Types of Pollution  Nitrogen (wastewater, farming)  Pharmaceuticals  Garbage  Heavy metals (Hg, Zn, Pb, Fe)  Chemicals (PCB’s, industrial waste)  Petroleum products

Entry: Water Cycle  Circulation of water in Earth  Evaporation: changing of water from liquid to gas  Transpiration: Release of water vapor from plant leaves  Condensation: changing of vapor to liquid (cooled down)  Precipitation: Water that returns to the earth

Water Cycle

Water Cycle and Pollution  Rivers and streams transport nutrients, salts, sediments, and pollutants from watersheds to estuaries ( through runoff) and ultimately to ocean

Connecticut Watershed

Sources of pollution 1. Nonpoint source: --- many smaller point sources  Occurs as a result of runoff  Caused by:  septic tanks, cars, trucks, boats, farms, ranches, construction sites, cities, etc.  Hard to manage  Loss of aquatic species diversity, damage to coral reefs, algae blooms, sea grass bed decline, closure of beaches (swimming) and shelfish beds

2. Point source pollution  Pollution originates from an identifiable source  Ex: oil spills, algae blooms, industrial plants, sewage pipes

Nitrogen  Fertilizers  Overfertilization of crops  Runoff  Treated and untreated sewage  Wastewater released from treatment plants  Combined sewer overflows (CSO’s)

Pharmaceuticals Have negative effects on the reproduction of aquatic species and stimulate the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria Titanium, zinc, mercury  Medications and hormones that have been used or discarded  Treated and untreated sewage  Landfills  Vetranary medications  Aquaculture (fish farms)  Cattle feed lots

Garbage

 Plastic, debris, chemical sludge trapped by currents in North Pacific

Pacific Garbage Patch

Chemicals  Mercury & copper  Power plants  Lead  gasoline  Chromium, copper, arsenic, & zinc  Boats and pilings  PCB’s  Pesticides (DDT)  copper

 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill-2010  April 20 to July 15  4.9 million barrels of oil (210 million gal)  Had to engineer a solution  Exxon Valdez Oil Spill  11 million gal  Covered 1,300 miles of coastline  Covered 11,000 square miles of ocean  Resulted in numerous environmental sanctions Petroleum