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Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater caused by human activities, which can be harmful to organisms and plants that live in these water bodies.
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Introduction
Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and either does not support a human use, like serving as drinking water, or undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities, such as fish. Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water. Water pollution has many causes and characteristics.
Water pollution categories
Surface water and groundwater have often been studied and managed as separate resources, although they are interrelated.1 Sources of surface water pollution are generally grouped into two categories based on their origin.
Point source pollution
Point source pollution refers to contaminants that enter a waterway through a discrete conveyance, such as a pipe or ditch. Examples of sources in this category include discharges from a sewage treatment plant or a factory, or a leaking underground storage tank. The U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA) defines point source for regulatory enforcement purposes.2
Non-point source pollution
Non-point source (NPS) pollution refers to diffuse contamination that does not originate from a single discrete source. NPS pollution is often a cumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a large area. Nutrient runoff in stormwater from "sheet flow" over an agricultural field, or metals and hydrocarbons from an area with highly impervious surfaces and vehicular traffic are sometimes cited as examples of NPS pollution.3
The primary focus of legislation and efforts to curb water pollution for the past several decades was first aimed at point sources. As point sources have been effectively regulated, greater attention has been placed on NPS contributions, especially in rapidly urbanizing or developing areas.
Groundwater pollution
Interactions between groundwater and surface water are complex. Consequently, groundwater pollution, sometimes referred to as groundwater contamination, is not as easily classified as surface water pollution.1 By its very nature, groundwater aquifers are susceptible to contamination from sources that may not directly affect surface water bodies, and the distinction of point vs. nonpoint source may be irrelevant. A spill of a chemical contaminant on soil, located away from a surface water body, may not necessarily create point source or non-point source pollution, but nonetheless may contaminate the aquifer below. Analysis of groundwater contamination may focus on soil characteristics and hydrology, as well as the nature of the contaminant itself.
Materials and phenomena contributing to water pollution
The specific contaminants leading to pollution in water include a wide spectrum of chemicals, pathogens, and physical or sensory changes such as elevated temperature and discoloration. While many of the chemicals and substances that are regulated may be naturally occurring (iron, manganese, etc.) the concentration is often the key in determining what is a natural component of water, and what is a contaminant.
Oxygen-depleting substances may be natural materials, such as plant matter (e.g. leaves and grass) as well as man-made chemicals. Other natural and anthropogenic substances may cause turbidity (cloudiness) which blocks light and disrupts plant growth, and clogs the gills of some fish species.
Many of the chemical substances are toxic. Pathogens can produce waterborne diseases in either human or animal hosts. Alteration of water's physical chemistry include acidity, electrical conductivity, temperature, and eutrophication. Eutrophication is the fertilization of surface water by nutrients that were previously scarce. Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases,45 and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily.5
Chemical and other contaminants
Contaminants may include organic and inorganic substances.
Organic water pollutants include:
- Insecticides and herbicides, a huge range of organohalides and other chemical compounds
- Bacteria from sewage or livestock operations
- Food processing waste, which can oxygen-demanding substances, fats and grease
- Tree and brush debris from logging operations
- VOCs (volatile organic compounds), such as industrial solvents, from improper storage
- DNAPLs (dense non-aqueous phase liquids), such as chlorinated solvents, which may fall at the bottom of reservoirs, since they don't mix well with water and are denser
- Petroleum hydrocarbons, including fuels (gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuels, and fuel oil) and lubricants (motor oil). (Note: VOCs include gasoline-range hydrocarbons.)
- Detergents
- Various chemical compounds found in personal hygiene and cosmetic products
- Disinfection by-products found in chemically disinfected drinking water
Inorganic water pollutants include:
- Ammonia from food processing waste
- Heavy metals including acid mine drainage
- Acidity caused by industrial discharges (especially sulfur dioxide from power plants)
- Pre-production industrial raw resin pellets, an industrial pollutant
- Chemical waste as industrial by-products
- Fertilizers, in runoff from agriculture including nitrates and phosphates
- Silt (sediment) in surface runoff from construction sites, logging, slash and burn practices or land clearing sites
Macroscopic pollution--large visible items polluting the water--may be termed “floatables” in an urban stormwater context, or marine debris when found on the open seas, and can include such items as:
- trash items (e.g. paper, plastic, or food waste) discarded by people on the ground, and that are washed by rainfall into storm drains and eventually discharged into surface waters
- Nurdles, small ubiquitous waterborne plastic pellets
- Shipwrecks, large derelict ships
Transport and chemical reactions of water pollutants
Most water pollutants are eventually carried by rivers into the oceans. In some areas of the world the influence can be traced hundred miles from the mouth by studies using hydrology transport models. Advanced computer models such as SWMM or the DSSAM Model have been used in many locations worldwide to examine the fate of pollutants in aquatic systems. Indicator filter feeding species such as copepods have also been used to study pollutant fates in the New York Bight, for example. The highest toxin loads are not directly at the mouth of the Hudson River, but 100 kilometers south, since several days are required for incorporation into planktonic tissue. The Hudson discharge flows south along the coast due to coriolis force. Further south then are areas of oxygen depletion, caused by chemicals using up oxygen and by algae blooms, caused by excess nutrients from algal cell death and decomposition. Fish and shellfish kills have been reported, because toxins climb the food chain after small fish consume copepods, then large fish eat smaller fish, etc. Each successive step up the food chain causes a stepwise concentration of pollutants such as heavy metals (e.g. mercury) and persistent organic pollutants such as DDT. This is known as biomagnification, which is occasionally used interchangeably with bioaccumulation.
Large gyres (vortexes) in the oceans trap floating plastic debris. The North Pacific Gyre for example has collected the so-called "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" that is now estimated at 100 times the size of Texas. Many of these long-lasting pieces wind up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals. This results in obstruction of digestive pathways which leads to reduced appetite or even starvation.
Many chemicals undergo reactive decay or chemically change especially over long periods of time in groundwater reservoirs. A noteworthy class of such chemicals is the chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene (used in industrial metal degreasing and electronics manufacturing) and tetrachloroethylene used in the dry cleaning industry (note latest advances in liquid carbon dioxide in dry cleaning that avoids all use of chemicals). Both of these chemicals, which are carcinogens themselves, undergo partial decomposition reactions, leading to new hazardous chemicals (including dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride).
Groundwater pollution is much more difficult to abate than surface pollution because groundwater can move great distances through unseen aquifers. Non-porous aquifers such as clays partially purify water of bacteria by simple filtration (adsorption and absorption), dilution, and, in some cases, chemical reactions and biological activity: however, in some cases, the pollutants merely transform to soil contaminants. Groundwater that moves through cracks and caverns is not filtered and can be transported as easily as surface water. In fact, this can be aggravated by the human tendency to use natural sinkholes as dumps in areas of Karst topography.
There are a variety of secondary effects stemming not from the original pollutant, but a derivative condition. Some of these secondary impacts are:
- Silt-bearing surface runoff from can inhibit the penetration of sunlight through the water column, hampering photosynthesis in aquatic plants.
- Thermal pollution can induce fish kills and invasion by new thermophilic species. This can cause further problems to existing wildlife.
Measurement of water pollution
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Water pollution may be analyzed through several broad categories of methods: physical, chemical and biological. Each method involves collection of samples, followed by specialized analytical tests. Government agencies and research organizations have published standardized, validated analytical test methods to facilitate the comparability of results from disparate testing events.6
- See also: Water quality
Sampling
Sampling of water for physical or chemical testing can be done by several methods, depending on the accuracy needed and the characteristics of the contaminant. Many contamination events are sharply restricted in time, most commonly in association with rain events. For this reason "grab" samples are often inadequate for fully quantifying contaminant levels. Scientists gathering this type of data often employ auto-sampler devices that pump increments of water at either time or discharge intervals.
Sampling for biological testing involves collection of plants and/or animals.
Physical testing
Common physical tests of water include temperature, solids concentration (e.g. total suspended solids, and turbidity.
Chemical testing
Water samples may be examined using the principles of analytical chemistry. Many published test methods are available for both organic and inorganic compounds. Frequently-used methods include biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nutrients (nitrate and phosphorus compounds), metals (including copper, zinc, cadmium. lead and mercury), oil and grease, total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), and pesticides.
Biological testing
Regulatory framework
United Kingdom
In the UK there are common law rights (civil rights) to protect the passage of water across land unfettered in either quality of quantity. Criminal laws dating back to the 16th century exercised some control over water pollution but it was not until the River (Prevention of pollution) Acts 1951 - 1961 were enacted that any systematic control over water pollution was established. These laws were strengthened and extended in the Control of Pollution Act 1984 which has since been updated and modified by a series of further acts. It is a criminal offense to either pollute a lake, river, groundwater or the sea or to discharge any liquid into such water bodies without proper authority. In England and Wales such permission can only be issued by the Environment Agency and in Scotland by SEPA.
United States
In the USA, concern over water pollution resulted in the enactment of state anti-pollution laws in the latter half of the 19th century, and federal legislation enacted in 1899. The Refuse Act of the federal Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 prohibits the disposal of any refuse matter from into either the nation's navigable rivers, lakes, streams, and other navigable bodies of water, or any tributary to such waters, unless one has first obtained a permit. The Water Pollution Control Act, passed in 1948, gave authority to the Surgeon General to reduce water pollution. However, this law did not lead to major reductions in pollution.
Growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led Congress to carry out a major re-write of water pollution law in 1972. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, commonly known as the Clean Water Act (CWA), established the basic mechanisms for controlling point source pollution.7 The law mandated the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish and enforce wastewater standards for industry and municipal sewage treatment plants. The Act also continued requirements that EPA and states issue water quality standards for surface water bodies. Congress included authorization in the Act for major public financing to build municipal sewage treatment plants. The 1972 CWA, however, did not require similar regulatory standards for non-point sources.
In 1987, Congress expanded the coverage of the CWA with enactment of the Water Quality Act.8 These amendments defined both municipal and industrial stormwater discharges as point sources and required these facilities to obtain discharge permits. The 1987 law also re-organized the public financing of municipal treatment projects and created a non-point source demonstration grant program. Further amplification of the CWA included the enactment of the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2002.9
References
- ^ a b United States Geological Survey. Denver, CO. "Ground Water and Surface Water: A Single Resource." USGS Circular 1139. 1998.
- ^ Clean Water Act, section 502(14), (14).
- ^ However, the CWA defines urban surface runoff discharges--i.e. discharges from municipal storm sewers--as point sources.
- ^ Pink, Daniel H. (April 19, 2006). "Investing in Tomorrow's Liquid Gold", Yahoo.
- ^ a b West, Larry (March 26, 2006). "World Water Day: A Billion People Worldwide Lack Safe Drinking Water", About.
- ^ For example, see Clescerl, Leonore S.(Editor), Greenberg, Arnold E.(Editor), Eaton, Andrew D. (Editor). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (20th ed.) American Public Health Association, Washington, DC. ISBN 0-87553-235-7. This publication is also available on CD-ROM and online by subscription.
- ^ Pub.L. 92-500, October 18, 1972. et seq.
- ^ Pub.L. 100-4, February 4, 1987.
- ^ Pub.L. 107-303, November 27, 2002
See also
- Aquatic toxicology
- Cultural eutrophication
- Industrial wastewater treatment
- Oil spills
- Marine debris
- Marine pollution
- Paper pollution
- Trophic state index
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Water pollution |
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- Report Pollution from Ships
- www.black-tides.com - An educational website for young people on oil spills
- Coastal Pollution Information from the Coastal Ocean Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Water Act
- EPA Causal Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS) - Stressor Identification
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Water Pollution
- Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): overviews, news and reports on water pollution
- Troubled Waters: Episode and web site from National Geographic/PBS's "Strange Days on Planet Earth"
- Water Quality in South Australia
- Original case-study of the sustained criminal pollution of Long Lake, a tributary of the Mississippi, by Chemetco
- Threatened Waters: Turning the Tide on Pesticide Contamination, by Beyond Pesticides
- American Water Resources Association
- Filterra: Bioretention as a method to manage stormwater pollution and urban runoff
- Water shortage in the future and its consequences (Slide Show)
- Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law Peace Palace Library
- DWEL Digital Water Education Library, see its entry on the NSDL [1]
- Portal for soil and water management in Europe Independent information gateway originally funded by the European Commission for topics related to soil and water, including contaminated land, soil and water management.
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