The intake of nitrate from vegetables is unlikely to cause health problems because very little of this nitrate is converted to nitrite. Nitrate occurs naturally in many vegetables, such as lettuce and spinach, and is produced by microbes in the human gut, with the result that only a small part of the nitrate in the body comes from drinking water. The nitrite in the digestive tract of babies can cause methaenoglobinaemia. Also, their digestive systems are inmature, and thus more likely to allow the reduction of nitrate to nitrite. Babies drink large quantities of water considering their body weight, especially if water is used to mix powdered or concentrated recipes or juices. Short-term exposure to drinking water with a nitrate level above the health standard is a potential health problem especially for babies. Unless otherwise specified, nitrate levels usually refer only to the amount of nitrogen present, and the usual standard, therefore, is 10 mg/l. The federal standard for nitrate in drinking water is 10 mg/l nitrate-N, or 50 mg/l nitrate-NO3, when the oxygen is measured as well as the nitrogen. Nitrate in drinking water is measured either in terms of the amount of nitrogen present or in terms of both nitrogen and oxygen. Septic systems remove only half of the nitrogen in wastewater, leaving the other half to leach to groundwater, this way raising groundwater nitrate concentrations. Nitrogen from manure can be similarly lost from fields, barnyards, or storage locations. This makes the nitrogen unavailable to the plants, and can also raise the concentration in groundwater above the admissible levels for drinking water quality. Fertilizer nitrogen not taken up by plants, volatilized, or carried away by surface runoff ends up in the groundwater in the form of nitrate. The origin of nitrate in groundwater is primarily from fertilizers, septic systems, and manure storage or spreading operations. Although nitrate levels that affect babies are not dangerous for older children and adults, they do indicate the possible presence of other more serious residential or agricultural pollutants, such as bacteria or pesticides. It needs to be regulated in drinking water basically because excess levels can cause methaemoglobinaemia, or "blue baby" disease. Nitrate is one of the most frequent groundwater pollutants in rural areas. Nitrate is not normally dangerous for the health unless it is reduced to nitrite (NO 2). Nitrate is an inorganic compound composed of one atom of nitrogen (N) and three atoms of oxygen (O) the chemical symbol for nitrate is NO 3. How to eliminate nitrates from your water Methaemoglobinaemia: a disease caused by nitrate excess Nitrate and the World Health Organization (WHO) How do we consume nitrate?: nitrate in our diet Nitrate in drinking water: health effects
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