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Chapter 21: Water Pollution

Chapter 21: Water Pollution. Sustainably Managing a Renewable Resource. FIGURE CO: Water pollution in rich and poor countries of the world affects our health and economy. © Rubberball/Alamy Images. Point and Nonpoint Sources.

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Chapter 21: Water Pollution

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  1. Chapter 21: Water Pollution Sustainably Managing a Renewable Resource

  2. FIGURE CO: Water pollution in rich and poor countries of the world affects our health and economy © Rubberball/Alamy Images

  3. Point and Nonpoint Sources • Point sources, such as factories, and from Nonpoint sources, such as farm fields and streets. Courtesy of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes National Program

  4. FIGURE 2: Major sources of U.S. stream pollution

  5. FIGURE 3: Sources of nonpoint water pollution affecting streams

  6. FIGURE 5: The oxygen sag curve

  7. FIGURE 6: Eutrophication and succession

  8. Infectious Agents FIGURE 7: Cryptosporidium, an infectious waterborne protist that can cause diarrhea in humans FIGURE 8: Fecal coliform bacteria © A. B. Dowsett/Photo Researchers, Inc.

  9. Toxic Organic Water Pollutants • Organics Sources: factories, homes, farms, lawns, and gardens. • Inorganic (acids and heavy metals, such as lead and mercury) Sources: Industry

  10. Other Types of Pollution: Sediment • Sediment washed from the land has profound effects on the chemical and physical nature of ecosystems. • Such changes have large impacts on aquatic organisms and humans who depend on them.

  11. FIGURE 9: Thermal pollution

  12. 21.2 Groundwater Pollution • May be heavily contaminated in numerous industrialized nations by: • industrial waste pits • septic tanks • oil wells • Landfills • agricultural chemicals, notably pesticides and fertilizer.

  13. Effects of Groundwater Pollution • Thousands of chemicals may be found in a nation’s groundwater. • Many of them are potentially harmful to human health, causing problems for: • unborn children: • miscarriage • birth defects • premature infant death • adults: • rashes • neurological problems

  14. Cleaning Up Groundwater • Groundwater moves slowly and takes many years to cleanse itself. • Preventing groundwater pollution is essential to creating a sustainable water supply. • Equally important are efforts to clean up groundwater supplies already contaminated by potentially toxic chemicals.

  15. 21.3 Ocean Pollution • The oceans are polluted by: • chemicals spilled into them directly • pollutants washed from the lands and transported to them by rivers FIGURE 10: An oil-covered duck Courtesy of John S. Lough/Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council

  16. FIGURE 12: Oil spills from 1970 to 2006 Data courtesy of International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd., ITOPF

  17. Plastic Pollution • Millions of tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean each year, killing hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, fish, and birds. FIGURE 13: A young hawksbill sea turtle is caught in a plastic fishing net © Jeff Rotman/Alamy Images

  18. Plastic Pollution • Many steps have been taken to reduce the disposal of plastic into the ocean, but huge amounts are still being disposed of each year. FIGURE 14: Trash on Imperial Beach, California © T. O’Keefe/PhotoLink/Photodisc/Getty Images

  19. Medical Wastes and Sewage Sludge • Millions of gallons of sewage enter the sea each year from coastal sewage treatment plants. FIGURE 15: Sewage treatment plant © Graham Prentice/Dreamstime.com

  20. FIGURE S01_1: Algal blooms in the Great Lakes © John Sohlden/Visuals Unlimited

  21. 21.4 Water Pollution Control • Reducing water pollution requires efforts on two levels: • those that capture wastes emitted from various sources (the so-called end-of-pipe solutions) • those that prevent waste production and pollution

  22. Legislative Controls • Legislation to address water pollution has focused on point sources—primarily factories and sewage treatment plants. • Gains made in controlling such sources have often been offset by increasing levels of pollution from nonpoint sources such as: • city streets • lawns • farm fields

  23. Controlling Nonpoint Pollution • In the United States, efforts to control nonpoint water pollution are still in their infancy. • They are gaining popularity because they are often economical solutions that offer other benefits as well. • The United States has focused more on groundwater pollution than nonpoint water pollution because groundwater is an important source of drinking water.

  24. FIGURE 16: Schematic of sewage treatment

  25. FIGURE 18: Land disposal of sewage

  26. Sustainable Solutions for Water Pollution • Measures that will collectively serve to reduce our production of water pollutants include: • reducing consumption • recycling materials • reducing industrial waste and municipal sewage • using renewable resources • stabilizing population growth

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