Environmental_Science_-_Mitigation_Strategy_and_Solutions

Mitigation Strategies And Solutions By Connie Blanchard Due Date – July 18, 2010 Environmental Science – SCI/275 Lynn Thomas, Instructor Life on this planet would no longer exist without water. All life forms from single cell organisms to all plants and animals depend on water to stay alive. Even humans are made up of 60% water. Our very survival is in the balance when it comes to having clean water. Without water we cannot continue to produce enough food to feed our ever increasing population. My plan is to formulate a means of keeping our fresh water resources clean and free of pollutants. The main goal of water management is to provide a sustainable supply of high quality water. Sustainable water use means humans use water resources carefully so water is available for future generations. Irrigation accounts for the highest percentage of water usage equaling 71% of our world’s consumption of fresh water. Some of the causes of the existing problem are aquifer depletion, overdrawing surface waters, and salinization of irrigated soil. As the world’s population continues to increase, global water problems become more serious. As the needs of the growing human population deplete fresh water supplies, less water will be available for crops. Famine from water shortages are a definite possibility. There are many contributing factors of water pollution. Some of these examples are sewage, disease-causing agents, sediment pollution, organic compounds, inorganic chemicals, and radioactive substances. The release of sewage into water causes several pollution problems. Sewage may carry disease-causing agents. Water polluted with sewage poses a serious threat to public health. Sewage also generates two serious environmental problems, enrichment and oxygen demand. Enrichment of a body of water is due to the presence of high levels of plant and algae nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous, both of which are sewage products. When an aquatic ecosystem contains high levels of sewage or other organic materials, decomposing organisms use up most of the dissolved oxygen, leaving little available for fishes and or other aquatic animals. Water pollutants come from both natural sources and human activities. Natural sources of water pollutants, like mercury and arsenic, tent to be local concerns while human-generated pollution is generally more widespread. The sources of water pollution are classified into two types, point source pollution and non-point source pollution. Point source pollution is pollution that is discharged into the environment through pipes, sewers, or ditched from specific sites such as factories or sewage treatment plants. Pollutants that enter bodies of water over large areas rather than single point cause non-point source pollution, also called polluted runoff. Non-point source pollution occurs when precipitation moves over and through picking up and carrying away pollutants that are eventually deposited into lakes, rivers, wetlands, estuaries, groundwater, and the ocean. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture is the leading source of water quality impairment of surface waters nationwide and is responsible for 72% of the water pollution of the rivers in the United States. Agricultural practices produce several types of pollutants that contribute to non-point source pollution. Fertilizer runoff causes water enrichment. Animal waste and plant residues in waterways produce high biochemical oxygen demands and high levels of suspended solids as well as water enrichment. Highly toxic chemical pesticides may leach into the soil and from there into water or find their way into waterways by adhering to sediment particles. Soil erosion from fields and rangelands causes sediment pollution in waterways. Currently, most of the groundwater supplies in the United States are of good quality and don’t violate standards established to protect human health. However, those areas that experience local groundwater contamination face quite a challenge. Cleanup of polluted groundwater is costly, takes years, and in some cases is not technically feasible. Water quality is improved by removing contaminants from the water supply before and after it is used. Technology assists in both processes. Most United States municipal water supplies are treated with a chemical coagulant that causes the suspended particles to clump together and settle out. The water is then filtered through sand to remove remaining suspended materials as well as many microorganisms. In the final purification step before distribution in the water system, the water is disinfected to kill any remaining disease causing agents. The most common way to disinfest water is by adding chlorine. A small amount of chlorine is left in the water to provide protection during its distribution through many kilometers of pipes. Other disinfection systems use ozone or ultraviolet radiation in place of chlorine. With the growing need for high quality water resources, every type of decontamination technology will be in greater demand. Groundwater contamination needs to be reversed, and the sooner the better. The United States and all countries need to find the most economical and eco-friendly ways to save our water resources. Implementation of a plan to reach sustainability should be put in place. My plan for sustainability would be to create better technology for agricultural businesses that use pesticides and other contaminants that end up in our waterways, improve the way that water is decontaminated, and educate people on ways to conserve water locally. By teaching people different ways to conserve water such as using appliances that are more efficient, turning off water when not in use, using less water when maintaining lawns, and not to dump contaminants into our waterways, there will be great strides in the race to save the nations water resources. Knowing that agriculture is the leading cause of water contamination, there needs to be laws put in place to restrict the use of pesticides and herbicides or non-toxic pesticides and herbicides created that won’t harm the earth’s water resources. Many governments have passed legislation to control water pollution. The two U.S. laws that have had the greatest impact on water quality are the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act. The Safe Drinking Water Act, passed in 1974, set uniform federal standards for drinking water, to guarantee safe public water supplies throughout the United States. This law requires the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the maximum contamination level, which is the maximum permissible amount of any water pollutant that might adversely affect human health. The Clean Water Act affects the quality of rivers, lakes, aquifers, estuaries, and coastal waters in the United States. Originally passed as the Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, it was amended and renamed the Clean Water Act of 1977; additional amendments were made in 1981 and 1987. The Clean Water Act has two basic goals; to eliminate the discharge of pollutants in U.S. waterways and to attain water quality levels that make these waterways safe to fish and swim in. Along with these two laws there needs to be research for new technology that eliminates and even reverses water contamination. This will be a challenge due to the growing need for clean water and the continuing growth in population. With more water filtration systems put into place to remove contaminants from the waterways, more education and better technology, the waterways of the world can be saved for generations to come.