WATERDEGRADATION

SURFACE AND GROUND WATER POLLUTION

OBJECTIVESAt the end of this presentation, students

will be able to: Explain how Surface and Ground Water

is form Identify What Are The Causes Of

Surface and Ground water pollution Explain The Impacts of Agriculture on

Surface and Ground Water Pollution

Give Possible Solution To The Problem Of Surface And Ground Water Pollution

Develop a clear understanding of how surface and ground water pollution affects plants and animals.

INTRODUCTION

When we pollute surface and ground water, where will we get another clean water source?

Probably get into a lab and start producing water chemically, is it safe that way and would it meet our daily demand?

It is crucial to understand that rain, ground water and surface water are all apart of the same cycle. Each source are inter-dependable

That is we cannot withdraw one source, the others will be affected. Pollution of surface water can cause degradation of ground-water quality and pollution of ground water will degrade surface-water quality.

Research have found that some contamination sources are agricultural, industrial, natural and residential which have lead to pollution of these water bodies. Specifically, the agricultural impact will further be expounded. Upon assessing these impacts, the causes, effects and solution will highlighted.

DEFINITION

OF KEY TERMS

WATER DEGRADATION

Is any hazardous substances or materials that is disperse into fresh body of water causing it to be polluted and inhabitable to aquatic life.

WHAT IS SURFACE WATER???!!!

Complex Surface water is a natural body of

water that is available above ground surface and is open to the atmosphere.

Simple Surface water is fresh water found on

the Earth’s surface in streams and rivers.

An example of surface water – Black River, St. ElizabethIt is for irrigation purposes, tourism and for the transportation of trees from England to Caribbean ports.

GROUND WATER, WHAT IS IT?!!!!

Complex Groundwater is precipitation that infiltrates

the ground and percolates downward through pores, fractures, crevices and other voids in soil.

Simple Ground water is rain water or water from surface water bodies that soaks into soil and

bedrock and is stored underground in tiny spaces between rocks and particles of soil.

A drainage basin or watershed is the area of land that drains into bodies of water. Groundwater is precipitation that infiltrates the ground and percolates downward through pores, fractures, crevices and other voids in soil. The upper surface is called the water table. 

The underground porous layers of rock in which groundwater is stored are called aquifers. Any area of land through which water passes into an aquifer is called a recharge area. Groundwater moves through the recharge area through an aquifer and out to a discharge area such as wells, springs, streams or oceans.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is the raising of plants and animals for food.

Between 1945 and the mid 1980’s, the overriding aim of agricultural policy was to increase production resulting in mechanisation, use of artificial chemicals, animal and plant breeding, genetic engineering and monocropping.

PESTICIDES

Pesticides are substances add to the soil to kill insects and include herbicides, nematicides, insecticides and fungicides.

EUTROPHICATION

Eutrophication is the enrichment of water by nutrients.

The water normally appear cloudy because of the presence of vast numbers of algae and other organisms supported by the nutrients. Eutrophication can naturally occur over vast periods of time and is accelerated by human activities.

HOW AGRICULTURE CAUSE WATER DEGRADATION

Surface Water Air Pollution Chemical Spills Fertilizers Livestock waste,

Storage facilities and Land Spreading for example:Unsuitable hillside agricultural practices

pesticides

Ground Water Underground

storage tanks Wells: poorly

constructed or abandoned

LETS LOOK AT HOW IT HAPPEN MORE IN DEPTH

TYPES OF AGRICULTURE

High input or industrialised agriculture – mostly practised by developed countries and relies on large inputs of energy in the form of fossil fuels to produce and run machinery, to irrigate crops and produce chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides.

  Subsistence agriculture – practised mostly by farmers in

developing countries: the production of enough food to feed oneself and one’s family with left over to sell or reserve for hard times. This also requires a large input of energy but instead from humans rather than fossil fuels.

 

Monocultures may increase the risk of pest epidemics leading to increased use of pesticides and to deficiencies in particular soil nutrients thus increasing the use of fertilizers.

Farmyard manure is replaced by compound fertilisers supplying nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N,P,K). A wide array of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides were developed which has had many benefits as well as drawbacks.

farmers rely on the use of commercial inorganic fertilizers containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N,P,K).

Disadvantage: They do not add humus to the soil,

therefore, the ability to hold water will decrease leading to soil compaction.

Pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides and animal waste are agricultural sources of groundwater contamination. The agricultural contamination sources are varied and numerous: spillage of fertilizers and pesticides during handling, runoff from the loading and washing of pesticide sprayers or application equipment, using chemicals uphill from within a few hundred feet of well. Use of pesticides can be toxic while fertilizer run-off, animal wastes and plant residues causes eutrophication.

.

. Soil erosion causes sediment pollution. Agriculture land that lacks sufficient drainage is considered by farmers to be lost income land. So they may install drain tiles or drainage wells to make the land more productive.

The drainage well then serve as a direct conduit to groundwater for agricultural wastes which are washed down with the runoff. Storage of agricultural chemicals near conduits to groundwater, such as opens and abandoned wells, sink holes, or surface depressions where pond is likely to accumulate. Contamination may also occur when chemicals are stored in uncovered areas, unprotected from wind and rain, or are stored in locations where groundwater flows from the direction of the chemical storage to the well..

PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH PESTICIDES

Pesticides may enter streams, rivers or ground water supplies. They do not remain where they are sprayed but move through the soil, water and air.

Bioaccumulation or Biomagnification in organisms – if the pesticide is not broken down or excreted by an organism, it becomes stored, usually in fatty tissues

POLLUTION OF GROUND WATER AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT

Decrease in tree cover Increased soil erosion Decreased recharging of groundwater Increased siltation of waterways Increased flooding and loss of habitats Destroy coral reefs: for eg. the great

barrier reef near the coast of Australia

SOME WAYS HOW HUMAN ACTIVITY THAT CAUSE POLLUTION

Open dumps – considered to be unsanitary. Methane gas is released into air as microorganisms decompose solid waste. This poses a fire hazard. Liquid from these dumps may contaminate the ground water.

Produces hazardous gases, solids, liquids from burial waste. Rain percolating down through site may drain out as polluted leachate contaminating soil and local ground and surface water supplies. For example in Jamaica; over the Mona Reservoir; major source of water in Kingston have loss of watershed area.

Acid rain can kill fish and interfere with the uptake of calcium by crustaceans. As result of acid deposition; 16000 lakes in Norway and Sweden contain no fish, 14,000 acidified lakes in Canada are almost fish-less and 150,000 more are in peril and 9000 lakes in USA are threatened

Soil erosion is increased by large-scale mechanised operations causing a decline in soil fertility. Sediments lost due to erosion may damage water quality and is the largest source of water pollution

Salts can be flushed out of soil by applying much more irrigation water than is needed for crop growth. This practice increases pumping and crop-production costs, and it wastes enormous amounts of water. Heavily salinised soil can be renewed by taking land out of production for two to five years, installing an underground network of perforated drainage pipes, and flushing the soil with large quantities of low-salt water.

  Waterlogging:Farmers often apply large amounts of

irrigation water to leach salts deeper into the soil. Without adequate drainage, however, water accumulates underground, gradually raising the water table.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

Develop new technologies to control air pollution

Conservation-tillage farming Stop using inorganic fertilizers

CONSERVATION-TILLAGE FARMING TECHNIQUE

Special planting machines inject seeds, fertilizers and weed killers into slits made in the unploughed soil. This saves fuel, cuts cost, and holds more water in the soil, prevents compaction of the soil, and allows more crops to be grown during a season (multiple cropping).

FERTILIZERS THAT ARE SAFE TO USE

Green manure is fresh or growing green vegetation ploughed into the soil to increase the organic matter and humus available to the next crop.

Compost is a rich natural fertiliser and soil conditioner that aerates soil, improves its ability to hold water and nutrients, helps prevent soil erosion and prevents nutrients from being wasted in landfills.

Farmers and landowners can produce compost by piling alternate layers of nitrogen rich wastes (such as grass clippings, weeds and vegetable kitchen wastes), carbon rich wastes (dead leaves, straw, sawdust) and topsoil.

ALTERNATIVES TO PESTICIDES

Agricultural Methods; Tillage of land making the pest more visible to predators such as birds; proper timing of planting, fertilising and irrigating which promotes healthy plants that are able to resist pests.

Integrated Pest Management: any pests cannot be controlled effectively with a single technique: a combination of methods is often more effective. Integrated pest management (IPM) combines the use of biological, cultural and chemical controls that are tailored to the conditions and crops of an individual farm. Non-chemical controls are used as much as possible and pesticides are used sparingly and only when other methods fail. IPM allows control of pests with a minimum of environmental disturbance. It involves proper management of pests and education of farmers.

ICE BREAKER

Riddles What have two wings but cannot fly?

Room Full, Hall Full But Mi Caa Get a Spoonful?

I Have Many Doors But Only One Can Open?

What goes up and never comes down?

What have two eyes but cannot see? I am similar to mule but no one can ride me,

what am I? Which letter is in the alphabet is always cool? Which letter in the alphabet never sick? Mi father have two drum and all the rain a

fall it caa full but as a leaf drop into it full. Four foot dey under four foot table a wait pon

four foot?