Unit 8 Progress Check FRQ

Describe a potential environmental problem that could result from rain falling on a sanitary landfill.

Runoff can contaminate surface water or groundwater with pollutants from the landfill. This is problematic because it reduces the amount of fresh drinking water and if an organism drinks the contaminated surface or groundwater, they could get ill and die.

Describe one potential solution to the problem from part (a)(i).

Install/ or improve a stormwater collection system. This helps as it will collect rainwater that falls on the landfill and prevent it from running off into fresh drinking water sources.

Some cities use recycling programs to reduce the amount of MSW being disposed of in sanitary landfills. Propose a solution, other than municipal recycling programs, to reduce the amount of MSW needing to be disposed of in landfills.

Reuse materials like plastic cups or glass bottles from drinking and storage instead of tossing them.

(iv) Justify the solution proposed in (a)(iii) with a benefit, other than reducing the amount of MSW needing to be disposed of in landfills.

It will reduce the cost of purchasing disposable items overtime after initial cost of reusable item is offset.

(i) Calculate the percent change in the annual total MSW recycled from 1960 to 2000 in the United States.

Show your work.

(57-5)/5 × 100 = 1040% increase in total MSW recycled

Calculate the total MSW generated in 2000 in the United States. Show your work.

57 million metric tons/0.27 = 211.1 million metric tons of MSW generated in 2000

If paper products accounted for 33% of the total MSW recycled in 2010 and about 7 m' of landfill space is saved for each metric ton of paper products recycled, calculate how much landfill space was saved by recycling paper products in 2010 in the United States.

76 × 0.33 = 25.08 million metric tons

25.08x7=175.56 million cubic meters of landfill space

Excess nutrients can affect both freshwater and saltwater ecosystems.

(a) Hypoxic dead zones often result in regions that have experienced extreme eutrophication.

i. Identify one environmental impact of dead zones.

Reduction in dissolved oxygen, which causes fish and other aquatic organisms to die

Describe how thermal pollution from power plant discharge would affect the frequency of dead zones.

Thermal pollution from power plant discharge would affect the frequency of dead zones. Warmer water cannot hold as much dissolved oxygen as cold water can hold, which would increase the number of dead zones.

In addition to excess nutrients and thermal pollution, identify one other nonpoint source pollutant of aquatic environments.

Heavy metal runoff from urban areas

Propose a solution to reduce the amount of nonpoint source pollutants in aquatic environments.

Plant vegetation in exposed unvegetated areas to capture stormwater runoff from polluting aquatic environments.

Calculate the percent change in average daily temperature in june, july, and August between 1965 and 1975.

17.3-20.1/20.1 × 100 = -13.98%

13.98% decrease in average daily temperature

Calculate the average change of dissolved oxygen per year in the lake over the course of the study. Show your work.

8.6-3.3=5.3 mg/L

5.3/49 = 0.108 mg/L per year

0.108 mg/L increase per

Calculate how many times greater the change in phosphorous levels between 1965 and 1975 is than between 2008 and 2014. Show your work.

3.35-1.14=2.21 mg/L decrease

0.652-0.282=0.370 mg/L decrease

2.21/0.370 ~ 5.97

x2

X2

The decrease in phosphorus levels from 1965 to 1975 is 5.97 times greater than the decrease in phosphorus levels between 2008 and 2014.