A recent article in The Des Moines Register newspaper has caused considerable controversy regarding nitrogen in Iowa streams and rivers.  John Sawyer, an Iowa State University associate professor of agronomy has written three articles that highlight the inaccuracies found in The Des Moines Register article and gives further information on exactly what these chemicals are and the implications they can create.  
 
The first article, Surface Waters: Ammonium is not Ammonia explains the difference between ammonium and ammonia, the relationship between the two nitrogen forms and the implication of a combined (ammonium-N plus ammonia-N) analysis related to water quality criteria for aquatic life.   (Download:  part 1)
 
Part two of this series of articles focuses on the implication of ammonia and ammonium for chlorination of drinking water.  (Download: part 2)
 
Part three, the final article in the series, concentrates on the potential sourcing of ammonium and ammonia in surface waters.  (Download: part 3 )