Water Pollution - Union High Schooluhs.twpunionschools.org/subsites/spiotrowski/documents/6... · 2017. 7. 11. · 1.04 ppm Zooplankton Lake trout 0.123 ppm Phytoplankton 0.0025 ppm

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Water Pollution

Distribution of Water Reservoirs Oceans

97%

Atmosphere

0.01%

Rivers, Lakes,

and Inland

Seas

0.141%

Soil Moisture

0.0012%

Ground Water

0.4 – 1.7%

Ice Caps and Glaciers

1.725%

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World Water Supply

97.200% salt water in the oceans

02.014% ice caps and glaciers

00.600% groundwater

00.009% surface water

00.005% soil moisture

00.001% atmospheric moisture

Water Cycle

• Atm. -

Ocean -

Land

• Evap. -

PPT -

Runoff

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Water Pollution

Two major classifications

• Point Source

• Non-point Source

Point Sources

• Single large source

• Can localize it to one spot

– Industrial Plants

- Sewage pipes

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Point Source - Example

• LUST - Leaky Underground Storage Tanks

• 22% of the 1.2 million UST are LUST

• Non-point Sources

Diffuse source or many smaller

point sources

• Automobiles

• Fertilizer on fields

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Point and Nonpoint Sources

NONPOINT SOURCES

Urban streets

Suburban development

Wastewater treatment plant

Rural homes

Cropland

Factory

Animal feedlot

POINT SOURCES

Water Pollution: Many Forms

• Disease: In developing nations, 80% of diseases are

water-related.

• Synthetic Organic Compounds

• Inorganic Compounds & Mineral Substances such as Acids, etc.

• Radioactive substances

• Oxygen-demanding wastes

• Plant Nutrients

• Sediments

• Thermal Discharges

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Examples of

Polluted Waters

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A very personal look at water

• What happens to your water before you

drink it?

• What happens to your water after you

dispose of it?

– Approximately 99% of Swedes are served by

wastewater treatment plants, 86.5% of

Germans, 74% of Americans, and 57% of

Canadians.

What constitutes quality drinking water?

• Free of pollutants

• Tastes good

– Want Sodium Bicarbonate and Calcium Sulfate in same concentrations as found in saliva

– 10 oC

– As little chlorination as possible

• Calcium & magnesium account for most water hardness, death rates (cardiovascular disease) higher in soft water areas than in hard water areas

• Copper needed to absorb & metabolism iron, but >1mg/liter makes water unpalatable

• Does taste correlate with presence of toxic compounds?

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Forms of Pollution – Details

• Inorganic – acids, salts, toxic metals

• One gram of lead in 20,000 liters of water

makes it unfit for drinking. Lead is often

found in the pipes of older homes

• What is the safe drinking water limit for

arsenic? For lead? How much does UA

water supply have?

Forms of Pollution – Details

• Organic: sewage, pesticides, plastics, etc.

• One drop of oil can render up to 25 liters of water unfit for drinking

• One gram of 2,4 D can contaminate 10 million liters of drinking water!

• One gram of PCBs can make 1 billion liters of water unsuitable for freshwater aquatic life!

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Rainbow smelt 1.04 ppm

Zooplankton 0.123 ppm

Phytoplankton 0.0025 ppm

Water 0.000002 ppm

Herring gull 124 ppm

Lake trout 4.83 ppm

Herring gull eggs 124 ppm

Acid Precipitation:

When Air Pollution Becomes Water Pollution

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Pollution of Streams

Pollution of Lakes - Eutrophication Discharge of untreated

municipal sewage (nitrates and phosphates)

Nitrogen compounds produced by cars

and factories

Discharge of treated municipal sewage

(primary and secondary treatment:

nitrates and phosphates)

Discharge of detergents

( phosphates)

Natural runoff (nitrates and phosphates

Manure runoff From feedlots (nitrates and Phosphates,

ammonia)

Dissolving of nitrogen oxides

(from internal combustion engines and furnaces)

Runoff and erosion (from from cultivation, mining, construction,

and poor land use)

Runoff from streets, lawns, and construction

lots (nitrates and phosphates)

Lake ecosystem nutrient overload

and breakdown of chemical cycling

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When the pH drops below 6.0 species start to die off.

When one species dies, others that depend on it may as well

Acid Rain Effects – Aquatic Systems

Acid Neutralization

• How does this work?

• Cation Exchange on

clay minerals

• Role of chemical

weathering...

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How does acid kill the fish?

One way is mobilizing metals

• When all base cations are striped from soils

• Acid now reacts with metals e.g. aluminum

– Normally aluminum is immobile

– below pH 5 - mobile aluminum

• Fish breath in the water

– Aluminum comes out of solution

– Clogs gills - suffocate

More Examples: Oxygen and Water

• Biochemical Oxygen Demand – What does

this mean?

– Anything in the water that bacteria can break

down.

– Bacteria will use up oxygen in the water

– Other aerobic organisms will die

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Oxygen and Water

• What else can affect the amount of O2 in the

water?

– Temperature

– Speed of water flow

– Roughness of surface

over which water flows

Stories about particular pollutant

forms: Oil

• Both Point and Nonpoint Sources

• Largest source of oil pollution is pipeline

leaks and runoff

– 61% ocean oil pollution river & urban runoff

– 30% intentional discharges from tankers

– 5% accidental spills

from tankers

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Stories about particular pollutant

forms: Detergents The nitrates in fertilizers promote excessive growth of

algae and larger aquatic plants, causing offensive algae

blooms and driving out sport fish.

Phosphates are often thought to culprit, nitrogen is the

“limiting factor” in most aquatic systems.

Stories about particular pollutant

forms: Sediments

• THE largest form of water pollution

• Erosion is source – we’ve sped up rate of

erosion, e.g. during urban construction can

lose up to 43 tons of topsoil/acre/year

• Natural rates of erosion: leads to aquatic

succession

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Succession in Aquatic Habitats

Lake

Sediments &

Nutrients

Accumulate

Oligotrophic Eutrophic

Low in nutrients High in nutrients

Can sometimes see

Methane gas bubbling up

From sediments – process of

decomposition

Stories about particular pollutant

forms: thermal pollution

• 26% of all water in U.S. is affected by this

• Up to a point of adding heated water, you

can get thermal enrichment

• Adding more heat,

you get

thermal pollution

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We can also have cold water pollution

In many areas fish and

Other river organisms are

Adapted to relatively

warm water.

Building a dam results in

very cold water released

Downstream killing

organisms and changing

species

A special case: Groundwater

• What forms of pollution can affect

groundwater?

• All of them except thermal pollution!

• Renewal time of groundwater is important

– Rivers: 12-20 days

– Soil Moisture: 280 days

– Groundwater: 300 years

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Groundwater doesn’t stay in one place

Water well

Migrating vapor phase

Contaminant plume moves with the groundwater

Free gasoline dissolves in groundwater (dissolved phase)

Groundwater flow

Water table

Gasoline leakage plume (liquid phase)

Leaking tank

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Coal strip mine runoff

Pumping well

Waste lagoon

Accidental spills

Groundwater flow

Confined aquifer

Discharge

Leakage from faulty casing

Hazardous waste injection well

Pesticides

Gasoline station

Buried gasoline and solvent tank

Sewer

Cesspool septic tank

De-icing road salt

Water pumping well Landfill

Fig. 20-11

Groundwater Pollution: Causes

Oil Well Drilling & Groundwater

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Oil Drilling Protocols

• Well must be cased

from surface to below

freshwater zone

• Casing must also be

for 150 feet above pay

zone

• Logging apparatus

must be retrieved

Oil Drilling Protocols

• Drilling fluids must be

disposed of properly –

e.g. no Midnight

Haulers

• Any spills must be

reported and cleaned

immediately

• Area will be subject to

remediation efforts

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Fig. 21-10, p. 505

Healthy zone Clear, oxygen-rich waters promote growth of plankton and sea grasses, and support fish.

Oxygen-depleted zone Sedimentation and algae overgrowth reduce sunlight, kill beneficial sea grasses, use up oxygen, and degrade habitat.

Red tides Excess nitrogen causes explosive growth of toxicmicroscopic algae, poisoning fish and marine mammals.

Farms Runoff of pesticides, manure, and fertilizers adds toxins and excess nitrogen and phosphorus.

Toxic sediments Chemicals and toxic metals contaminate shellfish beds, kill spawning fish, and accumulate in the tissues of bottom feeders.

Construction sites Sediments are washed into waterways, choking fish and plants, clouding waters, and blocking sunlight.

Urban sprawl Bacteria and viruses from sewers and septic tanks contaminate shellfish beds

Oxygen-depleted zone

Closed beach

Cities Toxic metals and oil from streets and parking lots pollute waters;

Industry Nitrogen oxides from autos and smokestacks, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals in effluents flow into bays and estuaries.

Closed shellfish beds

Identifying Sources of Pollutants to the Chesapeake Bay

We are going to do the same analysis that scientists did in 1998 to determine what

some of the major sources of pollutants were to the Chesapeake Bay

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Reducing Water Pollution through

Sewage Treatment

• Primary and Secondary sewage treatment. Figure 20-19

Technological Approach: Using Wetlands

to Treat Sewage (

(

45 centimeter

layer of limestone

gravel coated with

decomposing bacteria First concrete pool Second concrete pool

Sewage

Wetland type

plants

Wetland type

plants

Treated

water

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Global Outlook: Stream Pollution in Developing

Countries

• Water in many of

central China's rivers

are greenish black from

uncontrolled pollution

by thousands of

factories.

Figure 20-7

Case Study: India’s Ganges River: Religion,

Poverty, and Health

• Religious beliefs, cultural traditions, poverty, and

a large population interact to cause severe

pollution of the Ganges River in India.

– Very little of the sewage is treated.

– Hindu believe in cremating the dead to free the soul and

throwing the ashes in the holy Ganges.

• Some are too poor to afford the wood to fully cremate.

• Decomposing bodies promote disease and depletes DO.

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Case Study: India’s Ganges River: Religion,

Poverty, and Health

• Daily, more than 1

million Hindus in India

bathe, drink from, or

carry out religious

ceremonies in the

highly polluted Ganges

River.

Drinking Water Quality

Safe Drinking Water Act

Maximum contaminant levels

Bottled water

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Is Bottled Water the Answer?

• Some bottled water is not as pure as tap water

and costs much more.

– 1.4 million metric tons of plastic bottles are thrown

away.

– Fossil fuels are used to make plastic bottles.

• The oil used to produce plastic bottles in the U.S. each

year would fuel 100,000 cars.

Using Laws to Protect Drinking Water

• The U.N. estimates that 5.6 million Americans drink water that does not meet EPA standards.

• 1 in 5 Americans drinks water from a treatment plant that violated one or more safety standard.

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What Can You Do?

Water Pollution

• Fertilize garden and yard plants with manure or compost

instead of commercial inorganic fertilizer.

• Minimize your use of pesticides.

• Do not apply fertilizer or pesticides near a body of water.

• Grow or buy organic foods.

• Do not drink bottled water unless tests show that your tap

water is contaminated. Merely refill and reuse plastic bottles

with tap water.

• Compost your food wastes.

• Do not use water fresheners in toilets.

• Do not flush unwanted medicines down the toilet.

• Do not pour pesticides, paints, solvents, oil, antifreeze, or other

products containing harmful chemicals down the drain or

onto the ground.

• Water is life’s matter and

matrix, mother and medium.

There is no life without water.

— Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

(Hungarian Nobel Prize

Winning Physiologist)