Water Contamination

• Freshwater on Earth

  • Reservoirs of freshwater in the Earth System: ____ _____ and groundwater

 

surface water

• Anthropogenic Sources of Water Contamination

  • _______ refers to surface water that flow downhill

    • It's a ______ ______ of pollution and is one reason that _______ management is so important

Runoff; nonpoint source; stormwater

• Organic, Inorganic, Dead, or Alive

  • ________ found in water can be classified based upon their chemical structure:

    • ______ contaminants: compounds that are not alive and contain carbon-hydrogen bonds. Include anthropogenic materials like volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pesticides, and other industrial compounds like chlorinated solvents and dioxins

    • ________ contaminants: compounds that do not include carbon-hydrogen bonds. Includes metals like aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, copper, iron, and lead, as well as compounds like nitrate, nitrite, and sulfate. Can be natural or anthropogenic

    • ________ contaminants: microorganisms that can be sourced from natural or anthropogenic sources. Includes coliform bacteria

    • _________: radioactive forms of elements such as uranium and radium. Can be natural or anthropogenic

    • It's important to note that ____ all contamination is anthropogenic. Natural processes elevate levels of contaminants beyond what is safe to consume

Contaminants; Organic; Inorganic; Microbial; Radionuclides; not

A: _______
B: ___ ___
C: _______

D: _______

E: ____ ____

F: ____ _____

G: ________ ______

H: _________

Wastewater; primary clarifier; sludge; aeration; aeration basins; secondary clarifier; activated sludge; filtered

A: ________
B: ________ _______
C: _________

D: ________

effluent; anaerobic digesters; dewatering; biosolids

• Remember: There's Always Somebody _________

  • Wastewater treatment facilities test the _______ to ensure that it meets requirements

  • If a wastewater treatment plant releases contamination accidentally or unknowingly, that can threaten ecosystems and drinking water supplies _______

Downstream; effluent; downstream

• The Surface-Groundwater Connection

  • Surface water becomes groundwater through _______

  • Groundwater becomes surface water through _______

  • Separate phase and dissolved-phase contaminants are carried by ______ as it recharges to and discharges from groundwater

recharge; discharge; water

• The Chattahoochee River

  • Location: The ________ starts in the Blueridge Mountains as _____-water stream. It flows South through Georgia and serves at the border between GA and Alabama

    • ACF River Basin (Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, Flint)

    • Provides water for Florida, Georgia, and Alabama

    • Drains into the _____

  • Problem: The Chattahoochee is a huge water source and a place of recreational activity. _______ pollution is extremely harmful to _______ communities and ecosystems

  • ______: When water can't penetrate the ground, it flows downstream over land into streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans

    • Run off picks up pollutants and deposits them into natural water ways like the ______ _______

Chattahoochee; cold; Gulf; Upstream; downstream; Run off; Chattahoochee River

• Major Causes of Pollution in the Chattahoochee

  • _____ ______ _______ (CSO's): in older drainage systems the pipes that carry storm water also carry sewage. In heavy rain permitted and unpermitted overflows can happen

  • Malfunctions or power outages can also cause plants to ______ water

Combined Sewage Overflows; discharge

• Example of the Environmental Impacts of Water Contamination

  • ______ Fish Kill (2026)

    • Location: ______ _______ - West Atlanta

    • ______ precipitation caused an influx of heavily ______ urban runoff

    • The City of Atlanta West Area Tunnel overflowed and dumped ______ wastewater in the river

    • Organic material and hypoxic, hot water entered the water causing oxygen levels to drop killing the fish

  • Around ______ fish died

  • A little less than 6 million gallons of untreated sewage was dumped in the river

  • The Chattahoochee River is also used as an ______ source

    • There are 16 dams in the basin, and 13 of those dams are on the Chattahoochee

  • Dams can block _______ fish like trout and sturgeon. This causes huge population declines and localized extinction

  • Dams fundamentally alter the _______

  • They block nutrients from entering _____ _____ and coastal habitats

    • The _______ Water Wars: in 2014 Florida sued the state of Georgia for "inequitable" use of the water

    • Florida claims that Georgia's use of the water caused the collapse of the Apalachicola Oyster Bay Fisheries

Atlanta; Peachtree Creek; Heavy; polluted; untreated; 44,000; energy; migratory; landscape; river deltas; Tri-State

• Effects Humans and Health

  • Municipalities that rely on the river downstream as the sole water supply

    • West Point, Columbus, Lagrange, and many more

  • Limited use of the water for recreational activity

    • __ _____ is a bacteria strand that can cause severe gastrointestinal issues, and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS)

  • PFA's (forever chemicals) are ____ monitored or regulated by the state

    • PFA's are per/polyfluoroalkyl substances

    • Linked to different cancers, immune, suppression, thyroid disease, liver/kidney failure

    • They are everywhere

  • Environmental contamination _________ affects low-income communities

E coli; not; disproportionally

• Proposed Legislative Solutions

  • Senate Bill 538 and House Bill 611: "The Forever Chemicals Transparency Act"

  • Increase cost of municipal storm water management permits (NPDES Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4)) these are managed by the Georgia EPD

  • Green Infrastructure in the City of Atlanta - parks, retention ponds, rain gardens, bioswales, green roofs, etc.

  • Stricter NPDES Permits:

    • ______ the amount of sewage discharge required to report it as a major spill

    • Sewage companies have up to _____ days to provide a written report of the incident. Lowering the length of the report time

    • Increase information accessibility

Lowering; five

• _____ ______ are most vulnerable to contamination

• _____ ______ with quick recharge rates are most susceptible to contamination from human impacts

• Human-made contaminants include ______ from industry, agriculture, sewage, waste (leachate), and urban activities

• ______ sources are clearly-identifiable sources, like pipes, ditches, or wells

• _______ sources are not easily identified and have a broad or diffuse sources area, like agricultural runoff or vehicle exhaust

Unconfined aquifers; Shallow aquifers; discharges; Point; Nonpoint

• Dissolved or Separate Phase Contamination?

  • _________ contaminants can dissolve into water, whereas others stay separate. We would call these "_____ ______" or "separate phase" contaminants. These are two varieties, based on their ______ relative to fresh water:

    • ______: dense non-aqueous phase liquids (sinks through fresh water; denser than fresh water)

    • ______: light non-aqueous phase liquids (floats on top of fresh water; less dense than fresh water)

Water-soluble; non-water soluble; density; DNAPL; LNAPL

• Innovations bring the use of ____ chemicals - it can take years or decades to obtain information about their toxicity and pervasiveness in the environment

• Emerging contaminants are those are suspected to be of concern, but have _____ associated data

• Historical emerging contaminants include:

  • Chlorinated solvents like trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), which are used as ______ solvents and _______ operations

  • Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), which was added to ______ to reduce knocking

    • Was replaced with _____

new; little; industrial; dry-cleaning; gasoline; ethanol

______ is an umbrella term that describes more than 12,000 individual molecules that can be further broken down. _____ _____ were manufactured before 2000. _____ _____ are newly-developed compounds, sometimes developed to replace legacy PFAS

PFAS; Legacy PFAS; Emerging PFAS

• PFAS Health Impacts

  • PFAS are referred to as forever chemicals because of their _____ in the environment

  • Some PFAS are extremely ______ for the body to remove, while others can be excrete into ______

persistence; difficult; urine

• Installing Groundwater Monitoring Wells

  • Groundwater monitoring wells (or ______) can be installed temporarily or permanently to measure the heigh of the groundwater table and collect samples for analysis

piezometers

• Water Quality Reports

  • Under the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act, municipal water producers must report the levels of contaminants to consumers annually. These are referred to as _____ ____ ____

  • All of Atlanta's drinking water comes from the ______ ______

  • There is a _____ between "violation" and "not present" - contaminants can be present, but at levels that are beneath drinking water standards

  • Environmental Working Group's Tap Water Database is the best resource for "making sense of" the complicated reports

 

Consumer Confidence Reports; Chattahoochee River; difference