2011 2: Water Pollution

Question 1

What is Down’s Issue Attention Cycle

Answer 1

the steps we go through when we hear about something: discovered by Anthony Down in 1972

Question 2

what are the 5 stages

Answer 2

pre problem, alarmed discovery, realization of the cost, declining interest, post problem

Question 3

pre problem

Answer 3

didn’t know there was a problem, or very few people knew

Question 4

alarmed discovery

Answer 4

problem went public: alarmed discovery of big concern - people get interested

Question 5

realization of the cost

Answer 5

have to do something due to all of the alarming news: figure out the problem, find a solution and see what it is going to cost (figuring out the impact!!)

Question 6

declining interest

Answer 6

realize its too expensive or don’t know the exact solution, or its taking too long to figure something out : people lose interest/give up

Question 7

post problem

Answer 7

problem is either solved or people gave up and don’t care anymore

Question 8

Example of Walkerton

Answer 8

immediate solution: brought in bottled water, long term solution: filter the water

Question 9

non persistent pollutants

Answer 9

domestic sewage, fertilizer, some industrial waste, bacteria, pathogens, viruses; can kill you very quickly
they will degrade on their own!!

Question 10

degradable

Answer 10

the damage by these pollutants is reversible
o Can be broken down by chemical reactions or by natural bacteria into simple, non-polluting substances
o These will be broken down over time: sewage being thrown into a lake: only a few people putting it in = still safe! Once you get too much pollution, that’s when we should worry.

Question 11

biological productivity

Answer 11

the amount of living material supported within a lake

Question 12

least productive?
intermediate?
most productive?

Answer 12

least = oligotrophic
intermediate = mesotrophic
most productive = eutrophic

Question 13

eutrophic?

Answer 13

means there is lots of life in the lake : we want a high biological productivity but we also want high biodiversity!

Question 14

productivity can be determined by what?

Answer 14

temp, light, depth, volume, nutrients

Question 15

pre-settlement: oligotrophic

Answer 15

o Before we arrived and settled the environment was mostly oligotrophic. When we arrived we changed the environment by cutting down trees and human activity adding nutrients wastes and industries causing the temperatures to rise and the increase the amount of nutrients in the system

Question 16

currrent conditions?

Answer 16

temps of tributaries increased, amount of nutrients increase, sources

Question 17

eutrophication?

Answer 17

(its like fertilizer for the lakes!)

increase in nutrients = growth of plants. Plants die, settle, and decompose; the life and decomposition uses the oxygen

Question 18

biological oxygen demand (BOD)

Answer 18

depletion of oxygen via decomposition of organic material

• the more plants = less oxygen for other species like the fish
• too many nutrients = too many plants and all of the algae uses (decomposition)/blocks all of the oxygen causing other aquatic creatures to die

Question 19

eutrophication and oxygen depletion: LAKE ERIE

Answer 19

• most vulnerable, first to go
• shallow, warm, most productive lake
• intense agricultural and urban development
• in the 1960s public concern grew = new pollution laws were put into place

Question 20

What happened in 1972?

Answer 20

Canada and the USA signed the great lakes water quality agreement, they determined it was the phosphorous from industries and sewage treatment plants and worked with farmers to prevent nitrogen run off, stopped primary treatment plants - only secondary now!

Question 21

1978?

Answer 21

zero discharge of contaminated stuff (drastically declined), not increasing from the last 30 years

Question 22

so 1972 vs 1978

Answer 22

o	Non-persistent (natural)….1972 (not good news) –easy (no more sewer leakage, not a lot agricultural pesticides)
o	Persistent (toxics)….1978 slowed the rate, not done, fish guidelines - hard

Question 23

Pathogens

Answer 23

A specific causative agent of disease or a morbid condition
o Waterborne disease; bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases
o This is why chlorine is added to drinking water (removes parasites)
o There is also a risk from direct body contact with it
o Walkerton- e.coli, people on reserves (dirty water)

Question 24

Persistent Pollutants

Answer 24

once they’re out there we can’t remove them, they degrade SLOWLY or cannot be broken down at all, most rapidly growing type (within industries), remain in the environment for years or longer, damage is IRREVERSIBLE or reparable over DECADES, invisible so don’t know they are there, can be harmful in the smallest concentrations,

Question 25

examples of persistent pollutants

Answer 25

o Pesticides (DDA, dieldrin) ANYTHING CHEMICAL*
o Petroleum and petroleum products
o PCB’s, dioxins, polyaromatic hydrocarbons
o Radioactive materials
o Metals; leads, mercury, cadmium

Question 26

Toxicity of persistent pollutants?

Answer 26

o 1 drop of oil makes 25L of water harmful
o 1 drop of herbicide makes 1000s of L of water harmful
o PCBs millions of L of water

Question 27

First Nations?

Answer 27

• Frist nations do not have as clean of drinking water as us
• Kastchachewan had terrible water the residents couldn’t even shower without getting sick
• Took 2 years to act
• Walkerton E. Coli outbreak
• Now the provincial government requires the labeling of water sources that are not regulated

Question 28

toxic contaminants: how long has this been a problem?

Answer 28

since the 1940s

Question 29

What are toxic contaminants?

Answer 29

organic chemicals and heavy metals that are acutely toxic in small amounts, injurious through long term exposure in small concentrations, can cause cancer/birth defects/tumours/genetic mutations

Question 30

Toxic contaminants: bio-magnification?

Answer 30

bioaccumulation of toxic substances as they are passed up the food chain: our fatty tissues hold onto them and it gets passed along through consumption and gets more intense up the food chain!

Question 31

Fish consumption?

Answer 31

only supposed to have so much because it is one of the easiest ways to be exposed to toxic substances! Childbearing women should not eat fish*

Question 32

What do toxic contaminants do to animals?

Answer 32

can cause mutations!

Question 33

toxic contaminants in the great lakes?

Answer 33

not JUST great lakes: everywhere in the world

Question 34

What happened in Cuyahoga river?

Answer 34

(In Ohio) caught ON FIRE because there was SO much stuff in it (toxic contaminants in it)

Question 35

Other Types of Pollution

Answer 35

warm water (thermal pollution): warming water makes eutrophication happen! , floating debris, garbage, foam

Question 36

Physical pollution?

Answer 36

interferes mainly with usability and aesthetics:-

• pharmaceuticals (UNREGULATED - whatever deosnt go in you, you pee out and goes into water!)
• bisphenyl A, endocrine disruptors - UNREGULATED = in environment = attach to hormone receptors, unknown consequences, new classes of chemicals