Dredged lake sediment could nourish new crops

Description

Every year, farmers fertilize their crops with nitrogen and phosphorus to ensure a good harvest. And every year some of that fertilizer inevitably makes its way into ponds and lakes, where it can trigger ecosystem-wrecking algal blooms. According to a new study published last month in Science of the Total Environment, though, there may be a relatively simple way to close the loop on this leaky system: using the nutrient-rich lake sediments as fertilizer.