Other Ocean Pollutants Flashcards
What is pollution?
When human activity adds a substance to the environment that affects organisms inadvertently and at a greater rate than can be rendered harmless.
What is point source pollution?
Pollution released from a single clearly identifiable location.
What is non source pollution?
Release of pollution from several, widely dispersed locations.
What is the main source of pollution? How much does it account for?
Land based pollution such as chemical waste, garbage, sewage.
Accounts for 80%.
What does land based pollution consist of? Where do they come from?
Heavy metals.
Comes from mining waste, leaching from landfill sites, industrial wastewater, urban runoff from roads.
LB: What does heavy metal release to oceans?
Heavy metal ions.
LB: Why are heavy metal ions so bad for the environment?
- Toxic.
- Can cause cancer/ organ damage.
- May bioaccumulate in biological systems.
LB: What happens if heavy metal ions are consumed by humans?
Can harm neurological and reproductive systems even if consumed in small amounts.
LB: Uses of storm overflows?
Relief valves when the sewerage system is at risk of being overwhelmed such as during heavy downpours. –> Used to release excess rainwater and wastewater into rivers and seas.
LB: What has Ofwat set as a target for sewage spills?
Maximum of 20 spills a year by 2025 for all companies.
LB: How much was Southern Water fined for dumping sewage? (2021)
£90 million.
LB: Who manages outfalls in the UK? How many are there?
More than 18000 are managed by National Highways.
LB: What do outfalls discharge?
Heavy metals, hydrocarbons, chemicals, microplastics.
LB: How many outfalls in the UK are classified as high risk of pollution?
More than 1200.
LB: Issue with outfalls around the river Kennet?
There is a cluster of 24 around the river + tributaries.
This leads to a high level of heavy metals and hydrocarbons detected, associated with road runoffs. –> Many chemicals harm marine life and are carcinogenic (causing cancer).
INDUSTRIAL SOURCE POLLUTANT: How many tonnes of oil have been spilled into the UK waters by oil and gas?
Just under 13000 tonnes of oil in the last 5 years.
IS: Where is oil released and accumulated?
Released in waste water and cumulatively leads to large volumes being released in the sea.
IS:Pollutant issue with oil rigs?
Exploration, drilling and decommissioning of oil rigs releases toxic chemicals such as PAHs and mercury.
IS: Impact of PAHs and mercury from oil rigs?
Can cause death in marine organisms. PAHs are carciogenic.
IS:Spatial and temporal impact of drilling muds?
Can extend over 2 km from the oil well, with ecological impacts on the seafloor extending to 200-300 m from the source.
May persist in the deep sea for many years and likely to last longer in fragile ecosystems.
P&B Link: Why can it be difficult to manage land based pollution?
- State sovereignty.
- Right of state to pursue own economic and social developments.
P&B Link: What did 1982 Law of the Sea Convention do? Is it effective?
Prescribed certain obligations with respects to land-based sources of pollution. –> Largely ineffective on its own.
P&B Link: What does UNCLOS article 194 do?
This directs states to take all measures to prevent, reduce and control pollution from any source for the marine environment.
To ensure that pollution arising from its activies does not spread beyond areas of its sovereignty.
P&B Link: What does UNCLOS article 207 do?
Calls upon states to adopt laws and regulations to prevent, reduce and control pollution of marine environment, “taking into account” internationally agreed rules, standards and recommended practices.
P&B Link: What does UNCLOS article 213 do?
Calls upon states to enforce laws and regulations adopted as following article 207, but to also take other necessary measures.
P&B Link: Why are obligations from UNCLOS weaker about land-based pollution?
Weaker than other activities causing pollution. States are merely called upon to “take into account” international standards and practices. –> Each state can judge what measures to take and if they should be more or less stringent.
P&B Link: One successful regional agreement?
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic. (OSPAR). –> Between 15 governments and the EU.
P&B Link: Why are regional agreements more likely to be successful?
- Easier to regulate pollution from vessels than land-based sources which come from a variety of sources and produce a variety of substances.
P&B Link: Outline MARPOL? (1973)
Allows for untreated sewage discharge to take place from beyond the EEZ.
What does pollution from fossil fuel at sea produce?
CO2, Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides.
Shipping of all types relies on fossil fuels for power. –> CO2 causes ocean acidification.
CS: Emission scale from cargo ships?
GLOBAL scale as shipping distances are very long. Mainly in the Northern hemisphere where there is a higher concentration of busy shipping lanes or around major ports..
CS: How many ocean going cargo vessels are there?
100,00 ocean going cargo vessels.
CS: What fuel do cargo ships use? Why is this polluting?
Bunker fuel used.
This contains 3500 more sulphur than road diesel.
It also creates sulphuric acid when mixed with rain, a component of acid rain. –> Damages forests and destoys aquatic life.
CS: How much sulphur do the largest cargo vessels emit?
5000 tonnes a year, sea transport is resposible for 9% of annual SO2 emissions.
CS: Figures for cargo and pollution at Long Beach Port, Los Angeles?
Second busiest port in the US/ 10th in the world in tonnage of cargo and goods. –> 6-7 million containers move through annually.
Air pollution in the immediate vicinity is 2-3 times higher than further away.
Fuel combustion?: Outline pollution from Southampton Port?
UK’s 2nd largest container port and Europe;s busiest cruise terminal.
Up to 5 large cruise ships can be berthed at one time, running engines 24/7.
Breaches WHO air quality guidelines.
Pollution leads to increased asthma and heart diseases.
FC: What type of engine do older diesel ships use? Impact?
Diesel engines. –> Emits Nitrogen oxide, an air pollutant linked to lung cancer and respiratory disease.
FC: Issue around enforcement of sulphur fuel.
- There are regulations close to limit to low levels close to shore in US/ EU. BUT none at high seas.
FC: How much sulphur does Harmony of the Seas emit?
It emits more sulphur than several million cars.
SW + B: What is bilge water?
Water that does not drain off the side of the deck but drains not the bilge.
SW + B: What does contaminated bilge water contain?
Oil, gasoline, chemicals etc.
SW + B: How much sewage weekly does a 3000 person cruise generate.
210,000 gallons.
SW + B: How should sewage be treated?
Separating solid and liquid waste. Solid waste should be burnt, liquid waste released back.
SW + B: How much sewage is dumped into the ocean annually?
1 billion gallons annually?
SW + B: What % of food is waste on cruise ships? Where does it go?
30%.
Ends up being discharged into the sea after mixed with water and liquified.
SW + B: What did a Norwegian cruise Line do in 2002 to do with sewage and bilge water?
Fined $1 million for falsifiying records to hide illegal dumping of hundreds of thousands of gallons of oily bilge water and raw sewage near Miami waters for years.
SW + B: Two ways sewage and bilge water can impact ocean systems?
- Sewage can lead to oxygen depletion. –> Bacteria in ocean feed on sewage, grow in number and respire, using up nearby oxygen.
- Accumulation of chemicals. –> BIOACCUMULATION as organism’s bodies cannot break or expel the chemical. These chemicals move up the food chain and reach dangerous levels in apex preadators such as whales..
Radioactive waste: Why did this industry expand? Where and why was waste disposed?
Expanded after second world war (medical, energy production, industrial purposes).
Disposed large quantities of nuclear waste in oceans as they believed the radioactivity would be dispersed throughout the oceans.
RW: How many countries disposed radioactive waste in oceans? When?
13 countries.
1946-1993.
RW: Impacts from radioactive waste?
Can accumulate in the marine food chain. (Found in seals and porpoises in the Irish sea.
Can ionise cells, damage/ kill cells. –> Potential mutations or cancer.
RW:How many nuclear submarines have sunk or scuttled? Why is this bad?
Sea water corrodes the hull. –> Future release of radioactive waste into the ocean.
RW: Spatial extent of radioactive waste in the Kara Sea?
There is a Russian K-27 nuclear submarine in 33m of water.
The ocean can be further exposed to pollution overtime as corrosive seawater will eventually release highly radioactive material into the sea.
RW: Impact of radiation in Fukushima?
After the 2011 EQ/ Tsunami –> Strict ban on catching and consuming marine life in the immediate vicinity of the power plant.
RW: How long does radioactive waste as a pollutant?
A long time.
U-238 Uranium (majority of material in nuclear fuel) has a half life of 4 billion years. –> Relatively safe though when ingested/ inhaled can increae risk of lung/ bone cancer.
Nuclear waste can take up to half a million years to reach safe levels.
Algal blooms: What chemical do fertilisers have in them? Where are they used?
Nitrogen-based.
Used in agricultural operations. -> Eventually ends up migrating to the sea.
AB: Impacts of chemicals from fertilisers?
- Nitrates + Phosphates create rich ‘soup’ of nutrients which stimulate the blooms of algae. –> Rapid growth of toxic species such as cyanobacteria (kills marine life).
This leads to the decomposition of the dead fish consuming oxygen –> Creates oxygen-poor dead zones causing more deaths.
- Blooms of non toxic algae –> Consumes oxygen as they die and decompose + clogs the gills of fish/ invertebrates.
AB: Where is the largest dead zone?
Largest oxygen-poor dead zone due to algal bloom is in the Gulf of Mexico due to nutrient pollution from the Mississippi river basin.
AB: Causes of algal blooms?
- Increased input of synthetic fertiliser in commercial farming. –> Enters rivers and oceans.
- Before 2000, large scale toxic algal bloom was rare off the Californian coast. Changed after 2000: Now annual bloom, with toxins 500 increasing 500 times per volume of water.
- Baltic Sea Blooms: 3/4 nutrients from agriculture. –> Decline in harmless phytoplankton but increase in toxic species.
Global warming has led to milder winters + more rainfall —> More runoff washing nutrients + higher sea surface temps. –> Promotes algae growth.
AB: Implications of algal blooms and growth?
- Drinking water contaminated by bloom can cause abnormal liver function, diarrhoea, vomiting, dizziness for humans.
- Toxins can kill species such as fish, turtles and dolphins.
- Particular species can make shellfish lethal, causing fisheries to shut down until the bloom subsides, impacting local economies. –> On the U.S. West Coast a toxic bloom shut down the fisheries in 2015. Dungeness crab fishery lost $97.5 million in landings compared to the previous year. Coastal communities in Washington lost an estimated $40 million in tourism spending.
