Transcript Other Water Pollutants - Liberty Union High School District

Chapter 5.2
Water Pollution
Types of Water Pollution

When you think of water pollution, what
comes to mind?
Water Pollution

Water pollution- the introduction of chemical,
physical, or biological agents into water that
degrades the quality of the water and affects the
organisms that depend on it.

Point sources- distinct locations that pump
waste into a waterway.

Nonpoint sources- diffuse areas such as an
entire farming region that pollutes a waterway.
Which of these is
Non-Point?
Human Wastewater

Water produced by human activities such as human
sewage from toilets and gray water from bathing
and washing clothes or dishes.
Three reasons scientists are concerned about
human wastewater:

Oxygen-demanding wastes like bacteria that
put a large demand for oxygen in the water

Nutrients that are released from wastewater
decomposition can make the water more fertile
causing eutrophication (on next slide)

Wastewater can carry a wide variety of
disease-causing organisms.
Eutrophication

Eutrophication is an abundance of fertility to a body of
water - caused by an increase in nutrients, such as fertilizers.

Eutrophication can cause a rapid growth of algae which
eventually dies, causing the microbes to increase the BOD.
Common Diseases from
Human Wastewater
Pathogens: disease-causing organisms such as bacteria,
viruses and parasitic worms often found in untreated
waste water or animal feces.
Resulting Illnesses:

Cholera

Typhoid fever

Stomach flu

Diarrhea

Hepatitis
The vast majority of
surface water on the
planet is neither potable
(fit for drinking) nor toxic.
Approximately 25% of the
world’s population has no
access to potable water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R_vpNQ0fJc
Biological Magnification

The accumulation of pollutants at
successive levels of the food chain.
Treatments for Human and Animal Wastewater

Septic systems- a large container that receives
wastewater from the house.
Treatments for Human and Animal Wastewater

Sewage Treatment Plants- centralized plants in areas with large populations that
receive wastewater via a network of underground pipes.
(transfer steps into personal diagrams)

Lead

Arsenic

Mercury

Acids

Synthetic compounds (pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and hormones)
Oil Pollution

How do these compare to the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
(on Earth Day 2010)?
4.9 million barrels (over 200 million
gallons) – many times more than
any previous human-caused
environmental disaster in history!
Ways to Remediate Oil Pollution

Containment using booms
to keep the floating oil from
spreading.

Chemicals that help break
up the oil, making it
disperse before it hits the
shoreline (like Dawn dish soap).

Bacteria that are genetically
engineered to consume oil
Other Water Pollutants

Solid waste pollution (garbage)

Sediment pollution (sand, silt and clay)
Other Water Pollutants

Thermal pollution
INDUSTRIAL COMPOUNDS
A river on fire. In 1952, the polluted Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire after a spark ignited
the film of industrial pollution that was floating on the surface of the water. (p.393)
Love Canal
•
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y.-Twenty five years after the
Hooker Chemical Company
stopped using the Love Canal
here as an industrial dump
(around 1950), 82 different
compounds, 11 of them
suspected carcinogens, have
been percolating upward
through the soil, their drum
containers rotting and leaching
their contents into the
backyards and basements of
100 homes and a public school
built on the banks of the canal.
Water Laws

Clean Water Act- (1972) supports the “protection
and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and
recreation in and on the water”. Issued water
quality standards that defined acceptable limits of
various pollutants in U.S. waterways.
Water Laws

Safe Drinking Water Act- (1974, 1986, 1996) sets the
national standards for safe drinking water. It is
responsible for establishing maximum contaminant
levels (MCL) for 77 different elements or substances
in both surface water and groundwater.