Transcript VT_water_presentation

Water Quality
What is polluting our water?
• Cities require a very large input of freshwater and in
turn have a huge impact on freshwater systems.
• Solid waste disposal is a growing threat to health and
the environment.
• 93% of the urbanization occurs in poor or developing
countries
• 789 million in total, lives without access to improved
sanitation facilities.
• The urban poor pay up to 50 times more for a liter of
water than their richer neighbors, since they often
have to buy their water from private vendors.
Water on Earth
• 30% groundwater
• MWD serves 18
million people in
Southern California
(Colorado River)
• State water project
Watershed: an area of land where all water
that drains from it goes to the same place
What does your watershed look like?
CCHS is located in Ballona Creek Watershed
Concerns in Ballona
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Urban runoff
Trash & debris
High nutrients
Bacterial levels
Heavy metals & toxins
Brown Pelican
Marine Ecosystems
California least tern
• Concerns in Malibu
Tidewater goby
Steelhead Trout
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Tapia Treatment Plant
Septic discharges
High nutrients
Bacterial levels
Santa Monica:
Concerns in Santa Monica
Canyon Channel
How are pollutants transported?
Fecal Pollution
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Dogs
Livestock
Birds
People
WWTP discharges
Septic systems
Anthropogenic pollution
– Surfactants
– Nutrients
– Oil and grease
Nutrient Pollution
Methods : Fecal indicator bacteria
• Fecal indicator bacteria are generally not harmful
bacteria that reside in the gut of animals
• FIB are released into the environment with feces and
used to indicate water quality
• Limitations:
• Method requires 24hr to get a result.
• Does not give you information on the source
www.idexx.com
Data: Enterococci bacteria
Enterococci MPN/100mL
Enterococci bacteria
(MPN/100mL)
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
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Enterococci
MPN/100mL
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• Water quality standards
• Enterococci:
104MPN/100mL
• E. coli:
• 400MPN/100mL
• Which beach had
highest levels?
• Which watershed is
most contaminated?
Sample location
Water Quality and Public Health
Swimming related illness
• Acute Respiratory
disease
• Gastrointestinal illness
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Fever
• Sore throat
• Runny nose
• Ear or Eye infection
• Skin rash
Bacteria
• Escherichia coli
• Salmonella typhi
• Vibrio Cholerae
• Campylobacter jejunji
Viruses
• Adenovirus
• Enterovirus
• Hepatitis A
• Rotavirus
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Urban Runoff
Source:http://geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca/
Stormwater treatment
Legacy Park in Malibu
Point-of-use Treatment
•Metal salts such as alum and iron sulfate can transform
contaminated source waters into clear, safe drinkable water.
Turbid river water treated with a flocculant-disinfectant powder in Borneo.