Water Pollution

Objectives
Describe the sources and effects of some major types of water pollution

Appreciate why access to sewage treatment and clean water are

important
Explain ways to control water pollution, including technological and legal
solutions
Water pollution

Any physical, biological, or chemical change in water quality that

adversely affects living organisms can be considered pollution
Point sources
Discharge pollution from specific locations

Factories, power plants

Easy to control through regulations

Non-point sources
Non-point sources - Scattered or diffuse, having no specific location of
discharge

Agricultural fields, feedlots

Very difficult to monitor and regulate

Atmospheric deposition

Ultimate in non-point source pollution

Contaminants carried by air currents and precipitated into watersheds or

directly onto surface waters

Agricultural (atrazine, toxaphene) and industrial (PCBs, dioxins)

contaminants in the Great Lakes that cannot be accounted for by local sources
alone

Most thought to have been deposited from the atmosphere

Several studies have indicated health problems among people who

regularly eat Great Lakes fish
Infectious agents

Main source of waterborne pathogens is improperly treated human waste

Animal wastes from feedlots and fields is also important source of

pathogens
Infectious agents

Infectious agents

In developed countries, sewage treatment plants and pollution-control

devices have greatly reduced pathogens

Waters monitored for coliform bacteria - intestinal bacteria including

Escherichia coli (E. coli)

Estimated 1.5 million Americans fall ill from fecal contamination annually

Drinking water generally disinfected via chlorination

Oxygen-demanding wastes
Certain organic materials added to water stimulates oxygen consumption
by decomposers

Sewage

Paper pulp

Food-processing wastes
Oxygen-demanding wastes

Water with an oxygen content > 6 ppm will support desirable aquatic life

Water with < 2 ppm oxygen will support mainly detritis feeders and
decomposers (e.g. worms, bacteria, fungi)

Oxygen is added to water by diffusion from wind and waves, and by

photosynthesis from green plants and algae

Oxygen is removed from water by respiration and oxygen-consuming

chemical processes
Oxygen-demanding wastes
Effects of oxygen-demanding wastes on rivers depend on volume, flow,
and temperature of river water

Faster flowing water has more oxygen

Lower temperature water has more oxygen

Oxygen sag - oxygen levels decline downstream from a pollution source

as decomposers metabolize waste materials
Oxygen sag
Oxygen sag
Plant nutrients and cultural eutrophication

Oligotrophic - Bodies of water that have clear water and low biological
productivity

Eutrophic - Bodies of water that are rich in organisms and organic material

Eutrophication - Process of increasing nutrient levels and biological

productivity

Some amount of eutrophication is normal

Cultural eutrophication - Increase in biological productivity and ecosystem

succession caused by human activities
Eutrophication

Eutrophication
Gulf of Mexico hypoxia

In 1974, scientists found areas where oxygen had disappeared from

bottom sediments and the water column

First thought to be a minor natural disturbance

Hypoxic area in 1993 after Mississippi floods doubled in size

Stays from May to September

Influx of nitrogen from Midwest/Great Plains is cause

Hypoxic area continues to grow

Harmful algal blooms (HABs)

HABs have become increasingly common in slow-moving and shallow

waters, usually due to pollution

Algal blooms produce toxins

Red tides are blooms of deadly aquatic algae

Cryptosporidium in 1993 entered the Milwaukee public water supply,

making 400,000 people sick and killing at least 100 people
Pfiesteria piscicida

First discovered in 1988 in open sores in fish in Chesapeake Bay

Very complicated life cycle

No fewer than 24 different life forms

In 1997, fish kills led to the closing of Pocomoke River to all shellfish and
fish harvests

Economic loss was $15-20 million in MD alone

Causes skin rashes, neurological disorders and death in humans

Inorganic pollutants
Metals

Many metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel are highly toxic

Highly persistent and tend to bioaccumulate in food chains

Lead pipes are a serious source of drinking water pollution

Mine drainage is serious source of metal pollution in water

Inorganic pollutants

Nonmetallic salts

Many salts that are non-toxic at low concentrations can be mobilized by

irrigation and concentrated by evaporation, reaching levels toxic to plants and
animals

Leaching of road salts has had detrimental effect on many ecosystems

Acids and bases

Often released as by-products of industrial processes

Coal mining

Acid precipitation
Organic chemicals

Thousands of natural and synthetic organic chemicals are used to make

pesticides, plastics, pharmaceuticals, pigments, etc.

Many are highly toxic and bioaccumulate

Organic chemicals
Two most important sources of toxic organic chemicals in water are:

Improper disposal of industrial and household wastes

Runoff of pesticides from high-use areas

Fields, roadsides, golf courses

Pesticide runoff
Sediment
Human activities have accelerated erosion rates in many areas

Human-induced erosion and runoff contribute about 75 billion metric tons

of suspended solids to world surfaces each year
Fills lakes, obstructs shipping channels, makes drinking water purification
more costly
Thermal pollution
Raising or lowering water temperatures from normal levels can adversely
affect water quality and aquatic life

Oxygen solubility in water decreases as temperatures increase

Species requiring high oxygen levels are adversely affected by warming

water
Thermal pollution
Caused by altering vegetation cover and runoff patterns

Industrial cooling processes often use heat-exchangers to extract excess

heat, and then discharge heated water back into original source

Ocean pollution

Estimated 6 million metric tons of plastic bottles, packaging material, and

other litter tossed from ships into the ocean annually
Oil pollution
Few coastlines in the world remain uncontaminated by oil or oil products

Estimated 3-6 million metric tons of oil are discharged into the worlds
oceans

Transport creates opportunities for major spills

Oil pollution
Groundwater and drinking water
About half the U.S. population, and 95% of rural residents, depend on
underground aquifers for drinking water

For decades, groundwater was assumed impervious to pollution and was

considered the gold standard for water quality
Groundwater and drinking water
EPA estimates 4.5 trillion liters of contaminated water seep into the ground
in the U.S. every day

MTBE - Gasoline additive, and suspected carcinogen, is present in many

urban aquifers

In agricultural areas, fertilizers and pesticides commonly contaminate

aquifers and wells
Groundwater pollution
Water pollution control
Source reduction

Cheapest and most effective way to reduce pollution is avoid producing it

or releasing it into the environment

Studies show as much as 90% less road salt can be used without
significantly affecting winter road safety

Soil conservation
Non-point sources and land management

Some main causes of non-point pollution:

Agriculture

Urban runoff

Construction sites

Land disposal

Preserving wetlands

In urban areas, reducing materials carried away by storm runoff is helpful

Watershed protection in the Catskills

Water supply for New York City

Worked with local farmers to reduce non-point pollution and preserve land

Saved billions of dollars by performing watershed protection rather than

building a treatment plant
Human waste disposal
More than 500 pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and parasites can travel from
human or animal excrement through water
Natural processes

In many areas, outdoor urination and defecation is the norm

When population densities are low, natural processes can quickly

eliminate waste
Municipal sewage treatment
Primary Treatment - Physical separation of large solids from the waste
stream
Secondary Treatment - Biological degradation of dissolved organic
compounds

Effluent from primary treatment transferred into trickling bed, or aeration

tank

Effluent from secondary treatment is usually disinfected (chlorinated)

before release into nearby waterway
Municipal sewage treatment
Tertiary treatment - Removal of plant nutrients (nitrates and phosphates)
from secondary effluent.

Chemicals, or natural wetlands

In many U.S. cities, sanitary sewers are connected to storm sewers

Heavy storms can overload the system, causing by-pass dumping of raw
sewage and toxic runoff directly into watercourses
Low-cost waste treatment
Living systems such as wetlands

Effluent flows through wetlands where it is filtered and cleaned by aquatic

plants and microscopic organisms
Water legislation
Clean Water Act (1972)

Goal was to return all U.S. surface waters to fishable and swimmable
conditions


For Point Sources, Discharge Permits and Best Practicable Control
Technology (BPT) are required

Clean Water Act (1972)

Areas of contention

Draining or filling of wetlands

Many consider this taking of private land

Un-funded mandates

State or local governments must spend monies not repaid by Congress

Other important water legislation
Safe Drinking Water Act (1974)

Regulates water quality

CERCLA (1980) (aka Superfund)

Cleans up abandoned or inactive sites
Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (1972)
London Dumping Convention (1990)

Other important water legislation

Laws are only as good as:

To the degree they are not weakened

To the degree they are funded

Water quality today in US
Areas of Progress

In 1999, EPA reported 91.4% of all monitored river miles and 87.5% of all
accessed lake acres are suitable for their designated uses

Most progress due to municipal sewage treatment facilities

Remaining problems

Greatest impediments to achieving national goals in water quality are

sediment, nutrients, and pathogens, especially from non-point discharges

About three-quarters of water pollution in the U.S. comes from soil

erosion, air pollution fallout, and agricultural and urban runoff
Surface waters in other countries

At least 2.5 billion people in less developed countries lack adequate

sanitation, and about half of these lack access to clean drinking water

Sewage treatment in wealthier countries of Europe generally equal or

surpass the U.S.

In Russia, only about half of the tap water supply is safe to drink
Surface waters in other countries

In urban areas of South America, Africa, and Asia, 95% of all sewage is
discharged untreated into rivers

Two-thirds of Indias surface waters are contaminated sufficiently to be

considered dangerous to human health