Environmental Health Unit: Water Pollution Lesson

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Environmental Health UnitWater Pollution Lesson

• Objectives
• TSWBAT identify types, causes, and dangers of
  water pollution.
• TSWBAT create solutions and actions to reduce
  water pollution in our building and at home.

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Water Pollution
Water covers over 70 of the Earth's surface and
is a very important resource for people and the
environment. Water pollution affects drinking
water, rivers, lakes and oceans all over the
world. This consequently harms human health and
the natural environment. Today you will find
out more about water pollution and what you can
do to prevent it.
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Types of Pollution

• Can come from a number of different sources
• Single source (oil spill) point-source
  pollution
• Many sources nonpoint-source pollution
• Most affect the immediate area surrounding the
  source.
• May affect the environment hundreds of miles away
  from the source (nuclear waste) transboundary
  pollution.

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Causes of Pollution

• Sewage wastewater
• Domestic households, industrial agricultural
  practices produce wastewater that can cause
  pollution of many lakes rivers.
• Marine dumping (in parenthesis is how long is
  takes for that item to degrade)
• Cardboard (2 wks.)
• Newspaper (6 wks.)
• Photodegradable packaging (6 wks.)
• Foam (50 yrs.)
• Styrofoam (80 yrs.)
• Aluminum (200 yrs.)
• Plastic packaging (400 yrs.)Glass (???)

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Causes of Pollution

• Atmospheric deposition
• Acid rain
• Radioactive waste
• Nuclear waste is produced from industrial,
  medical scientific processes that use
  radioactive material.
• Nuclear waste can have detrimental effects on
  marine habitats.
• Underground storage leaks
• Over time the steel corrodes and causes leakages,
  affecting surrounding soil and groundwater.

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Causes of Pollution

• Global warming
• An increase in water temperature can result in
  the death of many aquatic organisms and disrupt
  many marine habitats
• Eutrophication
• When the environment becomes enriched with
  nutrients. This can be a problem in marine
  habitats such as lakes as it can cause algae
  blooms.
• Fertilizers are often used in farming, sometimes
  these fertilizers run-off into nearby water
  causing an increase in nutrient levels.

• Industrial waste
• Asbestos, Lead, Mercury, Nitrates, Phosphates,
  Sulphur, Oils, Petrochemicals
• Oil pollution
• Oceans are polluted by oil on a daily basis from
  oil spills, routine shipping, run-offs dumping.
• Oil spills make up 12 of the oil that enters the
  ocean. The rest comes from shipping travel,
  drains dumping.

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Great Garbage Patch

• THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LITTER
• What do you think???

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Dangers of Pollution

• Virtually all types of water pollution are
  harmful to the health of humans and animals.
• Water pollution may not damage our health
  immediately but can be harmful after long term
  exposure.

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Preventing Pollution

• Conserve water
• turn off the tap when running water is not
  necessary
• helps prevent water shortages reduces amount of
  water needing treatment
• Be careful about what you throw down your sink or
  toilet.
• Don't throw paints, oils or other forms of litter
  down the drain.
• Use environmentally household products
• Dont overuse pesticides and fertilizers
• This will prevent runoffs of the material into
  nearby water sources.
• Plants in your garden prevent fertilizer,
  pesticides contaminated water from running off
  into nearby water sources.
• Don't throw litter into rivers, lakes or oceans.
• Help clean up any litter you see on beaches or in
  rivers and lakes, make sure it is safe to collect
  the litter and put it in a nearby bin.

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Treating Pollution

• Industrial
• Sewage goes through a number of chambers and
  chemical processes to reduce the amount and
  toxicity of the waste.
• Septic Tanks
• Septic tanks treat sewage at the place where it
  is located, rather than transporting the waste
  through a treatment plant or sewage system.
• Denitrification
• Used to prevent the leaching of nitrates in soil
  - stops any ground water from being contaminated
  with nutrients.
• Ozone Wastewater
• Oxidizes substances (such as iron and sulphur) so
  that they can be filtered out of the solution.
• There are no nasty odors or residues produced
  from the treatment.
• Ozone converts back into oxygen quickly, and
  leaves no trace once it has been used.

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NOW ITS YOUR TURN!

• Complete the worksheet for class credit.
• Hand the completed worksheet to Mr. Schreiber by
  the end of class today or at the beginning of the
  next class meeting.