Water pollution
TREN 1F90: Sustainability,
Environment and Tourism
David T. Brown
B. CONDENSATION
C. PRECIPITATION
A. EVAPORATION
2. Atmospheric radioactive
1. Dust particles and gases
dust particles (high
filtered out of atmosphere
altitudes)
by
falling
snow
3. Suspended solids
4. Terpenes, phenolics, and
eroded by falling
other natural VOCs
5. Mine acid tailings and
water
from trees
waste leached into
waterways
6. Industrial effluent gases
washed from atmosphere
Leaching
9. Natural aeration 8.
(falls,
rapids)of soil chemicals
and decaying vegetation
affecting dissolved gases
7. Crop
10. Industrial wastespraying
water and
discharged into water
dusting
bodies or municipal
(herbicides,
sewers
pesticides)
by air
11. Dust particles 12.
andFertilizers and biocides
13.
Barnyard and feedlot manure
from agricultural
land
airborne solids washed
14. Human waste from
out of atmosphere
15. Sea water from overdraft
domestic septic systems
of underground aquifers
16. Thermal pollution from
power plants and industry
17. Methane and other gases
from marshes and swamps
19. Storm
18. Municipal
sewer
wastewater
runoff
treatment
plant effluent
21. Vehicle exhaust /
fossil fuel emissions
22. Oil leaks and spills
from tanks and rigs
20. Marine salt
particles
and spray
CONTROLLING WATER
POLLUTION
Water Pollutants
• toxics
• nutrients
• anthropogenic
origin (e.g. industrial
• suspended matter effluent, sewage)
• pathogens
• thermal pollution • natural origin (e.g.
silt, mineral nutrients,
• dissolved gases
wild animal wastes)
Significant concern in the tourism industry
• Water quality
• Water quantity
• Aesthetic
concerns
• Disease and
pathogens
• Local equity
issues
•Tourism operations:
Water and tourism
• Quantity: ensuring that local water supply
needs are not compromised by tourist
demands in resorts (e.g., island resorts)
• Quality: ensuring that local water
treatment infrastructure can handle
additional burden of sewage from tourism
Water and tourism
Case study:
cruise ship
pollution issues
CRUISE SHIP ISSUES:
BIG SHIPS
3.6 Canadian
fields long
360 football
m long
6296 passengers
World's biggest cruise ships:
Royal Carribean’s
“Oasis of the Seas“ (2009)
“Allure of the Seas” (2010)
CRUISE SHIP ISSUES:
BIG SHIPS
World's 2nd biggest cruise ship:
Royal Carribean’s
"Freedom of the Seas“
338.91 m / 3,634 passengers
BIG SHIPS
World's 3rd largest cruise ship:
Cunard’s
“Queen Mary 2”
345 m / 3056 passengers
BIG SHIPS = BIG POLLUTION
19 to 26 litres • Sewage dumped per
passenger per day
1.58 billion litres • Sewage dumped per year
4.8 km (3 miles) • Distance from shore where
raw sewage is dumped
0 km • Distance from shore where
treated sewage and raw
graywater are dumped
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF
CRUISE SHIPS
Waste discharge in international waters is controlled
under Annex V of the MARPOL convention (1988)
Liquid wastes:
Gray water - from dishwashing, showers
Sewage – from toilets
• Within 4.8 km: treated with MSDs
(marine sanitation devices) to dissolve
lumps and reduce bacteria levels)
• Beyond 4.8 km: no treatment is required
(direct discharge of raw sewage)
Oil – from bilge water in hull of ship
Hazardous liquid wastes – dry cleaning, photo processing
paints, solvents, pool chemicals, etc.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF
CRUISE SHIPS
Solid wastes:
• Inorganic (glass, aluminum and steel
cans, and plastics)
• Organic (primarily food wastes)
Barred from dumping:
• plastics (anywhere at sea)
• floatable garbage within 25 miles
(40 km) of shore
Permitted to dump:
• garbage ground into pieces smaller
than 2.5 cm when three miles (4.8
km) from shore
• unground garbage when they are at
least 12 miles (19 km) from shore
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF
CRUISE SHIPS
Waste discharges to air also a problem
Diesel ‘Master’ and ‘slave’ engine emissions
• Master engines: used for propulsion
• Slave engines: used for electricity generation
Marine engines generally burn cheap residual
fuel oil of low quality (not standard diesel).
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF
CRUISE SHIPS
Waste discharges to air include:
Solid waste incinerator emissions:
• gaseous emissions
• particulate emissions
• greenhouse gases
Annex VI of MARPOL (International Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution From Ships) is concerned with
the prevention of air pollution from ships.
You might expect it of antique vessels…
Passenger excursion ship (1912 steamer TSS Earnslaw) on Lake
Wakatipu, near Queenstown, New Zealand
…but modern cruise ships?!?
A cruise ship in Milford Sound, New Zealand, with stack exhaust
gases constrained by an inversion layer
Per unit of time, a cruise ship’s diesel engines can emit as
much exhaust as 10,000 cars, even when idling in port.
A rare dockside utility connection
(found on 53 Swedish ships; 0 US ships)
2
6
3
• Number of cruise lines
equipping ships to plug into
shorepower
• Number of cruise ships
equipped to plug into
shorepower
• Number of U.S. ports
equipped with shoreside
power hook-ups for cruise
ships
Controlling Water
Pollution
• Upstream:
•
before the problem occurs
Downstream:
after the problem occurs
Upstream Methods of
Controlling Water Pollution
• process modification in industry:
elimination of pollutants and toxics
• avoidance of direct discharge into:
– water bodies
– storm sewers
– sanitary sewers
• identification of storm drains (e.g.
Yellow Fish Road project)
Upstream Methods of
Controlling Water Pollution
• decoupling of storm and sanitary
sewers
• runoff control:
– increasing absorptive surfaces
– avoiding erosion
– maintaining streambank and shoreline
vegetation
• legislation and regulation: guidelines
and laws establishing limits on
discharge
Downstream Methods of
Controlling Water Pollution
• effluent treatment processes:
– mechanical: filtering, gravity separation
– chemical: flocculation, coagulation
– biological: microbes or macrophytes
aerobic or anaerobic
– disinfection: chlorination, ozonation, etc.
(pathogen control)
Downstream Methods of
Controlling Water Pollution
• domestic sewage treatment:
– primary: straining and settling of solids
– secondary: removal of biodegradable
organic matter and nutrients
– tertiary: removal of residual dissolved
nutrients and pollutants
Downstream Methods of
Controlling Water Pollution
• ‘physical plant’/ ‘engineered’ approach
(usually centralized, large scale)
• ‘constructed wetland’ approach (centralized or
decentralized, large or small scale)
S
E
W
A
G
E
Neolithic revolution
• small towns and settlements ->
human waste control generally nonproblematic
S
E
W
A
G
E
“In days of old
When knights were bold
And toilets weren’t invented
They’d leave their loads
Upon the roads
And walk away contented.”
S
E
W
A
G
E
Post - Neolithic revolution:
Large towns and cities ->
human waste control became a problem
high-density living required
technologies for handling human
wastes in urban areas:
• chamber pots and open gutters
• pit privies / trench latrines/ outhouses
• septic systems and variants
• centralized sewage collection and
treatment systems
Methods of Managing Sewage:
Small scale
• Temporary /
short term:
–
–
–
–
packing it out
single-use holes
pit privies
trench latrines
Meyer, Kathleen. 1989.
How to shit in the woods :
an environmentally sound approach
to a lost art. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, Calif.
Methods of Managing Sewage:
Small scale
• Long-term
–
–
–
–
–
outhouses
settling ponds
septic tanks
septic fields
composting toilets
van der Ryn, Sim. 1978 (republished and revised 1999). The
Toilet Papers: Recycling Waste and Conserving Water. Chelsea
Green Publishing, Vermont. Online edition available at
www.brocku.ca/tren/courses/tren3p14/2006/ToiletPapers.pdf
Waterless toilet technologies
Clivus Multrum
composting toilet
• converts human
and organic
wastes into
odourless
compost
Waterless toilet technologies
•
•
•
•
•
Scalable
Waterless
Low energy
Suitable for remote areas
Now CSA approved
Primary Sewage Treatment
GRIT
SETTLING CHLORINATION
BAR
TANK
TANK
SCREEN CHAMBER
outflow
Raw sewage
Sludge
SLUDGE
DIGESTER
SLUDGE
DRYING
BED
Secondary Sewage Treatment
GRIT
SETTLING AERATION SETTLING
BAR
TANK
TANK
TANK 2
SCREEN CHAMBER
Raw sewage
CHLORINATION
TANK
Methane
SLUDGE
DIGESTER
outflow
Air
pump
SLUDGE
DRYING
BED
Activated sludge
Constructed Wetland
Constructed Wetland
EXPERIMENTAL CELLS
S.W.A.M.P.
(SEWAGE WASTE AMENDMENT MARSH PROJECT)
Niagara on the Lake, Ontario
Constructed Wetland
EXPERIMENTAL CELLS
Constructed Wetland
macrophytes
Cattails and Water Hyacinth
Large scale
constructed wetland
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
Settling tank
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
Sludge dewatering
and drying
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
Aeration pond
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
Outflow into
constructed
wetland
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
Large scale
constructed wetland
Saha Pat Industrial Park, Laem Chabang, Thailand
Water and Legislation
• multijurisdictional:
•
federal, provincial, and municipal areas of
responsibility
multifaceted:
laws and regulations deal with
– conservation and management of water
resources; protection of aquatic life
– pollution and liquid discharge
– drinking water standards