ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE REVIEWER MIDTERMS

WATER POLLUTION type of contamination in these

freshwater sources.
➢ Water pollution occurs when harmful ➢ While plants and animals need these
substances contaminate a body of water, nutrients to grow, they have become
degrading water quality and rendering it a major pollutant due to farm waste and
toxic to humans or the environment. fertilizer runoff.
➢ The Water (Hydrologic) Cycle
3. OCEAN WATER
➢ 8% of ocean pollution (also called
marine pollution) originates on land—
whether along the coast or far inland.
➢ Contaminants such as chemicals,
nutrients, and heavy metals are carried
from farms, factories, and cities by
streams and rivers into our bays and
estuaries; from there they travel out to
sea.
➢ Our seas are also sometimes spoiled by
oil spills and leaks—big and small—and
are consistently soaking up carbon
pollution from the air. The ocean
CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION absorbs as much as a quarter of man-
made carbon emissions.
➢ Toxic substances from farms, towns, and
factories readily dissolve into and mix with 4. POINT SOURCE
H2O, causing water pollution. ➢ contamination from a single source
➢ Having identified as the “universal solvent”, ➢ Examples include wastewater (also
water is able to dissolve more substances called effluent) discharged legally or
than any other liquid on earth. illegally by a manufacturer, oil refinery,
CATERGORIES OF WATER POLLUTION or wastewater treatment facility, as well
as contamination from leaking septic
systems, chemical and oil spills, and
illegal dumping.
➢ the EPA regulates point source pollution
by establishing limits on what can be
discharged by a facility directly into a
body of water. While point source
pollution originates from a specific place,
it can affect miles of waterways and
ocean.
5. NONPOINT SOURCE
➢ Nonpoint source pollution is
When rain falls and seeps deep into the earth,
contamination derived from diffuse
filling the cracks, crevices, and porous spaces
sources. These may include agricultural
of an aquifer (basically an underground
or stormwater runoff or debris blown into
storehouse of water), it becomes
waterways from land.
groundwater—one of our least visible but most
➢ Nonpoint source pollution is the leading
important natural resources.
cause of water pollution in U.S. waters,
1. GROUNDWATER but it’s difficult to regulate, since there’s
no single, identifiable culprit.
➢ gets polluted when contaminants—from
pesticides and fertilizers to waste 6. TRANSBOUNDARY
leached from landfills and septic
➢ Transboundary pollution is the result of
systems—make their way into an
contaminated water from one country
aquifer, rendering it unsafe for human
spilling into the waters of another
use.
➢ Contamination can result from a
2. SURFACE WATER disaster—like an oil spill—or the slow,
downriver creep of industrial,
➢ (70 % of earth – oceans, lakes, rivers, agricultural, or municipal discharge.
etc.)
➢ Nutrient pollution, which includes
nitrates and phosphates, is the leading
 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE REVIEWER MIDTERMS

MOST COMMON TYPES OF WATER 2. ENVIRONMENT

CONTAMINATION ➢ System imbalance in the
complex web of living organisms
1. AGRICULTURE
➢ Eutrophication
➢ Leading cause of water degradation
➢ Reduced life span for organisms
around the world and less ability to reproduce.
➢ Run off from pesticides, fertilizers,
animal wastes and livestock WATER POLLUTION IN THE PHILIPPINES
operations.
➢ Water pollution is a major problem in the
➢ Nutrient pollution
Philippines.
➢ According to Water Environment
2. SEWAGE AND WASTEWATER
Partnership in Asia (WEPA), 32 percent of
➢ It comes from our sinks, showers, and
the Philippines’ land mass — approximately
toilets and from commercial, industrial,
96,000 square kilometers — is used for
and agricultural activities.
agriculture.
➢ The term also includes stormwater
➢ Increased population, urbanization,
runoff, which occurs when rainfall
agriculture and industrialization have all
carries road salts, oil, grease,
reduced the quality of water in the
chemicals, and debris from
Philippines.
impermeable surfaces into our
waterways Greenpeace reports the water pollution in
➢ More than 80 percent of the world’s the Philippines is mostly wastewater from
wastewater flows back into the the following sources:
environment without being treated or
reused.
➢ In the United States, wastewater 1. Industrial: The metal varies according to
treatment facilities process about 34 industry — lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium
billion gallons of wastewater per day. and cyanide.
➢ But according to EPA estimates, our 2. Agricultural: Organic — decayed plants,
nation’s aging and easily dead animals, livestock manure, soil runoff; and
overwhelmed sewage treatment non-organic — pesticides and fertilizers.
systems also release more than 850 3. Domestic sewage: Contains pathogens that
billion gallons of untreated wastewater threaten human health and life.
each year. 4. Other sources: Oil, mine or chemical spills
and illegal dumping in or near water.
3. OIL POLLUTION One of the most alarming things
➢ Oil and gasoline drips from cars and Greenpeace reports is that out of the
trucks everyday Philippines’ 421 rivers, as many as 50 are
➢ Estimated half of 1 million tons of oil considered dead and unable to support any
from factories, farms and cities but the most robust life.
➢ 10 percent from tanker spills
➢ Naturally released oil from ocean WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREVENT WATER
seeps POLLUTION?
1. Practice 3R’s when you can
4. RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES
2. Proper disposal of chemical cleaners,
➢ any pollution that emits radiation
oils, and non-biodegradable items.
beyond what is naturally released by
3. Consider landscaping
the environment
4. Proper disposal of human and animal
➢ Radioactive waste can persist in the
wastes.
environment for thousands of years,
5. With your voice
making disposal a major challenge.
One of the most effective ways to stand
up for our waters is to speak out in
support of the Clean Water Rule
EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION
1. HUMAN HEALTH
➢ Water pollution kills. 1.8 million
deaths in 2015 – The Lancet
➢ Major cause of illnesses caused
by waterborne pathogens
➢ it caused 1.8 million deaths in
2015