Water Pollution

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Water Pollution
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The Hydrologic Cycle
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World Water Supply
97.200 salt water in the oceans 02.014 ice
caps and glaciers 00.600 groundwater 00.009
surface water 00.005 soil moisture 00.001
atmospheric moisture
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Water Pollution Forms it may take

• Disease In developing nations, 80 of diseases
  are water-related.
• Synthetic Organic Compounds
• Inorganic Compounds Mineral Substances such as
  Acids, etc.
• Radioactive substances
• Oxygen-demanding wastes
• Plant Nutrients
• Sediments
• Thermal Discharges

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Oxygen and Water

• Biochemical Oxygen Demand What does this mean?
• Anything in the water that bacteria can break
  down.
• Bacteria will use up oxygen in the water
• Other aerobic organisms will die

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Oxygen and Water

• What else can affect the amount of O2 in the
  water?
• Temperature
• Speed of water flow
• Roughness of surface
• over which water flows

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A very personal look at water

• What happens to your water before you drink it?
• What happens to your water after you dispose of
  it?
• Approximately 57 of Canadians are served by
  wastewater treatment plants, compared with 74 of
  Americans, 86.5 of Germans, and 99 of Swedes.

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What constitutes quality drinking water?

• Free of pollutants
• Tastes good
• Want Sodium Bicarbonate and Calcium Sulfate in
  same concentrations as found in saliva
• 10 oC
• As little chlorination as possible
• Calcium magnesium account for most water
  hardness, death rates (cardiovascular disease)
  higher in soft water areas than in hard water
  areas
• Copper needed to absorb metabolism iron, but
  gt1mg/liter makes water unpalatable
• Does taste correlate with presence of toxic
  compounds?

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Where do pollutants come from?

• Point Sources A single definable source of the
  pollution, e.g. a factory, a sewage plant, etc.
• Nonpoint sources No one single source, but a
  wide range of sources, e.g. runoff from urban
  areas, or farmland.

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Forms of Pollution Details

• Inorganic acids, salts, toxic metals
• One gram of lead in 20,000 liters of water makes
  it unfit for drinking. Lead is often found in
  the pipes of older homes
• What is the safe drinking water limit for
  arsenic? How much does OUs water have?

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Forms of Pollution Details

• Organic sewage, pesticides, plastics, etc.
• One drop of oil can render up to 25 liters of
  water unfit for drinking
• One gram of 2,4 D can contaminate 10 million
  liters of drinking water!
• One gram of PCBs can make 1 billion liters of
  water unsuitable for freshwater aquatic life!

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Stories about particular pollutant forms Oil

• Both Point and Nonpoint Sources
• Largest source of oil pollution is pipeline leaks
  and runoff
• 61 ocean oil pollution river urban runoff
• 30 intentional discharges from tankers
• 5 accidental spills
• from tankers

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Stories about particular pollutant forms
Detergents

• The nitrates in fertilizers promote excessive
  growth of algae and larger aquatic plants,
  causing offensive algae blooms and driving out
  sport fish.
• Phosphates are often thought to culprit,
  nitrogen is the limiting factor in most aquatic
  systems.

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Stories about particular pollutant forms
Sediments

• THE largest form of water pollution
• Erosion is source weve sped up rate of
  erosion, e.g. during urban construction can lose
  up to 43 tons of topsoil/acre/year
• Natural rates of erosion leads to aquatic
  succession

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Succession in Aquatic Habitats
Lake
Sediments Nutrients Accumulate
Oligotrophic
Eutrophic Low in nutrients
High in nutrients
Can sometimes see Methane gas bubbling up From
sediments process of decomposition
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Stories about particular pollutant forms
thermal pollution

• 26 of all water in U.S. is affected by this
• Up to a point of adding heated water, you can get
  thermal enrichment
• Adding more heat,
• you get
• thermal pollution

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A special case Groundwater

• What forms of pollution can affect groundwater?
• All of them except thermal pollution!
• Renewal time of groundwater is important
• Rivers 12-20 days
• Soil Moisture 280 days
• Groundwater 300 years

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Oil Well Drilling Groundwater
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Oil Drilling Protocols

• Well must be cased from surface to below
  freshwater zone
• Casing must also be for 150 feet above pay zone
• Logging apparatus must be retrieved

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Oil Drilling Protocols

• Drilling fluids must be disposed of properly
  e.g. no Midnight Haulers
• Any spills must be reported and cleaned
  immediately
• Area will be subject to remediation efforts