Photo Credit: Bayley Bischof/KOLN
Dr. Dan Snow, Director of the Water Sciences Laboratory, was interviewed by 1011 News to share the lab’s work in nitrate research in Nebraska.
In addition to unique methods made possible by staff expertise, the Water Sciences Laboratory is one of the only facilities in the country with equipment that can identify nitrogen isotopes and trace sources of nitrate in water samples.
1011 News reports, “Dr. Dan Snow with the Nebraska Water Center based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has access to one of the few machines in the country that can take a water sample with nitrate in it and figure out where the nitrate came from. He said most of the samples he gets from Nebraska come from commercial fertilizers which use nitrates as a plant nutrient.
“We’re always trying to grow more yield, have more bushels per acre. And consequently, we use as much fertilizer as possible to maximize your yield,” Snow said. “In the past, we didn’t think too much about the potential consequences to contaminate water supplies. But that’s become a much more pressing issue, I think over the past decade.”
To read more, visit https://www.1011now.com/2023/01/26/nitrate-levels-nebraska-drinking-water-pose-growing-health-concern/.