Post 2 : Water Pollution

This post is a continuation of the research done on water Pollution. Post 2 of the blog will discuss agricultural, domestic, and industrial waste. It will discuss the methods of detection, proactive and preventive measures, and the repercussions and health risks of each type of pollution. Environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic factors that could affect the classifications of water pollution are also discussed.

Agricultural Pollution

Classifications of agricultural water pollution

Agricultural Pollution is defined as liquid and solid wastes coming from farms. An example of agricultural water pollution includes pesticide and manure runoff. Runoff from farms is considered non-point source pollution, while the spillage of chemicals and wastes are considered point source pollution.

Methods of detection cause and effect

The major cause of agricultural water pollution is runoff. Runoff is a non-point source pollution which has devastating effects on ecosystems. Crops on farms are sprayed heavily with pesticides and fertilizers. Farms also have other chemicals that are dangerous to the environment. When it rains, these pesticides, fertilizers, and other wastes flow into our water sources.

Also, chemicals from farms can be spilled and introduced to our water sources. The planktons in the water absorb the pesticides. When fish and other organisms consume the plankton, the chemicals that the plankton absorbed are also consumed. The organisms that consume the plankton will have higher concentrations of the chemical. For instance, the fish that eats the plankton will have a higher concentration of pesticide chemicals than the plankton itself. The concentration levels will increase as you move up the food chain. This occurrence is called biological magnification.

Algae thrive in areas where fertilizers have run off into water. Fertilizers have high concentrations of nitrogen, which cause the algae to reproduce faster. The high growth of algae causes an algal bloom. When the algae die, they use up oxygen, depriving the water of oxygen. This process is called eutrophication.

Animal wastes on farms are very devastating; it can seep into water and be introduced by runoff. Agricultural wastes have a Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). Chemicals with a high BOD can deoxygenate the water. For example, milk has a very high BOD of 140,000 mg/liter, compared to treated sewer water which has a BOD of 20-40 mg/liter.

Methods to detect biological magnification, eutrophication, and other wastes in water vary. The Chemiluminescent Method is useful for detecting nitrates and nutrients in water. With this method, eutrophication can be detected. Changes in wildlife can be traits of pollution. Chemical tests can be ordered to test the water for pollutants.

Repercussions of Each

Biological Magnification, Eutrophication, and animal wastes are devastating to environments. For example, after World War 2, the pesticide DDT was spread on crops heavily. During storms the DDT would run off into lakes and ponds. The DDT was consumed by animals, and rose up the food chain. When the bald eagles started consuming organisms with DDT the levels were very high. (25 ppm in bald eagles compared to .04 ppm in zooplankton.) The DDT thinned the thickness of the egg shell, causing over half of the eggs to die. The population of Bald Eagles declined greatly, and efforts are still in place today to post the population. Biological Magnification effects many species, not just the Bald Eagle, and can cause the extinction, or endangerment of many organisms.Another effect of Agricultural pollution is Eutrophication. Eutrophication deoxygenates water, making it unsuitable for life. Fish and other marine

organisms die because they do not recieve the oxygen they need. Eutrophication can topple over entire ecosystems. Animal wastes can poison water supplies. Water used for fishing, drinking, agriculture and recreation can be made useless by animal wastes from farms. Slurries of animal waste, parasites, bacteria, and other chemicals can destroy ecosystems, and make water sources useless.
Proactive Measures

Proactive measures are actions to mitigate the effects of pollution. For example, cleaning a polluted lake is an example of a proactive measure against pollution. To clean our water sources, many methods can be used. Bacteria can be used to degenerate complex particles from pollution. Another method is using physicochemical processes, which are chemical reactions that change the structure of molecules. With these methods, pollutants can be removed from water, making the water suitable for nature.

Known Health Risks

Agricultural pollution has many health risks. First and foremost is animal waste. When animal waste seeps into water, it poses many health risks. Animal waste contains many microorganisms, such as Cryptosporidium, a hard to detect parasite. Algal blooms from farm runoff also pose health risks. A Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB), also known as Red Tides are severely poisonous. The HAB has algae that create deadly neurotoxins that can injure and kill humans. Shellfish accumulate the toxins, and if consumed by humans, can be deadly.

Preventative Measures/Strategies

Runoff of chemicals can be prevented many ways. For example, a farmer can use technology to apply pesticides and fertilizers more efficiently and using less. This will reduce runoff. A farmer can use strategies such as bioremediation instead of pesticides. The practice of bioremediation is when a farmer introduces a predator to consume unwanted pests. Farmers can also use smarter practices to prevent spills and seepage of animal waste into our water sources.

Environmental factors, cultural beliefs and socioeconomic considerations

Environmental factors, cultural beliefs and socioeconomic considerations affect the amount of pollution a society creates, and the methods a society uses to prevent pollution.The environment a society is in affects the pollution it creates. For example, the availability of water is a factor of pollution. The use of fertilizers varies depending on the environment. Fertilizers are a major part of runoff pollution. Multiple methods to stop fertilizer runoff pollution will have to be developed because of this variat

ion. Rainfall varies greatly around the world. Rainfall is runoff; farms in areas of high precipitation will have high levels of runoff. Farms in areas of low precipitation will have low levels of runoff. Rainfall is a key factor in runoff and pollution. Different methods to stop runoff will have to be created to suit the environment of the farm.

The cultural beliefs of a society also effect the pollution. Tradition plays a large role in how a farmer farms. Farms that have been passed down generation to generation have been using the same farming practices for many years, and may be reluctant to change their practices. Also, the government of the farmers plays a role in pollution. If a government strongly advocates safer nonpolluting practices, the more likely the farms will use environmentally friendly practices. If a government is indifferent to the matter, the less likely farms will use environmentally friendly practices.With pollution, the socioeconomic conditions of a society must be considered. The socioeconomic consideration of a society is the general wealth of the population. This affects everything from pol

lution to the lifestyles of the society. In farming, if a farming community is rich, the farmers will be able to afford new environmentally friendly practices. If a farming community is poor the farmers may not be able to afford and use

environmentally friendly practices.

Domestic Pollution

Classifications of Domestic Pollution

Domestic water pollution is the pollution that runs down the drains and pipes of people’s residence. This definition means anything that gets put down household drains, other than water, is classified as domestic water pollution. Some things that could be considered domestic pollution include detergent, cleaning products, leftover food, fecal matter, pills, and others.

Methods of Detection

The most effective and commonly used method of detecting domestic pollution and preventing it is sending all sewage to waster water treatment plants. All sewage, which is what domestic pollution consists of, is supposed to be sent to treatment plants prior to being reused or released back into the water systems. The three stages of water treatment include primary, secondary, and tertiary stages. In the primary stage suspended solids and inorganic material is removed. In the secondary phase organic material is removed by speeding up natural processes. In the final stage chemical processes and other processes are used to remove any leftover impurities and chemicals so enabling the water to be reused.

Repercussions of Domestic Pollution

Pollution, in general, negatively affects people, animals, and the environment. When the sewage in sewer systems overflows because of floods or other reasons, all the pollution is washed into bodies of water. The hormones in human hormonal drugs, such as birth control, and other sources are being flushed down drains and washed into bodies of water. The hormones are causing fish, polar bears, and another 200 species of wildlife to change sex or affect ways of reproducing. Scientists have discovered that sewage that runs into swimming bodies of water is making people ill. Some other repressions include physical alteration and destruction of habitats, excessive inputs of nutrients, and changes in sediment flows.

Proactive Measures of Domestic Pollution

One thing that should be enforced more strictly is putting filters over sewer drains. These filters would allow water to pass freely through the filter, but things such as garbage could not. This would considerably lessen the impact on garbage in the environment seeping into the water supply. Scientists are trying to come up with ways in which to preserve the environment and water supply for the heath of all humans. To do this, they have to look at issues in different ways, trying to come up with the least expensive but more effective way to do something. One of these ideas is to create better septic tanks. Often times, people do not change their septic tanks often enough, and scum and feces will escape, contaminating the surrounding soil. After a good rain, this ends up in our water supply. Who wants to drink their excrements? Scientists could come up with a higher quality septic tank which allows for less time for cleaning, and maybe more room to hold waste.

Health Risks

By only swimming in water affected by domestic pollution, people can get earaches, sinus problems, diarrhea, fever, and rashes. Epidemics in countries such as Japan occurred because of the consumption of infected organisms. One fatal disease from this is gastroenteritis.

Preventative Measures to Prevent Domestic Pollution

Little things that people do every day can help to lessen the pollution impacts on the environment. When people flush their medication down the toilet, most of the time that winds up in our water supply. Substances in drugs can often mess with the organisms in the ecosystem. Some drugs that help us actually kill organisms in an instant. This is bad for us, and the ecosystem. Now we have contaminated water AND dying organisms. If people were to just use all their medication or dispose of it properly, this situation can be avoided fully.

There are many things the average everyday human is doing to become proactive in helping to limit their domestic pollution. One huge thing is getting your septic tank cleaned annually. When septic tanks are not checked regularly, they can seep into the ground surrounding the septic tank. All that scum and feces goes into your lawn and into the water supply if the conditions are right.

Environmental factors, cultural beliefs and socioeconomic considerations

Domestic pollution is directly effected by the socioeconomic, environmental and cultural factors of a society. The socioeconomic conditions of a population, determine the lifestyle that they live, and therefore the pollution that is created. For example, a very rich population lives a robust and opulent lifestyle. Rich societies use many commodities and do many recreational activities. This results in a lot of pollution from many sources. (Transport of the commodities, waste from households, and many other sources) On the other end of the spectrum, third world countries do not live such full lives, and produce minimal pollution.

The environment that a society lives in also directly effects the sources and amount of pollution it produces. Populations close to the water will be more prone to dumpingwaste into the water (intentionally or unintentionally). Populations far from water sources (deserts) will use water more efficiently, because the water is not an abundant source.

Cultural beliefs of a society can also effect the pollution it creates. If a society is very concerned with the environment, the pollution will be minimal. If a society is not concerned with the environment, the pollution will be higher than if the society was concerned with the environment.

Industrial Pollution

Classification of Industrial Water Pollution

Industrial pollution occurs when factories and manufactures release byproducts of their processes into the surrounding air, water and land. This is a common and dangerous type of point pollution. Industrial pollution is more dangerous because factories release uncommon and more potent pollutants into the environment, such as mercury, lead, asbestos, nitrates, sulfur and many other toxic and radioactive substances.

Methods of Detection

Testing for pollutants is becoming more sophisticated and some equipment is portable. Assessments can be done for land pollution at multiple points so that 'hot spots' are found quickly, and results are available immediately. This speeds up decisions about how useful land is for the people intending to use it. If soil pollution is revealed, remediation can sometimes be undertaken. The most popular instruments are X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) instruments for metals contamination detection and PID (Photoionization Detector) gas detectors for hydrocarbon pollution.

Repercussions of Industrial Pollution

Heavy metals from industrial pollution can accumulate in lakes, rivers and other waterways which can poison and kill the aquatic organisms there, and the humans that eat them. Heavy metals can slow development, result in birth defects and many are carcinogenic. Other toxins can cause immune suppression, reproductive failure or acute poisoning. Nitrates and phosphates can cause algal blooms, which deplete oxygen in the water, sometimes to levels that kill aquatic organisms.

There are many specific examples of industrial pollution. In the 1950s, there was an extreme case of industrial water pollution in Mina Mata, Japan. A local factory producing acetic acid was dumping its wastewater into Mina Mata Bay. This discharge was full of methyl mercury, which was getting into fish. Since fish is a food staple in Japan and fishing is one of its main industries, everybody was affected. Because of the pollution, fish and shellfish filled up with mercury, causing a mysterious disease in the community that was not identified as mercury poisoning until 1968. The fishing industry was severely affected, as was the factory.

More repercussions of industrial pollution are those from mining. Many countries use surface mining, which pollutes the water in many ways. One way is by using cyanide to leach heavy metals and methyl mercury poisoning in the Amazon. Nuclear accidents and explosions put radioactive material in the water supply, which persists for years because of runoff from contaminated soil and the nature of radioactivity. A major example is Chernobyl, which is still uninhabitable in many areas near the blast.

Proactive Measures

Before raw sewage can be safely released back into the environment, it needs to be treated correctly in a water treatment plant. In a water treatment plant, sewage goes through a number of chambers and chemical processes to reduce the amount and toxicity of the waste, as stated above in ways of detecting domestic pollution.

Health Risks

There are various health risks associated with Industrial pollution. The chemicals that flow from factories untreated every day damage the water supply. This makes the water dangerous to drink and can have severe repercussions. Cancer, nervous system disorders, and severe illnesses can occur from drinking this untreated water. It not only harms us, but the environment too. Animals living in these environments cannot survive because often times the water kills many marine organisms. When one thing from the Food Chain disappears, everything else starts tumbling into entropy. This could affect the food supply that humans need, so this issue is not trivial and should be addressed immediately.

Preventative Measures

One way to prevent industrial pollution is to enforce stricter regulations on what is allowed to flow out of factories and how much is allowed. Often times in factories, the amount of waste flowing out of the factories is over what is allowed, and many factories illegally dump sewage into the ocean. All this waste and sewage hurts the environment and contaminates the water supply. This contaminated water can cause cancer, and lead to nervous system disorders. Clean water is essential to living healthy, and if the majority of humans are drinking contaminated water, this could lead to higher death rates, more susceptibility to cancer, and more birth defects in children. It only takes a little, to change a lot.

Effecting Factors

Environmental factors, cultural beliefs, and socioeconomic considerations- In the late 1940s and early 1950s, more than 21,000 tons of industrial chemical wastes were dumped in the abandoned Love Canal landfill. This is considered a cultural belief because at the time, nothing was thought of this, and there were no issues. Nowadays, we know the harmful repercussions of radioactive pollution but back then, it was legal. Later a housing development and an elementary school were built on the old landfill site in the mid 1950s. Soon after, chemicals started to seep out of the landfill and into nearby soil and water. This is an environmental factor because what used to be clean, healthy soil and pure water are both now contaminated and dangerous to humans and the ecosystems. Over the next 20 years, residents of Love Canal suffered various heath problems including miscarriages, birth defects, and cancer.

In 1978, an official investigation uncovered a vast leak contaminated with toxic chemicals coming from the canal. In August 1978, New York State condemned the property and evacuated 240 families from Love Canal. Soon, Love Canal became a ghost town. This is a socioeconomic consideration because what was once a healthy and growing economy became a ghost town in a matter of years. This impacted the overall economy of the community and many people lost jobs.

To conclude agricultural, domestic, and industrial waste are all sources of water pollution. The above post explained methods of detection, repercussions and health risks of each, and proactive and preveventive measures taken to stop the types of pollution. Stay tuned to this blog for more posts discussing the pollution of water.

Sources:

Agricultural Pollution. (2001, October 31). Retrieved March 11, 2010, from OECD: Glossary of Global Statistics. Website: http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=2971

American Bald Eagle. Retrieved March 21, 2010. Website: http://www.usflag.org/baldeagle.html

Biggs et al. (2007). Biology. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill.

City of Los Angeles Storm Water Program. Health risks to people swimming near storm drains. Retrieved March 25, 2010, from: http://www.lastormwater.org/siteorg/residents/hlthrsks.htm

David Krantz and Brad Kifferstein. Water pollution, description, cause, and affect and how society is preventing water pollution. Retrieved March 25, 2010, from: http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/waterpollution.htm

Eutrophication: Before and After [Photograph]. Retrieved March 23, 2010, from: http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/01590/pollution/eutrophication.html

Harmful Algae. (2008. May 7), Retrieved March 21, 2010, from Harmful Algae. Website: http://www.whoi.edu/redtide/

Macmillan, Simon (2000). Agricultural Pollution. In Macmillan Eneye of the Environment. New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan

Morgan, Pip (2005). Irrigation Methods. In The New Atlas of Planet Management. London: Gaia Books.

NASA (Photographer). [Untitled photograph of nitrogen runoff]. Retrieved March 17, 2010, from: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/crop-biodiversity-ocean deadzone.php

National Geographic. (2010). Retrieved March 25, 2010 from: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

Pesticide being sprayed [Photograph]. Retrieved March 23, 2010, from: http://healthmap.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/pesticide-exposure-found-to increase-risk-of-parkinsons-disease/

Pollution-agriculture. Retrieved March 14, 2010, from Naturegrid.uk Website: http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/rivers/gt%20stour%20case%20study-pages/plln- frm.html

Row crop with flood irrigation (Photograph). Retrieved March 25, 2010, from: http://www.desertusa.com/mag08/jun08/water-southwest-problems.html

Runoff. (2010. January 13) Retrieved March 21, 2010, From the Environmental Protection Agency. Website: http://www.epa.gov/nps/facts/point6.htm

Russ Buhrow (Photographer). Kids in fields of squash and devil’s claw [Photograph], Retrieved March 17, 2010,from: http://harvestingrainwater.com/2008/08/23/farming-in-the-city-with-runofffrom-a-street/

Skjold, S. (Photographer). (2010). Farmers Working in the Field

[Photograph], Retrieved April 5, 2010, from:

http://www.worldofstock.com/closeups/PWO1784.php

Smith, W. E. (Photographer). [Untitled photograph of wastewater discharge from the Chisso factory in Minamata]. Retrieved March 25, 2010 from: http://www.answers.com/topic/minamata-disease

Third World Agriculture. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from Renaissance Universal. Website: http://www.ru.org/11agricu.html

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2010, March 22). Polluted Runoff (Nonpoint Source Pollution). Retrieved March 25, 2010 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website: http://www.epa.gov/nps/

[Untitled photograph of a factory emitting pollutants into the atmosphere]. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from: http://www.nationalview.org/GlobalWarming.htm

[Untitled photograph of a sign near Love Canal]. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/11165

[Untitled photograph of a wastewater treatment plant]. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from: http://www.pulpandpaper-technology.com/contractors/environmental/purac/

[Untitled photograph of dirty water flowing through a village]. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from: http://waterandsanitationhealth.com/

[Untitled photograph of Fecal coliform bacteria from a polluted stream]. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from: http://www.ciriscience.org/ph_59-Fecal_coliform_bacteria_Copyright_Dennis_Kunkel_Microscopy



[Untitled photograph of homes near Love Canal that were destroyed]. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/11/dayintech_1121

[Untitled photograph of people working on a farm]. Retrieved April 5,

2010, from: http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/eching/LocalFoodMovementHome.html

[Untitled photograph of sewage being dumped into the water]. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=dead-sea-of-plastic-bottles




[Untitled photograph of the Love Canal dump]. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from: http://www.aegweb.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3329




[Untitled photograph of the XLt 700 Series hand-held x-ray fluorescence]. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from: http://www.envcoglobal.com/catalog/product/soil-testing/xlt-700-series-xrf-analyzer.html




[Untitled photograph of waste chemicals being dumped into the bay in Minamata, Japan]. Retrieved April 6, 2010, from: http://www.hamline.edu/personal/amurphy01/es110/eswebsite/ProjectsSpring03/ebarker/Minamata%20Web%20Page.htm

[Untitled photograph of red tides]. Retrieved 25 March, 2010, from: http://objsam.wordpress.com/2009/04/

[Untitled photograph of runoff from a farm]. Retrieved March 17, 2010, from: http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2009/04/cultivating-destruction/

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (2010, March 8). Domestic pollution and sewage. Retrieved March 25, 2010 from: http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=12469

World Health Organization. World Water Day 2001: Pollution from industry, mining, and agriculture. Retrieved March 25, 2010 from the WHO website: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/industrypollution/en/index1.html