What are phosphate and nitrate solutions? Are they water pollutants?

Answer 1

These are solutions with phosphate or nitrate dissolved in the water. They are water pollutants because they add excess nutrients to the water. Excess nutrients can start a process called eutrophication in which algae and plants grow too much, get crowded and die, decompose by the action of bacteria which use dissolved oxygen during the decomposition, causing fish and other heterotrophs to suffocate from the lowered levels of dissolved oxygen.

Common sources of phosphate and nitrate pollution are:
-- runoff from fertilized and
-- livestock waste in feedlots, pastures, etc.
-- sewage treatment effluent
-- detergents