Nitrate is a very big issue in Alexandria. Dead zones can cause animals to suffocate and die. Alexandria’s natural beauty can be appreciated by everyone, however, dead zones created by high nitrate levels which reduces dissolved oxygen are causing Alexandria’s appeal to decline. A dead zone is an area in water where no aquatic life can survive. Cameron Beaujon, a student in the No2Nitrate team’s classroom, conducted a science fair project in November of 2016 that tested the nitrate levels in local water. He discovered that locations with high populations or that included more buildings in the area, contained severely unhealthy nitrate levels. 

To create a solution, several stakeholders were contacted to gain information. The solution that students and experts in the field came up with is to create a Nitrate Reduction Certification program with three different tiers-gold, silver, and bronze-which will be established to award citizen’s efforts. Citizens will earn gold awards for meeting all three criteria for reducing nitrate; 1) having a rain garden, 2) a rain barrel, and 3) using fertilizer in a sustainable way.  Silver for only two of the three; and bronze for one of the three. For this project, $289.43 will be needed to attain a gold level Nitrate Reduction Certificate. This will be done by building a rain garden on our school’s campus. After achieving gold level certification, our school will set an example for other schools and even homeowners. This study supports the team’s recommendations: to reduce fertilizer usage and to increase the use of rain barrels and rain gardens.

If high amounts of nitrate runoff are not dealt with soon, then Alexandria City will experience difficulty in improving the quality of it’s water. Furthermore, failure to improve the quality of Alexandria’s water may harm the Chesapeake Bay’s aquatic life, such as fish and other organisms.