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and never before a storm, or to use natural, nontoxic alternatives. City officials offer advice on disposal of chemical wastes, including motor oil and antifreeze. They even install No Dumping, Drains to Creek frog markers on storm drains to remind citizens that a sewer is not a place to dispose of paints, oils, and other fluids. With boating a popular recreational activity, they promote cleaner, more environmentally sound ways of enjoying the sport. They, for instance, encourage boaters not to throw litter overboard, especially fishing line and plastic six-pack rings. They urge boaters to scrub their boats with a brush and not use soap, or to use phosphate-free and nontoxic soaps. Many cities and towns have also written formal watershed protection plans. They are usually derived after months of work by citizens, environmentalists, government officials, businesses, farmers, and other local stakeholders (people who have a stake in the outcome and will be affected by recommendations of the plan). A watershed protection plan outlines ways to protect watersheds for multiple reasons, maintaining water quality being one of the key ones. Citizens and public officials from Frederick County, Maryland worked with the Center for Watershed Protection, a nonprofit group, to develop an extensive set of recommendations to ensure that future development helps to protect existing watersheds. The plan called for shorter, narrower streets, fewer and smaller cul-de-sacs, and smaller parking lots to reduce impervious surfaces. It also called for measures to reduce stormwater flow into streams and other surface waters. And, it called for more community open space, increased vegetated buffers, limited clearing and grading of sites, and ways to enhance native vegetation. Important as they are, watershed management plans often fail to produce the anticipated results, according to an analysis by the Center for Watershed Management. The reasons for their failure are many. But in generally, most are overly ambitious and prescriptivethat is, they outline what needs to be done, but they dont result in the formulation of distinct regulations or mechanisms to fund such actions. As a result, they do little, if anything, to protect watersheds. According to the Center, many of them simply end up on the shelves of city officials, gathering dust with so many other plans that have been produced by similar processes. Unless city officials and developers are required to take action, it wont happen. Unless theres money to monitor development and watershed conditions, theres little hope of anything worthwhile coming out of management plans. That said, we mustnt forget that watershed management programs do point out that many laws, zoning regulations, and ordinances actually work against watershed protection, permitting and sometimes encouraging activities that increase impervious surfaces, increase erosion, and decrease vegetative surfaces. Their true value, however, will only be achieved when plans are translated into new laws, zoning regulations, and ordinances. Their true value will be realized only when there are agencies to monitor watershed development. To be successful, these plans will need to produce desired, long-term outcomes of protecting streams and other resources from degradation.

II .5 Pollution of Oceans
Despite the many benefits humans derive from the seas, we have generally viewed oceans as vast and bottomless dumping grounds for domestic, municipal, and industrial garbage. Disposal of waste materials in this manner was convenient and economical, and appeared safe. Since the 1970s, however, increases in scientific information and public awareness of ocean pollution have stimulated important legislation and regulations designed to protect our ocean resources. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) sets water quality standards and regulates the discharge of pollution into U.S waters, many of which flow into the oceans. In addition, the U.S. Congress passed laws that ban or regulate disposal of waste into the ocean. The enforcement of the laws was assigned primarily to the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Many other countries took actions as well, as did the international community. The United Nations (UN), for example, set up the International Maritime Organization (IMO), an agency that has developed a number of programs aimed at reducing pollution of the worlds oceans. Another UN agency, the International Seabed Authority, was established to regulate mining in international waters. These and other attempts to protect ocean resources are encouraging. However, conflicts over pollution and ocean resources continue today.

Sewage
For decades the neritic zone bordering Americas coastline has been used as a dumping ground for sewage sludge, industrial wastes, and even household garbage. The harmful effects are many, as illustrated by the problems at the New York Bight. The bight is a relatively shallow area over the continental shelf opposite New York Bay. The site was used as a dumping ground for sewage sludge and other wastes for more than 60 years (Figure 11.25). In the early 1970s, for example, more than 7 billion liters (1.8 billion gallons) of sewage treatment plant effluents was dumped into the bight through 130 discharge pipes each year from the New York metropolitan area. More than 16% of this sewage had received no treatment whatsoever. In addition, raw sewage from 23 New Jersey towns was disposed of into the bight. As a result, the bottom of the bight became blanketed with a layer of black sludge covering 105 square kilometers (40 square miles). This blanket is contaminated with a large variety of pollutants ranging from toxic metals and organic compounds (PCBs) to pathogenic viruses and bacteria. The long-continued dumping of sludge and raw sewage in the New York Bight has had many adverse effects on the

marine ecosystem: I. Because of the high BOD of much of the waste, the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the region was often less than 2 ppm. Populations of microscopic algae and crustaceans fell sharply or disappeared altogether. This caused a decline in many commercially valuable species of plankton-eating fish.
11.5 Pollution of Oceans 287 I I .25 Borge hauling rftise from New York City to dumping grounds. 2. Some fish suffered from black gill disease, characterized by abnormally dark gill membranes and reduced respiratory function. 3. Toxic metals such as nickel, chromium, and lead reached unusually high levels in some fish. 4. A considerable number of harmful mutations resulting from chromosome damage were observed in young mackerel. Moreover, clam and oyster beds were so highly contaminated with disease-causing microorganisms that these creatures were unfit for human consumption. Apparently the bacteria and viruses were transported from the waste to the clam and oyster beds by shorewardm oving currents. In 1986, the EPA directed New York City to dump its sewage sludge at a newly designated site at the edge of the continental shelf_170 kilometers (106 miles) from the coast. The city began dumping its sludge at the new site in 1987. In 1988, however, the U.S. Congress banned all ocean garbage dumping (by January 1, 1992) when it passed the Ocean Dumping Act. The law established severe fines on any community that violated the ban. Today, nearly all ocean dumping that occurs in U.S. waters Consists of dredged materials (sediement from harbors, for example); however, other countries still dump sewage sludge and nontoxic industrial wastes.

Dredge Spoils
Eighty percent of the waste that has been dumped into U.S. coastal waters is dredge spoil. Dredge spoil is sediment (sand, silt, clay, and gravel) scooped from harbor and river bottoms to deepen channels for navigation. More than 400 million cubic yards are dredged annually from U.S. channels and harbors the equivalent of a four-lane highway 6 meters (20 feet) deep, beginning in New York and ending in Los Angeles. This waste poses an enormous disposal problem. Annually, about 15% of this material, or 60 million cubic yards, is disposed of in the ocean; where to dump can be a contentious decision. The urgently needed dredging of Baltimore Harbor was postponed for 15 years because no agreement could be reached on where to dump the spoil. Much of the spoil generated in the mid 1980s was dumped at 70 different ocean sites. Unfortunately, about 1 in every 3 tons of dredge spoil is contaminated with both urban and industrial waste as well as with pollutants resulting from urban and agricultural runoff. These contaminants (PCBs, heavy metals, and so on) eventually enter marine food webs and may harm not only ocean life but humans as well. Under the terms of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuary Act, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which does most of the dredging, was charged with finding suitable disposal sites beyond the continental shelf. At such sites, the water is deep enough that most of the pollutants should be greatly diluted, minimizing their adverse effects on the marine ecosystem.

Plastic Pollution
The worlds oceans are seriously polluted with plastic. The enormous volume of plastic debris riding the waves is not appreciated until one hikes along a beach. During a three-hour cleanup of a 260-kilometer (157-mile) stretch of the Texas coast, the following plastic objects were removed: 31,800 bags, 30,000 bottles, 29,000 lids, 7,500 milk jugs, 15,600 six-pack rings, 2,000 disposable diapers, and 1,000 tampon applicators. Even remote islands are not immune from an accumulation of plastic and other litter. The Ducie Atoll in the South Pacific, an uninhabited island 300 miles from the nearest inhabited island and 3,000 miles from the nearest continent, was found littered with human trash in 1991. In a 2.4-kilometer (1.5-mile) stretch of beach, 950 miscellaneous pieces of trash were collected, much of it plastic. Although scemingly harmless, such materials kill at least 1 million seabirds and more than 100,000 whales, porpoises, and seals every year (Figure 11.26). The gut of a sea turtle found dead in Hawaii was jammed with a variety of lethal objects, ranging from golf tees and bottlecaps to bags and imitation flowers. Hundreds of seabirds, salmon, and marine mammals die when they become entangled in discarded fish nets. Plastic causes wildlife mortality is several ways: (1) After being swallowed, it can be neither digested nor voided. Death is caused by blockage of the digestive tract. (2) Plastic entanglement may cause death by drowning. (3) Plastic entanglement may cause starvation because it prevents marine birds and mammals from searching for or swallowing food.

288 chapter ii Water Pollution

FIGURE I I .26 Plastic

six-pack frame threatens a western gull on a California beach with death by strangulation.

The sources of these lethal plastic pollutants are many. Every industrialized society lives in a plastic world. Manufacturers in the United States alone annually produce more than 6 million metric tons of plastic. Some of this plastic is discarded into streams by humans and then carried downstream to the ocean or dumped directly into the ocean from fishing boats and other commercial or recreational vessels or from garbage barges. The National Academy of Sciences once reported that more than 5 million plastic containers are tossed overboard from ocean-going vessels every day. Most plastic cannot be broken down by bacteria. In other words, plastic is nonbiodegradable. Another problem is that most plastic items are quite buoyant. These characteristics make it possible for a golf tee from a Seattle golf course to be ingested by a seabird in the South Pacific. The amount of plastic floating and bobbing on the global seas will certainly increase. After all, population continues to grow and, therefore, so will demand for products. Commercial fishers lose more than 136,000 metric tons of plastic lines and nets annually. In the North Pacific alone, fishermen set out more than 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) of plastic nets nightly. Within a year, more than 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) of netting is lost, forming a considerable threat to marine life. Control of Plastic Pollution. How can plastic Pollution controlled? At present. dumping in the ocean is regulated by the London Dumping Convention (1972), an agreement signed by more than 85 nations. Annexes to the Convention regulate disposal from all trash-hauling ships. In the United States, this convention was implemented by the Ocean Dumping Act Another international law that controls plastic pollution is the 1973 Marine Pollution Convention, or MARPOL Act. Annex V of the act bans the dumping of plastic by all ships other than trash ships. In 1987, after several years of deliberation, Annex V was eventually ratified by the United States. As a result, beginning in December 31, 1988, it became illegal for the ships of the 15 signatory nations and for the ships of any nation plying their waters to dump plastic at sea. Since the 15 signatory nations accounted for over 50% of the gross tonnage of the world s commercial ships, this agreement should help reduce plastic pollution. The Coast Guard enforces Annex V for the United States. Another way to reduce this problem is to recycle more plastic materials. Some progress is being made. For example, in the United States, plastic soft drink bottles are reprocessed into paintbrushes, stuffing, and industrial straps. Some discarded plastic is recycled into building material used in the construct ion industry. Perhaps the ultimate solution to plastic pollution is at the source of the plasticthe manufacturing process. Some manufacturers, for example, have recently developed a type of photodegradable plastic that will disintegrate when exposed to ultraviolet light from the sun. At least 11 U.S. states have laws that require photodegradable plastic in some products, such as the rings for soft drink and beer six-packs. A few manufacturers in the United States, Canada, and Italy are now producing biodegradable plastic bags. Should photo- or biodegradable plastics come into mass production, this potent threat to marine life may gradually disappear, assuming the breakdown products are not harmful.

Oil Pollution
Oil has always polluted the sea, seeping naturally through cracks in the ocean floor. This naturally occurring oil, however, is of little concern because the sources are widely distributed and contribute only 9% to the total oil input annually. The concern for most conservationists is oil from human activities that account for the remaining 91% of the annual input (Figure 11.27). Oil Tanker Spills. One of the most dramatic and newsworthy sources of oil in the oceans is tanker spills, contributing about 5% of the oil that enters the ocean each year (Figure 11.28). Although their overall contribution is small, oil spills can have a major impact because oil tankers usually run aground close to shore, often biologically sensitive coastal shorelines. One of the largest tanker spills in human history occurred on March 17, 1978, when the Amoco Cadiz ran aground 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) off the coast of France. Efforts to stop the spill or contain the spill were unsuccessful. The ship broke apart, and high winds and violent seas made it impossible to transfer oil to other tankers. As a result, the entire cargo of 228 million liters 11.5 Pollution of Oceans 289

(60 million gallons) of crude oil was released from the tanker. Oil polluted the waters and 198 kilometers (124 miles) of coastline. Fish and seabirds died in the thousands and oil ruined the beauty of the coastal area, affecting the economy of the shore-based villages. A number of citizens lawsuits were filed against the Amoco Oil Company, owners of the tanker. In 1988, almost 10 years after the spill, the company was ordered by the courts to pay millions of dollars in compensation. On March 24, 1989, citizens of the United States were horrified by news of a 40-million-liter (11 -million-gallon) oil spill in Alaskas Prince William Sound near the port of Valdez (Figure 11.29). The supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in the sound, releasing much of its oil into the pristine, biologically rich waters. The oil slick

spread quickly and by the end of the summer had polluted 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) of shoreline ( Figure 11.30). Thousands of seabirds and otters perished in the oil, which formed a layer 1 meter (3.3 feet) thick in some places (Figure 11.31). Making matters worse, the spill occurred only 2 weeks before migrating flocks of waterfowl arrived. Many birds spend the summer in the waters of Prince William Sound; others merely stop there to feed and rest on their way to the Arctic tundra, where they breed. The Valdez spill was not the largest in history but probably will go down as one of the most costly, economically and environmentally. The damage can be attributed to four key factors. First, the spill occurred in the relatively protected waters close to land. Second, cleanup was delayed for several crucial days. The special cleanup force stationed at Valdez had been all but abandoned by the oil companies operating there. Consequently, there were an insufficient number of oil skimmers close at hand. Third, the waters of the sound are cold, which retarded the biological degradation of the oil. Fourth, the waters were extraordinarily rich in sea life. Routine Ship Maintenance. Nearly 20% of the oil released into the ocean each year comes from routine operations and ship maintenance such as loading and discharging oil, tank cleaning, oil ballast discharge, and other operations. Millions of these routine operations spill just a few gallons each, but together amount to millions of gallons of oil. Offshore Oil Vell Accidents. Oil is also released during the operation of offshore oil wells and by accidents. In 1969, a major oil well off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, accidentally released thousands of gallons of oil because of a faulty drilling technique. However, the spill was a mere grease spot compared to the 140-million-gallon oil well blowout that occurred in the Bay of Campeche off Mexicos east coast in 1979. Oil escaped from the well for several months, threatening marine life along the Texas shore several hundred kilometers to the north. The worlds largest oil spill occurred as a result of fighting in the Persian Gulf War during 1991. The spill involved a combination of wells, terminals, and tankers that amounted to a 240-million-gallon disaster in the Persian Gulf and surrounding area. Offshore drilling accidents contribute less oil than tanker spills on an annual basis but, as in the examples above, can be equally, if not more, devastating. American oil companies alone drill about 1.300 offshore oil wells a year (Figure 11.32). Four thousand new offshore wells are drilled worldwide each year. Careful controls on these wells are important to reduce the likelihood of accidents. Land Sources of Oil Pollution. Surprisingly, over half of the oil released into the ocean each year comes from land sources, from both inland and coastal communities. The major sources are service stations, motor vehicles, and factories. This oil finds its way to the ocean via storm and sewage drains and as runoff in rivers and streams. For many years, ordinary citizens changing their own oil dumped it into sewers that empty into rivers and eventually flow to the sea. Although three or five quarts of oil doesnt seem like much, billions of quarts released this way add up. Air Pollution. Airborne hydrocarbons released from factories, service stations, and vehicles also rain down on our oceans. You may be contributing to this problem yourself. Most of us are. How? When you fill up your gas tank at a self-service pump, notice the pungent odor of evaporating gasoline. Obviously, not all of the gasoline goes into your tank. Some of it escapes into the air. Some unburned gas also escapes from the exhaust pipe of your car and becomes airborne. Evaporation of Petroleum also occurs at thousands of industrial plants throughout the world. Combined, ocean-going vessels burn about 1.7 million tons of diesel fuel per day, spewing airborne effluent. As just noted, these pollutants wash from the sky, polluting the oceans with at least 20 million metric tons of airborne petroleum hydrocarbons annually, contributing 13% of the oil input.
Adverse Effects of Oil Pollution. Precisely how a given oil spill will affect marine life is difficult to predict. The effects depend on a number of factors, such as the amount and type of oil (crude or refined) and proximity of the spill to biologically sensitive areas. Season of the year and weather, as well as the ocean currents and the wind velocity, also determine the effects. Oil spills have their greatest impact when they occur close to shore, which as noted earlier is the most common site of tanker spills. Over the years, the heaviest influx of oil occurs in the neritic zone near the continental marginsthe zone where virtually all of our shellfish (oysters, lobsters, and shrimp) and over half of our commercial fish crop are produced (Figure 11.33). Oil can kill or contaminate sea life. Shellfish beds can become contaminated with toxic chemicals from oil, causing millions of dollars in lost revenue to local residents who make their living from harvesting the sea. Many seabirds perish in oil. The number of seabirds killed annually worldwide is enormous. In a sing le winter, more than 250,000 murres, eiders, and puffins were destroyed by oil pollution. In 1988, thousands of these birds were destroyed by oil spills in the North Sea. Oil spills can have less obvious effects, too. For example, several of the hydrocarbons in crude oil mimic chemicals used by marine animals to guide them during mating, feeding, homing, and migrating. Flooding the ocean with pseudosignals from oil spills might alter the behavior of marine animals, disrupting vital functions. Crude oil is not just a single compound hut a complex mixture of dozens of different hydrocarbons such as benzopyrene, an acknowledged cancer-inducing chemical, or carcinogen. These carcinogens may be concentrated in marine organisms such as shrimp, lobsters, and fish, and may eventually be consumed by humans.

Oil spills also devastate beaches and the recreation industry. Cleanups can be extremely costly. Control of Oil Pollution. In the U.S, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 was passed in response to public outcry of the devastation caused by the Exxon Valdez grounding. The law established provisions for new tanker structural design including double-hulled construction; the retirement or phase-out of existing tanker fleets; improved spill response strategies; and more rigorous inspection systems. It also more clearly defined financial responsibility, compensation, and liability for oil spills. With international cooperation, the number of oil spills from tankers has been reduced. But, tighter controls and improved enforcement methods are still needed. Some strategies for oil pollution control after a spill has occured include: 1. Physical cleanup. Oil that washes ashore may be cleaned up manually or with machines. In the Valdez spill, for example, workers sopped up oil with absorbent pads. Other workers scoured the beaches with hot water, washing the oil back into the sound where it was picked up by oil skimmers, vacuum-type devices that skim the oil off the surface and empty it into barges.

Early in the spill, planes dropped absorbent material on slicks, which were later picked up by boats. In many spills, straw has been used to sop up oil that has washed ashore. 2. Decomposition of oil by bacteria. Two Israeli scientists developed a technique that uses bacteria to break down oil. Theoretically, an oil slick could be seeded by helicopter with the bacterial powder, accelerating the rate of decomposition and ultimate oil slick break-up. In the process of breaking down the oil, the bacterial population multiplies rapidly, to the point where it can be used as protein feed for livestock. The Israeli scientists estimate that hundreds of tons of animal food could be obtained from a spill. In the Valdez spill, Exxon applied oil-degrading bacteria to some beaches and found that the bacteria accelerated the destruction of oil. 3. In-situ burning. In-situ burning is a technique that can significantly reduce the amount of oil on the water, thereby minimizing adverse effects to the local environment. The controlled burn can be economical in certain instances, rapidly removing oil from the environment and reducing the need for a large amount of equipment and labor. The advantages of this method must be evaluated on a case by case basis. In-situ burning may not be advisable in some situations. Disadvantages include the generation of highly visible smoke, short-lived air pollution that increases health risks to human and animal populations downstream, localized temperature elevations that can harm or kill wildlife, and unknown long-term effects. The New Carissa tanker grounding off the coast of Coos Bay, Oregon, in 1999 was an unusual event in which mitigation to avoid an oil spill included burning the ships oil on board and sinking the ship out at sea. In most oil spill situations, a combination of these techniques is used. Appropriate methods should be chosen based on the unique conditions of each site. All of these methods are time- consuming and costly. Many of them are rather ineffective. Oil washed off the beaches near Valdez, for example, was spread back on by the rising tides. Cleanup methods also generate substantial amounts of waste that must be disposed of safely to avoid creating problems elsewhere. Given their shortcomings, these methods are clearly no substitute for prevention. To remind the public of the need for prevention, one environmental group sells T-shirts with the motto, An ounce of prevention is worth 11 million gallons of cure. The fact remains that the majority of oil and other sources of ocean pollution is generated from the result of small but numerous individual land activities. Perhaps the best strategy for ocean pollution control is one that emphasizes and increases public education and awareness of everyday activities that contribute to this insidious form of ocean resource degradation. Educate yourself and then share your knowledge with others. The following list is a good beginning: Never pour oil, engine fluids, cleaners, or household chemicals down storm drains or sinks. Find government and industry-sponsored oil collection and recycling programs in your community and use them. Repair automobile and boat engine leaks immediately.

11.6 A World View of Water Pollution

Water pollution cleanup in the more developed countries has been moderate and, in many nations, is probably on a par with progress in the United States. The water pollution problems in the less developed countries in general are much worse than in the United States. There are several reasons for this: (1) lack of properly educated and technically trained personnel, (2) lack of funding for construction of waste treatment plants, (3) lack of tough pollution control legislation, and (4) lack of enforcement of such laws, if indeed they do exist. South American countries, for the most part, have relatively safe drinking water. However, many streams are seriously polluted with runoff from lead, zinc, and silver mines. As deforestation intensifies on this continent, river contamination with pesticides, fertilizer, and sediment is expected to increase accordingly. In Mexico, the drinking water has such high counts of infectious bacteria that American college students studying there have been advised to boil the water before drinking it lest they come down with diarrhea, fever, chills, and nausea, a complex of symptoms dubbed

Montezumas revenge. The scarcity of safe drinking water is even greater in Africa. For example, in rural Guinea, only one of every 50 people has access to it! Less than 10% of the rural populations of Madagascar, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Zaire have good drinking water available. In Pakistan, most of the human diseases, such as typhoid, diarrhea, dysentery, and infectious hepatitis, are caused by microorganisms that have contaminated public water supplies. In India, the Yamuna River receives 200 million liters (54 million gallons) of untreated sewage from New Delhi every day. As a result, the coliform count in this stream is an almost unbelievable 24 million per 100 milliliters. (Recall that 200 per 100 milliliters is the standard for swimmable waters in the United States.) In Malaysia, 42 major rivers have been declared ecological disasters since they are virtually unable to support desirable aquatic life. Seventy percent of some stretches of Manilas Pasig River consists of untreated sewage.

In 1980, the UN launched the International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade (19811990). The major objective of this program was to maice all nations, especially the less developed countries, acutely aware of the importance of safe drinking water in the fight against disease. The ambitious goal of the program was to supply an additional 500,000 people with drinkable Water every day of the decade! Unfortunately, this goal was not attained, but in the United States and other countries efforts are still underway to improve water qualitya goal that remains elusive today, in large part because of the continued increase in world population, resource demand, and industrial output. These three forces make it more important than ever to seek sustainable solutionsmeasures like erosion control and pollution preventionto avoid creating problems in the first place.

Summary of Key Concepts

1. Water pollution can be defined as any contamination of water that lessens its value to humans and nature. 2. Two broad classes of water pollution are point source and nonpoint source pollution. 3. Point pollution has its origin in specific, well-defined sources such as the discharge pipes of sewage treatment plants and factories. Nonpoint source pollution stems from widespread sources such as the runoff from agricultural lands or urban areas. Point sources are easier to control than nonpoint sources because they are so identifiable and are the source of concentrated releases of pollutants. 4. Pollution can also be classified by type. The major categories include sediment, inorganic nutrients, thermal pollution, disease-producing organisms, toxic organic compounds, heavy metals, and oxygen-demanding organic wastes. 5. Sediment comes from soil erosion from improperly managed and maintained farms, forests, construction sites, and the like. Better watershed management can go a long way in reducing sediment pollution, with biological and economic benefits. 6. Sediment (a) fills up reservoirs, (b) damages hydroelectric plants, (c) clogs irrigation canals, (d) interferes with barge traffic along major rivers such as the Mississippi, (e) destroys fish spawning grounds, (f) reduces the photosynthetic activity of aquatic plants, and (g) necessitates the costly filtration of water. 7. Inorganic nutrients include the phosphates and nitrates that arise from a variety of sources such as septic tanks, sewage treatment plants, and agricultural runoff. 8. Inorganic nutrients also come from natural sources. These compounds contribute to a phenomenon called natural eutrophication, which is a slow process of nutrient buildup in lakes that occurs over a period of thousands of years. 9. Human activities can accelerate the release of nutrients, causing cultural or accelerated eutrophication of lakes, and may age a lake 25,000 years in only 25 years. 10. Many factories and power plants use surface waters to cool various processes. This heated water is often released back into the source whence it came, creating thermal pollution. 11. Thermal pollution has multiple adverse effects. It kills fish because it lowers the concentration of dissolved oxygen. It also kills fish directly if the temperature of the water climbs above the range of tolerance. Thermal pollution causes a shift in populations of microorganisms from the beneficial diatoms to undesirable blue-green algae. It also interrupts migration and enhances disease-causing organisms. Thermally enriched water, however, may be put to a variety of beneficial uses such as aquaculture. 294 Chapter II Water PoIution 12. Surface waters and groundwater may become contaminated with disease-causing organisms, especially bacteria and viruses. Because it is costly to measure the many possible pathogens, water quality officials monitor fecal contamination and the potential for the presence of pathogens by measuring coliform bacteria, common but largely harmless bacteria found in the human intestine and in feces. A high coliform count indicates that the water sample

may contain high levels of microorganisms capable of causing disease. Research, however, shows that fecal coliform levels may not be a sufficient indicator; the EPA is now promoting the use of an additional bacterium, fecal streptococcal bacteria, to monitor the safety of water. 13. Human society depends on a large number of potentially toxic organic compounds such as pesticides. These compounds can contaminate ground and surface waters. Groundwater contamination is especially troublesome because so many people throughout the world depend on groundwater for drinking water and because water flows so slowly in most aquifers, making natural purification a time-consuming process. 14. Toxic organic compounds cause many problems, including skin and eye irritation; brain and spinal cord damage; interference with normal kidney, liver, and lung function; cancer; and genetic mutations. 15. Sources of groundwater pollution from toxic organic compounds are (a) industrial landfills and lagoons, (b) municipal landfills, (c) septic tanks, (d) underground storage tanks for gasoline and other chemicals, (e) contaminated industrial sites, and (f) injection wells. 16. Heavy metals like mercury and lead come from many different sources. Most are toxic because they interfere with normal enzyme function. 17. Lead is one of the most troublesome of all heavy metals. It comes from solder used to join copper pipes and from old lead pipes, among other sources. Fortunately, newer types of pipe (copper and PVC) and new lead-free solder are being used in new construction. 18. The EPA estimates that the IQ of more than 140,000 American children has been reduced by five points because of lead in their drinking water. 19. Lead in drinking water is responsible for at least 680,000 cases of high blood pressure in American males. 20. Oxygen-demanding organic wastes come from (a) fruit and vegetable processing industries, (b) cheese factories, (c) creameries, (d) distilleries, (e) pulp and paper plants, (f) slaughterhouses, (g) bakeries, and (h) natural sources. 21. The discharge of organic waste reduces the dissolved oxygen in streams and lakes and is lethal to many species of fish. 22. Sewage treatment plants primarily remove sediment, inorganic nutrients, and oxygen-demanding organic wastes. 23. Primary treatment of sewage is mainly a physical process in which solids are removed by sedimentation. 24. Secondary treatment of sewage is primarily a biological process in which organic wastes are decomposed by bacterial action. This process removes organic material as well as some of the nitrogen and phosphate, the inorganic nutrients.
25. The bacterial decomposition of organic waste during secondary treatment can be accomplished either by the activated sludge process or by trickling filters. 26. Tertiary sewage treatment, which is rather expensive, removes much of the nitrogen and phosphorus from the waste. 27. State and national laws promote measures to remove pollution from wastestreams and control nonpoint water pollution. 28. In the United States, the most important federal water pollution control law is the FWPCA of 1972 (now called the Clean Water Act) and its amendments (1977, 1981, 1987). Many other countries have similar laws patterned after this one. The Safe Drinking Water Act helps ensure that water sent to our homes is safe for consumption. 29. Toxic release inventory data have also been useful in the United States in pressuring major corporations to reduce their emissions of toxic substances into the air, water, and the soil. 30. Water pollution controls help reduce pollution, but in many instances water quality in and around major metropolitan areas has not improved because of nonpoint water pollutants resulting from the development of lands in the watershed. To address this problem, many cities and towns have begun to consider watershed management. 31. Watershed management involves steps taken by a wide variety of people, including government officials, homeowners, gardeners, city park officials, and farmers. They are designed to reduce the sources of pollution in a watershed and minimize the disturbance of vegetation to reduce surface runoff and hence reduce the flow of pollutants into streams. Stormwater retention ponds and buffer zones are two of many measures called for in watershed management plans. 32. Water pollution is common in all countries, rich and poor. Although water pollution control efforts in more developed nations have been remarkable, there is much to be done to prevent further deterioration. In less developed countries, the challenge is even greater because of a lack of funds and technical expertise. 33. For decades the neritic zone bordering our nations coasts has served as a dumping ground for raw domestic sewage, sewage sludge, industrial wastes, and dredge spoils. 34. Waste dumping at the New York Bight caused (a) reduced levels of dissolved oxygen, (b) declines in plankton and planktondependent fish, (c) fish disease epidemics, (d) fish contamination with toxic metals, and (e) high rates of harmful mutations in fish. 35. Plastic pollution causes wildlife mortality by (a) blocking digestive tracts, (b) entangling-induced drowning, and (c) entangling-induced starvation. 36. A U.S. law that helps control plastic pollution is the Ocean Dumping Act, which bans plastic dumping from trash ships. 37. Today, nearly all ocean dumping that occurs in U.S. waters consists of dredged materials; however, other countries still dump sewage sludge and nontoxic industrial wastes.

38. The main sources of oil in the marine environment are (a) natural seeps, (b) oil well blowouts, (c) tanker spills (d) routine tanker and ocean vessel maintenance, (e) in-land disposal via river and pipeline runoff, and (f) air pollution. 39. The often dramatic and highly publicized oil tanker spills contribute only 5% of the total oil inputs to the ocean each year. 40. The majority of ocean oil pollution is generated from the but numerous individual inland activities. 41. Oil pollution adversely affects the marine ecosystem by (a) reducing photosynthetic rates in marine algae; (b) concentrating chlorinated hydrocarbons such as pesticides; (c) contaminating human food chains with carcinogens such as benzopyrene, (d) disrupting chemical communication in marine organisms, which adversely affects such activities as feeding, reproduction, and escape predators; (e) killing animals; and (f) causing long term effects such as cancers due to chronic exposure to low levels of oil. 42. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requires (a) improved structural designs for new tankers; (b) phase-out of the existing tanker fleet; (c) financial responsibility, compensation, and liability for spills; and (d) improved spill response strategies and inspection systems. 43. Strategies for cleanup of an ocean oil spill include (a) physical cleanup, (b) decomposition by oil-eating bacteria, and (c) in-situ burning. 44. The best strategy for ocean pollution control may be one that emphasizes and increases public education and awareness of everyday activities that contribute to this insidious form of ocean resource degradation.