Water Pollution

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Chapter 14 Water Pollution
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Water Facts

• Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a
  water-related illness in the world
• More than 3 times as many people lack access to
  clean water than live in the United States
• More people have cell phones worldwide than have
  access to a toilet
• Half of the hospital beds in the world are
  occupied by patients suffering from diseases
  associated with lack of access to safe drinking
  water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene
• Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death
  among children under five in the world. It kills
  more children than malaria, AIDS, and measles
  combined
• Of the 60 million people added to the world's
  towns and cities every year, most move to
  informal settlements (i.e. slums) with no
  sanitation facilities
• An American taking a five-minute shower uses more
  water than the average person in a developing
  country slum uses for an entire day
• 1.1 billion people still practice open defecation
• In 3 days, the amount of untreated fecal matter
  in the world would fill up the Superdome

Courtesy of water.org
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Water Pollution

• Water pollution - the contamination of streams,
  rivers, lakes, oceans, or groundwater with
  substances produced through human activities and
  that negatively affect organisms
• Point sources - distinct locations that pump
  waste into a waterway
• Nonpoint sources - diffuse areas, such as an
  entire farming region, that pollutes a waterway

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Point source
Nonpoint source
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Point Source vs. Nonpoint Source

• It is easier to control pollution that comes from
  a distinct source than pollution that does not
  come from a distinct source
• Point sources discharge pollutants at specific
  locations through pipes, ditches, or sewers (ex
  factories, sewage treatment plants, mines, oil
  wells, oil tankers)
• Nonpoint sources cannot be traced to a single
  site of discharge (ex acid deposition, runoff,
  seepage into groundwater)
• Nonpoint source water pollution from agriculture
  is the largest source of water pollution in the
  U.S. (64 of pollutants entering streams and 57
  of pollutants entering lakes)

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Human Wastewater

• Water produced by human activities such as sewage
  from toilets and gray water from bathing and
  washing clothes/dishes

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Warm-Up

• What is the difference between point source and
  nonpoint source pollution?
• Name 2 examples of each.

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Human Wastewater

• Oxygen-demanding waste organic matter that
  enters a body of water and feeds microscopic
  decomposers that use oxygen
• Nutrients that are released from wastewater can
  make the water more fertile, causing
  eutrophication
• Wastewater can carry a wide variety of
  disease-causing organisms

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Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

• BOD - the amount of oxygen a quantity of water
  uses over a period of time at a specific
  temperature
• Lower BOD values indicate the water is less
  polluted
• Higher BOD values indicate the water is more
  polluted

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Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

• BOD the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by
  aerobic decomposers to break down organic
  materials in a certain volume over a 5day
  incubation period at 20 C
• It is measured as a rate (mg O2 per liter per 5
  days)

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Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

• Dissolved oxygen (DO) is an indicator of water
  quality and measured in ppm
• DO supplies oxygen to fish, amphibians, and
  zooplankton in water
• It is the basis of aquatic food chains

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Eutrophication

• Eutrophication - an abundance of fertility in a
  body of water
• Caused by an increase in nutrients, such as
  fertilizers
• Eutrophication can cause a rapid growth of algae,
  which eventually dies and causes the microbes to
  increase the BOD

Courtesy of www.lakescientist.com
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Oxygen Sag Curve

• Flowing water (including rivers and streams) can
  recover rapidly from oxygen-demanding wastes by
  dilution and bacterial decay

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Dead Zone
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Dead Zone
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Pollution of Lakes

• Natural nutrient enrichment of lakes is called
  eutrophication
• Cultural eutrophication -human activities
  accelerate the input of nutrients to a body of
  water

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Courtesy of www.lakescientist.com
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Common Diseases from Human Wastewater

• Cholera
• Typhoid fever
• Stomach flu
• Diarrhea
• Hepatitis

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Fecal Coliform Bacteria

• Fecal coliform bacteria group of bacteria found
  in the intestines and feces of vertebrate animals
• Escherichia coli (E. coli) is usually the
  bacteria tested for its presence indicates a
  risk of other wastewater pathogens

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Warm-Up
DO
BOD
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Wastewater Treatment

• Septic systems - a large container that receives
  wastewater from a house
• Primarily used in rural and suburban areas
• Traps large solids in the tank and discharges the
  liquid over the leach field

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Wastewater Treatment

• Sewage Treatment Plants - centralized plants in
  areas with large populations that receive
  wastewater via a network of underground pipes
• Primary sewage treatment involves screens and
  settling tanks to remove solids from sewage
• Secondary sewage treatment uses biological
  processes to break down biodegradable,
  oxygen-demanding wastes

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Sludge to Fuel
http//www.waste-enterprisers.com/our-businesses/ 
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Treatments for Animal Wastewater

• Manure lagoons - large, human-made ponds lined
  with rubber to prevent the manure from leaking
  into the groundwater
• After the manure is broken down by bacteria, it
  is spread onto fields as fertilizer

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Heavy Metals and Other Substances that can
threaten human Health and the Environment

• Lead
• Enters water through lead pipes
• Can cause behavioral problems, learning
  disabilities, and kidney problems
• Arsenic
• Enters water through natural deposits, coal
  mining/burning, and pesticide use
• Can cause cancer, nervous system problems, birth
  defects
• Mercury
• Enters water through natural deposits, coal
  burning, and mining
• Can damage nervous and immune systems, and
  embryos
• Acids
• Synthetic organic compounds (SOC)

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World Mercury Production
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Acid Damage
1908
1969

• Acid Deposition lower pH due to air pollution
  (CO2, SOx, NOx) produces lower than normal pH in
  rain and snow
• Acid Mine Drainage pyrite breaks down in
  groundwater, creating low pH water

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Acid Deposition
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Acid Deposition
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Acid Mine Drainage
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Synthetic Organic Compounds (SOC)

• Pesticides inert ingredients DDT, atrazine
• Hormones pharmaceuticals estrogen, caffeine,
  antibiotics
• Military compounds perchlorates
• Industrial compounds PCBs, PBDEs

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Synthetic Organic Compounds (SOC)

• Bioaccumulation increase in tissue
  concentrations of a material above normal
  environmental levels
• Biomagnification - increase in concentration of
  materials in organisms from eating the tissues of
  other organisms (concentration increases up the
  food chain)

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Contaminants Found in U.S. Streams
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Groundwater Pollution

• Groundwater pollution is a greater threat to
  humans than surface water pollution
• Groundwater is typically recharged slowly, so
  pollution lingers for long periods of time
• Up to 25 of usable groundwater in the U.S. is
  estimated to be contaminated
• It is extremely difficult and expensive to
  clean-up contaminated groundwater prevention is
  more effective

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Groundwater Pollution Prevention

• Reduce sources of water pollution that feed into
  the aquifer
• Monitor aquifers near landfills and underground
  storage tanks
• Require leak detection systems and liability
  insurance for existing and new underground tanks
  that store hazardous liquids
• Ban or more strictly regulate disposal of
  hazardous wastes in deep injection wells and
  landfills
• Store hazardous liquids aboveground with more
  safeguards

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Oil Pollution

• Oil is accidentally and deliberately released
  into the environment from various sources
• Most anthropogenic oil leaks are released in
  normal operation of offshore wells, pipelines,
  and storage tanks
• Accidents can release large amounts of oil in a
  short period of time

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Oil Pollution
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Oil Pollution

• Some aquatic organisms (esp. plankton and larvae)
  are killed immediately
• Oil coats birds and marine mammals, destroying
  natural insulation and buoyancy
• Heavy oil sinks to ocean bottom and washes into
  estuaries, contaminating crabs, oysters, mussels,
  etc.
• Oil slicks on beaches harms intertidal life and
  causes economic losses to tourism and fishing
  industries

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Case Study Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

• On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez tanker went
  off course, hit submerged rocks in Prince William
  Sound, Alaska, created the worst oil spill in
  U.S. waters (at the time)
• Coated 1,600 miles of shoreline, killed wildlife,
  caused serious contamination
• Exxon spent 2.2 billion on direct cleanup 1
  billion fines damages another 5 billion
  damages being appealed

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Case Study BP Oil Spill

• On April 20, 2010 the BP offshore drilling
  platform Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf
  of Mexico
• 11 workers were killed in the explosion
• Almost 5 million barrels of oil were spilled into
  the water during the 87 day leak
• BP has committed to pay up to 30 billion in
  clean-up costs and compensation
• http//www.ifitweremyhome.com/disasters/bp

Courtesy of USA Today
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Ways to Remediate Oil Pollution

• Containment using booms to keep the floating oil
  from spreading
• Chemicals (dispersants) that help break up the
  oil, making it disperse before it hits the
  shoreline
• Bacteria that are genetically engineered to
  consume oil

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Other Water Pollutants

• Solid waste pollution (garbage)
• Sediment pollution (sand, silt and clay)
• Thermal pollution
• Noise pollution

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Solid Waste Pollution
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Pacific Trash Vortex
Courtesy of good.net.nz
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Solid Waste Pollution

• Coastal areas have enormous inputs of waste into
  oceans
• Half of the worlds population lives within 60
  miles of the ocean
• About 35 of municipal sewage ends up virtually
  untreated in U.S. ocean water
• Many countries still dump large quantities of
  toxic substances into the ocean

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Sediment Pollution

• Human activities increase the amount of sediment
  entering waterways
• Construction and plowing agricultural fields are
  leading causes of increased sediment levels
• Sediment reduces infiltration of sunlight and
  clogs gills of aquatic species

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Thermal Pollution

• Two effects
• Temperature affects dissolved oxygen (DO)
• Thermal Shock

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Noise Pollution
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Water Laws

• Clean Water Act (1972) - supports the protection
  and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife
  and recreation in and on the water
• Issued water quality standards that defined
  acceptable limits of various pollutants in U.S.
  waterways

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Clean Water Act

• Restores and maintains the chemical, physical,
  and biological integrity of the nations waters
• Sharply reduces direct pollutant discharges into
  waterways
• Finances municipal wastewater treatment
  facilities
• Manages polluted runoff

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Clean Water Act Programs

1. Water quality standards (WQS)
2. Policies against water degradation
3. Waterbody monitoring and assessment
4. Reports on condition of the nations waters
5. Define total maximum daily loads (TMDL) of
   pollutants
6. National Pollutant Discharge Elimination (NPDES)
   system permit programs for point sources
7. Program for nonpoint sources
8. Program regulating filling of wetlands and other
   waters

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Water Laws

• Water Quality Act (1965) states directed to
  develop water quality standards establishing
  water quality goals for interstate waters
• By early 1970s, every state has adopted such
  water quality standards
• States have revised their standards to reflect
  new scientific information, the impact on water
  quality of economic development, and the results
  of water quality controls

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Water Laws

• Safe Drinking Water Act (1974, 1986, 1996) - sets
  the national standards for safe drinking water
• It is responsible for establishing maximum
  contaminant levels (MCL) for 77 different
  elements or substances in both surface water and
  groundwater

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Dealing with Water Pollution

• Agriculture is the primary nonpoint source of
  water pollution
• Reducing nonpoint water pollution requires
  changing farming practices to reduce runoff from
  fertilizer, pesticides, and livestock, as well as
  reduce soil erosion
• Non-farm use (golf courses, lawns, etc.) of
  fertilizers and pesticides are another major
  nonpoint source of pollution