Chapter 14- Water Pollution: Study Guide

Where does sediment pollution come from?

-30% of all sediments come from natural sources -70% comes from human activities (construction, plowing, agriculture)

What are the risks and benefits of manure lagoon?

-Risk: booty of developing a week in the liner, contaminating the ground water, a possibility overflow into adjacent body Waters is another danger. Like human waste water, overflowed I'm always in two Rivers can lead to disease outbreaks in humans and wildlife -benefit: makes fertilizer

the Chesapeake action bay plan was developed to clean up the bay. Describe three things that might be part of that action plan.

-Schedule and attend regular cleanups along your local stream or river -educate others to prevent any extra harm and promote awareness -Upgrade Septic Systems

How does a septic system get rid of disease causing organisms?

-Septage moves out of the septic tank by gravity into several underground pipes lead out across a one below the surface. The combination of pipes and launch make up the Leitchfield. The pipes contain small perforations so the water can slowly seep out and spread across the leach field. The septage that seeps out of the pipes is slowly absorbed and filtered by the surrounding soil. The harmful pathogens concerto and become part of the sludge, be outcompeted by other micro organisms and the septic tank and therefore diminish and abundance, or bead to graded by soil microorganisms. Organic matter is broken down into carbon dioxide and inorganic nutrients. Eventually, the water and nutrients are taken up by the plants or enter a nearby stream or aquifer.

What is the Safe Drinking Water Act? What kinds of water does it apply to?

-a legislation that sets the national standards for safe drinking water -applies to both surface water and groundwater

What is the Clean Water Act? What kinds of water does it apply to?

-a legislation that supports the "protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water" -by maintaining and, when necessary, restoring the physical, chemical, and biological properties of surface water -does not include the protection of groundwater

Explain what eutrophication is.

-a phenomenon in which a body of water becomes rich in nutrients

List an advantage and a disadvantage of a septic system.

-advantage: 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, so no electricity is needed to run the septic system. -disadvantage: Sludge from the septic tank must be pumped out periodically every 5 to 10 years and taken to a sewage treatment plant

List the places oil can spill from and give a specific example for each.

-anker (Exxon Valdez) -pipes (Deepwater Horizon)

what chemicals are entering the bay? how do they harm the bay?

-anthropogenic chemicals such as pesticides and pharmacutical drugs -male smallmouth bass (fish) developed into hermaphrodites w/ male sex organs that grow female eggs

Why is it difficult to clean up underwater oil spills?

-as water gets deeper, pressure increases

Why is a summer a particularly bad time for thermal pollution?

-can cause thermal shock & organisms to suffocate

List some diseases caused by contaminated drinking water contaminated bt human waste

-cholera -typhoid fever -stomach flu -diarrhea

Describe the three ways surface oil be cleaned up. Include a pro and con for each method.

-containment (suck it up) -chemical breakup (breaks down oils but can be toxic) -genetically engineered bacteria (bacteria that consumes oil)

Why is clean, safe water a challenge in less developed countries?

-developing countries are less able to afford water quality improvements or the costs associated with restrictive legislation -political instability and corruption often make enforcement of legislation difficult

Where does wastewater come from? Why is it difficult to prevent it from contaminating drinking water?

-domestic used water and toilet waste, rainwater, industrial effluent, livestock waste -bc many people routinely use the same water source for drinking water, bathing, washing, and disposing sewage

What indicator species is used to test the presence of human waste in drinking water? Name one specific bacteria in this group. are the indocator species themselves harmful?

-fecal coliform (ex: E. coli) -cryptosporidum bacterim -most strains of E. coli live naturally in humans and are not harmful

What is the goal of primary treatment? What happens to the sludge?

-for solid to settle out of the wastewater -sludge then condensed, moved, and burned or in fertilizer or landfill

where is the sediment coming from? how does it harm the bay?

-from fields & forests as well as soils washed away from banks of steams and the ocean shoreline -makes the water cloudy and prevents sunlight from getting to the grass in the bay which is impt bc it's a habitat for fish and blue crabs

What is the goal of secondary treatment? Why does it require aeration?

-is to use bacteria to break down 85-90% of the organic matter in the water and convert it to carbon dioxide ,and inorganic nutirents such as nitrogen and phosphorous -to promote growth of aerobic bacteria, which emits less offensive odors than anaerobic bacteria.

Why are oil spills such a problem?

-it takes a long time for the oil to be removed from the environment

What is oxygen demanding waste and why does it demand oxygen? Be specific.

-organic mater that enters a body of water & feeds the growth of the microbes that are decomposers. -bc these mocrobes require oxygen to decopose the waste, the more waste that enters the water, the more mmocrobes grow and the more oxygen theu demand. this is measured by BOD

What is the difference between a point source and a non-point source? Provide a few examples of each. Which is easier to control?

-point source: a distinct location from which pollution is directly produced EX: factory that pumps its waste into a nearby stream or a sewage treatment plant that discharges its wastewater from a pipe into the ocean -non-point source: when the source of pollution is not a distinct location EX:such as an entire farming regio, a suburban community with many lawns and septic systems, or storm runoff from parking lots. -difference: in point sources we are able to distinguish exactly where the pollution is coming from while nonpoint we aren't. -point source ewasier to control

What additional benefit does tertiary treatment provide?

-remove nitrogen and phosphorous from the wastewater. The ultimate goal is to release wastewatersimilar in quality to the waterway revieving it.

How does sediment impact aquatic ecosystems?

-sediment causes waterways to become brown and cloudy -reduces infiltration of sunlight which can reduce the productivity of aquatic plants and algae -clogs gills -contributes to increased nutrients (eutrophication)

What is a septic system and how does it work?

-small, simple sewage system made up of a leach fields and septic tank often used for homes in rural areas. -wastewater flows into the septic tank from the house and bacteria/pathogens become part of the sludge and the water containing nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizes the lawn

How can noise pollution impact aquatic ecosystems?

-sounds emitted by ships and submarines can interfere with animal communication

Why is heat considered a water pollutant?

-species in a given community are generally adapted to a particular natural range of temperatures -dramatic changes in temperatures can kill many organisms -high temperatures can cause organisms to increase respiration rate

What does a low BOD indicate? A high BOD?

-that a water body is less polluted by wastewater -that a water body is more polluted by wastewater

What is an MCL and how are they determined?

-the standard for safe drinking water set by the EPA -legislation of the Safe Drinking Water Act -maximum concentrations consider both the concentration of each compound and the feasibility and cost of reducing the compound to such concentrations

How do nitrogen and phosphorus get into human waste water? (since we don't put fertilizer down the toilet)

-they're the products of decomposition

Where are the nutrients entering the Bay coming from? What are they causing?

-water discharge from sewage treatment and animal fertilizer -leads to algal bloom

Why is it difficult to clean up rocky coastlines?

-water sprayers remove oil as well as marine life and sediments that may contain nutrients

Explain how oxygen demanding waste can lead to a dead zone

-when microbial decomposition uses a large amount of oxygen in a body of water, the amount remaining for other organisms can be very low

Where in the US do we have a large dead zone? When does it form?

-where Mississippi River dumps into the Gulf of Mexico -every summer when there's an influz of wastewater and fertilizer

how many people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water?

1.1 billion people// one-sixth of the world's global population

What were the characteristics of the facilities desired by Ashfield and New England BioLabs?

Environmentally friendly Switch treatment. They wanted an aesthetically pleasing, order free, environmentally friendly technology

In what circumstances might it be legal to dispose of raw sewage directly into a waterbody?

If during periods of heavy rain, the combined volume of stormwater overwhelms the capacity of the plants

List the steps in their green waste water treatment design and relate them to the steps in industrial treatment (primary, secondary, etc).

Like a traditional system, waste water from homes and businesses flows through pipes a holding tank at the facility but then the liquid is pumped into series of transparent tanks we are communities of microbes, algae, plants, and snails grow and consumed exist nutrients present in the waste water. Here is bubbled into things so that the tanks experience aerobic bacterial decomposers that produce the offensive odor in mini treatment plants. The liquid coming out of these things is held to allow the solids acetylene in the water is filtered through sand and pump into human made wetland inside a greenhouse. Here bacteria remove most of the nitrogen in the water by converting it to nitrogen gas. This water is gone exposed to ultraviolet light on for viruses or bacteria and released into leach field where the liquid can slowly be filtered through the soil

How does high BOD influence water quality?

When BOD is higher values indicate that a water body is more polluted by waste water. Therefore high BOD influences bad water quality.

CAFO generates lots of animal manure. How does a manure lagoon treat animal manure?

breaks down bacteria from animal poop in the manure lagoon

How does solid waste threaten aquatic ecosystems?

garbage in aquatic ecosystems can strangle animals

What are the pros and cons of these green waste water treatment plants?

it works, but because it needs heat, the cost is very high.

What are the challenges faced by Chesapeake Bay?

many of the rivers and streams that dump into the bay travel long distances and therefore contains a lot of sediments, nutrients, and chemicals

How can you disinfect waste water?

using chlorine, ozone, or ultra-violet light to kill any remaining pathogens.