Unit 6
Aquatic Systems, Biodiversity, and
Sustainability
And
Water Resources and Pollution
Water Availability
• 71% of earth’s surface is covered with
saltwater
• Global ocean – all oceans are connected
although they are divided into 4 major
oceans
• Atlantic
• Pacific - largest
• Artic
• Indian
• 2.2 % is covered with fresh water
Aquatic Biomes
• Freshwater
• Streams and rivers
• Lakes and ponds
• Wetlands
• Marine
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Salt marshes
Mangrove swamps
Intertidal zone
Coral reefs
Open ocean
Freshwater
• Lentic – standing bodies of water
• Lakes, ponds, inland wetlands
• Lotic – flowing bodies of water
• Streams and rivers
Lakes
• Contain standing water, at least some of
which is too deep to support emergent
vegetation (plants that are rooted to the
bottom and emerge from the waters
surface)
• Vary in size, depth and nutrient content
• Large, deep lakes have 4 zones defined by
depth and distance from shore
Lakes cont.
• Littoral zone
• from shore to point where rooted plants
stop growing; most photosynthesis occurs
here;
• algae, cattails, frogs, crayfish, bass, perch
• Limnetic zone
• open sunlit surface away from shore that
extends to the depth penetrated by
sunlight; rooted plants can’t survive here
• Phytoplankton, zooplankton, some large
fish species
Lakes cont.
• Profundal zone
• layer of deep, open water where it is too dark for
photosynthesis
• Low oxygen levels; cool and dark
• Some fish, bacteria decompose detritus reaching the
profundal zone & consume oxygen
• Benthic zone
• Muddy bottom layer occupied by decomposers,
detritus feeders & benthos fish.
• Nutrients - Dead matter falls from littoral & limnetic
zones
• Low DO
Lake Categories
• Oligotrophic (poorly nourished)
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Small supply of plant nutrients
Often deep with steep banks
Fed by glaciers and mountain streams
Have little sediment – crystal clear waters
with small populations of phytoplankton
and fish
• Low nutrient levels = low NPP
Lake Categories cont.
• Eutrophic (well-nourished)
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Large supply of nutrients
Often shallow
Murky brown or green water
High turbidity
High nutrient level = high NPP
Lake Categories cont.
• Mesotrophic
• Lakes that fall somewhere in between
oligotrophic and eutrophic
• Cultural eutrophication
• Human inputs of nutrients from the
atmosphere, or runoff from urban and
agricultural areas can accelerate the
eutrophication process
Streams and Rivers
• Flowing fresh water
• May originate from underground springs
or as runoff from rain or melting snow
• Streams – aka creeks
• Narrow and carry small amounts of water
• Rivers
• Wider and carry larger amounts of water
Rivers
• Fast moving waters
• Turbulent water (rapids) increase the level
of DO (salmon and trout)
• Few plants or algae to act as producers;
nutrients come primarily from organic
matter such as fallen leaves which are
consumed by insect larvae and crayfish,
when then provide food for secondary
consumers like fish
• Slow moving waters
• Lower DO, catfish
Watershed/Drainage Basin
• Source zone
• Headwaters; point of origin, frequently in
the mountains
• Transition zone
• Streams merge to form wider, deeper, and
warmer streams
• Floodplain zone
• Streams join to form wider and deeper
rivers that flow across valleys
• Lower DO, muddy,  concentrations of silt
• Delta
Watershed/Drainage Basin
Protection of Rivers, Lakes,
and Watersheds
• US Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968
• Protects rivers with outstanding wildlife,
geological, scenic, recreational, historical,
or cultural values
• Wild = inaccessible except by trail
• Scenic = great scenic value and free of
dams
• Less than ¼ of 1% of rivers in US are
protected
Freshwater Wetlands
• Submerged or saturated by water for at
least part of every year, but are shallow
enough to support emergent vegetation
• Specialized plants
• Swamps – contain emergent trees
• Marshes – wetlands with non-woody
vegetation (cattails & seges)
• Bogs - acidic wetlands that contain
sphagnum moss and spruce trees
Ecosystem services of
wetlands
• Filtering and degrading toxic wastes
and pollutants
• Reducing flooding and erosion by
absorbing storm water and releasing it
slowly
• Replenishing streams during dry periods
• Recharging of groundwater aquifers
• Biodiversity of species
Swamp
Marsh
Subalpine Bog
Irish Peat Bog
Human Impacts on
Freshwater Systems
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Dams and canals
salmon fish ladder :36 to 2:30
Flood control levees and dikes
Cities and farms contribute pollutant runoff
• Cultural eutrophication:  nutrients =  algae
and cyanobacteria (=  DO at surface) =  #
of dead organisms falling to bottom = 
oxygen at the deeper levels as decomposers
consume the dead algae and bacteria
• Destruction of wetlands for crops or other
development
Dams
• Major purposes of Dams
• Control water flows
• Produce electricity by hydroelectric power
• Provide water for irrigation
• Three Gorges Dam - China
• Yangze River – 1.5 million people displaced
• 18GW of power = to 18 nuclear power plants
• Lake Mead and Lake Powell – CO river
• See handout
• Klamath River Dam – Oregon
• See handout
Three Gorges
Dam
Negative Environmental
Impacts of Dams
• Disruption & decrease of water flow
downstream
• Flooding of land upstream
• Barrier to spawning of migratory fish
• Increased evaporation from reservoirs due to
increased surface area in arid regions
• Waterborne diseases (schistosomiasis)
• Decreased agricultural productivity due to
prevention of nutrient rich deposits in
floodplains
Levees and Dikes
Herbert Hoover Dam
Dike
Breach of 17th Street Canal Levee
during Hurricane Katrina
Mississippi River Levee
Marine Ecosystems
• Coastal Zone
• Warm, nutrient rich, shallow water
extending from high-tide mark on land to
the edge of the continental shelf
• Less than 10% of the ocean’s area, but
contains 90% of all marine species
• Coastal wetlands, salt marshes, intertidal
zones, mangrove swamps, coral reefs
Marine Ecosystems
• Salt Marshes/Coastal Wetlands
• Temperate climates, non-woody emergent
vegetation, high NPP
• Estuaries/sloughs – where freshwater and
saltwater mix and the salinity is affected by
the tides
• Frequently receive large quantities of
runoff containing pollutants and nutrients
• Sea grass beds
Chesapeake Bay
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Population growth 3.7 mil (1940) to 16.8 mil
Drainage basin for 6 states and DC
Has become a huge pollution sink
High levels of nitrates and phosphates…
 oysters (keystone), crabs, and fish species
Oysters filtered the water of the bay in 3
days – now takes one year to filter
• Introduction of asian oysters?
• New plan in place to reduce pollution to
TMDL (total maximum daily load)
Coastal Wetland Protection
• Federal Permits are required to fill in or
deposit dredged material in wetlands
• Wetland loss has decreased by 80% since
1969
• Mitigation Banking
• Allows destruction of wetlands as long as the
equal area of the same time is created or
destroyed
• Not always successful – ½ of created wetlands
fail
Everglades
• CERP – Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
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Restore curving flow of Kissimmee River
Remove 250 miles of canals and levees
Add 93 square miles of farmland to be flooded
Create reservoirs and underground water storage
Create new canals, reservoirs and huge pumping
systems to return 80% of water flowing out to sea
to the everglades
Marine Ecosystems cont.
• Mangrove Swamps
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Tropical and subtropical coasts
Roots are submerged in water
Salt tolerant
Protect coastlines from erosion and storm
damage
• Falling leaves and trapped organic debris
provide nutrient rich environment
Marine Ecosystems cont.
• Intertidal Zone
• Gravitational pull of the moon causes tides to
rise and fall four times a day
• Narrow band of coastline between the levels
of high and low tides
• Can be steep and rocky or sloping mudflats
• Stable conditions while covered with high
tide, but harsh conditions during low tide as
organisms are exposed to direct sunlight,
high temperatures, and thus water loss
• Crashing waves/rough surf
Barrier Islands
• Low, narrow, sandy islands that form
offshore, parallel to coastlines
• Have one or more natural sand dunes in
which the sand is held in place by roots of
plants usually sea grasses
• Serve as barriers or protective breaks for
coastlines
• Human habitation on barrier islands is a
faulty condition because hurricanes frequently
change barrier islands significantly
Sandy - NJ
Katrina - LA
Outer Banks - NC
Pine Beach - AL
Marine Ecosystems cont.
• Coral Reefs
• Most diverse marine biome
• Tiny animals that secrete calcium carbonate CaCO3
(limestone) to form an external skeleton
• Nutrient poor areas of the ocean
• Symbiotic relationship b/w the tiny animals called polyps
(coral) and algae. Coral digests the food it captures and
releases CO2 and nutrients. The algae uses the CO2
during photosynthesis to produce sugars which are
released to the coral. The coral gains energy from the
algae and the algae receives the raw ingredients it needs
and a safe place to live.
• The algae is what give coral reefs their beautiful colors
Coral Reefs cont.
• Coral Bleaching
• algae die in response to pollutants,
sediments, lower ocean pH, or rising water
temperature – corals quickly follow
• Increasing ocean acidity (30% more acidic
than 200 yrs ago) is caused by the
increasing quantities of carbon dioxide
(CO2) that are produced from fossil fuels
and are then dissolved in the ocean –
forming carbonic acid, which slowly
dissolves the coral skeleton
• H2O + CO2  H2CO3
Healthy Coral
Bleached Coral
Fig. 8-1a, p. 168
Open Ocean
• Photic/Euphotic zone
• Brightly lit upper zone with phytoplankton
• Large fast moving predatory fish (swordfish,
bluefin tuna, sharks)
• Low nutrient levels and low DO
• Exception: upwelling zones – ocean currents
driven by temperature differences or coastal
winds bring nutrient rich water up from the
abyssal zone
Open Ocean cont.
• Aphotic Bathyal zone
• Dimly lit middle zone
• Contains zooplankton and small fishes
• Aphotic Abyssal zone
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Dark and very cold
No sunlight
Little dissolved oxygen
What life there is resides on the ocean
floor
• Biolumenescence
Open Ocean cont.
• Aphotic Ocean Floor
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Food/nutrients fall to the ocean floor from above
Deposit feeders – ingest mud/extract nutrients
Filter feeders – filter water to remove nutrients
Chemosynthesis – bacteria use methane (CH4) &
hydrogen sulfide (H2S) to generate energy and
form the base of a food chain for tube worms
Image of zones
Fig. 8-1b, p. 168
Human Impacts on Marine
Ecosystems
• Coastal development
• Runoff of non-point source pollution (silt,
fertilizer, pesticides, livestock waste)
• Point source pollution (cruise ship sewage)
• Pollution & degradation of coastal wetlands
• Overfishing
• Fishing trawlers – damage ocean bottom
• Invasive species
• Climate change
Mitigating Human Impacts
• Management of Open Ocean
• Law of the Sea Treaty– each country owns the ocean
for 200 nautical miles offshore
• Exclusive economic zones
• Foreign fishing vessels can fish w/ govt. permission
• High seas
• Belong to no one (commons)
• Marine protected areas
• Areas of ocean partially protected from human activities
• Marine Reserves
• Closed to all human activities
• Less than 1% of world’s oceans
HIPPCO
• Habitat loss and degradation
• Coral reefs
• Bottom trawling
• Wetland destruction
• Invasive Species
• Undaria/Wakame – (CA)
• seaweed from Asia replaces kelp beds that otters require
• Asian swamp eel – (FL)
• from home aquarium release - indiscriminate feeding on fish
• Lionfish – (FL)
• escaped from outdoor aquariums during hurricane Andrew
(1992) compete with grouper and snapper, eat their young
Invasive Species
• Nile Perch/Water Hyacinth – (Lake Victoria in E. Africa)
• Perch introduced for economic reasons – extermination of
200+ ciclid species/invasion of hyacinth =  sunlight &  O2
• Common Carp/Purple Loosestrife – (WI)
• Introduced carp = eat algae off bottom =  turbidity
allowing PL to flourish, replacing native plants
• Asian Carp – (Mississippi River to Great Lakes)
• Introduced to clean up waste from catfish aquaculture farms, escaped
during heavy flooding of the Mississippi river in the 1990s
• Sea Lamprey – (Great Lakes)
• Attaches to any fish and drains its blood, killing it
• Zebra/Quagga Mussel - (Great Lakes)
• Zebra from Europe/Quagga from Russia – disruption of food web
HIPPCO
• Population
• Increased use of coastal and marine
resources
• Boating and recreation
• Oil and gas exploration
• Increased noise
• Pollution
• Runoff of nitrates and phosphates
• Plastics
• Toxic pollutants such as DDT, PCBs, and
heavy metals like mercury (Hg)
Pacific Garbage Patch
• Modern Marvels - Pacific Garbage Patch
• NOAA Japanese Earthquake Debris
Visualization
• Oprah's Pacific Garbage Patch Report
• Scripps Oceanography Pacific Gyre
HIPPCO
• Climate Change
• Threatens aquatic biodiversity
• Rising sea levels – destroy coral reefs,
cover low-lying islands, drown coastal
wetlands
HIPPCO
• Overfishing
• Some species have been depleted by as
much as 80%
• Currently the annual catch worldwide is
57% over the maximum sustainable yield
• Commercial extinction = too few to make $
• As large species become fewer, fishing
shifts to smaller species like herring, and
sardines
• Newfoundland, Canada – Cod collapse
• Monterey Bay, CA – Sardine collapse
Fishing
• Industrial Fishing Methods
• Make use of spotter airplanes, GPS systems, giant
ships with massive refrigeration systems
• Coastal Aquaculture/Deep Sea Aquaculture
• Fish farming in cages
• Deep Sea Aquaculture
• Trawler Fishing
• Cod, flounder, shrimp, scallops – dragging huge net on
bottom of ocean floor – similar to clear-cutting
• Sea Floor Trawling
Fishing
• Purse Seine Fishing
• Tuna, mackerel, anchovies, and herring – spotter planes
& giant nets scoop up schools – bycatch death: dolphins
• Tuna Blackmarket
• Long Line Fishing
• Swordfish, tuna, halibut, cod, sharks, lines are 60 miles
or more in length, thousands of baited hooks – bycatch
death: turtles, dolphins, seabirds
• Long Line Fishing in Iceland
• Drift/Gill Net Fishing
• Nets hang 50’ below the surface and are 1.6 10 40 miles
long – bycatch death: unwanted fish species, marine
mammals, sea turtles, seabirds
• Salmon Drift Net Fishing Alaska
Protection of Fish Stocks
• Maximum sustained yield vs. Optimum
sustained yield
• Decreasing fish harvests
• Consumer choice
• sustainable seafood
• Farm-raised seafood – Aquaculture
• Plant eating fish (tilapia vs. tuna)
• Decrease government subsidies for
fishing
Laws and Treaties
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US Marine Mammal Protection Act of (1972)
US Endangered Species Act (1973)
CITES (1975)
US Whale Conservation & Protection Act (1976)
Global Treaty on Migratory Species (1979)
International Convention of Biological Diversity
(1995)
Whaling and the International
Whaling Commission (IWC)
• 1946 IWC was established to regulate the whaling
industry by setting annual quotas for whale species
• Overharvesting led to 8 of 11 species to commercial
extinction and minke, fin, and sei whales are in danger
of biological extinction
• 1970 – US stopped all commercial whaling and
banned the import of whale products
• 1986 – worldwide moratorium on whaling
• Japan, Norway, and Iceland
• Should controlled commercial whaling be resumed for
species with stable populations?
Sea Turtles
• There are 7 species of marine turtles, six are
endangered or critically endangered
• Causes
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Destruction of feeding grounds
Nets
Pollution – plastic bags
Nest disturbance
Light pollution when the turtles hatch
Rising sea levels
Killed for meat, eggs, hide
• Solutions
• Ecotourism
• TEDs - turtle exclusion devices for shrimp trawlers
Water Availability
• 97% of the earth’s accessible water is
saltwater
• 3% is freshwater,
• ¼ of which nearly is underground
• ¾ are found in ice and glaciers
• Only .50% of freshwater is found in
bodies of water and the atmosphere
• Unevenly distributed around the globe
Water Vocabulary
• Surface Water
• Freshwater from precipitation and melted snow that flows
across the earth’s land surface and into lakes, wetlands,
streams, rivers, estuaries, and oceans
• Surface water that does not infiltrate the ground or return
to the atmosphere is called surface runoff
• Groundwater
• Zone of saturation – spaces in soil and rock
• Water table – the uppermost level at which the water
in a given area fully saturates the rock or soil
• Recharge - time it takes to replace removed water
• Natural – water percolated down through rock/soil to refill
• Lateral – recharged sideways by nearby lakes, rivers,
streams
Aquifers
• Unconfined/Renewable
• Water flows in and out of these aquifers easily
• Confined/NonRenewable
• Water in aquifers that are surrounded by solid
impermeable rock
• Springs
• water that naturally percolates up to the surface
• Artesian wells
• when wells are drilled into confined aquifers the pressure
can cause the water to rise in the pipe and eliminate the
need for a pump
• Cone of depression
• Heavily pumped deep wells lower the water table causing
shallow wells to run dry
Saltwater Intrusion
• Occurs near coastlines
• Fresh water is pumped out of aquifers
faster than they can be recharged
which can cause saltwater to mix with
groundwater and renders the wells
unusable for human consumption and
irrigation as they are now salty
Aquifer Depletion
• In US water is being removed 4x faster than
it is being replaced
• Harmful Effects
• Dropping water tables
• Subsidence (sinkholes) – damages structures,
roads, sewers
• Saltwater intrusion
Ogallala Aquifer
• Largest in the United States
• Lies under 8 mid-western states (SD – TX)
• Has turned the mid-west into one of the
most productive agricultural areas in the
world
• Water is being removed 10x to 40x faster
than it is being recharged
• This Aquifer could run out of water during
this century
Shortage of Water
• Drought – a prolonged period in which
precipitation is at least 79% lower than
average and evaporation is higher than
normal
• 36 states may face water shortages this
year (USGS) due to prolonged drought,
rising temperatures, population growth,
urban sprawl, increased water use, and
water waste
Water Conflicts
• GA-FL-AL
• Chattahoochee is 3rd most endangered River in
the United States (American Rivers Env. Group)
• Proposed Dams on the Chattahoochee
• South Fulton – Bear Creek
• North Georgia – Glades Reservoir
• 140 million gallons per day would be pulled from the
hooch
• Middle East
• CNN World Water Wars`
Solutions to water shortages
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Groundwater extraction
Dams and Reservoirs
Aqueducts
Desalinization
Water conservation
#1 Groundwater Extraction
Deep Aquifer tapping – unknown impacts
Deep Water Aquifers
• Non-renewable resource
• Geologic and ecological impacts are
unknown
• Cross borders of states and countries
and withdrawl could lead to water wars
• Cost to access deep aquifers is
unknown
#2 Dams and Reservoirs
Flood Control
• Floodplains should be protected
• Nutrient rich – good for agriculture
• Close to water makes it inviting for human
development
• Reforestation
• Restoring drained or developed wetland
areas
Colorado River
• Most of the water comes from
snowmelt
• 29 major dams/reservoirs
• 80% of water removed from the river is
used for irrigation
• Laws and treaties are essential in order
to ensure all parties receive acceptable
quantities and quality of water
Fig. 13-1, p. 317
#3 Aqueducts
• A pipe or channel designed to transport
water from a remote source, usually by
gravity
• Evaporation
• California Water Project
• Moves water from water rich areas to
water poor areas
• Primarily uses water for agricultural
irrigation
Irrigation
Gravity, Drip, Center Pivot
#4 Desalinization
• Removing salts from seawater to
produce freshwater
• Two methods
• Distillation
• Heat seawater until it evaporates, collected in a
condenser
• Reverse osmosis
• Seawater is forced through a very fine
membrane so the salts are filtered out
• Desalinization Plant in Australia
Desalinization cont
• Cost – very expensive
• Loss of marine organisms that are
caught in the desalination process
• Salt waste
How to decrease water use
Water Pollution
• Point Source
• Nonpoint Source
• Agricultural runoff (fertilizer, animal waste,
pesticides)
• Industrial emissions
• Directly into waterways
• Air emissions that end up in water
• Mining
• Erosion and runoff
• Toxic chemicals used in the mining process
Human Wastewater
• Human wastewater has 3 components
• Oxygen demanding waste
• Organic matter that enters a body of water and feeds
the growth of the decomposer microbes Because these
microbes require oxygen to decompose the waste, 
waste entering water =  # microbes =  oxygen they
demand
• Measured in terms of biochemical oxygen demand or
BOD
• BOD = the amount of oxygen a quantity of water uses
over a period of time at a specific T
• BOD of 5 – 20 = natural decomp of leaves, twigs etc.
• BOD of 200+ = wastewater treatment plant
• High BOD = dead zones
Human Wastewater cont.
• Eutrophication
• Nitrogen and phosphorus are limiting
factors for aquatic producers
• Human wastewater contains large
quantities of these nutrients which lead to
cultural eutrophication
• Algae bloom, algae die, microbes
decompose algae consuming majority of
dissolved oxygen available, ending with a
dead zone
• Lake Washington/Puget Sound
Human Wastewater cont.
• Disease Causing Organisms
• Viruses, bacteria, parasites (pathogens)
• Cholera, typhoid fever, stomach flu,
diarrhea
• Cryptosporidium (bacteria)
• Major waterborne diseases are
• Cholera
• Hepatitis
Human Wastewater Treatment
• Septic Systems
• Septic Tank
• 3 layers
• Less dense than water = scum layer at top
• Septage = fairly clean water that contains
bacteria, nitrogen, phosphorus – flows by gravity
to the leach field
• More dense than water = sludge layer at bottom
• Leach Field
• Pipes with small perforations that allow water to
seep out slowly and be absorbed by the ground
• *Little Tallapoosa Watershed
Septic Systems
Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Primary Treatment
• A physical process that uses screens and a grit
tank to separate solid waste material from the
wastewater
• Water flows into a primary settling tank where
suspended solids settle out as sludge
• This process removes 60% of suspended solids
• DOES NOT REMOVE: pathogens, phosphates,
nitrates, salts, radioisotopes, medications,
pesticides
Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Secondary Treatment
• A biological process in which aerobic
bacteria removes as much as 90% of
dissolved and biodegradable oxygen
demanding wastes
• Sludge is then dried (dewatered) and
removed from the treatment plant
• Final disposal: burning, landfill, used as
fertilizer for agricultural fields, lawns, and
gardens
#4
#1
#3
#2
Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Tertiary Treatment
• An advanced method of treating
wastewater that uses a series of
specialized chemical and physical process
to remove specific pollutants left in the
water after primary and secondary
treatment
• Examples include removal of nitrates and
phosphates
Wastewater Treatment Process
Wastewater Treatment Process
Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Direct Return
• Water is bleached and disinfected with
chlorine and returned directly to a water
source
• Spray Irrigation
• Water is bleached and disinfected with
chlorine and then sprayed on fields
• Ads: removes some nitrates, recharges
groundwater, increases base flow of streams,
filters some other pollutants by passing
through soil
• Disads: does not remove heavy metals,
medications etc.
Spray Irrigation of Wastewater
Other Wastewater Issues
• Legal Sewage Dumping
• Storm water and sewage treatment pipes
are tied together which allows for legal
sewage spills during large rain events
• Occurs approximately 40,000 times per
year
• Atlanta has this problem – now under court
order to clean up their effluent
• CAFOs
• Manure Lagoons are lined ponds designed
to hold manure – issue is groundwater
leaching
Heavy Metals
• Lead
• Especially harmful to infants and fetuses
• Damages the nervous system
• Pipes, fittings, & solder must be Pb free
• Arsenic
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Found in the Earth’s crust
Dissolves easily in water
Mining or other geologic activity can  conc.
Frequently found in well water
Cancer, arsenic poisoning
Heavy Metals cont.
• Mercury
• Released to the atmosphere when coal is burned
• Incineration of wastes, production of cement
• Oil exploration produced large quantities of
wastewater which is dumped at the drilling site
(180,000 gallons per well) can runoff into rivers or
infiltrate soil and contaminate groundwater
• Most mercury ends up in water, where it is
converted to methylmercury by bacteria
• Methylmercury damages the central nervous system
• Most exposure to methylmercury comes from eating
fish and shellfish - bioaccumulation
Acid Rain and Mine Drainage
• Acid Rain (more details in air pollution unit)
• Release of SOx and NOx to the atmosphere
• Mix with water to produce acid rain
• Kills trees and makes lakes/ponds too acidic for
aquatic life
• Coal scrubbers
• Acid Mine Drainage
• Lowered pH allows heavy metals such as Zn, Cu,
Al, & Mn to dissolved in water
• Red color of mine drainage is from the iron
precipitating out of solution
Acid Rain
damage to forests
Acid Mine Drainage
Pesticides
• Pesticides do not target particular species of
organisms – they are frequently broad spectrum
• Most insecticides target the nervous system
• Inert ingredients help the active ingredients work
and can harm harmful side effects
• Roundup – inert ingredient is fatal for amphibians
• Amphibians are especially susceptible to damage
from pesticides
• Endosulfan – insect pesticide: fatal to amphibian
• Bioaccumulation
• DDT – large birds would have high levels of DDT causing
their eggs to break
Pharmaceuticals and Hormones
• Improper disposal of drugs of all kinds
end up contaminating our drinking
water
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Antibiotics
Reproductive Hormones
Antidepressents/mood altering drugs
Steroids
Nonprescription drugs
Antibiotics in water supply
Military and Industrial Compounds
• Military
• Production of perchlorates (rocket fuel) contaminate
the soil and leaches easily into groundwater
• Perchlorates effect the thyroid and interfere with
production of hormones
• Industry
• PCBs – (polychlorinated biphenyls)
• were used in the manufacturing of plastics until 1979
• Have long-term persistence
• PBDEs – polybrominated diphenyl ethers
• Used as flame retardants – possible health effects
currently unknown
Cuyahoga River – Ohio 1969
Oil Pollution
• Petroleum products are toxic to marine
organisms including birds, fish, algae,
microorganisms
• Oil is persistent on top of the water,
when it sinks to the bottom, and when
coating the shoreline
• Deepwater Horizon
• Exxon Valdez
Remediation of Surface Oil Spills
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Containment booms – floating oil
Vacumn technique
Dispersants – toxic to marine life
GM bacteria
Oil covered birds and mammals
No known method to clean up
underwater oil plumes
Non-Chemical Pollution
• Solid waste
• Sediments
• Thermal pollution
• Water is extracted from a body of water and then
heated as a means of cooler hot water that has
been produced (power plants, steel mills)
• Thermal shock – if the water is returned to the
natural body of water at too high a T, the aquatic
organisms will be killed
• Organisms in warm water (holds less DO) 
respiration using DO faster = suffication
• Noise pollution
• Use of SONAR can lead to beached whales
Pollution of Lakes and Streams
• Flowing water (rivers and streams) can
recover rapidly from moderate levels of
organic pollution, if they are not
overloaded
• They can not cleanse themselves of
slowly degrading or non-degradable
wastes
Oxygen sag curve
Groundwater Pollution
• Very difficult to clean up
• Hazardous wastes are injected into the
ground in disposal wells which can leak
into underground aquifers
• Nitrates: cancer and blue baby syndrome
• Arsenic
• DDT
Water Quality Testing
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pH
Fecal Coliform Bacteria
Dissolved Oxygen
Nitrates
Phosphates
Water Protection Legislation
• Clean Water Act 1972
• Protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and
wildlife and recreation in and on the water
• Focuses on surface water NOT groundwater
• Determined quality standards that defined
acceptable limits of various pollutants in UW
waterways
• Over time more categories of pollutants have
been added to the CWA including CAFOs and
storm runoff in municipal sewer systems
Water Protection Legislation
• Safe Drinking Water Act 1974
• Sets national standards for safe drinking
water
• EPA was responsible for establishing
maximum contaminant levels (MCL) for 77
different elements or substances in BOTH
surface and groundwater
• This includes microorganisms,
disinfectants, organic and inorganic
chemicals
BOTTLED WATER