Water

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Water

• Quantity and Quality

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What is Water Pollution?
any physical (temperature, oxygen), chemical
(mercury), or biological (disease, sewage) change
to water that adversely effects its use by living
things
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Cuyahoga River, Ohio
Some river! Chocolate-brown, oily, bubbling with
subsurface gases, it oozes rather than flows.
"Anyone who falls into the Cuyahoga does not
drown," Cleveland's citizens joke grimly. "He
decays. Time Magazine, August 1969
November 1952
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Groundwater Pollution
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Types of Water Pollution
Measured in Percent () Parts per thousand
() Parts per million (ppm) Parts per billion
(ppb)

• Biological
• Chemical
• Physical

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Biological Water Pollution
Direct (microbes in water) Typhoid, cholera,
dysentery, hepatitis

• Infectious Disease(Pathogens)
• Oxygen-Demanding Waste

Entamoeba histolytica
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Biological Water Pollution
Indirect (Water breeding carriers)malaria,
yellow fever, west nile virus

• Infectious Disease(Pathogens)
• Oxygen-Demanding Waste

Treehole mosquito (carried La Crosse ensephalitis)
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Water Borne Disease
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U.S. Water Borne Disease
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Coliform Test
Detection

• Solutions
• Sewage treatment
• Immunization

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Biological Water Pollution

• Infectious Disease(Pathogens)
• Oxygen-Demanding Waste

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Dissolved Oxygen
Added by turbulent water and photosynthesis
Removed by Increased temperature (exsolution)
and respiration/decomposition
Good 6 ppm (mosquitoes can survive in 1
ppm)(also measured in of maximum - Good
60-80)
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Dissolved Carbon Dioxide
Added by respiration/decomposition weathered
rock
Removed by Increased temperature (exsolution)
and photosynthesis
Good 1-10 ppm (usually about 1 ppm)
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Oxygen Sag
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Measuring DO and other chemical properties
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Chemical Water Pollution

• Nutrients (Fertilizers)
• Toxic Inorganic Materials
• Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

Nitrogen, phosphorous
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Eutrophication
Blue Baby Syndrome
Dissolved inorganic nitrogen in Baltic Sea
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Nitrates

• Typically 0.1-4 ppm
• Unpolluted usually below 1 ppm
• Sewage pollution increase up to 20 ppm

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Chemical Water Pollution

• Heavy metals
• mercury,lead, tin
• Super Toxic Elements
• Arsenic, selenium
• Acids, salts, chlorine
• Radioactive Isotopes

• Nutrients (Fertilizers)
• Toxic Inorganic Materials
• Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

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Arsenic in U.S. Waters
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Some We Will Measure

• Copper
• natural, fungicides, insecticides, copper pipes
• can be lethal to some at 0.1 ppb, algae 1-10
  ppb, fish 500ppb
• water standard 0.3 ppm

• Acidity (pH)
• 6.5-8.2 normal (rainwater is usually a little
  acidic)
• 9 harmful to fish (inc. salmon)
• organics dont decay

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Some We Will Measure

• Salinity
• Saltwater 3.5
• Freshwater 1-500 ppm
• usually 100 ppm is bad for freshwater organisms
• 250 ppm tastes salty (max for drinking water)
• Total Dissolved Solids
• (Ca,Mg,Hco3, NH4, NO3, PO4, SO4, Na, Cl, Na, K)
• from dissolved rock, fertilizer, urban runoff,
  irrigation, acid rainfall
• watchdog high numbers or rapid changes may
  indicate problem
• typically 50-250 ppm
• Drinking water must be below 500 ppm

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Chemical Water Pollution

• Nutrients (Fertilizers)
• Toxic Inorganic Materials
• Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

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Artificial Chemicals
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The Dirty Dozen
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Physical Water Pollution

• Sediment
• Thermal Pollution
• Solid Waste

Yellow River, China
Chattahoochee River, GA
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Measured in

• NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units)
• Normal levels 1-50 NTU
• Drinking Water 0.5-1 NTU
• Visible 5 NTU
• Higher during storms

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Physical Water Pollution

• Causes
• industry
• dams
• removal of vegetation

• Sediment
• Thermal Pollution
• Solid Waste

Optimum Fish 5-20C (salmon
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Physical Water Pollution

• Sediment
• Thermal Pollution
• Solid Waste

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Pollution SourcesPoint Source

• Sewage pipes
• Leaky gas tanks
• Industrial sites
• Injection wells

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Pollution SourcesNonpoint Source

• Agriculture (soil, fertilizer,pesticides)
• Urban runoff (from pavement)
• Construction sites
• Air Pollution

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Controlling Water Quality

• What can we do?

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Solutions

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

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Clean Water Act 1972

• Established water quality standards
• System for IDing point sources
• Pretreatment for industry
• Federal funding for sewage treatment
• Provided for enforcement

• Worked well for point sources
• Nonpoint sources still a problem

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Solutions

• Remove lead from gasoline
• Reduce road salting
• Decrease erosion
• Banning phosphates in detergents
• Reduce fertilizer use, etc.

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

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Solutions

• Stormwater treatment
• Reduce clearcutting
• Preserve wetlands
• Better construction practices

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

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Solutions

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

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Solutions

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

Water hyacinths absorb arsenic
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Solutions

• Legislation
• Source Reduction
• Improved Land Use Practices
• Remediation
• Sewage Treatment

West Point Treatment Plant, Seattle
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(No Transcript)
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Sewage in King County