Chapter 19 guided reading
1: How is water pollution defined?
Degradation of water quality
2: What are some of the common water pollutants?
heavy metals, bacteria, chemicals, heat, fecal coliform.
3: What is the primary water pollution problem in the world today?
Lack of clean drinking water
4: How many people are exposed to waterborne diseases worldwide?
people counted in billions
5: Name 3 sources of Surface Water and 3 sources of Groundwater Pollution from the chart (19.1)
Surface water- urban runoff, accidental spill of oil and sediment
Groundwater- Leak from waste disposal sites, seepage from agricultural activities and seepage from
accidental spills.
A Closer Look 19.1: What is the Value of Clean Water to New York City?
What is the main idea of this story?
as water is our natural resource and we can’t live without it, we should as well take care of it.
1: What is BOD and what are some sources of it?
BOD is biological oxygen demand. Some sources include drugs organic chemicals and nutrients
2: Where does approximately 33% of all BOD in streams come from?
forms from agricultural activities
3: What about in urban areas (BOD)?
Forms from sewage
4: What is the relationship between BOD and dissolved oxygen levels? (What happens when BOD is
high?)
When BOD is very high, dissolved oxygen levels of the water become too low to support life in water.
5: Explain the 3 zones of BOD:
* Pollution Zone: When waste decomposes, microorganisms use the oxygen, decreasing dissolved
oxygen.
* Active Decomposition Zone: Dissolved oxygen reaches a minimum owing to
* Recovery Zone: natural stream processes replenish water's dissolved oxygen
1: What is Fecal Coliform Bacteria and where does it come from?
it’s an indicator of disease potential and comes from mammals.
1: How do urban streams get high concentrations of Nitrogen and Phosphorus?
because there are so many industries and products of sewage
1: Define Eutrophication:
Is the process by which a body of water develops a high concentration of nutrients like nitrogen or
phosphorus.
2: What is the solution to artificial or cultural eutrophication?
ensuring high concentrations of nutrients and other chemicals don’t enter water bodies.
A Closer Look 19.2: Cultural Eutrophication in the Gulf of Mexico
What is a dead zone and how is it created?
A place with a very low concentration of dissolved oxygen and most likely with no kind of life in it.
Created by eutrophication
1: Which Environmental Act was created after the Exxon Valdez disaster?
The Oil Pollution Act.
1: Why is sediment pollution considered to be a two-fold problem
Because it depletes land and reduces the quality of water
2: What are some of the techniques employed by a sediment control program?
Minimize on-site erosion control.
1: Define Acid Mine Drainage and explain how it occurs:
Acid Mine Drainage is water with a high concentration of Sulfuric Acid. It occurs when fool's gold (FeS2)
is disseminated in rock and coal and comes into contact with oxygen and water. It weathers and the
product is sulfuric acid.
2: What is the general equation for acid mine drainage?
4 Pyrite + 15Oxygen + 14Water= 4 Ferric Hydroxide (Fe (OH)3) + 8 sulfuric acid
3: What site was once designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the nation’s worst
hazardous waste site?
tar creek in oklahoma
1: What are some point sources of surface water pollution?
pipes from industries
2: What are some non-point sources of surface water pollution?
Runoffs from streams or fields
3: What are the 2 approaches to dealing with surface water pollution?
remove pollutants or convert them to forms that can be disposed of safely.
1: ___75% of the 175,000 known waste disposal sites in the United States may be producing plumes of
hazardous chemicals that are migrating into groundwater resources.
2: What is bioremediation?
A process accomplished by microorganisms that consume the gasoline.
3: What are the 5 important points about groundwater pollution?
some pollutants are lighter than water, so they float
some Pollutants have multiple phases: liquid, vapor and dissolved
some Pollutants are heavier than water and sink or move downward through to the ground
The method used to treat water pollutant must take into account the physical and chemical properties
of the pollutants and how these interact with surface water or ground water.
since the cleanup treatment is too expensive and undetected pollutants are too risky the solution is to
prevent pollutants from getting in the first place.
4: What is saltwater intrusion of well water?
Saltwater intrusion is where subsurface salty water migrates to wells being pumped.
1: Summarize how Septic Tank Sewage Disposal Systems work.
Sewer line from houseleads to underground septic tank. The tank separates solids from liquids and store
organic matter through a period of detention. It allows all clean water to discharge into the drain field
from a piping system where sewage seeps into the surrounding soil. Wastewater moves through soil, is
further treated by natural processes of oxidation and filtering.
2: What happens during primary treatment of sewage?
In primary treatment, sewage enters municipal sewer line and passes through a series of screens to
remove large floating organic material. It enters a girt chamber and goes through a primary
sedimentation tank where matter forms sludge. It is removed and transported to a digester.
3: What happens during secondary treatment of sewage?
Wastewater from primary sedimentation tanks enters aeration tank, where it is mixrd with air. The
sludge consumes BOD in the waste.
4: When is advanced wastewater treatment used?
It is used when Primary and Secondary treatment do not remove all of the pollutants.
5: What are some of the risks associated with Chlorine treatment of wastewater that is later discharged?
There are risks of cancer and other health effects. The degree of risk is controversial and is being
debated.
1: Explain the process of wastewater renovation and conservation cycle.
is when wastewater moves through gardens which is eventually discharged into the environment.
1: How can applying treated sewage to wetlands be helpful to the wetland ecosystem?
Wetlands can be effective in treating municipal wastewater, storm water runoff, industrial wastewater,
agricultural wastewater, mining waters and groundwater seeping from landfills.
1: What is the difference between indirect and direct water reuse?
Indirect water reuse is when treated wastewater has been applied to numerous sites to recharge
groundwater and then reused for agricultural and municipal purposes. Direct water reuse is when
wastewater is piped directly from a treatment plant to the next user.
Environmental Laws
• Make sure to memorize the following laws:
• Clean Water Act
• Federal Safe Drinking Water Act
• Water Quality Act
How safe do you believe the drinking water is in your home? How did you reach your conclusion? Are
you worried about low-level contamination by toxins in your water? What could the sources of
contamination be?
In believed my the drinking water in my home was safe but now that I know more about how it’s
processed I doubt that it’s completely safe and source for contamination may be chemicals added to the
water or the pipe it transfers to and from.
1: Why was pig farming such a controversy in North Carolina during this time?
Because after the incident bacteria entered surface water and contaminated it.
2: What did pig farmers do with the pig waste? Why was this allowed?
they started putting the waste in a pit and it was allowed because there was no other available choice
3: What is the lesson learned from North Carolina’s “Bay of Pigs”?
Sometimes nature can’t be controlled so we should consider every problem that could happen while
starting something so we can be prepared for it beforehand.
4: What legislation has been created as a result of this catastrophe?
banning construction or expansion of new waste lagoons
1: Do you think outbreaks of waterborne diseases will be more common or less common in the future?
Why? Where are outbreaks most likely to occur?
The outbreak of waterborne diseases will be less than it is now because every country in the world Is
modernizing one by one so if there is more modern society and modern living style then the water is
more likely to be safe and if it does occur the places it’ll most likely occur are rural areas.
2: How does water that drains from coal mines become contaminated with sulfuric acid? Why is this an
important environmental problem?
When water and oxygen react with sulfide minerals like coal they from sulfuric acid. And that is a
problem because it’ll damage aquatic ecosystems and degrade water quality.
3: Do you think our water supply is vulnerable to terrorist attacks? Why? Why not? How could potential
threats be minimized?
I do think it’s vulnerable to terrorist attacks because we only have one major source which is Colorado.
So if someone wants to attack, I think it’ll expose a lot people for that not to happen we should have as
much security on our water than we can.
4: How would you design a system to capture runoff where you live before it enters a storm drain?
I would design a system that would treats all types of discharges in the runoff so it would be clean
before it enters a storm drain.