Water Pollution and Treatment Study Guide

Flashcards covering water pollution and its sources/impacts.

Water Pollution is defined as:

Any chemical, physical or biological change in water quality that makes the water unusable.

Point sources of water pollutants include:

Drain pipes or ditches.

Non-point sources of water pollutants include:

Farmland and cities.

The main concept regarding water pollution and watersheds is:

There is a connection between the human activities that take place on watersheds and the water pollutants that threaten the quality of water.

A source of sediment water pollution is:

Any removal of plant cover causing erosion.

Environmental impacts of sediment pollution include:

Sediment blocks sunlight lowering NPP, major threat to coral reefs and kelp forests.

Sources of organic water pollution include:

Flooding of animal farms, raw sewage leaks and spills, dumping food or yard wastes into water.

Environmental impacts of organic water pollution include:

As organic waste enters the water the decomposing bacterial will break it down using up the available oxygen dissolved in the water. BOD goes up and DO goes down…loss of biodiversity.

A source of biological water pollution is:

Feces of Mammals.

Environmental impacts of biological water pollution include:

Human illness (Dysentery, Cholera, Coliform).

A source of chemical water pollution is:

Chemical Fertilizers being used on farmland or urban lawns or after.

Environmental impacts of chemical water pollution include:

Eutrophication leads to algae blooms, in freshwater which causes increased BOD and lower D.O. "Dead Zones" in Ocean.