December 3, 2008 WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday approved a last- minute rule change by the Bush administration that will allow.

• December 3, 2008

• WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday approved a last-minute rule change by the Bush administration that will allow coal companies to bury streams under the rocks, dirt and sludge from mining.

• A 1983 rule prohibited dumping fill from mountaintop removal mining within 100 feet of streams. In practice, the EPA hadn't been enforcing the rule under the Bush Administration. Government figures show that 535 miles of streams were buried or diverted from 2001 to 2005, more than half of them in the mountains of Appalachia. Along with the loss of the streams has been an increase of erosion and flooding.

• The 11th-hour change before President Bush leaves office would eliminate a tool that citizens groups have used in lawsuits to keep mining waste out of streams. Mining companies had been pushing for the change for years.

• In approving the change in writing as required by law, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected the appeals of environmentalists and some coal-country officials, including Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen.

In March, 2009, the Obama Administration began re-examining mountaintop-mining permits issued under Bush, putting a hold on six permits that had been issued, and announcing that as many as 200 other permits would also be scrutinized for their environmental impacts.

The administration also announced it was reversing the Bush 2008 Rule that had weakened restrictions on mountaintop mining near water bodies. Mountaintop mining, environmentalists say, has now smothered more than 1,200 miles of streams in Appalachia.

Water: Resources and Pollution

1. Water Resources

2. Water Availability and Use

3. Water Pollution

4. Water Quality Today• Water Legislation U. S.• World Problems

1. Water Resources

• Water covers 75% of Earth’s surface Oceans: 70% Ice & Snow: 4% Rivers, Lakes, Wetlands: < 1%

Major water compartments

• > 97% of world’s water is saline ocean water

• < 3% of world’s water is fresh 87% of this is in glaciers, ice caps, and

snowfields 12% is in groundwater < 1% of freshwater is surface water

(lakes, ponds, rivers, streams)(this is 0.02% of all water on Earth!)

Figure 10.3

Fresh Water Resources Depend on Precipitation Patterns[Creates water-rich & water poor countries]

Figure 10.2

• Groundwater Largest reservoir of liquid fresh water

Aquifers - Porous layers of rock holding water

Artesian - Pressurized aquifer (springs, etc)

Recharge Zone - Area where water enters an aquifer

- Recharge rate is often very slow

- Groundwater is often removed faster than recharge

• Surface & Groundwater supplies interact in many ways Precipitation —> Recharge zone Runoff —> Stream flow

- Discharge Aquifer

- Water table

2. Water Availability & Uses

• Surface Water (Renewable) ~80% of human supply

Subject to great variation in dry regions, such as the western U. S.

• Groundwater (Nonrenewable?) ~20% of human supply

(but > 40% in U. S.)

Many aquifers are now subject to overdrafts (used at rates which exceed recharge rates)

Water Use & Distribution:

• ~70% of world’s water is used for agriculture

• ~20% is used by households

• ~10% is used by industry

• Some terms:

Withdrawal - Amount of water taken from a source

Consumption - Water not returned to its source

Degradation - Contamination making it is unsuitable for desired use

Figure 10.8

Worldwide Water Availability & Use

• WHO estimates that people require 1000 m3 per person per year (265,000 gallons!)

• Big problem is uneven distribution

Every continent has regions with scarce rainfall

Natural drought cycles create temporary shortages

Climatic changes (global warming) may alter supplies

a. World Freshwater Shortages

• 1 billion people lack adequate supplies of safe drinking water (typically carry water from distant source to home)

• 2.5 Billion lack adequate sanitation

• 45 countries face serious water stress (= lack of adequate supply)(mostly Africa & Middle East)

Water

5 to possibly 25% of global freshwater use exceeds long-term accessible supplies (low to medium certainty)

15 - 35% of irrigation withdrawals exceed supply rates and are therefore unsustainable (low to medium certainty)

• Dams / Reservoirs

Huge evaporation losses

Siltation —> storage capacity

Upsets natural balance of water systems

Ecosystem Losses (wetlands, riparian)

- Loss of wildlife habitat

- Loss of free flowing river ecosystems

• Diversion systems drain & destroy aquatic systems and their ecological services

b. Surface Water Depletion

c. Groundwater Depletion

• Local depletion —> Cone of depression

• Broad scale depletion —> Aquifer depletion Ogallala Aquifer - Great Plains All large desert cities have depleted aquifers

- Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas

• Consequences:

—> possible land subsidence, saltwater intrusion

—> pollution of groundwater in areas of development

d. Water Management & Conservation

• Domestic conservation ~ 1/2 of all water use is “wasted”

Largest domestic use is toilet flushing! (Fig. 10.14)

Significant amounts of water could be recycled

• Agricultural water conservation Agric. is largest user (2/3 of total use)

- Irrigate at the right time

- Use conservative systems (e.g., drip irrig.)

- Correct pricing structures

• Price mechanisms and water policy

In U.S., water policies have generally worked against conservation

- Surface ownership rights (Eastern U.S.)or Prior appropriation rights (Western U.S.)

Promotes “use it or lose it” attitudes

- Dam and distribution system costs have been heavily subsidized

Charging real costs would conservation

3. Types and Effects of Water Pollution

• Water pollution = Any physical, biological, or chemical change in water quality that adversely affects life Point Sources - Pollution from specific

locations

- Factories, Municipal sewage

Non-Point Sources - Scattered or diffuse(no specific location of discharge)

- Agricultural fields, Air pollution

Major Categories of Pollutants

a. Types (classes) of water pollution

1. Infectious Pathogens Sources: improperly treated human waste,

agric. runoff (e.g., feedlots)

Impacts: 2.5 billion people in LDCs lack adequate sanitation —> water contamination

- ~ 1 billion people lack clean drinking water~ Cause 80% of all diseases in LDCs~ 25 million deaths/year (if you include malaria, and yellow fever)

- More than 500 pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and parasites can travel from human or animal excrement through water

2. Biological Oxygen-Demanding Wastes = Organic matter that is readily decomposed

Sources: Agric. runoff, sewage

Impacts: bacteria —> O2 —> Aquatic life

- O2 is removed from water by respiration (decomposer bacteria)

- Water with < 2 ppm dissolved O2 will support only detritivores and decomposers

Oxygen Sag - O2 levels decline downstream from a

pollution source as decomposers metabolize waste materials

3. Plant Nutrients = Nitrates, phosphates, etc

Sources: sewage, runoff, air pollution

Impacts: ‘algal bloom’ —> light —> algae death —> O2 —> Aquatic life

- Eutrophication - Process of increasing nutrient levels and biological productivity

- Oligotrophic - few nutrients (clear water with low biological productivity)

- Eutrophic - nutrient rich water (high productivity)

4. Toxic Inorganic Pollutants

Include:

- Toxic metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium

- Salts, acids, bases (in high concentrations)

Sources: industrial wastes, mine runoff, homes(e.g., lead in pipes)

Impacts: water quality ( uses), Aquatic life(metals bioaccumulate)

5. Organic Chemicals

Include: 1000s of natural and synthetic organic chemicals found in pesticides, plastics, pigments, oil, etc.

Sources: Industrial and household wastes,runoff of pesticides from high-use areas

Impacts: water quality ( uses), Aquatic life(many organic molecules bioaccumulate)

6. Sediments = Insoluble suspended matter

Sources: runoff (soil), sewage, atmos. dust

- Human-induced erosion and runoff —> sediments (greatest single cause of water pollution)

Impacts: light —> Psn —> Food Chains

- Also smothers benthic life and spawning areas

b. Water Quality Today

• Major success story (Legislation that works plus EPA oversight)

In 1950s, many rivers/lakes badly polluted (some rivers caught on fire from oil poll.!)(Lake Erie had virtually no fish)

In 1999, EPA reported 91.4% of all river miles and 87.5% of all lake areas suitable for their designated uses

Cuyahoga River Fires in Cleveland, Ohio 1969

Clean Water Act (1972) established a National Pollution Discharge System, which requires a permit for any entity dumping wastes in surface waters

- Discharge permits are required for all point sources

- No discharge allowed for 126 priority pollutants

- Goal was to return all U.S. surface waters to “fishable and swimmable” condition (these are the 2 key criteria established by CWA)

Major areas of progress:

- Most progress due to municipal sewage treatment facilities

- In 1997, EPA switched regulatory approaches: Now focus on watershed-level monitoring and protection

- States are required to identify waters not meeting water quality goals and develop approaches to meet water quality goals

Remaining Problem Areas (Local & Global)

• Greatest problems are from non-point sources: include sediments, nutrients, and pathogens

3/4 of water pollution in the US comes from soil erosion, agricultural and urban runoff, and air pollution deposition

- Feedlots produce 144 million tons of waste/year

Atmospheric Deposition - Contaminants from air deposited into watersheds or directly onto surface waters

- Great Lakes estimated to contain > 1 million pounds of the herbicide atrazine

• Groundwater contamination:

Half the US population (95% of rural pop.) rely on aquifers for drinking water

For decades, seepage has contaminated aquifers

- ~1 trillion gallons of contaminated water seep into the ground every day

- Fertilizers and pesticides contaminate aquifers and wells in rural aquifers

- Oil, & MTBE is present in many urban aquifers

Largest aquifer in San Diego Co. is contaminated with oil

Natural gas extraction contaminates aquifers with dozens of unknown chemicals (thanks to Bush loophole in water laws)

Groundwater Pollution

• Drinking water:

1.5 million Americans fall ill from fecal contamination annually

Some pathogens resistant to treatment

Cryptosporidium outbreaks

• Ocean Pollution:

6 million metric tons of trash and litter tossed from ships into the ocean annually

Most coastlines contaminated by oil & pollution

The ocean’s garbage patches

• Charles Moore founded the Algalita Foundation in 1998 after sailing a catamaran from Hawaii, which took him through the Great Pacific Gyre “It began with a line of plastic bags ghosting the surface,

followed by an ugly tangle of junk: nets and ropes and bottles, motor-oil jugs and cracked bath toys, a mangled tarp. Tires. A traffic cone. Moore could not believe his eyes. Out here in this desolate place, the water was a stew of plastic crap.”

There is 6 times more plastic than plankton in this area, which is twice the size of Texas

• Water pollution problems in other countries:

In Russia, only about half of the tap water supply is safe to drink

In urban areas of South America, Africa, and Asia, 95% of all sewage is discharged untreated into rivers

2/3 of India’s surface waters dangerous to human health

2/3 of China’s surface water is unsafe for humans