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Water Purification & Pollution
How Water Treatment Works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuYB8nMFxQA
During our lab, what 4 steps in the water treatment process did we use?
• Aeration
• Coagulation
• Sedimentation
• Filtration
Aeration
• Gas bubbles escape• Oxygen is added
Coagulation
• Alum is added –sticks to solid particles so that they clump together and separate from water – “floc”
Sedimentation
• Gravity pulls the floc to the bottom in settling basins
Filtration
• Remaining water is filtered through sand, pebbles
What is the 5th step?
• Adding disinfectants to water to purify it and kill any organisms
How long does cardboard take to break down?
• 2 weeks
How long does it take photodegradable packaging to break down?
• 6 weeks
How long does it take newspaper to break down?
• 6 weeks
How long does it take styrofoam to break down?
• 80 years
How long does it take for aluminum to break down?
• 200 years
How long does it take plastic packaging to break down?
• 400 years
How long does it take glass to break down?
• Takes so long that we do not know fully
CHALLENGE WATER POLLUTION SCENARIOS: How do these activities lead to water
pollution?
6th Grade
Allowing Animals to graze directly next to a stream
• 1) Wastes pass disease-carrying bacteria
• 2) prevents soil from eroding, so that water does not travel faster and further
• 2) Loss of riparian vegetation • Plantlife that exists along a waterway• Benefit: absorb pollutants before they exit downstream
Fields left empty after harvesting crops
• 1) soil is looser, filled with fertilizers and pesticides, so it erodes more quickly, carrying them further
PowerPlants returning water that is not polluted into a river after using it to cool down machines
• Warm water (even if not polluted) causes many organisms to die
Having fun on a motorboat with friends
*Oil and gas to keep it moving• Harms wildlife• Hard to get out of water
*Litter can easily get into the water (marine dumping)
Driving a car down a highway
• Oil and gas spills road is impermeable, surface runoff carries it to nearby ponds/lakes/rivers
• Litter
Putting salt on the road after a snow day to make it less slippery
• Rain carries salt to freshwater sources
• Can change the LAKE TURNOVER process
• Damages plants
Using cleaning products labeled “environmentally friendly” and “biodegradable”
• Remove oxygen from the water
Using laundry detergents with phosphates in them
• Phosphates are food to algae
• Cause Eutrophication
Mercury is emitted into the air by burning coal for fuel