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How can we increase freshwater supplies for a growing human population?
6 Technological Solutions to Water Scarcity:
• Some technological solutions to water shortages (Pros and Cons): groundwater, dams, watershed transfer, desalination, IPR and improving efficiency
• Water Pollution: general definition, analysis, source, major types of water pollution
1.
2.
3.
Extract Groundwater Build Dams and Reservoirs to store runoff
Bring in surface water from other areas: Watershed Transfer 4. Desalination: converting salt water to fresh water
Desalination by the Numbers
17,000+
The total number of desalination plants worldwide (as of 2013)
• Most Common Techniques: Reverse Osmosis, More than 80 million cubic meters per day
The global capacity of commissioned desalination plants (as of
2013)
Meets ~1% of world’s water needs. Would have to increase ~33 fold just to supply 10% of current water use.
21.1 billion US gallons
The equivalent of 66.5 million cubic meters per day
150
The number of countries where desalination is practiced
More than 300 million
The number of people around the world who rely on desalinated
water for some or all their daily needs
• Major Challenges:
– Expensive; it takes large amounts of energy, CO2 output
– Produces lots of waste water with high level of salt and other minerals.
– Large structures, unsightly, noise
– Could harm marine environment
Carlsbad Ca Desalination Project:
Existing facilities and facilities under construction
•Algeria
•Aruba
•Australia
•Bahrain
•Chile
•China
•Cyprus
•Egypt
•Gibraltar
•Grand Cayman
•Hong Kong
•India
•Iran
•Israel
•Malta
•Maldives
•Oman
•Saudi Arabia
•South Africa
•Spain
•United Arab Emirates
•United Kingdom
Construction began in 2009, may be operational in late 2015 at a cost of
~ $1 billion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy0v6T-vnJI
Will produce 50 million gal/day: supply region with ~7% of drinking
water, will be the largest desal plant in the western hemisphere.
http://wateraware.net/waterforsantacruz
web link: WATCH THIS VIDEO
Other Desal techniques, “Unconventional”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/unconventional-desalination-technology-could-solve153004629.html
• United States
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3/22/2016
How can we increase freshwater supplies for a growing human population?
6 Technological Solutions to Water Scarcity:
1) Extract Groundwater
2) Build Dams and Reservoirs to store
runoff
3) Bring in surface water from other
areas: Watershed Transfer
4) Desalination
#5) Indirect Potable Reuse
IPR “Toilet to Tap” Web Link
Its Time to Drink Toilet Water
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and
_science/green_room/2008/01/its_time_t
o_drink_toilet_water.html
Orange County Ca,
San Diego Ca
El Paso Texas,
Singapore
Reused water is water used more than once or recycled.
Potable water is drinking water.
Nonpotable reuse refers to reused water that is not used for drinking, but is safe to use
for irrigation or industrial purposes.
Indirect potable reuse means the water is delivered to you indirectly. After it is purified,
the reused water blends with other supplies and/or sits a while in some sort of storage,
man-made or natural, before it gets delivered to a pipeline that leads to a water
treatment plant or distribution system. That storage could be a groundwater basin or a
surface water reservoir.
Direct potable reuse means the reused water is put directly into pipelines that go to a
water treatment plant or distribution system. Direct potable reuse may occur with or
without “engineered storage” such as underground or above ground tanks.
Greywater is gently used water from your bathroom sinks, showers, tubs, and washing
machines. It is not water that has come into contact with feces, either from the toilet or
from washing diapers. Greywater may contain traces of dirt, food, grease, hair, and
certain household cleaning products.
WATER POLLUTION
WATER POLLUTION:
Any biological, physical or chemical change
in surface or groundwater quality that
harms life or makes water unsuited for
specific uses.
Indirect Potable Reuse VS Desalination?
Desalination:
• is more expensive, $800 – $2,000 per acre foot compared to ~$525 per acre foot for IPR water
• requires more energy than IPR water, therefore more greenhouse gas emissions
• potential to harm marine organisms
• has a brine waste, often returned to the ocean and/or pumped back into the ground
IPR:
• has the psychological “Yuk Factor” WEB LINK
•
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Orange‐Countys‐Wastewater‐Purification‐
System‐Worlds‐Largest‐Expands‐211900901.html
How can we increase freshwater supplies for a growing human population?
6 Technological Solutions to Water Scarcity: 1) Extract Groundwater
2) Build Dams and
Reservoirs to store runoff
3) Bring in surface water
from other areas:
Watershed Transfer
4) Desalination
5) IPR
6) Improving water
efficiency
Analyzing Water Quality?
Direct sampling / Tissue sampling • Measuring colonies of fecal coliform bacteria (CFU’s >200 bad / MPN per 100ml >400 bad)
• Measure dissolved oxygen and biological oxygen demand
• Chemical analysis to determine presence / concentration of organic and inorganic chemicals, pH, temperature
• Quantify living organisms “indicator species”
vertebrate and invertebrates
• Measuring sediment content / turbidity / TDS
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Nonpoint Sources: no clear outflow
site, contaminants are difficult to trace to
specific site. Run off from cities, farms,
feedlots etc.
NONPOINT SOURCES
Rural homes
Cropland
Urban streets
Animal feedlot
Suburban
development
POINT
SOURCES
Factory
Wastewater
treatment
plant
Point Sources: definite, easily
located sites: pipes, sewers,
septic systems, ditches, oil
platforms. Relatively easy to
monitor and enforce.
SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER
POLLUTION
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Infectious Agents
Organic Chemicals
Study examples of each of
these.
Inorganic Chemicals
Radioactive Materials
Also focus on their source
Sediment
and harmful effects.
Plant Nutrients
Oxygen Demanding Waste
Thermal
Genetic
Ocean Debris, Plastic, Styrofoam, Garbage
SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION
• INFECTIOUS AGENTS: Bacteria, Viruses, Parasitic
Protozoa.
It’s not all bad news
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=VtW8RkI3‐c4
• SOURCES: Human and animal excreta / fecal material
Developed Countries: ~90% have adequate sewage disposal,
~95% clean drinking water.
In Developing Countries ~1.4 billion people lack adequate
sanitation.
MAJOR feedlots have many 1,000’s of animals with no provisions
for capturing runoff.
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: causes disease, health problems
Common Diseases Transmitted to Humans Through Contaminated Drinking Water
Table 22‐2
severe vomiting, enlarged
spleen, inflamed intestine; often fatal if
Page 493Diarrhea,
untreated
Type of Organism
Disease
Bacteria
Typhoid fever
Effects
Cholera
Diarrhea, severe vomiting, dehydration;
often fatal if untreated
Bacterial dysentery
Diarrhea; rarely fatal except in infants
without proper treatment
Enteritis
Severe stomach pain, nausea, vomiting;
rarely fatal
Viruses
Infectious hepatitis
Fever, severe headache, loss of appetite,
abdominal pain, jaundice, enlarged liver;
rarely fatal but may cause permanent liver
damage
Parasitic protozoa
Amoebic dysentery
Severe diarrhea, headache, abdominal
pain, chills, fever; if not treated can cause
liver abscess, bowel perforation, and death
Giardiasis
Diarrhea, abdominal cramps, flatulence,
belching, fatigue
Parasitic worms
Schistosomiasis
Santa Cruz County Beaches
water quality data 2013
Abdominal pain, skin rash, anemia, chronic
fatigue, and chronic general ill health
Estimated by 2025 that ~3 bill people
in 90 countries will face serious water stress
sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/eh/environmental_water_quality
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SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION
• ORGANIC CHEMICALS: Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS) DDT, PCB’s, PAH’s
• SOURCES: Associated with the production of: Oil,
Gasoline, Pesticides, Plastics, Paints, Detergents
Industrial and household waste, farms, roads, golf courses.
Also flame retardants, pesticides, burning fossil fuels
1,000’s of organic (and inorganic) chemicals used to produce
plastics, pharmaceuticals, pigments, paints
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: causes health problems,
contaminates groundwater & surface water, harms fish, wildlife
Persistent Organic
Polycyclic Aromatic
Pollutants (POPS) absorb Hydrocarbons (PAH’s)
into plastic marine debris. PAH’s are a group of over 100
different chemicals that are formed
They are Hydrophobic
during the incomplete burning of coal,
Organo-Chlorine
Pesticides
They include DDT which was a
major pesticide used in agriculture
until it was banned.
oil and gas, garbage, or other organic
substances like tobacco or charbroiled
meat. PAHs are found in coal tar,
crude oil, creosote, and roofing tar,
plastics, and pesticides.
Polychlorinated
Biphenyls (PCBs)
They’re mixtures of up to 209
individual chlorinated compounds
used as coolants, flame & heat
retardants. A synthetic organic chemical
compound of chlorine attached to biphenyl, which
is a molecule composed of two benzene rings.
Nurdles: a pre production plastic resin pellet ~60 billion
lbs manufactured in US/Yr
Plastics Absorb Persistent Organic Pollutants
Estimated Nurdles ~10% plastic debris in the oceans, often
over 90% of plastic on beaches.
Nurdles attract or accumulate POP’s
Plastic Pollution: Nurdles
http://www.speakupforblue.com/everything-ocean/plastic-pollution-nurdles
Web Link
One plastic pellet can have up to 1 million
times higher concentration of POPs than an
equal volume of seawater. (Takada, 2001)
SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION
• INORGANIC CHEMICALS: Acids, Bases,
Metals (Pb, Hg, Cu, Zn, Sn, Cd, As,) and Salts
http://chemistry.about.com/od/bases/tp/Names-Of-10-Bases.htm
http://chemistry.about.com/od/acids/tp/Names-Of-10-Acids.htm
• SOURCES: Industrial effluents, processing fossil
fuels / petroleum distillation, mining, household
chemicals, farming / road salt, surface runoff
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: causes health problems
such as cancer and nervous system damage, pollutes
groundwater, harms aquatic life, lowers crop yields,
accelerate corrosion of metals, vehicles & roads
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Effects on Aquatic Ecosystems
SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION
Water
boatman
Whirligig
• RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS:
Yellow perch
U, Th, Ra (Radium), Rn (Radon)
Lake trout
• SOURCES: Mining and Processing Ores, REE’s,
Weapons Production, Power Plants
Brown trout
Salamander
(embryonic)
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: causes health problems
such as cancer, birth defects, miscarriages and
mutations
Mayfly
Smallmouth
Bass
Mussel
pH 6.5
6.0
5.5 5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION
• SEDIMENT: Sand, silt, clay, soil
• SOURCES: Deforestation, logging, mining
mineral resources, urban construction
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: Harms aquatic
organisms and food webs, reduces biological
production / photosynthesis, carries pesticides &
bacteria, clogs / smothers lakes, reservoirs, streams
and harbors
Can a lack of sediment be harmful? Ex??
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)
in Florida Bay
• Excessive nutrient runoff
– Agricultural and urban sources
• Red Tides of algae
– Poisons fish and marine mammals
– Coral species particularly effected
SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION
• PLANT NUTRIENTS: Nitrates, Phosphates
and Ammonia
• SOURCES: Agriculture and Urban Fertilizers,
(lawns and golf courses), Sewage, Manure.
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: “Cultural Eutrophication”
ecosystem disruption, HAB’s, health problems
• Eutrophication: An increase in nutrient levels and
biological activity; excessive growth of algae
• “Cultural Eutrophication”: Over nourishment from human
activities
SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION
• OXYGEN DEMANDING WASTES:
Animal wastes, sewage, plant debris, Pulp
(paper)
• SOURCES: Septic Tanks, Untreated Sewage,
Agriculture Runoff, Food Processing Plants, Paper
Mills
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: lowers dissolved oxygen
as bacteria decomposes, harms aquatic life, ecosystem
disruption
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Water
Quality
DO (mg/l) at 20˚C
Good
8- 9
Slightly
polluted
Gravely
polluted
• THERMAL: Heat
6.7- 8
Moderately
polluted
Heavily
polluted
SOME COMMON TYPES OF
WATER POLLUTION
4.5- 6.7
Below 4.5
Below 4
Hudson River highlights temperature changes caused by discharge of 2.5 billion gallons of water/day from the Indian Point Power Plant, located in upper right. Two additional outflows from the Lovett Coal‐Fired Power Plant are also visible.
• SOURCES: Power Plants / Industrial
Cooling, Loss of Riparian Flora
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: lowers dissolved
oxygen content, harms aquatic life,
ecosystem disruption
SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION
• GENETIC:
• SOURCES: Accidental or deliberate introduction
of nonnative species ie. Zebra Mussels in Great Lakes
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: ecosystem disruption,
clogs pipes, out-competes native species
• Aquatic Invasive Species or AIS (web link)
http://www.oar.noaa.gov/oceans/t_invasivespecies.html
• Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) (web link)
Natural temperature of the water is green and blue
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/
SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION
• Ocean Debris, Plastics, Styrofoam,
Garbage
• SOURCES: ~80% land based; runoff from streets,
cities, ~20% ships at sea
• HARMFUL EFFECTS: ecosystem disruption,
harms aquatic life, plankton, fish, mammals,
birds. Examples: Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Since 1988!
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
So why bad?
Aesthetics.
Breaks down, gets into food web.
Animals / Birds ingest.
Concentrates POP’s. Human health at risk.
Acts as transport for invasive species.
Cabrillo College Oceanography’s
24th Coastal Cleanup, May 1st 2010
Kamilo Beach, Hawaii
2006
Solutions?
• Educate the general public. “Plastics don’t litter, people litter”
• Produce more bio‐degradable plastics
• Industry and producer responsibility
• Structural Controls: ie. river booms, catch basins, screens
• Have beach cleanups……. Great, but not the answer
• The Clean Oceans Project (TCOP) The Clean Oceans
Project (TCOP) http://www.thecleanoceansproject.org./index.php
Web Link
Algalita Marine Research Foundation
http://www.algalita.org/index.php
108 people, 1,050lbs of Trash, 20 Lg Pizzas & more
Estimated total haul for 14 years is over 12 tons
Problem: the trash keeps coming back
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SOME COMMON TYPES OF WATER
POLLUTION
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Infectious Agents
Organic Chemicals
Study examples of each of
these.
Inorganic Chemicals
Also focus on their source
Radioactive Materials
and harmful effects.
Sediment
Plant Nutrients
Oxygen Demanding Waste
Thermal
Genetic
Ocean Debris, Plastic, Styrofoam, Garbage
8