APES Unit 8 Aquatic & Terrestrial Pollution

Point source pollution

Pollutants discharged from a single identifiable location (e.g., pipes, ditches, channels, sewers, tunnels, containers of various types).

Nonpoint source pollution

pollution that comes from many sources rather than from a single, specific site

Runoff

Part of the water cycle where an excess of water runs down and does not sink into the soil and eventually makes it to the rivers, lakes, and oceans.

Clean Water Act

(CWA, 1972) set maximum permissible amounts of water pollutants that can be discharged into waterways; aims to make surface waters swimmable and fishable

Range of tolerance

Range of chemical and physical conditions that must be maintained for populations of a particular species to stay alive and grow, develop, and function normally

Dead zones

In a body of water, an area with extremely low oxygen concentration and very little life

Nutrient pollution

The process where too many nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus, are added to bodies of water and can act like fertilizer, causing excessive growth of algae.

Oxygen sag curve

The curve obtained when the concentration of dissolved oxygen in a river into which sewage or some other pollutant has been discharged is plotted against the distance downstream from the sewage outlet

Dissolved oxygen

oxygen dissolved in water, dissolved oxygen is important for fish and other aquatic animals

Toxic

poisonous

Endocrine disruptors

chemicals that interfere with the normal functioning of hormones in an animal's body

Water filtration

The process of cleaning water by running it through different layers of rocks and chemicals;

Water purification

the process of treating wastewater and turning it into water that can be used again.

Eutrophication

excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen.

Fertilizers

a substance that provides nutrients to help crops grow better (NPK)

Algal blooms

rapid growth of algae encouraged by too many nutrients (nitrates/phosphates) in the water

Hypoxic

deficient in oxygen

Anthropogenic

derived from human activities

Wastewater

any water that has been used by humans. This includes human sewage, water drained from showers, tubs, sinks, dishwashers, washing machines, water from industrial processes, and storm water runoff.

BOD (biological oxygen demand)

A measure of the amount of oxygen necessary to decompose organic material in a unit volume of water. As the amount of organic waste in water increases, more oxygen is used, resulting in a higher BOD.

Thermal pollution

a temperature increase in a body of water that is caused by human activity and that has a harmful effect on water quality and on the ability of that body of water to support life, decreased DO in water

POPs

Persistent organic pollutants. Chemical compounds that persist in the environment and retain biological activity for a long time.

Synthetic

not naturally produced; made by artificial processes

PCBs

synthetic chemicals containing chlorine that are used in the manufacture of plastics and other industrial products, become stored in the tissue of animals, and also persist in the environment

persistent chemicals

chemicals that don't readily degrade over time

Bioaccumulation

The accumulation of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in various tissues of a living organism.

Biomagnification

The increase in chemical concentration in animal tissues as the chemical moves up the food chain

Mercury Pollution

A toxic metal released into the air and water mainly from coal-fired power plants and mining.

Solid waste disposal

landfills (usually)

Hazardous Waste

Any material that can be harmful to human health or the environment if it is not properly disposed of

Landfills

Land disposal sites for solid waste; operators compact refuse and cover it with a layer of dirt to minimize rodent and insect infestations, wind-blown debris, and leaching by rain.

E-waste

discarded electronic equipment such as computers, cell phones, television sets, etc. contains potentially toxic heavy metals

Leachate

polluted liquid produced by water passing through buried wastes in a landfill

Incineration

The process of burning waste materials to reduce volume and mass, sometimes to generate electricity or heat

RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)

The goal of this federal law is to prevent unsafe and illegal disposal of hazardous wastes on land, created "cradle to grave"

CERCLA

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: created superfund sites, companies are responsible for cleaning up toxic waste

Reduce Reuse Recycle

three steps used to reduce the amount of waste produced and put in landfills

Composting

a process that allows the organic material in solid waste to be decomposed and reintroduced into the soil, often as fertilizer.

Combustion

the process of burning something

Sewage

solid and liquid waste from homes and other buildings that is carried away by sewers or drains

Primary sewage treatment

first step of sewage treatment; eliminates most particulate material from raw sewage using grates, screens, and gravity (settling).

Secondary sewage treatment

second step of sewage treatment; bacteria breakdown organic waste, aeration accelerates the process.

tertiary sewage treatment

Advanced Sewage Treatment: series of specialized chemical and physical processes used to remove specific pollutants left in the water after primary and secondary treatment

Sludge

Solid waste material from wastewater

Aerate

to fill with air; to expose to air

Disinfectants

Chemical products that destroy all bacteria, fungi, and viruses (but not spores) on surfaces.

Pathogenic/pathogen

Refers to a microorganism capable of or prone to causing a disease state

Fecal coliform

bacteria that are found in excrement or sewage contamination occurring naturally in the digestive tract of human beings and animals to aid in digestion.

Gray water

all of the wastewater that drains from washing machines, sinks, dishwashers, tubs or showers and can be reused for non-sanitary purposes

Effluent

liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or the sea.

Septic systems

Installed in homes that do not have access to municipal sewers. Used to dispose of wastewater. Wastewater runs into a underground tank, the solids precipitates out while the water proceeds downhill to gravel fill trenches and microbes decompose the remaining waste

Composting toilets

units that convert human excrement into a soil-like material that should be buried or hauled away for disposal

Lethal dose (LD50)

Dose required to kill 50% of animals tested

SDWA (Safe Drinking Water Act)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is allowed to set the standards for drinking water quality and oversees all of the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement these standards

Dose response curve

Plot of data showing effects of various doses of a toxic agent on a group of test organisms.

Threshold dosage

level below which the toxic effects are not observable; level above which the effects are apparent

Tolerance

the diminishing effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug's effect

Mortality

death rate

Dysentery

an infection of the intestines marked by severe diarrhea

Vectors

An organism that transmits disease by conveying pathogens from one host to another

Bubonic Plague (Black Death)

a deadly disease that spread across Asia and Europe in the mid-14th century, killing millions of people, spread by fleas that live on rats/rodents

Tuberculosis

An infectious disease that may affect almost all tissues of the body, especially the lungs

Malaria

West Nile virus

MERS

SARS

Zika virus

Cholera

Infectious

Endemic

Transmissible disease

HIV/AIDS

cradle-to-grave system

systems used to keep track of waste they transfer from a point of generation to an approved off-site disposal facility, and they must submit proof of this disposal to the EPA