Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  Report Brief
  http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/biofuels_brief_final.pdf
   
  Full Report
  http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12039
     
  http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12039
   
   
                    Date:  Oct. 10, 2007
  Contacts:  Jennifer Walsh, Media Relations Officer
  Alison Burnette, Media Relations Assistant
  Office of News and Public Information
  202-334-2138; e-mail <news@nas.edu>
  

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
  Increase in Ethanol Production From Corn Could Significantly Impact 
Water Quality and Availability if New Practices and Techniques Are Not
Employed
   
  WASHINGTON -- If projected increases in the use of corn for ethanol
production occur, the harm to water quality could be considerable, and
water supply problems at the regional and local levels could also arise,
says a new report from the National Research Council.  The committee that
wrote the report examined policy options and identified opportunities for
new agricultural techniques and technologies to help minimize effects of
biofuel production on water resources. 
   
  Recent increases in oil prices in conjunction with subsidy policies have
led to a dramatic expansion in corn ethanol production and high interest in
further expansion over the next decade, says the report.  Indeed, because
of strong national interest in greater energy independence, in this year's
State of the Union address, President Bush called for the production of 35
billion gallons of ethanol by 2017, which would equal about 15 percent of
the U.S. liquid transportation fuels. 
   
  A National Research Council committee was convened to look at how shifts
in the nation's agriculture to include more energy crops, and potentially
more crops overall, could affect water management and long-term
sustainability of biofuel production.  Based on findings presented at a
July colloquium, the committee came to several conclusions about biofuel
production and identified options for addressing them.
   
  In terms of water quantity, the committee found that agricultural shifts
to growing corn and expanding biofuel crops into regions with little
agriculture, especially dry areas, could change current irrigation
practices and greatly increase pressure on water resources in many parts of
the United States.  The amount of rainfall and other hydroclimate
conditions from region to region causes significant variations in the water
requirement for the same crop, the report says.  For example, in the
Northern and Southern Plains, corn generally uses more water than soybeans
and cotton, while the reverse is true in the Pacific and mountain regions
of the country.  Water demands for drinking, industry, and such uses as
hydropower, fish habitat, and recreation could compete with, and in some
cases, constrain the use of water for biofuel crops in some regions.
Consequently, growing biofuel crops requiring additional irrigation in
areas with limited water supplies is a major concern,
 the report says.
   
  Even though a large body of information exists for the nation's
agricultural water requirements, fundamental knowledge gaps prevent making
reliable assessments about the water impacts  of future large scale
production of feedstocks other than corn, such as switchgrass and native
grasses.  In addition, other aspects of crop production for biofuel may not
be fully anticipated using the frameworks that exist for food crops.  For
example, biofuel crops could be irrigated with wastewater that is
biologically and chemically unsuitable for use with food crops, or
genetically modified crops that are more water efficient could be
developed.  
   
  The quality of groundwater, rivers, and coastal and offshore waters could
be impacted by increased fertilizer and pesticide use for biofuels, the
report says.  High levels of nitrogen in stream flows are a major cause of
low-oxygen or "hypoxic" regions, commonly known as "dead zones," which are
lethal for most living creatures and cover broad areas of the Gulf of
Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and other regions.  The report notes that there are
a number of agricultural practices and technologies that could be employed
to reduce nutrient pollution, such as injecting fertilizer below the soil
surface, using controlled-release fertilizers that have water-insoluble
coatings, and optimizing the amount of fertilizer applied to the land.
   
  A possible metric to gauge the impact of biofuels on water quality could
be to compare the amount of fertilizers and pesticides used on various
crops, the committee suggested.  For example, corn has the greatest
application rates of both fertilizer and pesticides per acre, higher than
for soybeans and mixed-species grassland biomass.  The switch from other
crops or noncrop plants to corn would likely lead to much higher
application rates of highly soluble nitrogen, which could migrate to
drinking water wells, rivers, and streams, the committee said.  When not
removed from water before consumption, high levels of nitrate and nitrite
-- products of nitrogen fertilizers -- could have significant health
impacts.
   
  Nutrient and sediment pollution in streams and rivers could also both be
attributed to soil erosion.  High sedimentation rates carry financial
consequences as they increase the cost of often-mandatory dredging for
transportation and recreation.  The committee observed that erosion might
be minimized if future production of biofuels looks to perennial crops,
like switchgrass, poplars or willows, or prairie polyculture, which could
hold the soil and nutrients in place better than most row crops.  The
committee also identified other ways that farming could be improved, such
as conservation tillage and leaving most or all of the cornstalks and cobs
in the field after the grain has been harvested.  
  For biorefineries, the water consumed for the ethanol production process
-- although modest compared with the water used growing biofuel crops --
could substantially affect local water supplies, the committee concluded.
A biorefinery that produces 100 million gallons of ethanol a year would use
the equivalent of the water supply for a town of about 5,000 people.
Biorefineries could generate intense challenges for local water supplies,
depending on where the facilities are located.  However, use of water in
biorefineries is declining as ethanol producers increasingly incorporate
water recycling and develop new methods of converting feedstocks to fuels
that increase energy yields while reducing water use, the committee noted. 
   
  The study was sponsored by the McKnight Foundation, Energy Foundation,
National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and
National Research Council Day Fund.  The National Academy of Sciences,
National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National
Research Council make up the National Academies.  They are private,
nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy
advice under a congressional charter.  The Research Council is the
principal operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences and the
National Academy of Engineering.  A committee roster follows.
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                            
  Copies of Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States
are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or
1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu.  Reporters may
obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts
listed above).  
   
  [ This news release and report are available at
http://national-academies.org ]

  
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
  Division on Earth and Life Studies
  Water Science and Technology Board
   
  COMMITTEE ON WATER IMPLICATIONS OF BIOFUELS PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED
STATES
   
  Jerald L. Schnoor(1) (chair)
  Allen S. Henry Chair Professor
  Environmental Engineering, and
  Co-Director
  Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research 
University of Iowa 
Iowa City
   
  Otto C. Doering
  Professor
  Department of Agricultural Economics
  Purdue University
  West Lafayette, Ind.
   
  Dara Entekhabi
  Professor
  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and 
Professor 
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Cambridge
   
  Edward A. Hiler(1)
  Ellison Chair in International Floriculture 
Texas A&M University (retired) 
College Station
   
  Theodore L. Hullar
  Professor
  Cornell University (on leave)
  Ithaca, N.Y.
   
  G. David Tilman(2)
  Regents Professor
  Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, and 
Director 
Cedar Creek Natural History Area 
University of Minnesota 
Minneapolis
   

  RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF
   
  William Logan
  Study Director
                                                                            
        
  (1) Member, National Academy of Engineering
  (2) Member, National Academy of Sciences