Water Pollution and Waste Management

Aquatic Pollution: Wastewater

• Wastewater from humans and livestock poses several problems.
• Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies with substances from human activities.
• Wastewater is water produced by livestock and human activities, including sewage and grey water.
• Point sources are locations where pollution is directly produced.
• Nonpoint sources are diffuse areas that produce pollution.
• Wastewater problems include oxygen demand, nutrient release, and disease-causing organisms.

Oxygen Demand

• Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) measures oxygen used by water over time at specific temperatures.
• A dead zone is an area in a body of water with extremely low oxygen concentration and little life.

Nutrient Release

• Eutrophication occurs when a body of water becomes rich in nutrients.
• Cultural eutrophication is increased fertility due to anthropogenic nutrient inputs.
• Increased nutrients, like fertilizers, cause rapid algae growth, which increases BOD when the algae die.

Diseases-Causing Organisms

• Globally, the same water source is used for drinking, bathing, and sewage, and wastewater can carry pathogens.
• Diseases from contaminated water include cholera, typhoid fever, stomach flu, diarrhea, and hepatitis.
• Indicator species indicate the presence of disease-causing pathogens.
• Fecal coliform bacteria in human intestines can indicate harmful microorganisms in contaminated sewage.

Wastewater Treatment Technologies

• Properly treating wastewater reduces waterborne pathogen risks.
• Two common methods to handle human wastewater are septic systems and sewage treatment plants.

Septic System

• A septic system is a sewage treatment system composed of a septic tank and leach field, often used in rural areas.
• A septic tank receives wastewater from a house and a leach field is made up of underground pipes below the surface.
• Sludge is the solid waste material from wastewater.
• Septage is the fairly clear water layer in the middle of a septic tank.

Sewage Treatment Plants

• Developed countries use centralized sewage treatment plants that receive wastewater from many households.
• Traditional waste treatment plants use primary and secondary treatment phases.
• Primary treatment involves settlement.
• Secondary treatment involves bacteria.

Mitigation of Water Contamination of Water

• The soil filters out waste so farmers can flow to groundwater from wastewater.
• In wastewater treatment, the settlement tank in the primary treatment separates waste and oils from water.
• In secondary treatment, bacteria breaks down harmful organic material.
• Sludge from wastewater treatment can be turned into fertilizer.

Animal Feedlots and Manure Lagoons

• Manure from concentrated animal feeding operations is problematic due to volume and potential hormones/antibiotics and can be stored in Manure lagoons.
• Manure lagoons are human-made ponds lined with rubber to handle large amounts of livestock manure.
• Bacteria break down manure, which is then spread on fields as fertilizer.

Heavy Metals and Other Chemicals

• Heavy metals are toxic to organisms.
• Lead, arsenic, and mercury are three heavy metals of concern.
• Lead is found in pipes.
• Arsenic occurs naturally and through mining/industry activities.
• Mercury occurs naturally and through coal burning and acid mine drainage.

Acid Deposition

• Acid deposition is acids deposited as rain, snow, gases, or particles and occurs when burning coal releases sulfur and nitrogen dioxide.
• The chemicals convert to sulfuric and nitric acid and reduce the pH of water bodies.
• Coal-burning facilities use coal scrubbers to combat this problem.

Synthetic Organic Compounds

• Synthetic organic compounds are chemicals produced by humans and can enter water from industrial or nonpoint sources.
• These compounds include pesticides, pharmaceuticals, military compounds, and industrial compounds which can be toxic, cause genetic defects, and interfere with development.

Pesticides and Inert Ingredients

• Pesticides help control pest organisms but can harm non-target species.
• DDT (designed to kill mosquitos), can move up an aquatic food chain to birds that consume fish that consumed DDT-contaminated produces eggs with thinner shells.

Military and Industrial Compounds

• Perchlorates are harmful chemicals used for rocket fuel and can contaminate soil where rockets are made, tested, or dismantled.
• Industrial compounds are chemicals used in manufacturing
• Dumping industrial compounds directly into water bodies used to be common in the U.S.
• Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are industrial compounds to manufacture plastics and insulate electrical transformers, and responsible for many environmental problems.

Water Pollution: Eutrophication

• Eutrophication is a phenomenon of a body of water becomes rich in nutrients and causes rapid growth of algae which leads to dead zones.

Water Quality Indicators

• Coliform bacteria indicate if diseases might be present in a sample of water

Water Pollution: Sulfuric acid

• Emissions from coal factories contain mercury and sulfuric acid and are concentrated in the East coast so they are pushed into waterways.

Oil Pollution

• Petroleum products are toxic to marine organisms and entire food chain.

Sources of Water Contamination

• Offshore platform drilling is a source of oil in the water
• Oil and other petroleum products can also enter from oil tanker spills and even enter naturally.

Remediating Oil Pollution

• Containment keeps floating oil from spreading so oil vacuums can suck it up.
• Chemicals break up oil on the surface, making if disperse before it hits the shoreline.
• Bacteria consume oil; scientists are engineering the bacterium to consume oil faster.

Nonchemical Water Pollution

• Solid waste includes garbage and sludge from sewage treatment plants and can be dangerous for humans.
• Solid waste was curtailed in the 1980s in US but remains a problem in developing countries.
• Sediment pollution consists of soil particles carried downstream.
• 30% of sediments in waterways from natural sources and 70% from human activities.
• Suspended soil particles cause waterways to become brown and cloudy
• Reduced infiltration of sunlight lowers productivity of aquatic plants and algae
• Sediments clog gills and prevent aquatic organisms from obtaining oxygen

Thermal Pollution

• Thermal pollution is when activities cause substantial changes in water temperature.
• Thermal shock is a dramatic change that can kill organisms.
• Cooling towers that release heat into the atmosphere instead of water are a common solution.

Noise Pollution

• Noise pollution may interfere with animal communication.
• Sounds from ships/submarines interfere with animal communication
• Loud sonar negatively affects whale species and inspired ship builders with quieter propellers.

Water Pollution Laws: Clean Water Act

• The Clean Water Act supports “protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water”.
• The Clean Water Act maintains and restores chemical, physical, and biological properties of surface waters and sets water quality standards that defines acceptable pollutant limits in U.S. waterways.

Safe Drinking Water Act

• The Safe Drinking Water Act sets national standards for safe drinking water
• Establishes maximum contaminant levels (MCL) for 77 substances in certain water.

Global Water Pollution Regulation Trends

• Water pollution legislation is becoming more common in the developing world.
• Developed countries address pollution and pass legislation but developing countries are still industrializing and can only afford water quality improvements and benefit economically.
• A more affluent nation has more resources to address environmental issues.

Waste Generation

• Humans generate waste that other organisms cannot use
• Waste is an output that is no longer useful or consumed.
• Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is collected by municipalities from locations.
• The solid waste stream contains materials from many sources.

Waste Stream

• A waste stream is the flow of solid waste that is recycled, incinerated, placed in a solid waste landfill, or disposed in another way

E-Waste

• Electronic waste account for roughly 2% of stream and its effect is greater than amount indicates
• Contains mercury and cadmium that leach landfills that is not always correctly recycled.

The Three R's of Waste Management

• Reduce, reuse, and recycle diverts materials from waste and is known as the three Rs.
• Reduce is the first choice for reducing waste.
• Source reduction seeks to cut waste by reducing the use of waste materials in early stages of design and decreases waste.

Reuse

• Reuse uses a product or material that was intended to be discarded without additional energy required.

Recycling

• Recycling collects and converts materials into raw for new objects
• Closed-loop recycling recycles a product into the same product.
• Open-loop recycling recycles a product into a different product.

Composting

• Organic material such as food and yard waste that are unstable can be composted
• Absence of oxygen in landfills causes organic anaerobic which produces methane gas.
• Composting is when matter is created by decomposition that enhances soil structure, cation exchange capacity, and fertility
• Composite materials are vegetable by-products, manure, yard wastes, and paper fiber.

Preventing Waste

• Reduce (use less plastic).
• Reuse (use plastic products multiple times).
• Recycle (plastic bottles → new plastic bottles).
• 3 materials that are closed-loop recycled products are Cardboard, aluminum, glass.

Landfills and Incineration: Landfill Basics

• Leachate is liquid with pollutants having passing through municipal solid waste (MSW) or contaminated soil.
• Sanitary landfill is engineered to facility to hold municipal solid waste (MSW) with little contamination.
• A tipping fee is a fee charged for disposing of landfills.

Choosing and Environmental Consequences of a Site

• Siting designates a landfill location through a regulatory process.
• People financial resources or political influence adopt a “not-in-my-backyard” attitude about landfill sites.
• A site may be chosen not because it meets safety criteria but because the neighbors lack resources to mount an effective opposition.

Consequences

• Leachate from a landfill will contaminate waterways.
• Virtually all landfills have some leaching and can harm waterways, even after landfill is closed.
• Anaerobic decomposition generates methane/carbon dioxide which can create an explosion hazard.

Incineration

• Incineration burns waste materials to reduce volume and sometimes generate electricity or heat.
• Ash is the nonorganic material that does not combust.
• Bottom ash is residue at bottom of the combustion chamber.
• Fly ash is at the chimney.
• Waste-to-energy uses heat generated by incineration as an energy source rather than released.

Consequences of Incineration

• Tipping fees are higher at incinerators and release air pollutants and ash.
• Incinerators that are toxic must be disposed in a special landfill.

Hazardous Waste

• Hazardous waste is a harmful liquid, solid, or gas that must be staffed with personnel and disposed safely.

Hazardous Waste Regulation and Management

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) was designed to reduce waste and ensures that hazardous is tracked and disposed.
• Brownfields are contaminated sites but the legislation lacks legal liability to compel to rehabilitate properties.

Life Cycle Analysis

• Life-cycle analysis considers materials used and released throughout the lifetime of a product and is also known as cradle-to-grave.

Integrated Waste Management

• Integrated waste management reduces the environmental impact of MSW.

Risks of Waste Accumulation

• Two potential negative effects of landfills include leaching to adjacent waterways and generation of methane & carbon dioxide.

Incineration Waste Management

• After Incineration, bottom ash must be collected and removed from the plant for landfills, recycling, or other disposal options.

Types of Human Diseases

• A disease is an impaired function of the body with symptoms.
• An infectious disease is caused by a pathogen.
• An acute disease rapidly impairs the functioning of an organism.
• A chronic disease slowly impairs the functioning of an organism.
• Low income countries chronic diseases can be from drinking contaminated water, malnutrition.
• High income countries chronic diseases can be from tabaco use, less active lifestyles.

Infectious Diseases

• Environmental scientists are for diseases with environmental causes, especially those from pathogens.
• Epidemic causes rapid increase in disease.
• A pandemic occurs over a large geographic region.
• The Plague is from bacterium and is carried by fleas.
• Malaria is caused by protists.
• Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that attacks the lungs.

Emergent Human Infectious Diseases

• Human diseases include AIDS, Ebola virus, Mad cow disease, Swine flu, Bird flu, SARS, West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and Zika virus disease.

Future of Human Diseases

• Low income countries need more education and better nutrition, clean water.
• High income countries need more physical activity, limit food consumption, reduce tabaco use, and promote reduced HIV and tuberculosis.
• Ways Pathogens Transmit are from food, wild animals.
• Two diseases from Mosquitoes are Zika Virus and Malaria.
• Acute disease is quick while a chronic lasts longer time.

Toxicology and Chemical Risks

• Chemicals such as Lead, mercury, arsenic, asbestos and alcohol can disrupt the systems.

Chemicals Harm Organisms

• Neurotoxin disrupts the nervous systems of animals.
• Carcinogen causes cancer.
• Mutagen damages the genetic material of a cell and destroys tissues.
• Teratogen interferes with development of embryos/fetuses.
• Allergen causes allergic reactions.
• Endocrine disruptor interferes with hormones.
• The concentrations of chemicals need to the known.

Types of Dose Studies and Risk Assessment

• Dose-response study observes possible responses is exposed to chemicals.
• Acute is an exposure for of a short duration.
• Chronic is exposure for a long duration with LD50 of 50 for lethal dose.
• Sublethal effect is not lethal.
• ED50 displays harmful effect.
• Retrospective studies studies those to chemical past past.
• Prospective studies studies those to chemical future exposures.
• To identify, know how that chemicals behave to contact.
• Solubility is the chemical dissolve in a liquid an be washed of surfaces. Chemicals that are fat soluble aren't very soluble.

Bioaccumulation and Magnification

• Bioaccumulation is the concentration of chemical within organism for longer.
• Biomagnification is increase of chemical concentration in animal tissues chain.
• Persistence is the amount of chemical remains in enviroment. Environmental hazard is the risks of hazard.

Risk Assessment Philosophies

• Environmental hazard is the risks of hazard.
• Innocent–until-proven-guilty principle is the belief that an actual hazard should not be considered hazard until the scientific data.
• Precautionary principle is the belief that action should be taken against a plausible environmental hazard.
• Stockhold convention limits and reduces chemicals.

Test your knowledge of water pollution, wastewater treatment, and waste management practices. This quiz covers topics such as point and nonpoint source pollution, eutrophication, and the impact of pollutants on aquatic ecosystems. Explore the role of waste management strategies such as incineration and recycling.