Water Pollution Part 2 Flashcards
What is point source pollution?
Pollutants from a specific source, like a storm drain
What is a plume?
What are 3 examples of plumes?
Contaminants that deep from a concentrated area
- LUST
- thermal pollution
- leaking septic tank
What is a LUST?
Leaking underground storage tank
What is non-point source pollution?
Pollutants that don’t have a specific source, like parking lots and agricultural fields
What is atmospheric deposition?
What is 1 example?
Pollutants are released into air and re-deposited elsewhere
Coal plants release mercury (Hg) into air, which settles on lakes and is ingested by fish
What pH is needed to classify rain as acid rain?
7.5
What 2 compounds combine with water to make acid rain?
Nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2)
Acid rain leaches what 2 elements from rock?
What are 2 types of rock that are commonly affected?
Aluminum (Al) and mercury (Hg)
Marble and limestone
In water, what are 2 pollutants that cause low pH?
Sulfur and industrial waste
Do sulfur and industrial waste cause a low or high pH in water?
Low
What is N, P, and K?
What are 2 large contributors?
Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
Detergents, fertilizer, and manure
What is oxygen level measured in?
ppm (parts per million) aka mg/L
How does air enter water?
Photosynthesis and waves
What is the healthy oxygen level?
6-10 ppm
What is the biological oxygen demand (BOD)?
The amount of oxygen needed to sustain organisms
What are the results of decomposition?
It releases nutrients and the aerobic bacteria digesting it use up oxygen
What is cultural eutrophication?
Nutrition is increased, hypoxia occurs, algae and phytoplankton grow. Leads to a dead zone.
What is hypoxia?
Low oxygen concentration
Why do algae and phytoplankton grow a lot during eutrophication?
Nitrogen and phosphorus encourage plant growth
What is blue baby syndrome caused by?
What happens to a baby that has it?
Where does blue baby syndrome most frequently occur?
Nitrates from contaminated water binds to red blood cells
They slowly suffocate
The corn belt of the USA (lots of agricultural farms)
What is thermal pollution?
What is the main consequence of thermal pollution?
What are 3 sources of thermal pollution?
Heat in water
Warm water holds less oxygen
Power plants, industrial coolant, asphalt
What is turbidity?
What increases it?
What is an effect of organic turbidity?
What is an effect of inorganic turbidity?
Cloudiness of water
Runoff
Organic uses up oxygen during decomposition
Inorganic can interfere with photosynthesis by blocking sunlight
What are 2 examples of waterborne viruses?
What are 2 examples of waterborne bacteria?
What is 1 example of waterborne parasites?
Polio and rotavirus
Cholera and coliform
Giardia
Where does fecal coliform come from?
What does excess fecal coliform indicate?
Warm blooded animals
Other pathogenic bacteria are present
What causes toxic tide or red tide?
What is pfiesteria piscidia?
Dinoflagellates, single called organisms that digest fish alive
The species of dinoflagellates that are poisonous to eat and breathe
What are 2 main sources of radioactive materials in water?
What elements does it release?
Coal mining and ore processing
Cesium (Cs), thermium, (Th), uranium (U)
What does it mean if a chemical is inorganic?
What are 4 examples of inorganic chemicals?
What are 2 sources of inorganic chemicals?
It has no carbon
Mercury (Hg), tin (Sn), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb)
Household cleaners and industrial effluent
Where is mercury stored?
The nervous system
What does it mean if a chemical is organic?
What are 2 examples of organic chemicals?
What are 2 sources of organic chemicals?
It has carbon
Pesticides and pharmaceuticals
Farms and birth control (estrogen)
What does POP stand for?
What are POPs?
What are 4 examples of POPs?
Persistent organic pollutants
Synthetic chemicals that deteriorate slowly, are stored in fatty tissue, and are bad for health
DDT, PCB, dioxin, furan
What is DDT?
What is PCB?
What is dioxin and furan?
Pesticide used for mosquitoes and cotton crop pests
Heat exchange fluid in electrical transformers
By product of municipal and medical trash incineration
What happened at the Stockholm convention?
“Dirty dozen” POPs were banned
What are 3 ways to reduce pollution?
Fertilize less
Establish buffer strips
Keep livestock and feedlots away from streams
What are buffer strips?
What do the do?
Strips of land between developed areas and bodies of water
Absorb runoff and excess rain
What is contour plowing?
When crops are oriented against the flow of rain to absorb water and prevent erosion
What are cover crops?
What do they do?
Crops planted in the off season
Anchor soil to prevent erosion
What is gray water?
Water from showers, dishwashers, and washing machines
What percent of our domestic water use is for flushing toilets?
For bathing?
40%
37%
What percent of industrial water use is for cooling equipment?
What does this cause?
50%
Wasted heat and thermal pollution
Globally, what is the #1 use of water?
Agriculture
What inspired the clean water act?
What does the act require?
What did the act set?
The cuyahoga river fire (1968)
Pollutant discharge permits for effluents
Water quality standards (MCLs)
What are injection wells?
Wells that inject waste, oil, or solution into the ground
What is an aquatard?
A semi permeable layer that limits water flow
What is cloud seed?
What are 3 chemicals used in cloud seeding?
What are effects of cloud seeding?
Chemicals that clump water droplets together to make it rain
Dry ice, potassium iodide, silver iodide
Loss of rain elsewhere and possible water contamination
What is desalination?
What are 2 examples of desalination?
What are 2 consequences of desalination?
Where are most desalination plants?
Removing salt from ocean water to make it drinkable
Distillation: boil, steam, cool
Reverse osmosis: water pushes through semi permeable membrane
3-4 times more expensive
Uses a lot of energy
85% are in the Middle East
What are 4 consequences of dams?
Disrupts terrestrial ecosystems, loss of habitat (farming), siltation of penstocks, evaporation and runoff increase salinity
Why is the Colorado river salty and dry?
Irrigation leaches salt into river, causing salt poisoned fields, the Colorado is diverted into CA, NV, AZ, and Mexico
What are 3 consequences of the glen canyon dam?
Blocks fish passages, traps nutrient rich soil, raises water temp
Why is the Aral Sea salty and dry?
In the 60s water was diverted for agriculture, it’s now saltier than the ocean
