Teachers.io

One of the major pollution issues facing the Yangtze River is the excessive accumulation of phosphorus (P) in the water. Phosphorus is a common ingredient in agricultural fertilizer, manure, and other organic wastes found in sewage and industrial discharge. Although phosphorus is essential to plant life in small amounts, too much of it in the water (often due to soil erosion) speeds up a type of pollution called eutrophication -- explosive growth of algae that depletes the water of oxygen, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Eutrophication can be extremely harmful to river life.

"As with the rest of eastern China, phosphorus inputs via fertilizer runoff, leaching of animal manures, and human wastes have massively eutrophied the Yangtze River and associated water bodies in its flood plain, leading to blooms of algae and cyanobacteria that can pose a health hazard and cause fish kills," said James Elser, a research professor at Arizona State University.