18.

1 Water Pollution
1. Water pollution is anything
o water pollution: physical, biological, or chemical change in water to
change water quality that affects living organisms or makes water
unsuitable for desired uses
o point sources: factories, power plants, sewage treatment plants,
underground coal mines, oil well, etc.
o non-point source: scattered or difused, having no specific location
where they discharge into particular bodies of water (run off, golf
courses, lawns/gardens, construction sites)
o atmospheric depostition: of contaminants carried by air currents and
precipitation into watersheds or directly onto surface waters as rain,
snow, dry particles
2. Infectous agentsremain an important threat to human health
o 25 million deaths because water related disease
o coliform bacteria: any of the many types that lve in the colon or
intestines of humans and other animals
i.
to test for: water sample placed in dish containing a nutrient
medium that supports bacterial growth
3. Bacteria are detected by measuring oxygen levels
o water with oxygen level 6ppm or greater will support aquatic life
o water with oxygen level 2ppm or less will support fungi, etc.
o oxygen added to water by diffusion from air and photosynthesis
o oxygen removed by respiration and chemical processes
o biochemical oxygen demand (BOD): useful tests for presence of
organic waste in water
.
test involve incubating a water sample for 5 days then comapring oxygen
levels in water to before and after incubation
o dissolved oxygen content (DO): directly using oxygen electrode
.
DO content depends on factors other than pollution
i.
indicates health of a water system
ii.
immediately below pollution source, oxygen begins to fall in stream
iii.
dead zone: water so oxygen depleted nothing lives but microorganisms
4. Nutrient enrichment leads to cultural eutrophication
o water clarity affected by sediments, chem, etc.
o obligotrophic: rivers/lakes that have low bio productivity and clear
water
o eutrophic: waters are rich in nutrient levels and biological productivity
o cultural eutrophication: nutrient enrichment sewage, fertilizer, run off,
high temps
5. Eutrophication can cause toxic tides and dead zones
o red tide: a bloom of deadly aquatic micro-organisms
o eutrophication in marine ecosystems occur nearshore and partially
enclosed bays and estuaries
o 85% of effluents from large cities goes untreated into sea (b/c tourism
and stuff)
6. Inorganic pollutants include metals, salts, acids and bases
o metals
.
lead, mercury, tin, nickel, etc. = highly toxic in small amounts

i.

mercury = most widespread in north american

o non metallic salts
.
irrigation and groundwater transports soluble salts (@ low # be nontoxic) but
when transported can be mixed with other stuff and become dangerous
i.
india = largest human pop threatened by arsenic
o acids and bases
.
acids released by industrial waste
i.
coal and oil combustion lead to nitric acid in atmosphere
7. Organic pollutants = drug pesticides and other industrial substances
o two most important sources of toxic organic chemicals in water =
improper disposal of industrial and household wastes and runoff of
pesticides from farm fields, forests, etc.
8. Oil spills
o disasterous for ecosystems and local economies
o accidents more prone due to industrialization
9. Sediment also degrades water quality
o erosion rates in many areas accelerated by human activity
o sediment fills lakes and reservoirs, obstructs shipping channels, clogs
hydroelectric turbines and makes purification of drinking water more
costly
o sunlight is blocked so plants cant carry out photosynthesis = O2 levels
decline
o beneficial = mud carried by rivers nourishes flood plains and farm
fields
10. Thermal pollution is dangerous for organisms
o raising and lowering water temps from normal levels can adversely
affect water quality and life
o humans cause thermal pollution by altering vegetation cover and
runoff patterns
o thermal plume: of heated water is often discharged into rivers and
lakes, where raised temps can disrupt any processes in natural
ecosystems
o to minimize thermal pollution = powerplants frequently are required to
construct artificial cooling ponds/towers in which heat is released into
atmosphere and water is cooled before being released into natural
warm bodies
18.2 Water Quality today
1. clean water act protects our water
o 1972 (CWA) established national pollution discharge elimination
system = dumping waste in water
o USA spends more than $180 billion on water pollution control
o clean water act goal = making all US surface water fishable and
swimmable
o total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for each pollutant and each listen
body water
i.
TMDL is the amount of a particular pollutant that a waterbody can receive
from both point and nonpoint sources (seasonal variation and margin of safety)
2. Water quality problem remains

3.
.
4.

5.

6.
.

sediments, nutrients and pathogens = problem in water sources from

nonpoint discharge pollutants
o USA water pollutants = soil erosion, run off, fall out of air pollutants
many countries have serious water pollution
o in poor countries, pollution makes much of the limited water unusable
70% of china surface water = unsafe for humans
Is bottled water safer
o 80% of water bottles bought in USA end up in landfills
o water too long in plastic bottle = can be contaminated by toxins
Groundwater is hard to monitor and clean
o people in USA (95% in rural areas) depend on underground
aquifers for their drinking water
o 30 million people get water from community systems that dont meet
all health based drinking water standards
There are few controls on ocean pollution
o coastal zones overwhelmed by human caused contamination
humans cause a lot of damage to ocean systems

18.3 Water pollution control

1. Source reduction often cheapest and best way to reduce pollution
o cheapest way = to avoid producing it/releasing it into enviro in the 1st
place
2. Controlling non point sources requires land management
o difficult to identify nonpoint sources
3. Human waste disposal occurs naturally when concentration low
o natural processes low
i.
poorer countries= rural people go out into forests or fields
ii.
population density low = natural processes eliminate waste quickly pop
density high = cant eliminate
iii.
major cause of diseases
o primary treatment: 1st step in municipal waste treatment physically
separates large solids from the waste stream
o secondary treatment: consists of biological degradation of the
dissolved organic compounds
o Tertiary treatments: removes plant nutrients, especiall nitrates and
phosphates form secondary effluent
o Low cost waste treatment
.
municiapal sewage sstems used in developed countries are often too
expensive to build and operate in developing world where low cost, low tech
alternatives for treating wastes are needed
1. effluent sewage: hybrid between a traditional septic and
a full sewer system