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Heavy Metals & Synthetic Organics

This lecture delves into the devastating effects of heavy metals and synthetic organics on the environment and human health. It covers widespread oil spill incidents, such as the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the Exxon Valdez spill, highlighting cleanup challenges and technological responses. Key topics include lead and mercury contamination, acid deposition, and the dangers of various pollutants like PCBs and pesticides. The lecture emphasizes the importance of intervention strategies and innovative solutions for cleaning up our ecosystems and protecting public health.

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Heavy Metals & Synthetic Organics

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  1. Heavy Metals & Synthetic Organics Lecture #44 Ch 14-day 4

  2. Catastrophic! • Toxic to all living things • Persistent • Floats & sinks • Thick, viscous coating of everything

  3. Sources: 1: Undersea Offshore Drilling • 5,000 N. America & 3,000 more globally • they leak! • BBC Coverage • 2010 Deepwater Horizon, BP: Gulf of Mexico, I mile deep • AprilAugust 4 billion barrels oil

  4. (2) Oil Tankers • Exxon Valdez 1989, 11 million gallons (fig 14.14) • Decades of cleanup • 2009 post-spill analysis • $1 billion clean-up, $500 million damages • outcome: double hulled tankers • more Valdez footage

  5. (3) Pipelines • BP Prudhoe Bay 2006 • Exxon: Yellowstone River 2011 • Keystone Pipeline extension

  6. (4) Natural Seepage

  7. Cleaning Up an Oil Spill

  8. Dawn

  9. Floating Oil • Boom containment (down several meters) & suck it up • Shallow waters: absorbent materials • Dispersants (toxic?) • Burn it • GM Bacteria

  10. Deepwater Horizon-What you can’t See: the “plume” • CBS Evening News

  11. Coastlines • Natural action –v- intervention

  12. Lead (Pb)

  13. Lead (Pb)

  14. Arsenic (As)

  15. Arsenic (As)

  16. Arsenic is a Worldwide Problem • Wells in Bangladesh & eastern India • 140 million people worldwide Solution: membrane filters, distillation, reverse osmosis

  17. Mercury (Hg)

  18. Mercury (Hg) Remember: Minamata Bay, Japan

  19. Acid Deposition

  20. Acid Deposition

  21. Cleaning Up Acid Deposition • Scrubbers: • Convert SOx to a different, less harmful substance • CaCO3 + SO2 CaSO4 + H2O • Limestone (CaCO3)

  22. Acid Mine Drainage

  23. Pesticides

  24. Pesticides

  25. Pharmaceuticals

  26. Perchlorates(Military Compounds)

  27. PCB’s (polychlorinated biphenyls)

  28. PCB’s (polychlorinated biphenyls)

  29. Cleaning Up PCB’s • General Electric (G.E.) and the Hudson River • To dredge or not to dredge? • Discharged from 1947-1977 • Court Ruled 2002, work began 2009 • VIDEO: returning a River To Health (EPA)

  30. PBDE’s(polybrominateddiphenyl ethers)

  31. PBDE’s(polybrominateddiphenyl ethers)

  32. The List Goes On • BPA (plastic bottles) (bisphenol-A) • Phthalates (plastics) • MBTE (gasoline additive) • Aspartame (artificial sweetener) • What an you think of ……

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