Heavy Metals and Other Water Pollutants

solid waste

garbage great lakes, microbeads

Mercury

-air and water pollutant -from burning coal and other fossil fuels -incinerating waste -medical supply waste -dental supplies -hazardous waste -making cement with limestone that may contain mercury -inorganic mercury is not that dangerous but once converted by bacteria into organic mercury it is very dangerous -neurological damage (children + Fetus) -bioaccumulation -biomagnification:toxin gets magnified as it moves up the food chain -minamata disease

Acid deposition

-air and water pollution -coal burning power plants release nitrous oxides and sulfurous oxides which react with water vapor in the atmosphere to produce sulfuric and nitric acids -major prolem in US, Russia, and China -acid mine drainage: old mines fill up with water and acid is created when the water reacts with thesulfide in the rocks

Lead Pb

-gets into water through lead pipes in homes and solder (used to fasten pipes -causes neurological issues (mental retardation) in children and the fetus -kidney damage -Use copper and PCB pipes instead

Oil pollution

-number 1 cause is runoff from land based activities -national leaks: -exon valden-in prince william sound in Alaska 11 million gallons spilled. led to double hulled oil tankers -BP oil spill-deep water horizon in 2010-206 million gallons. pipe broke due to explosion -Problems with oil spills: harm birds, seals, dolphins (all aquatic animals) the birds cannot fly anymore, cannot regulate their temperature, and sometimes they sink and drown. Economics: fisherman and tourism go down -Ways to remediate: bacteria that break down oil, hair, containment booms, chemicals to disperse, skimmer, hot water sprayers

Military compounds

-percholates: rocket fuel -persistent in ground water -found in fish and humans -affect thyroid gland and decrease hormone production

Arsenic

-skin lesions, gangreen, cancer, destroying kidney and liver -there are natural sources such as human activity, mining, and wood preservation.

Sediment pollution

-use turbidity test for clarity -construction/agriculture disturb soil -cloudy water-decrease sun-decrease photo-less DO-less biodiversity

Industrial compounds

PCB's: Hudson river -coyahoga river in ohio caught on fire which led to national attention -PBDE: can catch fire and can cause neurological fires

Pesticides

control pests and help human health -populations: insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, rodenticides -first sythentic pesticides were created after world war 2. they had unintended consequences like killing organisms that the pesticide was not intended to kill -some may be harmful for humans -DDT banned from US in 1972 because it greatly harmed the bird populations by making the egg shells extremely brittle.

pharmasuticals and hormones

estrogen mimic: finding female eggs in male fish testes

Cultural eutrification

nitrates and phosphates enter the water in excess amounts -run off from fertilizers from agriculture -human and animal waste -runoff from detergents and soap (phosphates) Steps -increased nutrients -algal blooms -sun is blocked-less photo-less DO -Algae die-sink- decompose by aerobic bacteria- less DO

Noise pollution

ships and submarines use sonar which confuses many marine mammals-beaching

Thermal pollution

water becomes warmer du to industrial uses for cooling factories -thermal shock: fish and other organisms die due to high heat -DO goes down