ENVS 525: Advance Environmental Pollution Term 241 Marine Pollution PDF

ENVS 525: Advance Environemntal Pollution 1 Term 241 Marine Pollution Dr. Bassam Tawabini...

ENVS 525: Advance Environemntal Pollution 1 Term 241 Marine Pollution Dr. Bassam Tawabini Sep., 2024 Facts on Ocean Pollution 2  > 80% of the pollution in the ocean is runoff from the Land  ≈ 90% of all floating materials in the ocean are plastic  Marine debris, kills >1 million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles every year  Dead zones which are areas of oxygen deficient water were life ceases to exist, have increased drastically over the past decade. 1  Major Marine Pollutants Worldwide 3 ❖ 10 billion tonnes of ballast water with invasive species ❖ 10,000 million gallons of sewage annually ❖ 3.25 million metric tonnes of oil annually ❖ Millions of tonnes of solid waste (debris) ❖ Thousand tonnes of dangerous heavy metals 4 Oil Spills Fertilizers Sewage Pipes Chemicals 2  Marine pollution 5 Definition (By WHO)  The introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy (heat) into the marine environment, which results or is likely to result in deleterious effects or impacts such as : ✓ hazards to human health ✓ harm to living resources and marine life ecology ✓ hindrance to marine activities, i.e. fishing and legitimate uses of sea ✓ impairment of quality for use of sea water ✓ cause global warming and climate change ✓ degrade of aesthetics Causes of Marine Pollution 6 ❖ Main source of the marine pollution problem: ❖ growing coastal populations ❖ growing human coastal activities ❖ overuse of marine resources (over fishing) ❖ inadequate waste handling facilities ❖ Marine pollution problem is putting at risk human health and wildlife as well as livelihoods from fisheries to tourism. Types of marine pollution can be discrete (short term) : oil spill, the effects of which diminish with time or Chronic (long term) : nutrient input, effluent discharge. 3  Pathways to Marine Pollution 7 Like other surface water pollution, marine pollution sources can be direct point sources and non-point indirect source. 1. Direct Discharge ▪ Acid mine drainage ▪ Sewerage ▪ Industrial effluents ▪ Inland mining 2. In-direct Land (Surface Runoff) ▪ Farming ▪ Urban runoff ▪ Runoff from the roads ▪ seaports Pathways To Marine Pollution… 8 3. Transport (ship) pollution ▪ Oil spills ▪ Discharge of cargo residues from bulk carriers ▪ Noise pollution that disturbs natural wildlife ▪ Ballast water ▪ Invasive species 4. Atmospheric pollution ▪ Wind blown dust and debris, including plastic bags ▪ Acid Rain ▪ Particulate Matter 3. Deep sea mining 4  Pollution In Coastal Waters 9 9 9 Fig. 22-11 p. 504 Pollution in Coastal Waters… 10 5  Types of Marine Pollutants 11 o Oil (petroleum hydrocarbons) and its associated wastes: o Drilling wastes o Produced waters o Toxic chemical waste (i.e. metals) o Agricultural runoff (nutrients, herbicides, pesticides and) o Energy (thermal and light) o Sewage o Solid Waste (i.e. plastics) o Radioactive waste o Atmospheric Deposition o Sedimentation Marine pollution: Oil 12 ❖ Cause of Oil spills : ❖ Intentional dumping ❖ Accidental Spill ❖ Drilling/pumping operations ❖ Leaks from marine terminals and in harbors ❖ Leaks from breakup of oil tankers and barges ❖ Washout of oil into storm drain ❖ Effects: death of organisms, loss of animal insulation and buoyancy, restricting, economic impacts. ❖ Oil can coat marine organisms and render their insulating fur or feathers useless. 6  Oil Spills 13 Brief History of Oil Spillage in Marine Environment ▪ The wrecking of the Torrey canyon in 1967 ▪ Exxon Valdez Alaska, 1989 ▪ Santa Barbara channel platform blow out in 1969 ▪ In Erika, France, 1999 ▪ Gulf of Mexico drilling rig incidents in 1970 & 1971; ▪ Prestige in Spain, 2002; ▪ Grounding of super tanker AMOCO Cadiz in 1978 ▪ Most recently the 2010 BP rig blow out in the Gulf ▪ Disaster in Pipe ralf of Mexico 2010- the worst spill ever in the history of America. ▪ Operation desert storm caused the release of a huge quantity of oil into the Arabian Gulf in 1991 ▪ a platform in the North Sea; Exploration and Production Wastes 14 1. Produced water : saline water brought to the surface with oil & gas 2. Fracking Water : water used for shale oil & gas extraction 3. Drilling waste : (1) solid cuttings (2) drilling fluids 4. Associated wastes : Small volumes waste streams "associated" with oil & natural gas production 5. Industrial wastes : paint, spent solvents, and packaging materials. 7  Drilling Wastes 15 A well produce between 800-1200 tonnes of solid cuttings and 500-700 tonnes of unusable drilling fluids In 1995, the U.S. Produced 146 MB of drilling waste. Drilling wastes contains toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, benzene, arsenic, zinc, polymers, pah, chemical additives, radioactive materials…etc accident investigation report- shell offshore drilling – discharge of drilling mud in the gulf of mexico 15 Environmental Impacts of Offshore Oil/Gas Upstream Operations 16 the physical alteration of environments from exploration, drilling, and extraction can be greater than from a large oil spill Biodiversity Contamination Issue Health & Ecosystem Destruction Safety Risk 8  Marine Biota Lives at Risk 17 ▪ 4 million barrels of oil would be enough to "wipe out marine life deep at sea near the leak and along hundreds of miles of coastline ▪ may alter the chemistry of the sea, with unforeseeable results A reduction in biodiversity Stress on biota populations that are already threatened or endangered Marine Pollution: Petroleum… 18 Various processes act to break up and degrade oil in the marine environment ✓ Part of the oil will be evaporated, adsorbed, dissolved , dispersed, sedimented or biodegraded by microorganisms. ✓ Some will be emulsified. ✓ Some VOC will be photo-oxidized. ✓ Some will be washed ashore (spreading) ✓ Fortunately, petroleum is biodegradable. Many pollution experts consider oil to be among the least damaging ocean pollutants (Data from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill shows the recovery of key organisms) 9  Spill Cleanup Techniques 19 Marine pollution: Dumping of Wastes 20 ❖ This include solid wastes (plastics, glass, metals….) ❖ It also include dumping hazardous wastes such as radioactive wastes. ❖ Drilling Wastes 10  Marine pollution: Sewage sludge 21 ❖ Sewage sludge is the semisolid material that remains after sewage treatment ❖ Much sewage sludge was dumped offshore until laws restricted sewage dumping ❖ Sewage in the marine environment is linked to several problems including: ❖ human diseases ❖ excessive sediments and nutrients in the water ❖ sometimes, toxic chemicals and marine debris. Marine pollution: Nutrients 22 ❖ Fertilizers used in agriculture (nitrogen and phosphorous) found in sewage, power plant emissions, and common household products can : ❖ promote excessive algal growth (Eutrophication) in coastal waters ❖ destroying the delicate balance that keeps reefs and other coastal ecosystems alive ❖ rapidly consume all the oxygen in the water of a particular area, leading to fish kills Release of Nutrients into Marine waters comes from: Wastewater effluent (municipal and industrial) Runoff and leachate from waste disposal systems Runoff from agriculture/irrigation Runoff from pasture and range Runoff from mines, oil fields, un-sewered industrial sites Overflows of combined storm and sanitary sewers Untreated sewage 11  Nutrients-Eutrophication… 23 Impacts Over-productivity Reduction in phytoplankton species diversity Growth of harmful algal blooms Reduction in dissolved oxygen content Anoxia and mass mortalities of marine organisms Allowable Limits Nutrients-Eutrophication… 24 PME Receiving body Water Quality Standards Parameter Unit Red Sea Arabian Gulf Industrial Industrial (C3) (C3) Water Quality Parameters TKN mg/l 5 5 Inorganic Nitrogen mg/l 2 2 (Nitrite & Nitrate) Total Phosphorus mg/l 1 1 Dissolved oxygen mg/l >3 >5 BOD mg/l 15 20 12  Marine Sediment Pollution 25 o Sediments : runoff from construction sites, agriculture, and deforestation often send excessive amounts of sediments to coastal areas leading to: o smothering corals o degrading other marine habitats. Marine pollution: Toxic Substances 26 o Heavy / Trace Metals o Mercury (methyl-mercury) o Cadmium – from electroplating and battery manufacturing plants o Lead o Oil hydrocarbons (PAHs) o Oil and Grease o Pesticides (i.e. DDT) o Organic Solvents (DCE, TCE..) o PCB’s o Acids o Detergents o Nutrients 13  Biodegradable vs Inert Toxic Substances 27 o Inert toxic substances bio-magnify up the food chain whereas biodegradable materials do not; o Substances that bio-magnify o heavy metals - cadmium, mercury and lead o Pesticides made of chlorinated hydrocarbons – ketone, DDT, dieldrin, chlordane, dioxin o PCB’s - used as lubricants ❖ Persistent pollutants do not break down over time in the environment or in the food chain and tend to bioaccumulate and bio-magnify ❖ Bioaccumulation : increase in concentration of a pollutant from the environment to the first organism in a food chain ❖ Biomagnification : increase in concentration of a pollutant from one link in a food chain to another Conservative pollutants – Metals… 28 Arsenic (As) Phytoplankton most sensitive & accumulate from water column Higher trophic levels accumulate via food. Cadmium (Cd) Divalent cadmium is more toxic Tends to bioaccumulate Lead (Pb) Forms strong complex with clay and suspended material Bioaccumulates in most marine organisms – no significant problems. 14  Conservative pollutants – Metals… 29 Mercury Sources Mercury (Hg) has many industrial uses but is extremely toxic Pollution from plastic plant- dumped mercuric chloride into the bay Mercury Impacts Negative health effects from methylmercury may include neurological and chromosomal problems. According to the NIH, long-term exposure to organic mercury can cause: ✓ uncontrollable shaking or tremor ✓ pain in certain parts of the skin ✓ blindness and double vision ✓ inability to walk well ✓ memory problems ✓ seizures ✓ death with large exposures Marine Pollution: Pesticides (DDT) 30 ❖ DDT was a widely used pesticide that became concentrated in marine fish ❖ DDT caused brown pelicans and ospreys to produce thin egg shells ❖ Worldwide, DDT has been banned from agricultural use but is still used in limited quantities for public health purposes 15  Marine pollution: PCBs 31 ❖ PCBs are industrial chemicals used as liquid coolants and insulation in industrial equipment such as power transformers ❖ PCBs enter the marine environment through leaks and from discarded equipment ❖ PCBs can accumulate in animal tissues and affect reproduction Marine pollutants – Halogenated Hydrocarbons 32 ❖ Hydrocarbons containing chlorine, fluorine, bromine or iodine ❖ Differs from petroleum hydrocarbons – not degraded by chemical oxidation or by bacteria ❖ Low molecular weight compounds : E.g. Dichloroethane (DCE) , Freons etc. ❖ High molecular weight compounds : DDT, Aldrins, PCBs Impacts Low solubility in water persist for long durations Fat-soluble , so incorporated into the tissue of marine organisms and sediments Lethal to the animal Possibility of transmission through food webs – established in a number of animals 16  Marine pollutants : Debris and Plastics pollution 33 Marine litter, is human created waste that has deliberately or accidentally become afloat in a the sea or ocean. It tends to accumulate on coastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter A wide variety of anthropogenic artifacts can become marine debris Debris types include: plastic bags, plastic bottles, balloons, toys.. etc. Marine pollutants : Debris and Plastics pollution… 34 Impacts Many animals that live on or in the sea consume plastic by mistake, as it often looks similar to their natural prey. Blocks the passage of food and causing death through starvation or infection. Tiny floating particles also resemble zooplankton, which can lead filter feeders to consume them and cause them to enter the ocean food chain. The mass of plastic exceeded that of zooplankton by a factor of six. 17  Marine Pollution: Plastic 35 ❖ Globally, we produce around 300 million tones of plastic per year, of which around 50% is intended for single use before being discarded. ❖ Plastics does not biodegrade and floats ❖ It has high strength ❖ Is ingested by and entangles marine animals Marine Pollution: Microplastic 36 ❖ Microplastics refers to a complex mixture of shapes and sizes (