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Water Pollution:

affecting and improving water quality

Types of Pollutants

Causes of Pollutants

Impact of Pollutants

Sources of Pollutants

Solutions to Water Pollution

Types of Water Pollutants

• Chemical pollution

Inorganic Nutrients (like nitrates and phosphates)

Dead Organic Matter (like feces)

Synthetic organic compounds (like pesticides, flame retardats, PCBs)

• Biological pollution

Disease-Causing organisms (like bacteria)

Invasive organisms (like zebra mussel)

• Physical pollution

Sediments (like soil particles)

Thermal Pollution (cold water or warm water)

Water Pollution: Change in the chemical, physical

and biological composition of water

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Biological Pollutants: Pathogens • Cause:

Animal waste from

sewage, feedlots runoff

and urban runoff

• Impact: Waterborne disease from viruses, bacteria, and others

contributes to 5 million deaths per year.

17% of otters dying from brain disease

Biological Pollutant: Introduced Species

Cause: ships, boats and even boots

Impact of Zebra Mussel:

Great Lakes industry and business lost $5 billion in 10 yr

In 2005,

Federal judge told the EPA to regulate ballast water from

ships that enter U.S

New Zealand Mudsnails in LA

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Physical pollution: Adding Sediment •Causes?

Erosion of soil from mining, deforestation, urban runoff, and farming

puts sediment into waterways

•Impact: can harm animals and plants of the ecosystem

Physical pollution: Removing Sediment

Impact: can harm the animals and plants of the ecosystem

4/8 fish native to the Grand Canyon

have already become extinct

Cause?

Dams

90% of the sediment builds up behind

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Physical Pollution: Temperature Cause?

Cold water is released below dams,

harming native fish downstream

Warm water from power plants

Kills billions of fish eggs, larva, etc

Warm water inhibits growth of kelp and

eelgrass

Impact:

Kills billions of fish eggs, larva, etc

Warm water inhibits growth of kelp and

eelgrass

Chemical Pollution: Inorganic Nutrients

• Impact: Eutrophication (ending with hypoxia)

Example: the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico

• Cause? phosphates or nitrates in

fertilizers, detergents, animal waste

from irrigation runoff, urban runoff, sewage

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Chemical Pollutant: dead organic material • Impact: Hypoxia

low level of dissolved oxygen in water due to

high levels of decomposition (biological oxygen demand BOD)

Fish and other organisms are not able to survive

• Cause?

Animal waste from

sewage, feedlots, urban runoff

Chemical Pollution: POP’S POP Global Historical Use/Source

aldrin and dieldrin Insecticides used on crops such as corn and cotton; also used for termite control.

chlordane Insecticide used on crops, including vegetables, small grains, potatoes,

sugarcane, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, citrus, and cotton. Used on home

lawn and garden pests. Also used extensively to control termites.

DDT Insecticide used on agricultural crops, primarily cotton, and insects that carry diseases such as

malaria and typhus.

endrin

Insecticide used on crops such as

cotton and grains; also used to control rodents.

mirex Insecticide used to combat fire ants, termites, and mealybugs.

Also used as a fire retardant in plastics, rubber, and electrical products.

heptachlor Insecticide used primarily against soil insects and termites. Also used against some crop pests and

to combat malaria.

hexachlorobenzene

Fungicide used for seed treatment.

Also an industrial chemical used to make fireworks, ammunition, synthetic rubber, and other

substances.

Also unintentionally produced during combustion and the manufacture of

certain chemicals.

Also an impurity in certain pesticides.

PCBs Used for a variety of industrial processes and purposes, including in electrical

transformers and capacitors, as heat exchange fluids, as paint additives, in

carbonless copy paper, and in plastics.

Also unintentionally produced during combustion.

toxaphene

Insecticide used to control pests on crops and livestock, and to kill unwanted fish in lakes.

dioxins and furans

Unintentionally produced during most forms of combustion, including burning of municipal and

medical wastes, backyard burning of trash, and industrial processes.

Also can be found as trace contaminants in certain herbicides, wood preservatives, and in PCB

mixtures.

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POPs: Why are they of concern?

1. Persist in the environment

Chemically, very stable,

DDT and PCBs banned in 70’s

but still present today

2. Capable of long-range transport

POPs: Why are they of concern? 3. Bioaccumulate in human and animal tissue: fat soluble

4. Biomagnify in food chains

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POPs: Why are they of concern?

5. Impact on health of humans and wildlife

Carcinogens: cause cancer

Teratogens: cause birth defects

Neurotoxins: damage nervous system

Endocrine disruptors: interfere with hormones

Endocrine disruptors are synthetic chemicals

that disrupt the endocrine system

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• The key concerns noted in the State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals – 2012

(http://www.who.int/ceh/publications/endocrine/en/index.html) are as follows:

• Human and wildlife health depends on the ability to reproduce and develop normally. This is not

possible without a healthy endocrine system.

• Three strands of evidence fuel concerns over endocrine disruptors:

– The high incidence and the increasing trends of many endocrine-related disorders in

humans;

– Observations of endocrine-related effects in wildlife populations;

– The identification of chemicals with endocrine disrupting properties linked to disease

outcomes in laboratory studies.

• Many endocrine-related diseases and disorders are on the rise.

– Large proportions (up to 40%) of young men in some countries have low semen quality,

which reduces their ability to father children.

– The incidence of genital malformations, such as non-descending testes (cryptorchidisms)

and penile malformations (hypospadias), in baby boys has increased over time or levelled off

at unfavourably high rates.

– The incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth and low birth weight,

has increased in many countries.

– Neurobehavioural disorders associated with thyroid disruption affect a high proportion of

children in some countries and have increased over past decades.

– Global rates of endocrine-related cancers (breast, endometrial, ovarian, prostate, testicular

and thyroid) have been increasing over the past 40–50 years.

– There is a trend towards earlier onset of breast development in young girls in all countries

where this has been studied. This is a risk factor for breast cancer.

– The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes has dramatically increased worldwide over the

last 40 years. WHO estimates that 1.5 billion adults worldwide are overweight or obese and

that the number with type 2 diabetes increased from 153 million to 347 million between 1980

and 2008.

POPs: How are we exposed to them?

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POPs: How are they tested Traditional toxicity tests:

-Test only one chemical - Dose-response curve

Concerns?

Mixed Signals: Combinations of Estrogen-Mimicking Chemicals Strongly Distort

Hormone Action

BPA Exposure Effects May Last for Generations

BPA and Chlorine Means Bad News: Modified Forms of Bisphenol A Found to

Alter Hormone Signaling in New, Disturbing Ways

POPs: How are they regulated? Approach in the US: “Innocent until proven guilty”

Industry can introduce any products it wants.

Of the 100,000 synthetic chemicals

on the market today,

only 7% have thoroughly tested

for harmful effects.

Alternative approach:

“Precautionary principle”

Industry cannot introduce a product

until

it is very thoroughly tested and shown

convincingly to be harmless.

Case of DDT

Used 40’s thru 70’s

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Starting in January, toxics-wary consumers can

look for furniture with the “TB 117-2013″ tag, and

ask whether the item has been treated with

flame-retardant chemicals.

Tips to reduce your ED exposure

• Eat fresh food, rather than canned.

• Avoid cash-register receipts.

• Avoid plastics marked with "PC" for polycarbonate, or recycling number 7. Don't

store or cook foood in plastics of any kind, including plastic wrap made from No. 3

plastic.

• Eat less meat, fish, milk, eggs and butter.

• Buy organic produce.

• Choose a water filter that will remove atrazine, perchlorate, lead, arsenic and

other chemicals.

• Avoid personal care products with "fragrance" in the list of ingredients.

• Be sure to consume the recommended amount of iodine, iron, calcium and

Vitamin C.

• Use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter.

• Don't eat fish high on the food chain, like tuna, swordfish and shark.

• Don't use non-stick pans, or products with stain- and water-resistant coatings.

• Don't buy cleaning products or other household chemicals that include the

ingredients 2-butoxyethanol (EGBE) and methoxydiglycol (DEGME).

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In order to control water pollution

We need to understand

The sources of these pollutants:

Point at which they enter a water reservoir

Water pollution: point and non-point sources

Point source: single locations

Non-point source: multiple inputs over larger areas

How does the type of source of the pollution change the approach to solve it?

Example: Cities produce urban runoff and sewage

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Sewage: Point source pollution Easy to identify and control

Water treatment plants

control the discharge

of treated sewage into ocean

But difficult to regulate,

if interest groups

oppose regulations

Example:

LA does full 2nd treatment

and use of biosolids

Orange County

moving to implement

2ndary treatment

San Diego City

does not believe it is necessary

Urban runoff: non point source pollution

Includes water for yards, wash our cars, runoff over

concrete and asphalt

It carries tire shavings, motor oil, exhaust residue,

dog feces, fertilizers, pesticides, cleaning products,

trash and others.

Urban runoff gets collected

by storm drains and enters ocean untreated

Difficult to control

It is the major problem affecting SC’s rivers,

lakes and coasts.

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Ground Water Pollution is a serious problem

From industry, agriculture, urban waste

And leakage of storing tanks

Out of sight – out of mind pollution

Long lasting

What type of source pollution is it?

Solutions for water pollution

In AGRICULTURE:

• Reduce erosion to minimize sediment pollution

• Use fewer or less toxic pesticides

• Use fewer fertilizers

• Properly treat animal waste

From 1995 to 1998,

1,000 spills occurred at livestock feedlots in 10 states

200 manure-related fish kills resulted in the death of

13 million fish.

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Solutions for water pollution

In the INDUSTRIAL and MUNICIPAL sectors:

• Shift to processes that produce less waste

• Shift to less-toxic chemicals and products

• Invest in reducing leaks

• Properly treat wastewater

• Restrict use of pollutants over aquifers

Solutions for water pollution In the RESIDENTIAL sector (what YOU can do):

• Buy phosphorus-free detergents and other

“environmentally friendly” products

• Dispose of hazardous waste properly, not down a drain

•Reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides on your lawn

•Keep your driveway clean by sweeping rather than hosing it down.

•Fix oil leaks in your car and dispose of used motor oil properly

(never in storm drains!).

•Put your trash in proper receptacles, at the beach and in your hometown.

•Clean up after your pets.

•Water your garden properly