unit 7 & 8 Flashcards
- ethanol
- natural gas
- propane
- hydrogen
- biodiesel
- electricity
- methanol
alternates to fossil fuels
- vapor recovery nozzle (prevents fumes from escaping into atmosphere when fueling up vehicle)
- catalytic converter (converts pollutants into less harmful molecules)
reducing air pollution in gas-powered vehicles
- wet and dry scrubbers (removes particles & gases from industrial exhaust streams)
- coal-burning plants (scrubbers and electroostatic precipitators)
reducing air pollution from industrial exhaust
situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified.
sick building syndrome
- difficult to identify, comes from many places all at once
- ex. storm runoff, pesticide spraying, urban runoff, agricultural runoff, agricultural pollution from a group of cattle farms, runoff following road construction, acid mine drainage (moves into groundwater, leaches heavy metals from rocks along the way, therefore containing multiple sources of pollution)
nonpoint source
- easily identifible
- comes from a single place
- ex. sewage treatment plant, city bus exhaust, waste discharge pipe, industrial smokestack, leaking sanitary landfill, a leaking septic tank
point source
- measure the amount of dissolved oxygen needed to break down the organic material in a given water sample
- used to gage the effectiveness of wastewater treatment
- expressed as mg 02 consumed/L during 5 days at 20 degrees celsius
- lots of organic pollution = HIGH BOD
- Anything over 1 mg O2/L is considered high–the higher the more polluted
biological oxygen demand (BOD)
mainly includes plastic and also lost or discarded fishing equipment, garbage, etc.
floating debris
- sewage or animal slurry
- affects water quality with biological indicators correlating with distance from the source
- BOD is highest next to these areas
organic pollution
- soil erosion and land run-off results in high levels of nitrate and phosphates
- nutrient enrichment can lead to nutrient eutrophication with decreased oxygen levels
inorganic plant nutrients
- ex. mercury
- common in sea water and comes from burning coals
- In the form of methylmercury the metal can bioaccumulate and biomagnify.
This is one reason to reduce consumption of top predators such as tuna, marlin or swordfish
toxic metals
- POPS (Persistent Organic Pollutants) are an example of synethetic compounds
- As they persist they can bioaccumulate and biomagnify.
These reach higher concentrations in polar regions due to global wind patterns and ocean currents.
ex. POPs such as DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and HCB (hexachlorobenzene) were used as pesticides in agriculture and for controlling pests in buildings.
synthetic compounds
Particles or sediment that float in water
Reduce visibility - increases turbidity
This reduces productivity of producers as less light for photosynthesis
Can be non-point source from land run-off or point source from sewage pipe for eg.
suspended solids
Increasing temperature of water means less oxygen is able to dissolve in water.
Thermal power plants generate electricity using steam.
Although water is cooled before release into environment, it is still warmer and can affect local ecosystem.
hot water
Famous oil spills include Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon but oil has been spilled in large amounts during the Gulf Wars and West African oil fields.
Natural microbes occur that can metabolise oil but their work is made difficult by the chemical dispersants that are sprayed on oil spills.
oil
Radioactive particles can bioaccumulate in organisms.
ex. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan went into meltdown following a tsunami in 2011 (Nuclear radiation entered the atmosphere and the Pacific Ocean)
radioactive pollution
Pathogens are disease causing organisms.
Faecal matter of an infected person reaches a water source contaminating groundwater
diarrhea, vomiting, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, intestinal parasites, etc
Strong socio-economic correlation with water-borne diseases and percentage of access to sanitation and clean water
ex. typhoid mary, cholera, “the great stink”
Pathogen pollution
Light pollution affects behaviour of organisms
Causes circadian disruption
Disorientates migrating birds
Prevents turtles from coming to nest on beaches or the hatchlings to not be able to orient towards the sea.
light pollution
Affects marine organisms that navigate and communicate using sonar such as whales and dolphins
Increasingly noisy oceans disorient these cetaceans and prevent their normal behaviour
Some forms of sonar may even cause haemorrhaging.
noise pollution
Competition with native species can lead to extinction and have serious economic impacts.
ex. zebra mussels in the us
biological pollutants (INVASIVE SPECIES)
a chemical compound that interferes with the normal functioning of the endocrine system and the reproductive and other biological processes regulated by it
bpa (bisphenol A) can be found in canned foods, food containers, bottled waters, store receipts, wine and beer, and sunglasses
- can cause infertility, breast/prostate cancer, early puberty, autoimmune infection, cardiopulmonary, asthma, blood pressure, alzhiemer’s, parkinson’s, ADHD
endocrine disruptors
Increasing Ocean Temperatures
Sediment Runoff
Destructive Fishing Processing
Oil Spills
Ocean dead zone
Pollution
human impact on ecosystems
Increase in N&P causes an increase in algae growth. Algae die, As bacteria starts to breakdown the organic material , they will consume oxygen and reduce the dissolved oxygen (DO) that is available for other aquatic organisms, causing Hypoxia
When BOD is high, DO will decrease.
eutrophication
Water that is warmer than the original habitat.
Warmer the water, less oxygen gas the water can hold. (Think zone of tolerance)
thermal pollution
Chemicals that are not broken down in the body but stored in fatty tissues.
bioaccumulation
Chemicals occur in higher levels in organisms in higher trophic levels.
biomagnification
reduce, reuse, recycle, ex. composting
waste reduction methods
the dose that will kill an animal.Median lethal dose (LD50) - the dose that can kill 50% of the animals (usually rats and mice) in a test population within a given time period
lethal dose
A dose response curve describes the effect on an organism or mortality rate in a population based on the dose of a particular toxin or drug.
dose response curve
they remove suspended particulate matter from exhaust using high voltage charge
electrostatic precipitators
collect dust/remove particulates from the exhaust
bag filters
air pollution control devices that remove particulate matter and/or gases from exhaust using scrubbing liquid
wet scrubbers
reduces amounts of impurities (ex. sulphur) from coal
pre combustion coal-cleaning processes
fireplaces/wood stoves, tobacco smoke, floor and ceiling tiles, pipe installation, furniture, carpets, foam insulation, pressed wood
indoor air pollutants that release particulate matter
irritation of nose, eyes, throat (from exposure), airways, coughing, difficulty breathing, aggravation of chronic lung disease, premature death inindividuals with lung or heart disease
negative health effects from indoor particulate matter
radon comes decay of uranium in the soil, which rises to basements (radioactive pollution)
- valued source of timber and fuel
- wide variety of fish species
- climate regulation
- mangrove ecosystem services worth up to 800 billion per year
- 120 million live in mangroves (people)
- restoring mangroves are 5x more cost effective
- 2000 tourist attractions
- 2-5 hectares of mangroves may treat the effluents of 1 hectare of aquaculture
benefits of mangrove systems
- 4 times higher than overall forest loss
- can cause local and regional extinction
- conversion to rice paddies in myanmar (field used to cultivate rice)
- fragmentation and total clearance
- aquaculture causes more than half mangrove losses globally
- clogged with sediment, solid waste, oil
- human population 3 times higher than global average
threats/drivers of mangrove loss
polluted liquid produced by water passing through buried wastes in a landfill
leachate
The burning of solid waste can reduce volume of waste rby 90% and waste heat can be used for other purposes. However it may have toxic emissions (polyvinyl chloride, dioxin), scrubbers and electrostatic precipitators needed, ash disposal.
incineration
a mechanical process in which large solids are removed by screening and some suspended solids are removed by settlement (sedimentation)
primary treatment of sewage
a biological oxidation process in which the levels of suspended and dissolved organic materials are reduced, i.e. the sewage is decomposed by means of bacteria which use the nutrients from the sewage together with oxygen from the air to break down the sewage
secondary treatment of sewage
a process involving the removal of phosphorus compounds by precipitation and the removal of nitrogen compounds by biological and ion-exchange methods
tertiary treatment of sewage
the area of open water where the lake is too deep to allow rooted plant growth.
limnetic zone
NO2 turns to NO + O with sunlight and transfers to O + O2 to form ozone. NO transfers to NO + VOCs to form Photochemical oxidants. Photochemical oxidants + Ozone = Photochemical smog.
photochemical smog formation
