Title: Water Resources
1Water Resources
2The Hydrologic Cycle
- Water occurs as a solid, liquid and gas
- Amount of water is fixed
- The places where water resides are called
Reservoirs - Water constantly moves from one reservoir to
another
3The Hydrologic Cycle Pathways
- Evaporation
- Evapotranspiration
- Condensation
- Precipitation
- Runoff
- Infiltration/Percolation
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6RESERVOIRS Comparison of the amount of water
supply held in each of the major reservoirs If
the total earths water supply was a 55 gallon
drum
7Groundwater
- What happens to precipitation once it reaches the
ground - infiltration
- percolation
- Water filling pore space, cracks crevices in
rocks- Porosity - Aquifer- Geologic unit that can store, transmit
and yield appreciable amounts of water
8Porosity and Permeability
- Porosity
- of rock or sediment that is open (void spaces)
- ability to hold water
- Permeability- ability to transmit water
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10Movement of ground water
- Moves in response to differences in water
pressure elevation - Velocity influenced by
- Slope of water table
- Permeability
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14Groundwater Movement
- Darcys Law
- Q KA (h1-h2)/(l)
- Where Q is discharge A BxW
- K is hydraulic conductivity
- (h1-h2)/(l) is hydraulic gradient
15Cone of Depression
16After pumping in a well stops, the water level
slowly recovers its previous level and the cone
of depression disappears
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21Water UseTrends in population and freshwater
withdrawals by source, 1950-2000.
22Trends in total water withdrawals by water-use
category, 1950-2000
23Water Pollution
24Water Pollution
- Degradation of water quality
- Biological
- Chemical
- Physical
- Based on the intended use of the water
- Attainment vs. non-attainment
25Clean Water Act Sec.304(a)(1)
- The Administrator, after consultation with
appropriate Federal and State agencies and other
interested persons, shall develop and publish,
within one year after the date of enactment of
this title (and from time to time thereafter
revise) criteria for water quality accurately
reflecting the latest scientific knowledge - (A) on the kind and extent of all identifiable
effects on health and welfare including, but not
limited to, plankton, fish, shellfish, wildlife,
plant life, shorelines, beaches, esthetics, and
recreation which may be expected from the
presence of pollutants in any body of water,
including ground water - (B) on the concentration and dispersal of
pollutants, or their byproducts, through
biological, physical, and chemical processes and
- (C) on the effects of pollutants on biological
community diversity, productivity, and stability,
including information on the factors affecting
rates of eutrophication and rates of organic and
inorganic sedimentation for varying types of
receiving waters.
26Common Sources of Groundwater Pollution/Contaminat
ion
- Leaks from storage tanks and pipes
- Leaks from waste disposal sites (landfills)
- Seepage from septic systems
- Accidental spills
- Agricultural activities
- Intrusion of salt water
- Mine spoils and tailings
- Irrigation
- Injection wells
- Acid mine drainage
- Runoff- urban, industrial, agricultural
27Water Pollutants
- Biological Oxygen Demand
- Pathogenic Organisms
- Nutrients
- Oil
- Chemicals
- Heavy Metals
- Radioactive materials
- Sediments
- Thermal Pollution
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34Pollution and Environmental Health
- World Health Organization(WHO) World Resources
Institute(WRI) United States Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA) United States
Geological Survey(USGS) Botkin Keller
35Contamination, Pollution and Toxicity
- Any material that is above background level in
the environment (introduced) - Any material that is above background level in
the environment and that causes a deleterious
effect on humans and ecosystems
36Units of Measurement
- Depending on whether it is found in water, soil
or air - Reported as percent (), ppm, ppb, ppt (parts per
million, billion or trillion) - 0.01 100ppm mg/kg or mg/L
- Milligram (mg) (1/1,000 g)
- Microgram (mg) (1/1,000,000g)
- Reported as either volume, mass or weight
37There are two very distinctquestion sets
- Will a given material harm the environment?
- Will a given material harm us?
38Factors Influencing Toxicity
- Additive 2 2 4
- Synergistic 2 2 10
- Antagonism 2 2 0
39Spectrum of Toxic Dose
Agent LD50 (mg/kg)
Ethanol 10,000
NaCl 4,000
Ferrous Sulfate 1,500
DDT 100
Strychnine sulfate 2
Nicotine 1
Tetrodotoxin 0.1
Dioxin (TCDD) 0.001
Botulinus 0.00001
40What determines the impactof Exposure?
- Length of, period of, time
- Concentration - dose
- Recurrence is contact repeated
- Frequency of recurrence daily/yearly
- Life cycle sensitivity differences - infant/adult
- Physical condition of victim robust/sickly
- Presence of other hazards - synergism
41Point vs. Non-Point Sources
- As authorized by the Clean Water Act, the
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) permit program controls water pollution
by regulating point sources that discharge
pollutants into waters of the United States - Point sources are discrete conveyances such as
pipes or man-made ditches - Industrial, municipal, and other facilities must
obtain permits if their discharges go directly to
surface waters - In most cases, the NPDES permit program is
administered by authorized states
42Point vs. Non-Point Sources
- Non-point source (NPS) pollution, unlike
pollution from industrial and sewage treatment
plants, comes from many diffuse sources - 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 groundwater
43Non-Point Source Pollutants
- 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 acid drainage
from abandoned mines - Bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet
wastes, and faulty septic systems - Atmospheric deposition are also sources of
non-point source pollution
44Federal Water Legislation
- Refuse Act 1899
- Federal Water and Pollution Control Act 1956
- Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act 1958
- National Environmental Policy Act 1969
- Water Quality Improvement Act 1970
- Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water
Act) 1972
45Water Quality Standards
- Under 303(c) of the Clean Water Act a water
quality standard is described as comprising (1)
the designated beneficial uses (aquatic life,
wildlife, recreation, fishing, agriculture, water
supply, etc.) of a water body and (2) the
criteria (numeric and narrative) necessary to
protect these uses. States and Tribes are
required by CWA 303(c)(2)(B) to adopt criteria
for CWA 307(a) toxic pollutants for which EPA
has published CWA 304(a) criteria, and/or
recommendations and methodology based on the
latest science.
46Federal Water Legislation
- Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) 1980 - Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
1984 - Water Quality Act 1987
- Safe Drinking Water Act 1996
47Water Quality Standards
- Maximum Contaminant Level- MCLs
- Based on toxicity
- Usually lethal dose (LD50) for some target
organism or toxic dose (TD50) - Maximum Contaminant Level Goal-MCLGs
48Primary Drinking Water Standards
Contaminant MCL (mg/L) Problems
Arsenic 0.05 Highly toxic
Lead 0.015 Highly toxic
Mercury 0.002 Kidney, Nervous System
Fluoride 4 Skeletal Damage
Asbestos 7 million fibers/L gt10mm Benign Tumors
Lindane 0.004 Kidney, Nervous System, Liver
2,4D 0.07 Kidney, Nervous System, Liver
Benzene 0.005 Cancer
Trichloroethylene 0.005 Probable Cancer
Vinyl Chloride 0.002 Cancer risk
Fecal Coliform 1 cell/100ml Pathogen
49Categories of Pollutants
- Biological- Infectious Agents
- Heavy Metals
- Organic compounds
- Particulates
- Radiation
- Thermal
50Biological Hazards
- Of all the environmental hazards humans
encounter, the most formidable adversaries remain
the microorganisms -- viruses, bacteria,
protozoa, and parasitic worms - Up to 17 million deaths per year are attributable
to these infectious and parasitic agents, almost
all in the developing world, along with hundreds
of millions of cases of illnesses -
51Why consider infectious diseases "environmental"
in origin?
- Cholera and other diarrheal diseases are
associated with inadequate access to clean water
and sanitation and poor hygiene - Diarrhea is spread by both bacteria and viruses
through contaminated food or water, and these
disease-causing agents represent one of the most
widespread health problems in the world - Diarrhea killed roughly 2.5 million people in
1996, according to World Health Organization,
most of whom were children under age 5
52Inadequate Water Supplies
- Creates conditions rife for transmitting diarrhea
- An estimated 2.9 billion people lack access to
adequate sanitation - Roughly 1.4 billion people do not have access to
safe drinking water - This situation has persisted despite investments
of more than US100 billion during the
International Water and Sanitation Decade
53Infectious Agents
- In 1993, the United States experienced the
largest outbreak of diarrhea in recent history - Affecting more than 400,000 people
- The municipal water supply of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, was contaminated by Cryptosporidium
parvum from farm animal wastes - This protozoan parasite has been wreaking havoc
in countries across Europe as well, raising new
concerns about the safety of drinking water in
some of the world's most affluent countries.
54Chemical Hazards in the Environment
- Exposure to chemical agents in the environment --
in air, water, food, and soil -- has been
implicated in numerous adverse effects, from
cancer to lung disease to brain damage to birth
defects - Some evidence is ironclad some is suggestive at
best
55Heavy Metals
- Metals with high atomic mass
- Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Mercury,
Nickel, Platinum, Selenium, Silver, Vanadium
(others) - Used in industrial processes and by-products of
mining, smelting, fossil fuel burning, etc. - Can have direct physiological effect or can
Concentrate in fatty tissue (bioaccumulation)
56Copper mining and smelting in the Copper Basin of
the SE US
Ducktown, TN- Burra Burra Mine
57Mercury
- Mercury has been well known as an environmental
pollutant for several decades - As early as the 1950s it was established that
emissions of mercury to the environment could
have serious effects on human health - Inorganic mercury (Hg2) will undergo bacterial
activity and be converted to the more toxic
methyl mercury (CH3Hg) - Early studies demonstrated that fish and other
wildlife from various ecosystems commonly attain
mercury levels of toxicological concern when
directly affected by mercury-containing emissions
from human-related activities - Human health concerns arise when fish and
wildlife from these ecosystems are consumed by
humans (Minamata, Japan)
58- In the U.S. widespread mercury contamination in
streams, wet-lands, reservoirs, and lakes - To date, 33 states have issued fish consumption
advisories because of mercury contamination - These continental to global scale occurrences of
mercury contamination cannot be linked to
individual emissions of mercury, but instead are
due to widespread air pollution - When scientists measure mercury levels in air and
surface water, however, the observed levels are
extraordinarily low
59Why do fish from some remote areas have elevated
mercury concentrations, when contamination levels
in the environment are so low?
- Mercury biomagnifies from the bottom to the top
of the food chain - Even at very low input rates to aquatic
ecosystems that are remote from point sources,
biomagnification effects can result in mercury
levels of toxicological concern - The bioaccumulation effect is generally
compounded the longer an organism lives, so that
larger predatory game fish will likely have the
highest mercury levels - Adding to this problem is the fact that mercury
concentrates in the muscle tissue of fish - Unlike organic contaminants (PCBs and dioxins)
which concentrate in the skin and fat, mercury
cannot be filleted or cooked out of consumable
game fish
60Synthetic Organic Chemicals
- Carbon based molecular structure
- Often contain reactive chlorine
- Manufactured as pesticides, herbicides,
insecticides or as insulator oil (PCB) - 20 million produced and about 100,000 produced
commercially - Persistent in the environment
- Soluble in fat and accumulate in tissue
61Synthetic Organic Chemicals
- "Over increasingly large areas of the United
States spring now comes unheralded by the return
of birds, and the early mornings are strangely
silent where once they were filled with the
beauty of bird song. - Rachael Carson, Silent Spring 1962
62DDT
- Dichloro-diphenyltrichloroethane
- World Health Organization credits DDT with
reducing disease - 1945-1960, used to control agricultural pests as
well as disease-carrying insects (Malaria) - Venezuela
- 1943 -8,171,115 cases
- 1958 800 cases
- Taiwan
- 1945- 1,000,000 cases
- 1969- 9 cases
Jones Beach on Long Island, NY
63Cancer
- Cancers may take 10 to 40 years to develop, and
many factors may contribute to the appearance of
the disease in a particular person - Accordingly, chemical risks tend to be described
in terms of the numbers of people exposed -- for
instance, 1.4 billion urban dwellers exposed to
air quality that exceeds health guidelines, as
WHO estimates
64Thermal Pollution
- Release of heat into atmosphere or water ways
- Acute (i.e. fires from agricultural burning)
- Chronic (i.e. hot water releases from electric
power plants) - Change biological and physico-chemical
composition of streams
65Toxicity Testing
- Despite widespread public concern over chemical
safety, toxicity testing remains inadequate - For the vast majority of chemicals in widespread
use, no toxicity testing results are available in
the public record
66Hazards
- Of the other potential effects of chemical
hazards, such as infertility, birth defects,
immune system impairment, or brain damage, even
less is known. - In the United States, for instance, the chief
agency for chemical evaluation spent nearly US29
million on testing chemicals for cancer in 1991,
but just about 6 million for both genetic and
reproductive effects - Testing for other health concerns, such as immune
system effects or endocrine disruption, lags even
further behind - United States provides an apt example according
to a recent study, 86 percent of chemicals in
widespread use have not been tested for
immunotoxicity, and 67 percent have not been
tested for neurotoxicity - This focus on cancer means that other important
and preventable risks may be overlooked
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68Remediation of Groundwater
- Extraction Wells
- Pump and Treat by filtration, oxidation or air
stripping - Vapor Extraction
- Bioremediation
- Injection of nutrients and oxygen to encourage
microorganism growth - Permeable Treatment Beds
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71CHEMICAL TREATMENT
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73Other Methods of Remediation
- Natural attenuation.
- Natural attenuation defines the natural occurring
processes in the subsurface environment such as
dilution, volatilization, biodegradation,
adsorption and chemical reactions with subsurface
compounds that contain the spread of pollution
and reduce the concentration and amount of
pollutants at polluted sites.