Changes in meat consumption can improve groundwater quality

Yang Zhan, Zhilin Guo, Joel Podgorski, Zhengzhong Zeng, Peng Xu, Liqing Peng, Kewei Chen, Rixin Wu, Chen Ding, Charles Andrews, Vladan Babovic, Chunmiao Zheng
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Abstract

Large-scale, centralized livestock production is recognized as a significant contributor to environmental pollution, including groundwater contamination. Here we assess the impact of traditional meat production on nitrate contamination in groundwater across the contiguous USA from 1985 to 2020. In addition, we evaluate potential changes in groundwater quality resulting from the substitution of traditional meat sources with three alternative meat options. We find that substituting 10% of the protein intake from conventional meat sources with meat alternatives can lead to an average reduction of 3.4%, 10.7% and 4.5% in the required nitrogen fertilizer, manure and water footprint, respectively. This substitution could potentially decrease the risk of groundwater nitrate exceedance (concentration exceeding 10 mg l−1 as N) by up to ~20%. These results highlight the potential of long-term dietary shifts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 and support other SDG targets.

Abstract Image

肉类消费的变化可以改善地下水质量
大规模、集中的畜牧生产被认为是造成包括地下水污染在内的环境污染的一个重要因素。在这里,我们评估了传统肉类生产对1985年至2020年美国连续地下水硝酸盐污染的影响。此外,我们评估了用三种替代肉类选择替代传统肉类来源所导致的地下水质量的潜在变化。我们发现,用肉类替代品替代10%的传统肉类蛋白质摄入量,可导致所需氮肥、粪便和水足迹分别平均减少3.4%、10.7%和4.5%。这种替代可以潜在地降低地下水硝酸盐超标(浓度超过10 mg l - 1作为N)的风险高达20%。这些结果突出了长期饮食转变在实现可持续发展目标6和支持其他可持续发展目标方面的潜力。
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