Freshwater Pollution Guided Notes
Holt Environmental Science Section 5.2, pg. 131
1. What is water pollution? introduction of chemical physical or biological agents into water that degrades the quality of the water and afects the organsims that depend on it.
2. What are the major causes of water pollution?industrialization human population explosion.
3. What is point pollution? Provide one example.pollution that is discharged from a single source such as factory a waste water treatment plant or a oil tank.
4. What is nonpoint pollution? Provide one example.pollution that comes from many sources rather than from a single specific site,homes lawns farms highways land surface.
5. Why is nonpoint pollution a more serious problem?difficult to regulate and control.
**Leave some room here for a sketch (wastewater treatment)**
6. What is sludge and how do we deal with it?solid material that remains after treatment,incinerated buried secure landfill
7. What are pathogens? List some examples.disease causing organisms such as bacteria,cholera hepatitis typhoid
8. How can biological magnification affect polluted aquatic ecosystems?
**Leave some room here for sketches (biomagnifications & eutrophication)**increase of concentration
9. What is thermal pollution and why is it a problem?excessive amounts of heat are added to a body of water,massive fish kills
10. What is the Clean Water Act? When was it passed?restore and maintain the chemical1972
11. Why will groundwater pollution be a long-lasting problem?because it wont end
12. Where does most bottled water come from?tap water
Holt Environmental Science Section 5.2, pg. 131
1. What is water pollution? introduction of chemical physical or biological agents into water that degrades the quality of the water and afects the organsims that depend on it.
2. What are the major causes of water pollution?industrialization human population explosion.
3. What is point pollution? Provide one example.pollution that is discharged from a single source such as factory a waste water treatment plant or a oil tank.
4. What is nonpoint pollution? Provide one example.pollution that comes from many sources rather than from a single specific site,homes lawns farms highways land surface.
5. Why is nonpoint pollution a more serious problem?difficult to regulate and control.
**Leave some room here for a sketch (wastewater treatment)**
6. What is sludge and how do we deal with it?solid material that remains after treatment,incinerated buried secure landfill
7. What are pathogens? List some examples.disease causing organisms such as bacteria,cholera hepatitis typhoid
8. How can biological magnification affect polluted aquatic ecosystems?
**Leave some room here for sketches (biomagnifications & eutrophication)**increase of concentration
9. What is thermal pollution and why is it a problem?excessive amounts of heat are added to a body of water,massive fish kills
10. What is the Clean Water Act? When was it passed?restore and maintain the chemical1972
11. Why will groundwater pollution be a long-lasting problem?because it wont end
12. Where does most bottled water come from?tap water
- How Can Water Pollution Be Detected?
Water pollution occurs when harmful waste products, chemicals, and other substances are introduced into a body of water. Most water pollution can be classified into four main types:
Thermal Pollution: is caused when factories and power plants release hot water, used to cool machines in their factories, intro surrounding water. This hot water causes a higher overall water temperature, which can lead to environmental imbalances.
Industrial or Chemical Pollution: is the discharge of toxic substances and other industrial byproducts into bodies of water.
Domestic Pollution: is the flow of sewage, pesticides and other waste material from farms, roads, cities and towns into bodies of water.
Soil Pollution: occurs when erosion causes soil to flow into a body of water
One of the most devastating effects of water pollution on ecosystems is a reduction in the amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) in a body of water. Fish and other aquatic creatures extract DO from water as they breathe. As pollution cause the amount of DO to decrease, aquatic animals must move to cleaner waters or die from suffocation. However, while many species die from lack of oxygen, there are fish, invertebrates, and microorganisms that thrive in polluted conditions.
In this virtual lab, you will measure DO levels and examine the species of aquatic life that inhabit different bodies of water.
Objectives:
1: Define four types of water pollution
2: Describe how pollution results in decreased dissolved oxygen (DO) levels, and explain the effect low DO levels can have on an ecosystem.
3: Describe how other factors, like temperature, can affect DO levels
4: Describe what aquatic life are most and least suited to polluted environments
- air pollution:vehicles, forest fires, construction or demolition
- water pollution:runoff, leaching of soil pollution, fertilizers, improper waste disposal
- soil pollution: non sustainable farming,hazardous waste, strip mining, littering
- thermal/chemical pollution:nuclear pollution, radioactive, uranium mining, power plants, deforestation, urban sprawl
advanced eutrophication, high temp or low temp
can make it high or low depending on the do and temp
some aquatic life can still live perfectly fine in some polluted water cause they can adapt easier or faster other aquatic life can only live so long then die off some pollution will kill you right then and there but it would have to take enough of ph level rise to kill the aquatic life.
NOTES
POINT source pollution comes from a specific source like a pipe
NON point source pollution associated with storm water or runoff
NPS examples oil and grass fertilizers grass clippings litter septic systems animal waste sewage and cleaners from boats household cleaning products
atmospherically deposited fertilizer applications animal waste automotive exhaust/ fluid leak runofffff
agriculture pollutants sediment nutrients pathogens
EUTROPHICATION build up of organic matter in water causing algal blooms
clean water act 1972 making water swimmable regulating point sources 1977-1987 storm water runoff section 404
safe water drinking act 1974 monitors levels of contaminants in groundwater
POINT source pollution comes from a specific source like a pipe
NON point source pollution associated with storm water or runoff
NPS examples oil and grass fertilizers grass clippings litter septic systems animal waste sewage and cleaners from boats household cleaning products
atmospherically deposited fertilizer applications animal waste automotive exhaust/ fluid leak runofffff
agriculture pollutants sediment nutrients pathogens
EUTROPHICATION build up of organic matter in water causing algal blooms
clean water act 1972 making water swimmable regulating point sources 1977-1987 storm water runoff section 404
safe water drinking act 1974 monitors levels of contaminants in groundwater
Wastewater Treatment Activity*
BACKGROUND
Think about the things that enter the wastewater system from a typical home: human waste; soap, detergents, and cleaning products from drains and washing machines; food items from garbage disposals; and anything people pour down the sink drain. How is this material removed so that the water can be safely returned to the environment and used again? The answer depends on where you live. If your home is not serviced by a public sewer system, your wastes are treated with a septic system. If your home is connected to a public sewer system, the water goes to a local wastewater treatment plant.
1. What happens in preliminary treatment at a wastewater treatment plant?
dirty water passes through a bar screen,takes large objects out.
2. What happens to large objects found in the wastewater?
they get taken out, put on conveyor belt taken to dumpster
3. What is a grit chamber and how is it used?
velocity of the flow is decreased to allow the heavier materials such as sand and gravel to settle at the bottom, bacteria goes to the top.
4. Primary treatment removes _____50________% of the pollutants in wastewater.
5. What happens to solids such as grease and oil?
skimmed from the top and pumped into incineration
6. What happens to the sludge in primary treatment?
pump out to filters , incinerators and disposal
7. What happens in secondary treatment?
pollutants removed and broken down
8. What are some examples of microorganisms used in secondary treatment?
bacteria
9. What happens to the remaining dirt?
burnt or sits
10. What happens to the remaining water? (Discuss the role of chlorine in your answer)
gets cleaned by chlorine
11. What is the final process of wastewater treatment?
cleaned for bacteria maybe sprayed out
12. According to the U.S. EPA, what does it mean to “flush responsibly”? What items should you never put down the drain in your house?
to not put things in your drain that will clog it
13. What did people do with their waste before we had sewer systems and septic tanks? When did the Federal government start to mandate that wastewater be treated before being returned to rivers, lakes and the ocean?
put it in stergeon city water
Click on Blue Plains Virtual Tour: http://esa21.kennesaw.edu/activities/ww-treatment/ww-tour-dc/blue_plains.swf
Since we were not able to visit a wastewater treatment plant, this website provides an interactive “virtual tour” of a wastewater treatment facility. It allows you to control the direction of the tour by selecting steps using the aerial view of the plant. Follow the numbered steps, clicking on the thumbnail images to enlarge and reading the associated text as you progress and answer the following questions.
Wastewater Treatment: Sequence of Events: Put the steps in the wastewater treatment process listed below in the right order.
Order Step in the Wastewater Treatment Process
Air is mixed vigorously into tanks with wastewater effluent
Chlorine or bleach is added to the wastewater effluent
Sand and grit are removed from the wastewater effluent
Bacteria are settled out of wastewater effluent
Oils ad greases float to the surface of wastewater effluent
1. Anything you flush down the toilet will eventually show up at the wastewater treatment plant. Let’s say you accidentally drop a small towel down the toilet. What device is likely to catch the towel at the plant, and what would be its ultimate destination if this occurred at the Blue Plains plant?
2. Why is the wastewater effluent treated with chlorine, bleach, or ultraviolet light after secondary treatment?
3. Describe how the organic solids collected in the wastewater treatment plant are processed after collection, and list their final destinations at the profiled plant.
4. Both nitrogen and phosphorus can occur in large concentrations in wastewater effluent. Why is this a potential problem? Describe, the approaches taken at the Blue Plains plant to deal with nitrogen and phosphorus removal prior to the release of the effluent into the environment.
BACKGROUND
Think about the things that enter the wastewater system from a typical home: human waste; soap, detergents, and cleaning products from drains and washing machines; food items from garbage disposals; and anything people pour down the sink drain. How is this material removed so that the water can be safely returned to the environment and used again? The answer depends on where you live. If your home is not serviced by a public sewer system, your wastes are treated with a septic system. If your home is connected to a public sewer system, the water goes to a local wastewater treatment plant.
1. What happens in preliminary treatment at a wastewater treatment plant?
dirty water passes through a bar screen,takes large objects out.
2. What happens to large objects found in the wastewater?
they get taken out, put on conveyor belt taken to dumpster
3. What is a grit chamber and how is it used?
velocity of the flow is decreased to allow the heavier materials such as sand and gravel to settle at the bottom, bacteria goes to the top.
4. Primary treatment removes _____50________% of the pollutants in wastewater.
5. What happens to solids such as grease and oil?
skimmed from the top and pumped into incineration
6. What happens to the sludge in primary treatment?
pump out to filters , incinerators and disposal
7. What happens in secondary treatment?
pollutants removed and broken down
8. What are some examples of microorganisms used in secondary treatment?
bacteria
9. What happens to the remaining dirt?
burnt or sits
10. What happens to the remaining water? (Discuss the role of chlorine in your answer)
gets cleaned by chlorine
11. What is the final process of wastewater treatment?
cleaned for bacteria maybe sprayed out
12. According to the U.S. EPA, what does it mean to “flush responsibly”? What items should you never put down the drain in your house?
to not put things in your drain that will clog it
13. What did people do with their waste before we had sewer systems and septic tanks? When did the Federal government start to mandate that wastewater be treated before being returned to rivers, lakes and the ocean?
put it in stergeon city water
Click on Blue Plains Virtual Tour: http://esa21.kennesaw.edu/activities/ww-treatment/ww-tour-dc/blue_plains.swf
Since we were not able to visit a wastewater treatment plant, this website provides an interactive “virtual tour” of a wastewater treatment facility. It allows you to control the direction of the tour by selecting steps using the aerial view of the plant. Follow the numbered steps, clicking on the thumbnail images to enlarge and reading the associated text as you progress and answer the following questions.
Wastewater Treatment: Sequence of Events: Put the steps in the wastewater treatment process listed below in the right order.
Order Step in the Wastewater Treatment Process
Air is mixed vigorously into tanks with wastewater effluent
Chlorine or bleach is added to the wastewater effluent
Sand and grit are removed from the wastewater effluent
Bacteria are settled out of wastewater effluent
Oils ad greases float to the surface of wastewater effluent
1. Anything you flush down the toilet will eventually show up at the wastewater treatment plant. Let’s say you accidentally drop a small towel down the toilet. What device is likely to catch the towel at the plant, and what would be its ultimate destination if this occurred at the Blue Plains plant?
2. Why is the wastewater effluent treated with chlorine, bleach, or ultraviolet light after secondary treatment?
3. Describe how the organic solids collected in the wastewater treatment plant are processed after collection, and list their final destinations at the profiled plant.
4. Both nitrogen and phosphorus can occur in large concentrations in wastewater effluent. Why is this a potential problem? Describe, the approaches taken at the Blue Plains plant to deal with nitrogen and phosphorus removal prior to the release of the effluent into the environment.
pros and cons of hydropowerr
pros: dams are relatively inexpensive to operate, dams generate clean power, dams improve quality life
cons:dams alter river habitats in many ways, natural cycles are distributed, temp of water is changed, dams prevent anadromous fish from laying eggs
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pros: dams are relatively inexpensive to operate, dams generate clean power, dams improve quality life
cons:dams alter river habitats in many ways, natural cycles are distributed, temp of water is changed, dams prevent anadromous fish from laying eggs
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