Freshwater_Pollution

Freshwater pollution is a very serious problem in the United States and around the world. The main source of this pollution is humans and their waste. Humans produce many types of waste that eventually ends up in their freshwater resources. Clean water is essential to the health and well being of the earth’s population now and in the future. Freshwater pollution is harmful to humans, other animals, and even vegetation. The lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan are surrounded on three sides by the largest freshwater system in the United States, which is known as the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes must be protected because they contain an estimated 10% of the Earth’s and 84% of the United States’ surface freshwater (Fields, A165). There has been much done to improve and maintain the cleanliness of the Great Lakes system, but there is much more that can be done. A resource management plan to preserve and conserve the Great Lakes system will also be developed. There are many causes of water pollution. There are eight categories of water pollutants. These are sewage, disease-causing agents, sediment pollution, inorganic and algal nutrients, organic compounds, inorganic chemicals, radioactive substances, and thermal pollution (TEXT BOOK). The Great Lakes themselves are used for transportation, recreation, food supply, and drinking water. The ways in which the lakes are used as well as the land use practices around them have a major effect on the water quality of the lakes. The effects of industrialization, agriculture, transportation, and urbanization all have a harmful impact on water quality in general and the Great Lakes in particular. Humans are the main cause of many point source and non-point source pollutants that harm water quality. One example of non-point source pollution is the vast amounts of sewage and industrial chemicals that have been purposely and accidently dumped into freshwater resources. As Detroit and other large cities that surround the Great Lakes grew the amount of pollution that entered the water grew along with it. Early sewers in the city of Detroit were nothing more than open canals that funneled the sewage into the Detroit River, and this sewage was further carried in to the remainder of the Great Lakes system. While the sewer system of Detroit and other cities has improved there still continues to be accidental releases of sewage into the water. These occur though either malfunctions of the systems and overflowing due to flooding. Another example is the city of Milwaukee Wisconsin which has dumped billions upon billions of untreated waste water into Lake Michigan. The municipalities are fined for this pollution, but the penalties may not be substantial enough to force action in preventing future pollution. Even though pollution from sewage is very harmful to the water quality it is only one of the many types that cause harm. Another source of non-point source pollution that enters surface freshwater systems, including the Great Lakes, is agricultural use of the watershed lands. Runoff carries chemicals in fertilizers and manure from agricultural lands into the water causing further pollution. Numerous studies have attributed nutrient enrichment of stream waters to the enrichment of soils though the use of these fertilizers. Great Lakes coastal wetland water quality is strongly and directly related to agricultural practices in the watershed areas. (Morrice et al., 354) Another non-point source of the pollution found in freshwater, including surface sources such as the Great Lakes, is industrial waste. The ease of transportation of ore and other goods to areas surrounding the Great Lakes caused large amounts of industrialization in these locations. Foundries were built to process iron ore and produce steel, factories raised to make products from the steel, and so on. The chemicals used in and byproducts formed from ore processing and manufacturing find their way into the water causing further pollution. These chemicals find their way into the water through improper disposal, intentional dumping, and accidental release. Using the Great Lakes and other surface freshwater for transportation is a point source type of pollution that has also had harmful effects on the water quality. Their use as a veritable highway to transport iron ore, coal, limestone, and finished goods to foundries, factories, and market has taken its toll. Exhaust emissions, spilled oil and fuel, and spilled contents are all point source pollution types from the large ships. It is not only the transportation of raw materials and goods that cause point source pollution in the Great Lakes, but recreational boaters are also at fault. Many tons of pollutants are introduced to the water by pleasure craft through spilled oil and fuel, exhaust emissions, and even sewage from lavatory facilities. All of the various pollutants whose sources are described above have many detrimental effects on freshwater resources including the Great Lakes system. The water quality affects the plants and animals that live in and around the water resource, as well as the humans that eat the animals and rely on the water for drinking. Many pollutants bioaccumulate in organisms that live in the habitat and also persist in the environment (Fields, A166). Many of the effects on animals and health effects on humans are still being learned about. The wildlife can be devastated by the chemicals that are in the water. One example is that it is believed that high levels of dioxins and certain PCB compounds (polychlorinated biphenyls) spelled the end of the lake trout in Lake Ontario in the 1950s. Many other factors such as overfishing and loss of habitat had been blamed, but it is believed that the chemical toxicity of the water due to these compounds was mostly responsible for the loss of this species and failures of reintroduction. (Fields, A170) PCBs, though now banned, were widely used in a variety of different products such as coolants, insulating fluids, and many other industrial chemicals. Other chemicals that are causing harm include mercury and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). These chemicals still persist in the habitat and affect the animals and humans that consume them. The health of humans that eat fish from polluted resources such as the Great Lakes as main sources of food are also highly effected. Some groups of people are highly dependent on the contaminated fish for subsistence and have higher rates of certain health problems as a result. One such effect is a change in the sex ratio of children born to parent exposed to PCBs. Men with blood PCB levels greater than 6 parts per billion are more likely to father males than females. It was found among a population that the ratio of boy to girl births had shifted to 1.54 males to 1.0 female. Also, another study showed in couples with males that have high PCB levels it took longer for them to conceive. (Fields, A167-8) However, reproductive issues are not the only health problems caused by pollutants in freshwater systems. Studies have linked high levels of methylmercury with increase rates of cerebral palsy. It has been found that in Canadian communities near the Great Lakes that there has been four times the number of hospital admittances four cerebral palsy than in inland areas. Large amounts of mercury have been leaked into the environment in areas surrounding the St. Clair River and those areas of the Great Lakes. Infants contaminated with mercury can also have of many other disabilities including blindness, deafness, and mental retardation. Beyond chemical and other pollutants, invasive species have also had devastating effects on the delicate Great Lakes ecosystem. These invasive species generally find their way into the Great Lakes through the carelessness of humans. Flooding of fisheries and dumping of ballast tanks on cargo ships are two of the more common ways that invasive species have been introduced. When a non-native species enters an ecosystem the native animals are forced to compete for their food sources, and even prey on the native species. Some examples of the species that have invaded the Great Lakes include: sea lampreys, zebra mussels, alewife, and rainbow smelt. An additional species that threatens to invade the Great Lakes is the Asian Carp. They have already devastated many parts of the Illinois River, and the only thing that keeps them from entering the Great Lakes is an electrified barrier. (Fields, A172-3) Even though invasive species and pollutants have caused much harm to the Great Lakes much has been done to remove pollutants and invasive species and preserve the fragile ecosystem. A partnership of federal, state, and local governments along with tribes and other parties form the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC) which was created to manage this precious resource. This collaboration does most of its work through eight strategy teams that concentrate on specific issues. These are areas of concern, indicators and information, habitat and species, reduction of persistent bioaccumulative toxins, sustainable development, invasive species, non-point source pollution, and coastal health (Adler, A176). The Council of Great Lakes Governors (CGLG), which was created to develop responsible and sustainable economic growth, also approved these strategy teams. The main overall goals are to prevent further pollution and clean up pollution that is already present. This is done through collaboration with other groups such as developed through the Michigan Great Lakes Protection and Restoration Initiative. A vision has been developed for Michigan’s Great Lakes Protection and Restoration Effort in which the Great Lakes ecosystem is restored, protected, maintained, and the integrity sustained. This vision includes the following points among others. Ensure no new invasive species are introduced. Conserve and enhance the wildlife by protecting and restoring the ecological processes that sustain them. Develop a plan to obtain the goal of eliminating the release and exposure to bioaccumulating toxins such as PCBs. Control pollution from point and non-point sources. Use scientific data to make the best decisions regarding these matters. Incorporate principles of sustainability into the practices of businesses and citizens. (DeBeaussaert, 13) While this collaboration and vision development is a very good start further steps must be taken to make the needed progress towards sustainability. A plan to reach sustainability must further expand upon the current visions and collaborations. The first action item will be to conduct further research. With the many groups and plans that already exist it is necessary to condense and summarize for ease of understanding. This will be a very large undertaking. The steps that have been taken and their effectiveness must be understood in order to determine the most beneficial way to proceed. It seems that a lot of effort has been put into forming committees and strategy teams, but it is difficult to determine what actual physical steps or plans have been put into action for cleaning up pollutants and preventing further pollution. This will be a very time consuming undertaking and will require at least nine months to a year to complete. The second action item will be to create a report and presentation that summarizes the steps that have been taken that are effective, and where further effort needs to be focused. Metrics will have to be developed in order to rate and rank effectiveness of the various committees and strategy groups that already exist. The focus will be on actual work that has been done, cleanup efforts that have shown tangible results and preventative measures that have helped prevent further pollution. The report will be very large due to the amount of effort that has been previously put into sustaining the Great Lakes, but the presentation should be made more concise in order to be understandable by the average citizen. This will also not be an easy task and will take approximately three months to prepare. The third action item will be to provide the report to the various agencies and show the presentation so that they can receive an outside assessment of their effectiveness. This will lead to an open dialogue on what has been effective and what has been wasteful of precious time and monetary resources. The feedback from the various committees and agencies will be used to develop a further plan of action. Due to the large number of groups involved this step will require six to nine months to complete. The fourth and final action item will be to develop a plan to help the various agencies, committees, and strategy groups work better together and produce tangible results, and then to act upon this plan to produce results. Taking the feedback from the previous assessment report will allow the further plan of action to be developed successfully. The plan must also contain additional metrics in order to assess the effectiveness of the steps taken. Advertising a physical action plan to the public can also bring about greater awareness and cooperation. The development of the plan will take around six months and actuating the plan should continue indefinitely. There are many challenges and benefits to this plan. The benefits include reducing wasted efforts and resources as well as helping to produce additional tangible results. One of the challenges is the vastness of the Great Lakes and their pollution problems. An additional challenge is getting the various groups to cooperate and dealing with the government bureaucracy. While freshwater pollution is a serious problem, with the proper steps, some of the damages can be reversed and the precious freshwater resources such as the Great Lakes can be managed properly. Clean freshwater is essential to the health and wellbeing of earth’s population. It is paramount that these resources are treated with the respect that they deserve.