Environmental Science

1
Environmental Science

• Chapter 5
• Notes 3

2
Water - Review

• Renewable resource
• constantly circulated by the water (hydrologic)
  cycle
• 70 of Earths surface is water
• very small fraction of water is available for our
  use
• Water makes up 60-70 percent of the weight of
  all living organisms
• Surface Water
• Dams/Rivers
• Groundwater

3
Water- Review

• Water Pollution
• 2 underlying causes
• Industrialization
• Human population growth/explosion
• Solutions
• 1. Desalinization/Desalination
• 2. Towing Water
• 3. Water Conservation
• 4. Cleaning up polluted water
• 5. Wastewater Treatment Plant

4
Water - Review

• Types of Pollution
• Point Pollution
• Nonpoint Pollution
• Examples of Pollution Sources
• Pathogens, heavy metals, Chemicals (organic/
  inorganic), Physical agents, Radioactive waste
• Artificial Eutrophication
• Biological Magnification
• Thermal Pollution

5
Ocean Pollution

• 85 of ocean pollution comes from land activities
• Oil spills, major disasters
• Oil rigs, small leaks
• Runoff from rivers
• Plastics, etc.

6
Ocean Pollution

• Estuaries and coral reefs are the hardest hit by
  pollution
• Repeat most ocean pollution comes from coastal
  areas
• Get carried into oceans by rivers

7
Ocean Pollution

• Ocean pollution prevention
• MARPOL
• International convention for the prevention of
  pollution from ships
• Prohibits the discharge of oil and disposal or
  abandonment of plastics in ocean and coastal
  waters
• Helsinki Convention
• 120 nations supporting control of ocean pollution
  that is land based

8
Ocean Pollution

• Law of the Sea Treaty
• Ocean jurisdiction
• 134 nations signed, the US did not
• Details
• Coastal regions would own 22 km out from
  shoreline
• territorial seas
• Out to 370 km is a nations exclusive economic
  zone
• The nation has control over economic activity,
  environmental preservation, and research