Capture and reuse phosphorus, think-tank urges

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This article was published 05/03/2010 (5691 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Stopping Lake Winnipeg from choking on algae could help solve a looming shortage of phosphorus and avert a worldwide food shortage, scientists maintain.

On Thursday, the International Institute for Sustainable Development – a Winnipeg-based environmental think tank – released a report examining how phosphorus spilling into Manitoba’s waterways doesn’t just promote the growth of ecologically devastating algae.

The failure to capture and reuse phosphorus could contribute to a global food crisis as supplies of the vital fertilizer run low, say the authors of a report that highlights ways phosphorus can be recovered from human and animal waste.

“They say that what we excrete in urine equals the amount of phosphorus required to grow 50 to 100 per cent of our food,” said Vivek Voora, co-author of the report called Peak Phosphorus: Opportunity in the Making — Why the Phosphorus Challenge Presents a New Paradigm for Food Security and Water Quality in the Lake Winnipeg Basin.

Some scientists say the world’s supply of phosphorus rock will be exhausted within 100 years.

It probably won’t happen so fast, said University of Manitoba soil science professor Don Flaten. But when phosphorus runs out, it could be the end of us, he said.

“When we run into a shortage of phosphorus, it’s going to make an oil shortage look like a minor issue,” said Flaten, pointing out that phosphorus is essential for everything from the replication of our DNA to photosynthesis.

“I don’t think the shortage is quite as imminent as some people think…, but given that it’s very important, we should start right away to take better care of phosphorus.”

Some ways Manitoba can move forward, according the report, include food composting and technology that would allow phosphorus to be harvested from waste as well as food compost. Those strategies and more will be discussed at an IISD summit in Winnipeg in November.

It’s about time Manitoba got working on a plan, Flaten said. Cities such as Edmonton already have plants that can remove phosphorus from city wastewater and turn it into fertilizer. “It deserves more prominent consideration during the debate about Winnipeg’s wastewater treatment system,” Flaten said. “It’s so darned important.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca