Water

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Water

• Quality Why is it so dirty?

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Cuyahoga River, Ohio
Some river! Chocolate-brown, oily, bubbling with
subsurface gases, it oozes rather than flows.
"Anyone who falls into the Cuyahoga does not
drown," Cleveland's citizens joke grimly. "He
decays. Time Magazine, August 1969
November 1952
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Groundwater Pollution
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What is Water Pollution?
any physical (temperature, oxygen), chemical
(mercury), or biological (disease, sewage) change
to water that adversely effects its use by living
things
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Types of Water Pollution
Measured in Percent () Parts per thousand
() Parts per million (ppm) Parts per billion
(ppb)

• Biological
• Chemical
• Physical

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Biological Water Pollution
Direct (microbes in water) Typhoid, cholera,
dysentery, hepatitis

• Infectious Disease(Pathogens)
• Oxygen-Demanding Waste

Entamoeba histolytica
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Biological Water Pollution
Indirect (Water breeding carriers)malaria,
yellow fever, west nile virus

• Infectious Disease(Pathogens)
• Oxygen-Demanding Waste

Treehole mosquito (carried La Crosse ensephalitis)
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Water Borne Disease
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U.S. Water Borne Disease
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Coliform Test
Detection Measure Fecal Coliform

• Solutions
• Sewage treatment
• Immunization

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Biological Water Pollution

• Infectious Disease(Pathogens)
• Oxygen-Demanding Waste

• Sewage
• Animal Waste
• Food Waste
• Paper Pulp

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Dissolved Oxygen
Added by turbulent water and photosynthesis
Removed by Increased temperature (exsolution)
and respiration/decomposition
Good gt 6 ppm
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Oxygen Sag
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Chemical Water Pollution

• Nutrients (Fertilizers)
• Toxic Inorganic Materials
• Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

Nitrogen, phosphorous
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Eutrophication
Blue Baby Syndrome
Dissolved inorganic nitrogen in Baltic Sea
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Chemical Water Pollution

• Heavy metals
• mercury,lead, tin
• Super Toxic Elements
• Arsenic, selenium
• Acids, salts, chlorine
• Radioactive Isotopes

• Nutrients (Fertilizers)
• Toxic Inorganic Materials
• Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

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Arsenic in U.S. Waters
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Chemical Water Pollution

• Nutrients (Fertilizers)
• Toxic Inorganic Materials
• Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

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Artificial Chemicals
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The Dirty Dozen
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Physical Water Pollution

• Sediment
• Thermal Pollution
• Solid Waste

Yellow River, China
Chattahoochee River, GA
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Physical Water Pollution

• Causes
• industry
• dams
• removal of vegetation

• Sediment
• Thermal Pollution
• Solid Waste

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Physical Water Pollution

• Sediment
• Thermal Pollution
• Solid Waste

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Pollution SourcesPoint Source

• Sewage pipes
• Leaky gas tanks
• Industrial sites
• Injection wells

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Pollution SourcesNonpoint Source

• Agriculture (soil, fertilizer,pesticides)
• Urban runoff (from pavement)
• Construction sites
• Air Pollution

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Controlling Water Quality

• What can we do?

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Solutions

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

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Clean Water Act 1972

• Established water quality standards
• System for IDing point sources
• Pretreatment for industry
• Federal funding for sewage treatment
• Provided for enforcement

• Worked well for point sources
• Nonpoint sources still a problem

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Solutions

• Remove lead from gasoline
• Reduce road salting
• Decrease erosion
• Banning phosphates in detergents
• Reduce fertilizer use, etc.

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

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Solutions

• Stormwater treatment
• Reduce clearcutting
• Preserve wetlands
• Better construction practices

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

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Solutions

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

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Solutions

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

Water hyacinths absorb arsenic
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Solutions

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

West Point Treatment Plant, Seattle
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(No Transcript)
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Sewage in King County