Do food processing industries contribute to the eutrophication of aquatic systems?
Tusseau-Vuillemin MH Cemagref, U.R. Qualité et Fonctionnement Hydrologique des Systèmes Aquatiques, BP 44, F-92 163 Antony Cedex, France. Eutrophication is the enrichment of water bodies with plant nutrients and precursors, typically nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic matter. There exists a “natural” and slow eutrophication, which, over geological times, turns a lake into a marsh and then dries it entirely. Today, however, eutrophication is mostly referred to the human process that “results in the stimulation of an array of symptomatic changes, among which increased production of algae and macrophytes, deterioration of water quality and other symptomatic changes are found to be undesirable and interfere with water uses” as defined by the OECD in 1982. This undesirable process is observed mostly in enclosed water bodies, such as lakes, but also in some rivers, some estuaries, and some coastal zones. In most freshwater systems, phosphorus has been identified as the “limiting nutrient” to
