Water Pollution

1
Water Pollution
2
Water Pollution
Water can be polluted by chemical, physical or
biological agents.
Humans depend on very small reservoirs of water
for all our needs These reservoirs cycle/
turnover very quickly. As they cycle they can
either collect pollution from other sources, or
be cleaned by passing through functioning
ecosystems
3
State of Water in KS

• Percent of Rivers, Streams and Creeks in KANSAS
  assessed by agencies for 1997-98 reporting
  period
• 12  Percent Waterbodies Affected
• Pathogens 50
• Salinity/TDS/Chlorides 47
• pH 17
• Pesticides 12
• Inorganics 9

4
Type of Pollution

• Wastewater and water runoff
• Artificial Eutrophication
• Thermal Pollution
• Groundwater Pollution
• Ocean Pollution (helped by the Oil Pollution Act
  of 1990all oil tankers traveling in US waters to
  have double hulls by 2015)

5
Water Pollution
6
Water Pollution
7
Pollutant Types and Sources

• Pathogenssewage, animal feces
• Organic Matternonpoint sources
• Organic Chemicalsfarms, lawns, wastewater,
  leaking landfills resulting in artificial
  eutrophication
• Inorganic Chemicalspoint and nonpoint sources,
  road surfaces, polluted participation
• Heavy Metalsmining processes, industrial
  discharge, landfills
• Physical agentsthermal pollution from industry,
  suspended solids from soil erosion.

8
Two Type of Water Pollution

• Point Sourcedischarge from a single source
• Non-point Sourcedischarge from many sources that
  are often difficult to identify.

9
Point Sources

• Single large source
• Can localize it to one spot
• Industrial Plants
• - Sewage pipes

10
Point Source - Example

• LUST - Leaky Underground Storage Tanks
• 22 of the 1.2 million UST are LUSTy
• Look at water pollution from gasoline...

11
Point source examples
12
Non point source examples
13
Non-point Sources

• Diffuse source or many smaller point sources
• Automobiles
• Fertilizer on fields

14
Non-point source pollutants - nutrients
15
(No Transcript)
16
Acid Rainanother non-point source of pollution

• Reactions to convert to acid take place in 2
  days - travel 1000 miles
• Down wind - Acid rain
• Dry Dep. vs Wet Dep.
• Dry Deposition
• 50 of total
• Can react with plants - strip nutrients
• Tree dieback

17
(No Transcript)
18
Acid Rain and Trees
19
Forests affected by Acid Rain Northeast
US Canada Northern Europe Asia
20
Acid Rain and Buildings
Many buildings are made of concrete and or
stone These compounds act as bases and react
with acid The building technically weathers
very fast, or Non technically crumbles
21
Europe
The US Capitol
22
Acid Neutralization

• How does this work?
• Cation Exchange on clay minerals
• Role of chemical weathering...

23
Major powerplants sources of N emissions Acid
rain
24
Nitrogen deposition 1989 - 1991
Nitrogen deposition 1995 - 1998
25
Surface water sensitivity to Acid Deposition -
known in 1990
26
Surface water sensitivity to Acid Deposition -
known in 1998
27
Acid Rain Summary
28
Examples of Smog
29
How does acid kill the fish?One way is
mobilizing metals

• When all base cations are striped from soils
• Acid now reacts with metals e.g. aluminum
• Normally aluminum is immobile
• below pH 5 - mobile aluminum
• Fish breath in the water
• Aluminum comes out of solution
• Clogs gills - suffocate

30
Acid Rain Effects Aquatic Systems
When the pH drops below 6.0 species start to die
off. When one species dies, others that depend on
it may as well
31
Federal Laws

• 1972 Clean Water Act
• 1972 Marine Protection, Research, and
  Sanctuaries Act, amended in 1988
• 1975 Safe Drinking Water Act
• 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response
  Compensation and Liability Act
• 1987 Water Quality Act
• 1990 Oil Pollution Act (wont be fully effective
  until 2015)