United Nations Groundwater Data Reveals 320,000 kilotons of Nitrogen "Dark Matter" in River Bottoms

Abstract

The podcast describes the results of analyses of water volume data in United Nations reports at the UNESCO IGRAC resource, linking water volumes with major nitrates supply routes in waters reaching rivers and lakes. At a frequent average nitrate concentration reported country by country in government literature, the world's land systems have nitrates in approximately a 200,000 up to 500,000 kilotons range to process by natural means per annum, with around 300,000 kilotons being the most likely figure. A range of around 140,000 kilotons is the quantity likely being produced from human activity, but the news comes with a potential key to reduce these quantities at the world scales required. The microbes responsible for converting the majority of this nitrate into ammonium when it reaches river bottoms, can potentially be farmed for ammonium conversion to Hydrogen fuels and commercial fertilisers. The news has been released initially at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna session in May, 2026 with supplementary materials for hearing and sight-impaired audiences.