However, phosphorus is used extensively in fertilizer and other chemicals, so it can be found in higher concentrations in areas of human activity. Many seemingly harmless activities added together can cause phosphorus overloads. Phosphorus exists in water in either a particulate phase or a dissolved phase. Particulate matter includes living and dead plankton, precipitates of phosphorus, phosphorus adsorbed to particulates, and amorphous phosphorus. The dissolved phase includes inorganic phosphorus and organic phosphorus.
Organic phosphate is phosphate that is bound to plant or animal tissue.
Organic phosphates are formed primarily by biological processes. They are contributed to sewage by body waste and food residues, and also may be formed from orthophosphates in biological treatment processes or by receiving water biota. Organic phosphates may occur as a result of the breakdown of organic pesticides which contain phosphates. They may exist in solution, as loose fragments, or in the bodies of aquatic organisms. Inorganic phosphate is phosphate that is not associated with organic material.