Chapter 14 - Water Pollution Flashcards
Point Sources
A distinct location from which pollution is directly produced.
Wastewater
Water produced by livestock operations and human activities, including human sewage from toilets and gray water from bathing and washing of clothes and dishes.
Dead Zones
In a body of water, an area with extremely low oxygen concentration and very little life.
Eutrophication
A phenomenon in which a body of water becomes rich in nutrients.
Septic Tank
A large container that receives wastewater from a house as part of a septic system.
Leach Field
A component of a septic system, made up of underground pipes laid out below the surface of the ground.
Manure Lagoon
Human-made pond lined with rubber built to handle large quantities of manure produced by livestock.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand ( BOD )
The amount of oxygen a quantity of water uses over a period of time at specific temperatures.
Fecal Coliform Bacteria
A group of generally harmless microorganisms in human intestines that can serve as an indicator species for potentially harmful microorganisms associated with contaminated sewage.
Indicator Species
A species that indicates whether or not disease-causing pathogens are likely to be present.
Safe Drinking Water Act ( SDWA )
Legislation that sets the national standards for safe drinking water.
Maximum Containment Level ( MCL )
The standard for safe drinking water established by the EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Clean Water Act ( CWA )
Legislation that supports the “protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water” by maintaining and, when necessary, restoring the chemical, physical, and biological properties of surface waters.
Thermal Pollution
Non chemical water pollution that occurs when human activities cause a substantial change in the temperature of water.
Non-point Sources
pollution that comes from many different sources
Turbidity
measures amount of suspended solids in the water (measures clarity)
Primary Treatment
Mechanical sewage treatment in which large solids are filtered out by screens and suspended solids settle out as sludge in a sedimentation tank.
Secondary Treatment
Which aerobic bacteria decompose up to 90% of degradable, oxygen-demanding organic wastes in wastewater. This usually involves bringing sewage and bacteria together in trickling filters or in the activated sludge process.
Tertiary Treatment
Uses a series of chemical and physical processes to remove specific pollutants left.
Disinfection (Chlorine / UV / Ozone)
When the remaining water is disinfected using UV light, ozone, and chlorine. Used to treat sewage and to reduce any pathogens
Acid Mine Drainage
Pollution caused when sulfuric acid and dangerous dissolved materials such as lead, arsenic, and cadmium wash from coal and metal mines into nearby lakes and streams.
Oxygen-depleted Zone (Septic Zone)
“dead zones” form mostly in temperate coastal waters and in land locked seas such as Baltic and Black Seas
Sewage Sludge
A gooey mixture of toxic chemicals, infectious agents, and settled solids removed from wastewater at a sewage treatment plant
Recovery Zone
Oxygen sage curve - waste concentration decreases, DO goes up and BOD goes down - trash and fish
Decomposition Zone
Oxygen sage curve - decomposition increases to break down pollution and oxygen decreases as it is used by the decomposers - trash and fish make up the zone
Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
Organic matter that enters a body of water and feeds the growth of the microbes that are decomposers - the more waste that enters the water, the more the microbes grow and the more oxygen they demand
Escherichia Coli (E. Coli)
Is a disease in humans and animals and are not harmful although there are strains that can be deadly to people who are very young, old or possess weak immune systems - the presence of the disease in water is an increased risk of other wastewater pathogens being in the water
NPDES
Regulates point sources of pollution by requiring a permit to discharge any pollutants into a navigable waterway. (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System)
Oxygen Sag Curve
Graphed curve of dissolved oxygen concentration in a stream as the water flows by a point sources of pollution
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
Sets up daily limits for total pollutant discharges into impaired water bodies - sets based not he maximum pollution levels the water body can receive and still meet water quality standards
Clean Zone
Part of the oxygen sag curve - the DO is high and the BOD is low - normal clean water animals
