Topic 5.3 Pollution Managment

Topic 5.3 Approaches to Pollution Managements  Regulation –Setting/imposing standards  EPA Ministry of Environmental Protection (china) –Extraction techniques  “clean coal”  Sequestration  Catalytic Converter

 Restore (most expensive) –Extracting Pollutants from ecosystems –US Superfund –Chernobyl, Ukraine –Replanting/restocking ecosystem  Oysters in Chesapeake

5.3.2 Human Factors  Economic –Production required raw materials  Cultural –People unwilling to change –May not know how to change  Political –Jobs vs. Environment

5.3.3 DDT and WHO  Dichlordiphenyltrichloroethane  Used during WWII to control lice and mosquitos  Insecticide in agriculture  WHO began program to eradicate malaria (with DDT) –Resistance evolved after years  Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Turkey, central America, –40,00 tons used world wide each year ( )

 tons produced each years –India China, North Korea –India largest consumer –Applied to inside of homes  Inside, Residual Spraying  Cheap, Persistent, and works well  Malaria kills 2.7 million people/year –Mostly children under 5 –Infects million/year –Disease of the “poor”

DDT Changes  Silent Spring –1962- Rachel Carson- American Biologist –Widespread spraying killing wildlife –Cancer in humans  Biomagnifies (builds up along the food chain)  Biaccumulates (accumulates in carnivores)  Agricultural use banned in 1970 and 1980’s (not as a vector control) –First banned in Hungary in 1968 –Norway/Sweden 1970 –US 1972 –UK 1984

Eutrophication

Process of Eutrophication  natural process of the aging of a body of water  As more nutrients enter the water more organisms live and die and add their organic molecules to the decaying / recycling process  Bodies of water evolve from oligotrophic to eutrophic

Process continued  Eutrophication can be accelerated by human activities –Increasing levels of nitrates and phosphates  Detergents  Sewage  Fertilizers from agricultural runoff

“death” of Lake Erie, 1960’s  Large amounts of detergents and fertilizers dumped in to lake  Caused increase of algae growth –Algal bloom  The decomposition of dead algae uses tremendous amounts of oxygen causing death to fish and other organisms at higher trophic levels

“death” of Lake Erie, continued  Lake Erie declared “ dead ”  Prompted a ban on phosphates in detergents in the late 1960 ’ s  Within a decade, Lake Erie rebounded –Still suffers from other forms of pollution

Impacts of eutrophication  As oxygen levels deplete from decomposers, other aerobic organisms suffer and die contributing to the decomposition process (Positive Feedback)  Can lead to “ death ” of a body of water –Decrease in species diversity –Stagnant putrid water

More on Phosphates More on Phosphates PO 4 3-

More on Nitrates ( More on Nitrates (N 2 O, NO, NO 2 )  Source: Artificial Fertilizers, Intense animal farming, acid rain  Health effect: Blue baby syndrome (methaemolobinanemia) for nitrosamines (carcinogenic)  Environmental Effect: Eutrophication  Removal: anaerobic bacterial-- > N 2

Other water pollutants: NaCL

Other Water pollutants: Heavy Metal ions

Hg

Pb