APES Chapter 20 Study Guide

In a septic tank system, which of the following is NOT true

After leaving the absorption field, wastewater is cleaned and can be used again for human consumption

The individual matters in term of what can be done to help reduce water pollution. All of the following are things we can do except

Buy commercially produced foods

The oil company responsible for the oil spill of the Valdez was

Exxon

In cultural eutrophication fish die from

decreasing solar energy used in photosynthesis

Which of the following aquatic ecosystems may be most capable of diluting, dispersing and degrading large amounts of sewage, sludge and oil

deep water ocean

In a 2005 report on the ecological health of coastal areas in the lower 48 states, the EPA classified __________ estuaries as threatened or impaired

four of five

Over the 21st century, scientists expect to find many millions of __________ to become a major global health problem

leaking underground storage tanks

Which of the following is a nonpoint source of water pollution

logged forest

A state highway was constructed over wetlands. The state obtained a permit to fill the existing wetlands in accordance with the provisions of the Clean Water Act of 1972 and agreed to create another wetland. This trade-off approach to addressing an environmental issue is known as:

mitigation

A body of water can be depleted of its oxygen by

organic wastes

Which of the following is an effective alternative to chlorine for disinfection of wastewater from a sewage treatment plant?

ozone

Which of the following would not reduce cultural eutrophication

prevent as much outflow or drainage as

The only effective way to protect groundwater is to

prevent containmination

In the diagram of a wastewater treatment plant, the area bracketed and identified as "A" is:

primary treatment

GRAPH

E

Which of the following statements about lakes is true

Lakes are most vulnerable than streams to contamination by plant nutrients, oil, pesticides, and toxic substances that can destroy bottom life

Most of the treatment process for drinking water is designed to remove:

suspended solids

Farmers can reduce agricultural runoff by all of the following except

switching from row crops to animal feedlots

In the diagram of a wastewater treatment plant at the end of this assessment, the bracketed area identified as "B" is

the activated sludge tank

Acid rain is associated with which of the following?

the burning of fossil fuels

the water quality measurement that indirectly measures the amount of suspended particulates is

turbidity

All of the following are cleanup methods of controlling cultural eutrophication except

using advanced waste treatment

To be considered safe for drinking, a 100 mililiter sample of water should contain ___________ colonies of coliform bacteria

0

Less than ____________% of the water entering the Great Lakes leaves the St. Lawrence River

1

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates how many people on earth do not have access to clean drinking water?

1 out of 6

To be considered safe for swimming, a 100 milliliter sample of water should contain ________ or fewer colonies of coliform bacteria

200

One fish in _______ taken from the Great Lakes is unsafe for human consumption

4

Bottled water in the US costs 240 to 100,000 times more than tap water, yet _______ of bottled water is contaminated by fungi and bacteria

40%

__________ of the world's population lives on or within 160 miles of the coast

40%

About ________ of U.S. lakes were tested unsafe for fishing, swimming, and other recreational uses

45%

According to the EPA, one in ____________Americans drinks water supplied by a water treatment plant that has violated one or more safety standards during part of the year

5

Drinking water for about _______ of the US population and _______________ of the rural populations comes from groundwater

50%; 95%

According to the Global Water Policy Project, most cities in developing countries discharge ___________ if their untreated sewage directly into rivers, streams, and lakes, whose waters are then used for human consumption

80-90%

The Great Lakes possess _________% of all surface freshwater in the United States

95

Arsenic levels are 5-100 times the standard for 140 million people living in

China, Bangladesh, and part of India

Which of the following statements is false

The amount of oxygen in rivers increases as the water temperatures rises

In the most developed countries, large fish kills and contamination of drinking water may be caused by all of the following except

accidental release of predatory exotic species

Which of the following types of sewage treatment are properly matched?

advanced-physical- and chemical processes

Which of the following is by far the leading cause of water pollution?

agriculture activites

Of the following organisms, the group that is least likely to cause disease is

algae

Which of the following is not means of purifying water for drinking

centrifugation

A good indicator of water quality is the number of

coli-form bacteria

Lake Washington, near Seattle, was degraded by the growth of which of the following?

cyanobacteria

The Safe Drinking Water Act of the 1970's established all of the following except:

discharge limits for point source pollution

The water quality measurement that is decreased by the breakdown of organic waste is

dissolved oxygen

The 2007 State of the Great Lakes report found all of the following problems still exist in the lakes, except

dissolved oxygen levels continue to decline

The Clean Water Act could be strengthened by all of the following except

establishing national effluent standards

The natural nutrient enrichment of a shallow lake, estuary, or slow moving stream is called

eutrophication

of the following, which is the best example of a point source of water pollution

factory effluent

Contaminated groundwater can not cleanse itself for all of the following reasons except

groundwater does not move at all

Remediation options for contaminated groundwater include:

groundwater flushing

The water quality measurement that determines the amount of Ca and Mg ions in water is

hardness

Which of the following is not a preventative method of reducing cultural eutrophication

harvesting excess weeds

The presence of high levels of fecal coliform bacteria in a water source indicates that the water is

has been contaminated by untreated human or animal waste

The major pollutant affecting waters around most fossil fuel burning power plants is:

heat

The algae Pfiesteria, which had a major bloom in the Chesapeake Bay in 1997, seems to be associated with:

increased inputs of nutrients.

which of the following is a common characteristic of lakes undergoing cultural eutrophication?

increased levels of plant nutrients

All of the following are potential indicators that a lake is experiencing the effects of acid deposition except:

increased water temperature

In a river ecosystem, dissolved oxygen concentrations drop quickly downstream from a point-source input of organic matter into the river. This effect is due to

increasing bacterial activity as organic matters decays

In the removal of a pollutant from wastewater, which of the following is true of the cost per unit of pollutant removed?

it increases as the concentration of the pollutant decreases

Which of the following statements about MTBE is not true

it is a potential alternative fuel with no noticeable serious environmental effects

The MOST common problem encountered by seabirds coated in oil is

loss of buoyancy and insulation, causing deaths from exposure

The depleted oxygen zone in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River is primarily the result of:

nitrate runoff from agricultural fields and sewage treatment plants

Oxygen sag curves

occur when oxygen demanding wastes are added to the water

A stream in which chemical analyses indicate good water quality but only large quantities of pouch snails are found could be suspected:

of having had a toxic pollutant pass through this part of the stream in the recent past.This is the correct answer.

Which of the following is a point source of water pollution

offshore oil wells

Lakes that are characterized by high water clarity and low concentrations of dissolved nutrients are classified as

oligotrophic

The reduction in dissolved oxygen that occurs downstream of the effluent discharge from a wastewater treatment plant is called

oxygen sag

Which of the following will result in accelerated eutrophication when introduced into streams, lakes and bays

phosphates

The degradation of Lake Washington resulted from the introduction by sewage treatment plants of which of the following?

phosphorus

Federal underground storage tank regulations require all of the following except:

removal of all USTs

Waterless, odorless composting toilet systems have all the following advantages except

removes toxic and hazardous chemicals

Which of the following is most likely to increase both the nutrient levels and the bacterial content of lake water?

runoff from a nearby hog farm

The majority of the oil pollution of the ocean comes from

runoff from land

Overuse of groundwater in coastal areas would most likely result in which of the following?

saltwater intrusion

To determine the presence and concentration of water pollutants, scientists are least likely to use

satellite photographs

The most common type of water pollutant in streams and rivers is:

sediment and suspended solids

Which of the following statements is false

slow flowing rivers are less susceptible to pollutants than fast flowing streams

Major sources of groundwater contamination include

storage lagoons