APES Chapter 20 Notes: Water Pollution
Vocabulary:
Water Pollution
Septic Tank
Point source
Primary Sewage Treatment
Non-point source
Secondary Sewage Treatment
Eutrophication
Tertiary Sewage Treatment
Cultural eutrophication
Clean Water Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
Non-degradable waste
Degradable waste
Slowly degradable waste
Section/Concepts
20.1 What are the causes
and effects of water
pollution?
*Water pollution causes
illness and death in humans
and other species and
disrupts ecosystems.
*The chief sources of water
pollution are agricultural
activities, industrial facilities
and mining, but growth in
population and resource use
makes it increasingly worse.
Questions to answer:
1) What is happening in Lake
Washington?
2) What types of sources
does water pollution come
from?
3) What are the harmful
effects of water
pollution?
***Be sure to review and
take notes on Table 20-1
and 20.2.
Notes
20.2 What are the Major
Water Pollution Problems
in Rivers and Lakes?
*While streams are
extensively polluted
worldwide by human
activities, the can cleanse
themselves of many
pollutants if we don’t
overload them or reduce
their flows
*Addition of excessive
nutrients to lakes from
human activities can disrupt
lake ecosystems, and
prevention of such pollution
is more effective and less
costly than clean up.
Questions to answer:
1) Can streams cleanse
themselves?
2) What is stream pollution
like in developed
countries?
3) What is stream pollution
like in developing
countries?
4) What is happening in the
Ganges River in India?
5) Why does too little mixing
and low water flow make
lakes vulnerable to
pollution?
6) What is the concern over
cultural eutrophication?
7) What is happening in Lake
Washington and Puget
Sound?
8) What is the pollution
situation in the Great
Lakes?
20.3 What are the major
pollution problems
affecting groundwater and
other drinking water
sources?
*Chemicals used in
agriculture, industry,
transportation, and homes
can spill and leak into
groundwater and make it
undrinkable.
*There are simple ways and
complex ways to purify
drinking water, but
protecting it through
pollution prevention is the
least expensive and most
effective strategy.
Questions to Answer:
1) Why is it hard for
groundwater to cleanse
itself?
2) Why is groundwater
pollution a serious hidden
threat?
3) What’s the deal with
arsenic in groundwater?
4) Why is pollution
prevention the only
effective way to protect
groundwater?
5) What are the ways to
purify drinking water?
6) Why should we protect
watersheds?
7) What laws are used to
protect drinking water
quality?
8) What’s the deal with
bottled water?
20.4 What are the major
water pollution problems
affecting oceans?
*The majority of ocean
pollution originates on land
and includes oil and other
toxic chemicals and wastes,
which threaten aquatic
species and other wildlife and
disrupt marine ecosystems.
*The key to protecting the
oceans is to reduce the flow
of pollutants from land and
air and from streams
emptying into these waters.
Questions to Answer:
1) Why is ocean pollution a
growing and poorly
understood problem?
2) Why is oil pollution in the
oil a serious problem?
3) What is the issue with
oxygen depletion in the
Northern Gulf of Mexico?
20.5 How can we best deal
with water pollution?
*Reducing water pollution
requires preventing it,
working with nature to treat
sewage, cutting resource use
and waste, reducing poverty,
and slowing population
growth.
Questions to answer:
1) How do we reduce surface
water pollution from nonpoint sources?
2) How do laws help reduce
water pollution from point
sources?
3) How well has the U.S.
fared in reducing point
source pollution?
4) How do sewage treatment
plants reduce water
pollution? (Be sure to look
carefully at the diagram
and discuss the flow of
waste.)
5) How can conventional
sewage treatment be
improved?
6) How can we treat sewage
using nature?
7) What are the sustainable
ways to reduce and
prevent water pollution?