Water Pollution

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Chapter 14

• Water Pollution

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The Chesapeake Bay
Largest estuary in the US located between VA,
DE, MD.
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The Chesapeake Bay

• Contains an abundance of nutrients,
  sediments(18.7 billion pounds of soils washed
  away) and chemicals (600 million pounds of N and
  30 million pounds of P)
• Sources discharge from sewage treatment
  facilities, animal waste produced by animal
  feedlots and fertilizer
• Algal Bloom results- explosive population growth-
  less sunlight due to cloudy water from suspended
  sediment-less grasses

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• Less habitat for fish and blue crabs
• Anthropogenic chemicals in the form of
  pesticides( that was sprayed on nearby fields),
  drugs as well as from sewage treatment plants,
  have caused 23 of male large mouth bass to
  develop into hermaphrodites with male sex organs
  that grow female eggs.
• The Chesapeake Bay Action Plan developed to save
  the bay.

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Water Pollution

• A contamination of streams, rivers, lakes, oceans
  and groundwater with substances produced through
  human activities and that negatively affect
  organisms.
• Pollution can come from point sources (distinct
  locations like factories or sewage treatment
  plants) or nonpoint sources(more diffuse areas
  like entire farming region or suburban lawns)

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Pollutants found in water

• Human and animal waste
• Inorganic substances
• Organic compounds
• Synthetic organic compounds
• Nonchemical pollutants

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Human Wastewater

• Produced by human activity including human sewage
  from toilets and gray water from bathing and
  washing clothes and dishes.
• Wastewater undergoes decomposition by bacteria
  which creates a large demand for O2
• in the water (BOD) which can create dead
  zones.
• Decomposition causes nutrients (N and P) to be
  released which then makes the water fertile?
• cultural eutrophication
• Wastewater can carry many disease-causing
  organisms (cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhea)

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• Indicator species such as fecal coliform
  bacteria, (E.COLI) are tested for their presence
  in drinking water especially in public areas such
  as swimming and fishing water, pools, beaches and
  campgrounds.

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Dead Zones in the Gulf Coast Waters
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Fish Die-Off
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• Water-borne disease kills millions every year
• Diarrheal disease alone is responsible for 1.8
  million deaths annually
• In sub-Saharan Africa, 42 of the population
  lacks improved water
• In 2002, 1.1 billion people lacked access to
  improved water sources (about one out of six
  people on Earth)
• Of those 1.1 billion people, nearly two thirds
  live in Asia
• Between 28 and 35 million people in Bangladesh
  consume drinking-water with elevated levels of
  arsenic
• Source World Health Organization

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Technology to treat wastewater

• Septic Systems
• Sewage treatment plants
• Manure Lagoons

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Inorganic Compounds

• Lead- found in water can cause brain, kidney and
  nervous system damage to infants and fetuses.
• Arsenic- Naturally found in the earths crust-can
  cause cancer of the skin, lungs, kidneys, and
  bladder when leeched into ground water and drunk.
• Mercury- comes mainly from burning coal,
  incineration of garbage, hazardous waste, medical
  and dental supplies, and from limestone used to
  make cement. Most human exposure comes from
  eating fish that contains high levels of Hg. Hg
  moves up the food chain in aquatic ecosystems.

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Acid deposition and mine drainage

• Industrial plants burning coal release SO2 and
  NO2 into the air through their tall smokestacks.
  Once in the atmosphere, these chemicals are
  converted to sulfuric and nitric acid.
• These acids return to earth as acid rain or snow
  or as dry acid deposition as gases or particles
  that attach to plants, soil and water
• Lowering the pH, kills many aquatic organisms
• Abandoned underground mines release iron and H
  that create very acidic water as well.

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Acid Mine Drainage
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Synthetic Organic Compounds

• Include pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and
  industrial cleaners
• They are toxic, can cause genetic defects, and
  can interfere with growth, and sexual
  development.
• Spraying for mosquitos can also be lethal to
  other unintended organisms even at low
  concentrations

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DDT

• An insecticide designed to target the nerve
  transmissions in insects, moves up the an aquatic
  food chain all the way to eagles that consume
  fish. These eagles produced eggs with thinner
  shells that would break prematurely during
  incubation. The eagle population declined.

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Inert Ingredients-Roundup

• An herbicide used to kill weeds
• In order to get past the waxy cuticle of leaves,
  an inert ingredient is added .
• This ingredient was toxic to amphibians
• Unintended consequences led to testing for
  potentially harmful effects of these inert
  ingredients.

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Pharmaceuticals found in Streams
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• 50 of all streams tested contain antibiotics and
  reproductive hormones
• 80 contain nonprescription drugs
• 90 contain steroids

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Military Compounds

• Perchlorates- use for rocket fuel contaminates
  soil.
• Perchlorates leach from the soil and contaminate
  groundwater
• Humans who consume perchlorates can develop
  thyroid problems and have a reduction in the
  production of other hormones necessary for the
  human body to function.

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Industrial Compounds

• Used in manufacturing and often dumped into
  bodies of water killing virtually all animal
  life.
• The water then can catch fire as happened on the
  Cuyahoga River in Ohio
• PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) used in
  manufacturing plastics when ingested can be
  lethal or carcinogenic and are no longer used but
  persist in water for a long time.
• PBDEs(polybrominated diphenyl ethers)-flame
  retardants-brain damage in children.

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Cuyahoga River Fire
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Oil Pollution

• Comes from drilling for undersea oil using
  offshore platforms. There are approx. 8000
  worldwide. These platforms leak oil. Over 3
  million pounds are leaked annually.
• BP operation in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010,
  spilled 206 million gallons of crude oil into the
  water.
• Oil tankers spill also (Exxon- Valdez)
• Oil naturally gets released from seeps in the
  ocean bottom as well.

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Oil spill remediation-contain the oil and then
suck it off the surface
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Birds and mammals must be cleaned by hand
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• Chemical application helps break up the oil
  making it disperse before it hits the coastline
  and causes damage to coastal ecosystems.
• Using genetically engineered bacteria can also
  clean up oil spills. These bacteria consume oil.
• Scientists are trying to determine the genes that
  do this .

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Solid Waste Pollution

• Composed of discarded materials from households
  and industries that do not pose a toxic hazard
  usually disposed of in landfills, often dumped in
  water and found floating in the North Pacific
  gyre.

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Garbage on beaches is dangerous to marine
organisms and humans
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Coal Ash and Coal Slag
Leftover solid waste from coal burning contains
Hg, As, and Pb. It pollutes our water.
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Sediment Pollution

• Particles of sand , silt and and clay are carried
  by moving water and eventually settle out where
  water is moving more slowly.
• Construction, plowed fields, disturbed soils all
  create sediments that enter and pollute the
  waterways
• As a result, the waterways become brown and
  cloudy, reduces light infiltration, reduces the
  productivity of aquatic plants and algae, clog
  fish gills, and cause major ecosystem damage

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River sediments
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Thermal Pollution of water

• Occurs when human activities cause a substantial
  change in the temperature of water
• This mainly occurs when cold water is removed to
  cool down some industrial process and then
  returned as heated water.
• This can kill many species by thermal shock

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Noise Pollution

• Sound emitted by ships and submarines interfere
  with animal communication
• Military sonar use has been linked to beached
  whales in the Bahamas, the Canary Islands and the
  Gulf of California

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The nations water laws

• Clean water act- 1972-issued standards of
  acceptable limits of various pollutants in in US
  waterways. It also supports the propagation and
  protection of fish, shellfish, wildlife and
  recreation in and on the water by maintaining and
  restoring the chemical, physical and biological
  properties of natural waters.

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• Safe Drinking Water Act(1974-1996)-set standards
  for safe drinking water. These include MCL
  (maximum contaminant levels) for 77 different
  substances in both ground and surface water. The
  list includes microorganisms, disinfectants,
  organic chemicals and inorganic chemicals.
• Link to see list http//water.epa.gov/drink/conta
  minants/index.cfm

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Result of Legislation

• Developed countries are cleaning up their
  waterways after decades of industrialization
• caused pollution
• Developing countries still have prevalent
  water-pollution.
• As nations become more affluent, resources are
  made available to address environmental issues.