatic plants, obstructs waterways and covers aquatic habitat with sediment. Worse, soil from farmland sometimes takes with it pesticides and nutrients. Most of the Virginia's NPS pollution prevention efforts focus on managing nutrients because they pose one of the greatest threats to the health of our waterways and, in particular, to the Chesapeake Bay. Experts estimate that 50 percent of the nitrogen and 29 percent of the phosphorus entering our states surface waters come from farmland.