Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution

1
Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution

• NPS pollution comes from many widespread sources
  and can be generated by most land use activities.
  
• Excess fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides
  from agricultural lands and
• residential areas
• Oil, grease and toxic chemicals from urban
  runoff and energy production
• Sediment from improperly managed construction
  sites, crop and forest
• lands, and eroding streambanks
• Salt from irrigation practices and roads
• Acid drainage from abandoned mines
• Bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet
  wastes
• - Atmospheric deposition (rain, snow, sleet,
  hail)

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1. What pollutants may enter waterways from
each of the areas below?2. How would the
pollutants make it into the waterway?3. What
solutions may help prevent these pollutants from
entering the water?

• City streets
• Rural (country) homes
• Forestry timber,
• Christmas trees
• Cropland/Agriculture
• Suburban (city) development
• Animal feedlots (hog farms, cattle, etc.)

3
City Streets

• - gasoline
• - motor oil
• - garbage
• - salt
• - feces
• - chemicals from construction
• - acid rain
• - organisms from dead animals
• other liquids from automobiles
• What additional pollutants could be added to this
  list?

4
Rural (country) Homes

• - septic Tanks - leaves
• - garbage
  - sediment
• - motor oil - cleaning chemicals
• - animal bodies
  - fertilizer
• - grease
  - pesticides
• - animal waste
  - herbicides
• - detergents/laundry - other
  toxic chemicals - paint
• - dump sites - grass
  clippings
• automobile batteries
• What additional pollutants could be added to this
  list?

5
Forestry

• Sediment from the removal of trees,
  transportation of wood in and out of forest
• Debris from tree removal
• What additional pollutants could be added to
• this list?

6
Suburban Development

• Sediment as areas are disturbed from development
  process
• Chemicals
• Debris from building materials
• Pollution from construction vehicles
• What additional pollutants could be added to this
• list?

7
Croplands/Agriculture

• Herbicides
• Pesticides/Insecticides
• Sediment from land use (plowing, tilling, etc.)
• Fertilizer, nitrates, phosphates, nutrients etc.
• What additional pollutants could be added to
• this list?

8
Animal Feedlots

• Manure (cattle, hogs, etc.) adds nutrients to
  water
• Manure may have parasites and bacteria.
• What additional pollutants could be added to
• this list?

9
Nonpoint Source Pollution

• Motor spill Pollutants
  Entering Storm Drain

Sediment from Runoff
Agricultural Pollution
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Cont. Nonpoint Pollution (NPS)

• NPS pollution, unlike pollution from industrial
  and sewage treatment plants (point sources),
  comes from many widespread sources and can be
  generated by most land use activities.
• NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt
  moving over and through the ground. As the runoff
  moves, it picks up and carries away natural and
  human-made pollutants, finally depositing them
  into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and
  even our underground sources of drinking water.
• Common NPS pollutants include sediment,
  nutrients, heavy metals, pesticides, pathogens,
  pharmaceuticals, oil and salt.

• Roadway pollutants enter storm drain

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Point Source Pollution

• Contaminants that enter a
• water body that can be
• traced back to a specific
• source, location, and
• offender.
• Point source pollution is easier to manage
  compared to nonpoint source pollution.

• Examples of point source pollution include
• dumping of industrial waste,
• sewage treatment facilities,
• - hazardous chemical deposition (e.g. nuclear
  waste).
• - Heat can also be a pollutant power plants
  often use water to cool overheating components.
  Once used, this hot water is released into nearby
  lakes where it alters the lakes temperature.
  This heat is a form of pollution because it can
  be harmful and kill aquatic life including
  sensitive fish species.
• - Another example of widespread pollution is the
  legal discharge of sewage and other chemicals.

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Pipes ( point source)

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Cont. Point Source Pollution

• Industrial dumping of chemicals
  Wastewater Treatment Plant

14
Thermal Pollution

• Nuclear Power Plant Coal
  Powered Steam Plant

• Nuclear power plants and coal powered steam
  plants use water to cool the
• equipment. This heated water is then returned
  to the environment. What problems
• may this present?
• Nuclear power plants also produce radioactive
  materials that must be disposed of
• properly. What problems may this present?
• Coal powered plants produce waste products
  (i.e. fly ash) and air pollution (acid
• rain). What problems may this present? What
  type of nonpoint source pollution
• may this type of power plant produce?

15
Irrigation
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Algal Bloom

• Algal bloom results when excessive nutrients are
  in the water. Nutrients may include fertilizer,
  nitrates, phosphates, manure, etc.
• As algae dies, bacteria that decomposes the algae
  uses up dissolved oxygen in the water.

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cont. Algal Bloom

• An algal bloom is a rapid increase in the
  population of algae (typically microscopic) in an
  aquatic system. Algal blooms may occur in
  freshwater as well as marine environments.
• Typically, only one or a small number of
  phytoplankton species are involved, and some
  blooms may be recognized by discoloration of the
  water resulting from the high density of
  pigmented cells. Although there is no officially
  recognized threshold level, algae can be
  considered to be blooming at concentrations of
  hundreds to thousands of cells per milliliter,
  depending on the severity. Algal bloom
  concentrations may reach millions of cells per
  milliliter. Algal blooms are often green, but
  they can also be other colors such as
  yellow-brown or red, depending on the species of
  algae.
• Bright green blooms are a result of cyanobacteria
  (colloquially known as blue-green algae) such as
  Microcystis. Blooms may also consist of
  macroalgal (non-phytoplanktonic) species. These
  blooms are recognizable by large blades of algae
  that may wash up onto the shoreline.
• Of particular note are harmful algal blooms
  (HABs), which are algal bloom events involving
  toxic or otherwise harmful phytoplankton such as
  dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium and
  Karenia, or diatoms of the genus
  Pseudo-nitzschia. Such blooms often take on a red
  or brown hue and are known colloquially as red
  tides.