ESci Quiz Flashcards
The overall process of evaluation of the physical, chemical, and biological nature of water.
Water Quality Assessment
Any contamination of water with chemicals or other foreign substances that are detrimental to human, plant, or animal health.
Water Pollution
a widely spread source of pollution that can’t
be tied to a specific point of origin.
Non-point sources pollution
- a specific source of pollution that can be identified.
Point sources pollution
Residential/urban waste dumped in landfills or surface runoff
into groundwater may cause diseases to spread and kill.
Human Activities
Industries’ wastewater with conventional (oil and grease),
toxic (heavy metals, volatile organic compounds) pollutants
Industrial Activities
Pesticides and fertilizers
Agricultural Activities
•Sediments from construction sites and discharge of toxic chemicals from
motor fuels and concrete washout into the drains.
Construction Activities
any process that improves the quality of water to make it
more acceptable for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water
supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses,
including being safely returned to the environment.
Water Treatment Plant
1-9 Water Treatment Process
Collection, Screening & Straining, Chemical Addition, Coagulation & Flocculation, Sedimentation & Clarification, Filtration, Disinfection, Storage, Distribution
3 stage of waste water treatment
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
wastewater is temporarily held in a settling tank where
heavier solids sink to the bottom while lighter solids float to the surface.
primary waste water treatment
works on a deeper level than primary and is
designed to substantially degrade the biological content of the waste through aerobic
biological processes.
secondary waste water treatment
Three ways of secondary waste water treatment
Bio filtration, Aeration, Oxidation ponds
uses sand filters, contact filters or trickling filters to ensure that any
additional sediment is removed from the wastewater.
Bio Filtration
lengthy process which increases oxygen saturation by introducing air
to wastewater. Typically, the ________ process can last for up to 30 hours, but it is
very effective.
Aeration
Typically used in warmer climates, this method utilizes natural bodies of water such
as lagoons, allowing wastewater to pass through for a set period before being retained
for two to three weeks.
Oxidation Ponds
The aim of _________ wastewater treatment is to raise the quality of water to domestic
and industrial standards, or to meet specific requirements around the safe discharge
of water. In the case of water treated by municipalities, tertiary treatment also
involves the removal of pathogens, which ensures that water is safe for drinking
purposes.
tertiary
Farming can degrade the topsoil and lead to an increase
in erosion.
Agricultural Depletion
The three primary macronutrients are
NPK
Grazing animals are animals that live on large areas of
grassland. They wander over the area and eat grasses and shrubs.
Overgrazing animals
another practice that can greatly increase the
rate of erosion in a region
Deforestation
major contributors to erosion, especially on a local level.
Many mining techniques involve shifting large amounts of earth, such as strip mining
or mountaintop removal.
mining operations
•Involves removal of plants which cause more exposure to air and water and
speed up the process of chemical weathering.
Strip and open pit mining
