Chapter 14 Environmental

What is the effect of increased sediment from human activities?

Waterways become brown and cloudy due to the suspension of soil particles in the water. It also reduces the infiltration of sunlight and can clog fish gills and hinder their ability to obtain oxygen.

What is cultural eutrophication?

When a body of water experiences an increase in fertility do to anthropogenic inputs of nutrients.

What is the safe drinking water act?

1974, 1986, 1996. Sets the national standards for safe drinking water. The EPA is responsible for establishing maximum contaminant levels.

What is arsenic?

A compound that occurs naturally in earths crust and can dissolve into groundwater. Naturally occurring arsenic and rocks can lead to high concentrations of arsenic in ground water and drinking water. Human activity such as mining also contributes to higher arsenic concentrations. Arsenic can be removed from water via find membrane filter ration, distillation, and reverse osmosis. Arsenic in drinking water is associated with cancers of the skin, lungs, kidneys, and bladder.

How does oil naturally enter the water supply?

A large fraction of oil in the ocean occurs naturally from seeps in the bottom of the ocean.

What are maximum contaminant levels (MCL)?

A list for 77 different elements or substances in both surface water and groundwater her. This list includes some well-known micro organisms, disinfectants, organic chemicals, and inorganic chemicals. The maximum concentration to consider both the concentration of each compound that can cause harm as well as the feasibility and cost of reducing the compound to such a concentration.

What is mercury?

A naturally occurring heavy metal found in increased concentration in water as a result of human activities such as burning coal, incinerating garbage, hazardous waste, medical supplies, and dental supplies. In organic mercury is not particularly harmful, but it's released into the environment can be hazardous because in wetlands and lakes, bacteria convert an organic mercury to methylmercury, which is highly toxic to humans. It damages the central nervous system, particularly in young children and developing embryos resulting in the impairment of coordination in the senses of touch, taste, and sight.

What can human wastewater carry?

A variety of illnesses, causing viruses, bacteria, parasites that we collectively called pathogens.

How often do overflows of raw sewage occur?

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, overflows of raw sewage occur approximately 40,000 times per year in the United States.

What is the goal of the secondary treatment ?

After the sludge has settled out of the waste water and been treated, the remaining wastewater undergoes a secondary treatment. The goal of the secondary treatment is to use bacteria to break down 85 to 90% of the organic matter in the water and convert it to carbon dioxide and inorganic nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. It typically includes aeration of the water to promote the growth of aerobic bacteria, which email less offensive odors than anaerobic bacteria. This treated water sits for several days to allow particles to settle out and is then added to the sludge from a primary treatment. The remaining water is disinfected, using chlorine, ozone or ultraviolet light kill any remaining pathogens and is then released into a nearby river or lake.

What is an indicator species?

An organism that indicates whether or not disease causing pathogens are likely to be present.

How does animal wastes get into water?

Animal manure can contaminate waters when farm animals are allowed access to streams for food and water and also when they defecate in the stream. Large scale manure issues arise with concentrated animal feeding operations that raise thousands of cattle, hogs, and poultry. The Manoe were from these operations not only contain digested animal food, but also can contain a variety of hormones and antibiotics.

What are dead zones?

Areas where there is so little oxygen, there is little life. Search dead zones can be self perpetuating, with the dying organisms subsequently decomposing and causing continued oxygen demand by microbes.

What is biochemical oxygen demand?

BOD. The amount of oxygen a quantity of water uses over a period of time at a specific temperature. Lower BOD values indicate that a water body is less polluted by waste water, where as higher BOD values indicate that a water body is more polluted by waste water.

What are significant environmental advantages to septic systems?

Because most septic systems rely on gravity, water from the house flows downhill to the septic tank, and water from the septic tank flows downhill to the Leitchfield, no electricity is needed to run a septic system.

What is the quantitative data for incidents resulted from the contamination of drinking water?

Between 1.8 million and 3.5 million illnesses are associated with swimming and sewage contaminated water in the United States each year, and 500,000 illnesses are linked to drinking sewage contaminated water. Illnesses caused by eating contaminated shellfish are estimated to cost 2,500,000 to 22,000,000 annually.

What was created to combat acid deposition?

Call scrubbers pass the hot gases through a limestone mixture. The limestone reacts with the acidic gases and removes them from the hot gases that subsequently leave the smokestack.

What are industrial compounds?

Chemicals that are used in manufacturing these industrial wastes form a slick of pollution along the surface of water bodies, killing virtually all animal life.

How is legislation different in MEDCs and LEDCs?

Developed countries experienced tremendous industrialization and widely polluted there air and water. Recently they have turned their attention to cleaning up their polluted areas and are working on addressing the problem. Developing countries are still in the process of industrializing, have less restrictive environment of laws such as waste water treatment plants.

What are point sources?

Distinct locations such as a particular factory that pumps it's waste into a nearby stream or a sewage treatment plant that discharges it's waste water from a pipe into the ocean.

What is the BOD of natural waters vs. domestic wastewater?

Domestic water might have a BOD of 200 mg of oxygen. Natural waters would most likely have a BOD of 5 to 20 mg of oxygen coming from the decomposition of leaves, twigs, and perhaps a few dead organisms.

How do synthetic organic compounds and turn the water supply?

Either from industrial. Sources where they are manufactured or from now on. Sources were there applied over very large areas. They include pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and industrial cleaners and can be toxic, cause genetic defects, and interfere with growth and sexual development.

Why are scientists concerned about human wastewater as a pollutant?

First, waste water dumped into bodies of water naturally undergoes decomposition by bacteria, which creates a large demand for oxygen in the water. Second, the nutrients that are released from wastewater decomposition can make the water more fertile. Third, wastewater can carry a wide variety of disease causing organisms.

What are pathogens in wastewater responsible for?

For a number of diseases that can be contracted by humans or other organisms that come in contact with or ingest the water. These pathogen's cause cholera, typhoid fever, various types of stomach flu, and diarrhea.

What is the goal of the primary treatment and a sewage plant?

For the solid waste material to settle out of the waste water. This solid material is then dried and classified as sludge. To reduce the volume of material and help remove many of the pathogen's, sludge is typically exposed to bacteria that can digest it. Most of the water is then removed from the sludge to reduce its volume and weight prior to transporting it away from the sewage treatment plant. This final form of sludge can be placed into a landfill, burned, or converted into fertilizer pellets for agricultural fields, lawns, and gardens.

What are the broad range of pollutants that can be found in water?

Human and animal waste, in organic substances, organic compounds, synthetic organic compounds, and non-chemical pollutants.

What are sewage treatment plants?

In developed countries, municipalities you centralized sewage treatment plants that receive the waste water from hundreds or thousands of households via a network of underground pipes.

What are military compounds?

In regions of the world were military rockets are manufactured, tested, or dismantled, a group of harmful chemicals known as perchlorates sometimes contaminated soil. Perchlorates are easily leads from contaminated soil into the ground water where they can persist for many years. Human exposure to perchlorates comes primarily through consumption of contaminated food and water and can affect the thyroid gland and reduce the production of hormones necessary for proper functioning of the human body.

What is a septic tank?

In rural areas of low population densities, houses often have their own sewage treatment system called a septic system. The septic tank is a large container that receives waste water from the house. Having a capacity of 1900 to 4700 L, the septic tank is buried underground adjacent to the house.

What is water pollution?

Is generally defined as the contamination of streams, rivers, lakes, oceans or ground water with substances produced through human activities and that negatively affect organisms.

What does eutrophication cause?

It initially causes a rapid growth of algae, known as an algal bloom. This enormous amount of algae eventually dies, microbes rapidly begin digesting the dead algae, and the increase in microbes consumes most of the oxygen in the water. The release of nutrients from wastewater initiates a chain of events that eventually leads to a lack of oxygen and the creation of dead zones once again.

What is thermal pollution?

It occurs when human activities cause a substantial change in the temperature of water. The most common cause of thermal pollution occurs when cold water is removed from a natural supply, used to absorb heat as part of some industrial process, and then return as heated water back to the natural supply. An example is in steel mills that need to cool their machines and electric power plants.

What are manure lagoons?

Large, human made ponds lined with rubber to prevent them from leaking into the ground water. After the manure were has been broken down by bacteria, the same process that occurs in sewage treatment plants, the manure were can be spread on the farm fields to serve as a fertilizer.

What is lead?

Lead is a heavy metal that poses a serious health threat. It is rarely found in natural sources of drinking water, instead, it contaminates water when the water passes through the pipes of older homes that contain lead lined pipes, brass fittings containing lead, and lead containing materials such as solder. Lead can cause brain, nervous system, and kidney damage in fetuses in infants.

What are non-point sources?

More diffuse areas such as an entire farming region, a suburban community with many lawns and septic systems, or storm runoff from parking lots.

What are the concerns of pesticides?

Most pesticides do not target particular species of organisms, but generally kill a wide variety of related organisms. Also although synthetic pesticides are generally designed specifically to target particular aspects of a pest species physiology, they can also alter other physiological functions. The last concern is the role of inner ingredients added two commercial formulations of pesticides. Inert ingredients are additives that make a pesticide more effective, allowing it to dissolve in water for spraying or to penetrate inside a pest species.

How does oil into the water supply?

Oil in the water comes from drilling for undersea oil using offshore platforms. These oil platforms often experience leaks. Given the magnitude of the golf oil spill beaches were contaminated, wildlife, and the estuaries that serve us habitats for the reproduction of commercially important fish and shellfish, this accident has the potential to be one of the largest environmental disasters in history. Oil and other petroleum products can also enter the oceans as spills from oil tankers. The valdez. Accident sparked new rules that oil tankers in North America must have a double whole design, requiring the ships body to be constructed of two steel walls that would help contain leaky oil if there were an accident.

What are some ways to remediate oil pollution?

Oil spilled in the ocean could either float on the surface or main far below in the form of underwater plumes. For oil floating on the surface, a common approach is to contain the oil within an area and then suck it off the surface of the water. Oil can be contained by laying out oil containment booms. Once contained, boats equipped with giant Oil vacuums suck up as much or oil as possible. In shallow areas, absorbent materials are used to suck up the spilled oil.

What is oxygen-demanding waste?

Organic matter that enters a body of water and feeds the growth of the microbes that are decomposers. Because these microbes require oxygen to decompose the waste, the more waste that enters the water, the more the microbes grow in the more oxygen they demand.

What strategies are being examined to counteract the acidity of the streams?

Passing stream water through limestone treatment facilities that raise the pH of the water and remove toxic metals to levels tolerable to stream organisms.

What is sediment pollution?

Sediments are particles of sand, salt, and clay carried by moving water in streams and rivers that eventually settle out in another location where water movement is slowed. Sediment pollution is the result of human activities that can substantially increase the amount of sediment and Trey natural waterways. Such examples are construction of houses and shopping malls, plowed agricultural fields in with natural vegetation is removed from the waters edge and replaced with either crops or domesticated animals.

What is thermal shock?

Since species in a given community are generally adapted to a particular natural range of temperatures, a dramatic change in temperature can kill many species. High temperatures cause organisms to increase the respiration rate, yet warmer water does not contain as much dissolved oxygen as cold water. Management efforts include pumping the heated water into outdoor holding pond where I can further cool before being pumped back into natural waters.

What is a disadvantage to septic systems?

Sludge from the septic tank must be pumped out periodically and taken to a sewage treatment plant.

What is solid waste pollution?

Solid waste consists of discarding materials from household and industries that do not pose a toxic hazard to humans and other organisms. Floating in the North Pacific gyre is an area the size of Texas composed mostly of discarded plastic. Coal ash and coal slag waste include harmful chemicals like mercury, arsenic, and lead, and can contaminate groundwater.

What is noise pollution?

Sounds invaded by ships and submarines that interfere with animal communication are the major concern.

What is fecal coliform bacteria?

The best indicators for potentially harmful water. A group of generally harmless micro organisms that live in the intestines of human beings and other animals. One of the most common species of fecal coliform bacteria is Escherichia coli (E. coli.). Most strains of it live naturally in humans and are not harmful, although there are strange that can be deadly to people who are very young, very old, or possess week immune system's.

What are some solutions to thermal pollution?

The construction of cooling towers that release the excess heat into the atmosphere instead of into the water. The cooling tower relies on the cooling power of of operation to reduce the temperature of the water. Some industries have built closed systems in which they cool the hot water in a cooling tower and then recycle the water to be heated again.

What is eutrophication?

The decomposition of waste water, because it adds elements like nitrogen and phosphorus, can provide an abundance of fertility to a water body.

What is the clean water act?

The federal water pollution control act of 1948 was the first major piece of legislation affecting water quality, and it was substantially expanded in 1972 into what is known as the clean water act. The clean water act supports the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water by maintaining, and when necessary restoring the chemical, physical, and biological properties of natural waters. This act allowed to EPA and state governments to issue permits to control how much pollution industries can discharge into the water.

What are disadvantages of sewage treatment plants?

The plants are very effective at breaking down the organic matter into carbon dioxide and inorganic nutrients. Unfortunately, these inorganic nutrients increase the primary productivity of bodies of water, fertilizing the water, which can lead to large increases in the abundance of algae and aquatic plants.

What is a major risk of manure lagoons?

The possibility of developing a leak in the liner. A leak would allow the waste to seep into the underlying groundwater, contaminating it. Another possible danger is in overflow into adjacent water bodies. Also the application of manure as fertilizer can create run off that moves into nearby water bodies.

What is human wastewater?

The water produced by human activities including humans sewage from toilets and gray water from bathing and washing clothes and dishes.

How much of the population has access to sufficient supplies of safe drinking water?

The world health organization estimates that 1.1 billion people, nearly 1/6 of the worlds population, does not have access to a sufficient supply of safe drinking water, in addition, half of the 3.1 million annual deaths from diarrheal diseases and malaria could be prevented with safe drinking water, proper sanitation, and proper hygiene. Approximately 42% of the world population lacks access to proper sanitation and over half of these people live in China and India. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 36% of the people have access to improve sanitation.

What are PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers)?

They are most commonly known as flame retardants added to a wide variety of items including construction materials, furniture, electrical components, and clothing. Since the 1990s, scientist have been detecting PBDEs and some unexpected places, including fish, aquatic birds, and human breast milk. Exposure can lead to brain damage, especially in children.

What are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)?

They were used in manufacturing plastics and insulating electrical transformers until 1979. Because of their long-term persistence they are still present in the environment. When ingested they are lethal and carcinogenic.

What is the chemical method for treating oil floating on the surface?

To apply chemicals that help break up the oil, making it disperse before it hits the shoreline and causes damage to the coastal ecosystems. Although the dispersants can be effective, they can also be toxic to marine life. Another approach is using genetically engineered bacteria that will consume oil.

What are the steps for a septic tank?

Waste water from the house flows into the tank at one and it leaves the tank at the other. After the tank has been operating for sometime, three layers develop. Anything that will follow rises to the top of the tank and forms a scum layer. Anything heavier than water sinks to form the sludge there. In the middle is a fairly clear water layer called septage. The septage moves out of the septic tank by gravity into several underground pipes laid out across a lawn below the surface, The Leitchfield. The pipes contain small perforations so the water can slowly seep out and spread across the Leitchfield. The septage that seeps out of the pipes is slowly absorbed and filtered by the surrounding soil. The harmful pathogens can saddle and become part of the sludge, be outcompeted by other micro organisms and the septic tank and therefore diminish in abundance, or be degraded by soil micro organisms in the Leitchfield. The organic matter is broken down into carbon dioxide and inorganic nutrients. Eventually, the water and nutrients are taken up by plants or enter a nearby stream or river.

Why are low oxygen levels bad?

When bodies of water have a high oxygen demand due to micro be olde when bodies of water have a high oxygen demand do to microbial decomposition, the amount of oxygen remaining for other organisms can be very low. Low oxygen concentrations are lethal to many organisms including fish. Low oxygen can also be lethal to organisms that cannot move, such as many plants and shellfish.

How does low pH in water bodies occur?

When is very acidic water comes from below ground. This begins with the development of underground mines that once abandoned flood with ground water. The combination of water and air allows pyrite to break down and produce iron and hydrogen ions producing acidic water with a low pH. The water then find its way up to the surface in the form of springs that feed into streams. Because much of the dissolved iron precipitate out of the solution as the low pH water of the mine mixes with the high pH water of the stream, these streams often have a striking red or yellow color.

What is acid deposition?

Where acid deposition occurs in the form of rain and snow as acid precipitation. Dry acid deposition occurs as gases and particles that attach to the surfaces of plants, soil, and water. Acid deposition reduced the pH of water bodies to very acidic lethal levels.