PDS APES 5th Period 2009-10

Since we’ve been discussing human waste, how’s this for a solution to that type of pollution?

Read more at this link.

This is for those that missed our most excellent field trip Monday and for those that want a good review. I made this 6.5 minute video podcast a few years ago, but it still hits all the highlights:

Yes, I had to do it. I try to teach environmental science without preaching, but this one topic is hardest for me to avoid. There are probably hundreds of other posts out there on the topic, but I still feel the need to let this out (sorry as it is a bit long with the 3 video clips). If you agree with my arguments, forward the blog link to friend…I pray this goes viral.

I was born in 1968. I am trying hard to remember (without a Google search) on when I first saw bottled water for sale. Can you? I cannot recall bottled water for sale in college in the late 80s, or when I was in the Army in the early 90s. Must have been the late 90s…at least in my memory.

I found this graph, but I have failed in locating the original source (I think it is at the bottom):

Growth of the Bottled Water Industry (double click on graph for a larger version)

Ok, regardless of my memory, the stuff has become very popular….

So, why my opposition? Well, I don’t drink bottled water for FIVE reasons:

1. Cost. This may be the ultimate rip-off. Let’s say you can buy a 16-ounce bottle for 69 cents…8 of those bottles equals $5.52/gallon (8 x 16 = 128 ounces or 1 gallon). If you drink one a day for 365 days, that’s $252/year on water alone and $2,520 dollars for 10 years! It is more like you paid $1.50, not 69 cents–so double that! Now, my tap water costs $1.25/ccf (or about 750 gallons) at the lowest price tier. Not really sure I need to do the math for you, but seems like I’ve got safe water at less than a penny a gallon? Ok, it is 0.16 cents/gallon if you must see the math. Is there really any need to extrapolate my tap water costs out to a year or ten?

2. Safety-Water quality. Ok, lots has been published about this over the last 10 years. You check it out for yourself. First, there was the NRDC report in 1999. On the issue of water quality (safety), here is the NRDC answer to the question “is bottled water safer than tap water?:”

“No, not necessarily. NRDC conducted a four-year review of the bottled water industry and the safety standards that govern it, including a comparison of national bottled water rules with national tap water rules, and independent testing of over 1,000 bottles of water. Our conclusion is that there is no assurance that just because water comes out of a bottle it is any cleaner or safer than water from the tap. And in fact, an estimated 25 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle — sometimes further treated, sometimes not.”

So, that was 1999. Has much changed since then? I guess you could start with the EPA, if you trust the government. Here is a bit from the EPA website on ground water and drinking water:

Q. What about bottled water?
A: Bottled water is not necessarily safer than your tap water. EPA sets standards for tap water provided by public water systems; the Food and Drug Administration sets bottled water standards based on EPA’s tap water standards.

Bottled water and tap water are both safe to drink if they meet these standards, although people with severely compromised immune systems and children may have special needs.

Some bottled water is treated more than tap water, while some is treated less or not treated at all. Bottled water costs much more than tap water on a per gallon basis. Bottled water is valuable in emergency situations (such as floods and earthquakes), and high quality bottled water may be a desirable option for people with weakened immune systems.

Consumers who choose to purchase bottled water should carefully read its label to understand what they are buying, whether it is a better taste, or a certain method of treatment.

• For more information, download the booklet: Bottled Water Basics PDF (7 pp, 2 M) (ALL ABOUT PDF FILES)

More information on bottled water is available from the International Bottled Water Association, which represents most US bottlers.

On top of all that, some bottled water is missing flouride treatment which most cities add to prevent tooth decay from bacteria. While toothpaste does contain flouride, those that drink only bottled water are getting considerably less floride. Note: The benefits of flouride is hotly debated…that’s another story. Regardless, the EPA requires Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities to send me a report on my drinking water quality each year. You can access our latest report here. Does your favorite bottled water company send you these?

3. Dangers of plastics: I try to live by the precautionary principle on this one. Yes, there are many fears about the dangers of chemicals that may leach out of plastic bottles. Most of this is “frontier science” at the moment–it will probably take years for us to have solid data on health effects. The folks that make the plastic resin (PET) that holds most bottled water say the stuff is safe. A recent study by a professor at the University of Heidelberg documented antimony values (in ppt) hundreds of times higher than that of pristine groundwater. Long term exposure of antimony can cause such as headache, dizzness, depression and in large doses, violent vomiting and death…Others fear the leaching of pthalates into bottled water. Some studies suggest some pthalates act as endocrine disruptors-in particular mimicing the female hormone estrogen.

Even if you don’t buy into the possible health effects on humans, consider the effects of all that plastic on the ecosystem. Oil-based plastics are not biodegradable, but they are photodegradable–that means they will simply break into smaller pieces due to weathering in the sun. So, plastics never go away, they just fragment into smaller pieces. All of this plastic has a tremendous impact on marine ecosystems. Watch this 7 minute TEDTalks segment by Captain Charles Moore for a quick lesson on plastics in the Pacific Ocean:

*To learn more about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, click here.

4. Infrastructure: In Charlotte, North Carolina, my water bill pays for the water treatment facilities and pipes that carry drinking water. My property taxes do not. So, for every dollar I give to bottled water companies, that is a dollar less Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities has to treat and transport my tap water. So, as bottled water companies prosper and grow, our public water infrastructure crumbles…The America Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently graded our drinking water infrastructure at “D-.” According to ASCE, we face an $11 BILLION shortfall each year in shoring up this infrastructure. How will we pay for it if more and more dollars go to soft drink companies peddling bottled water?

5. Taste: I honestly cannot tell a difference. But, yes, some folks think bottled water tastes better…I think this short video from the Showtime series Penn and Teller: Bullshit puts the issue to rest:

So, what do you think? Do you buy bottled water? Why? Which of these 5 reasons would you disagree with?

Ok..so I am biased? Here is a rebuttal from the Competitive Enterprise Institute :

Note: The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a public interest group dedicated to free enterprise and limited government. We believe that the best solutions come from people making their own choices in a free marketplace, rather than government intervention. Since it was founded by Fred L. Smith, Jr. in 1984, CEI has grown to a team of over 40 policy experts and staff. This boilerplate was taken from the www.cei.org.

Silly, but relevant to our discussions of runoff issues. Enjoy!

Today in class, we learned more about water pollution. There is a list of the most common water pollutants in the book (pg 246, table 11-1), but it is important to note that the biggest water pollutant is sediment.

There are two categories of water pollution: point and nonpoint sources. According to our textbook, point sources are “single, identifiable sources that discharge pollutants into the environment.” Nonpoint sources are “large or dispersed land areas that discharge pollutants into the environment over a large area.” Here are the ways to clean up, prevent, or reduce pollution from each respective type of pollution.

Point Sources:

• Septic tanks-septic tanks are used to clean waste water when a sewage plant is not accessible (http://www.captainwater.com/septictank-picture.jpg)
  

  Here is an example of a septic system.

• Sewage Treatment-in cities and factories, waste water is pumped to a sewage treatment plant where it is cleaned and redistributed
• The Clean Water Act of 1972 regulates point source pollution. It regulates the discharge of pollutants into US waterways, it promotes water quality levels so citizens are able to fish and swim, and it requires discharge permits for effluent emissions (point sources). These are the key points of the Clean Water Act, but for more information, check out this site–> http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa/

Nonpoint Sources:

• treat stormwater
• buffer zone vegetation along riverbanks (http://www.floatingwetlands.com/images/buffer-after.jpg)
  

  Here is an example of buffer zone vegetation. Note the low shrubs and grasses lining the banks of this wetland.

• reduce soil erosion-sand, silt, and clay in the water causes turbidity, a term used when particles block the ability of light to pass through a liquid
• retention ponds
• less organic fertilizer and pesticide use-these can potentially run into streams and lakes

Yesterday in class we learned about the second type of water pollution: Plastic.

To begin class, we watched a video on plastic pollution in the open ocean.

Mr. Willard then talked to us about-

1: Photodegradable plastics, which are plastics that need constant exposure to the sun in order to become weaker and fragmented, are such a large pollution problem because they do NOT completely degrade away. Within this category of plastics are the petroleum based plastics that are synthetically compounded in a lab.  Another term used to describe these plastics is non-biodegradable which means the pieces of plastic are fragmented, but never fully disappear.  Plastic particles that do not float on the surface and are farther down under the water level are not exposed to light.  Therefore, sinking plastic may never have the chance to photodegrade leaving it in large pieces of chunks that can be very dangerous to animals.

*Fact: Every bit of plastic ever made, unless completely incinerated, still exists in pieces somewhere on the earth today.*

The video talked about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or the Pacific Trash Vortex, which is a gyre (circular down flowing of currents, down welling, toilet bowl effect) of Marine litter, the size of two Texas’.

Trash of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

[http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/054849-2009-08-04-researchers-set-sail-for-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm]

2. Plastic as a Food Mimic-

Pieces of plastic (tan especially) floating around in the ocean water and on the surface can be mistaken for food by animals that feed off of other tiny animals.  For example, birds bobbing the surface see the tannish plastic, dive down thinking it’s krill or plankton, and ingest the plastic particles, unaware of what they are eating.

-Plastics in the water can act as sponges for toxins floating within the ocean water into animals that eat the plastic.

-PCB has because a particularly prevalent toxin found in high amounts in seabirds in the last few years.

-Plastic Resin Nurdles, which are raw forms of plastic (also can be seen in the form of blue and yellow pellets in the jar in Mr. W’s classroom), are round and look like fish eggs to predators. They are also accumulators of hydrophobic pollutants (DDE & PCB).

A the plastic-filled inside of a dead seabird.

http://www.doobybrain.com/tag/trash/page/2/

“The Ocean is like a soup, the stock is getting thicker, and instead of noodles, there are nurdles”; -Captain Morris

3. Concentrate Toxins

-Toxins such as DDE and PCB are absorbed into plastic resin pellets and and then become up ti 1,000,000 times their level in ambient sea water.

At the end of class we tried to come up with some solutions:

~The major solutions we decided upon were to prevent plastic from entering the water altogether; but really, how practical is that with the modern day US?

~Also, we decided to Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle is something to keep in mind for the future;

*Note: Bottle caps cannot be recycled*

We finished up class watching another video about sailing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with Charles Moore:

-Quick thought to end with: What will the oceans be like (especially for marine life) generations from now if we continue to pollute the oceans with such large amounts of plastic?  Can we and should we attempt to take steps in lowering the amount of pollution damage (plastic) we are inflicting on the oceans?

I hope this helped! Any questions, just ask!

Today in class we discussed oil spills: their sources, effects, clean-up, and solutions.

There are various sources of oil spills: offshore wells, tankers, pipelines, storage tanks, and runoff from highways, which is the top source.

There are three main effects of oil spills: death of organisms, loss of animal insulation and buoyancy, and smothering.

Sea otters and sea birds are two organisms severely harmed by oil spills because the oil gets trapped in their fur or feathers, preventing them from insulating themselves (resulting in the organisms freezing) or flying (so they drown).

The three clean-up methods are: It is much easier to clean up crude oil, which has been claimed to take only three years, than refined oil because of all the additives in it.

• mechanical: booms, skimmers, and blotters
• chemical: coagulants and dispersing agents
• biological: bioremediation-this method uses natural bacteria in the water to consume the oil, and it is one of the most efficient ways to clean-up oil spills.

Many of these methods were used by Exxon in the movie we watched in class today, Scientists and the Alaska Oil Spill, which was made by Exxon in 1992. There are other methods described at the website below, such as containment and burning. http://science.howstuffworks.com/cleaning-oil-spill.htm

There are also a few solutions to oil spills that we discussed. The most effective one is prevention. Other solutions include double-hull tankers, relying less on oil and finding an alternative energy source, or creating legislation.

One recent form of legislation is the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990, which set up a trust fund financed by a tax on oil. This trust is able to clean-up spills when the guilty company is unable or unwilling to do so. The OPA requires oil storage facilities and vessels to propose plans describing how they will react to large spills so an oil spill like the Exxon Valdez, the worst oil spill in U.S. history, never happens again. New laws could reduce the number and severity of oil spills as long as they are efficiently enforced and not unreasonable to ask of the industry and the citizens.           http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/opa.html

The movie we watched in class today was about the Exxon Valdez oil spill that occurred in the Prince William Sound in 1989. Exxon gives the impression that the spill wasn’t too bad and they did everything they could to clean it up. They failed to leave out the cause, the captain being under the influence, and also the horrible losses that the fish and the fishing industry experienced. The movie describes Exxon’s two main goals after the accident as being:

1. To help oiled wildlife recover (such as sea otters and bald eagles)
2. To remove oil from the environment. Exxon claims to have removed all the oil by 1992; however, a BBC news article disagrees with those claims. If anyone is interested, this is the link to the article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8465607.stm.

I hope this helps clarify any doubts!

Today’s topic was the first of three types of water pollution: Cultural Eutrophication. Eutrophication is the process of Natural Nutrient Enrichment of Phosphates and Nitrates to a body of water. Cultural Eutrophication is when humans speed up this process, and this is when problems occur.

The process of Cultural Eutrophication takes place in a few steps.

1. Excess Nitrates and Phosphates run off into bodies of water. The sources of the excess of Nitrates and Phospahtes are mainly inorganic fertilizers and feedlot waste lagoons.

2. The excess nutrients in the water enable algae to grow at a ridiculously fast (exponential) rate. When this occurs in Coastal Ocean aras, it can cause a Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB). Common examples of Harmful Algal Blooms are Red Tides which are caused by microscopic algae that give off a red colored toxin.

Sometimes there is so much algae that it blankets the surface of a body of water. This makes it so sunlight cannot reach the plants in the water. This severely lowers the amount of Dissolved Oxygen in the Water.

http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/guide/bloom1.jpg

3. The algae undergoes a dieback in which all the algae dies.

4. All of the dead organic algae matter causes the population of Decomposing oragnisms to rise rapidly. The increased amount of organisms performing cellular respiration causes the dissolved oxygen to lower even further. The water is now said to be hypoxic meaning that it is very low in dissolved oxygen.

5. Within the Oxygen Depleted Zone the animals that rely on large amounts of oxygen begin to die. Basically, the fish die.

Here is a link to a website that offers a great animation of the process:

http://coseenow.net/2008/11/eutrophication-animation/

It is also important to note that Cultural Eutrophication is worse in rivers, Lakes, streams and coastal areas of the ocean. Obviously the problem is not as bad in the open ocean which is far from any excess run off of nutrients. The problems is also worse in areas without any current where the nutrients collect and don’t move on elsewhere. Areas where this problem has been horrible recently include the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeke Bay. (Both which are coastal areas with little water movement.)

Here is a current event article about the problem in the Gulf of Mexico. Note the image that shows the problematic areas across the world.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/gulf-dead-zone-47071506

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On Friday, we talked briefly about water surpluses– otherwise known as flooding.

In class, we discussed two causes of water surpluses.  Flooding is caused by natural events, but is also influenced by human activities.  These causes are explained below:

1. Natural causes- Too much or excessive rain causes the water in rivers to overflow over the river’s banks and into the floodplain.  Examples of these events are hurricanes, thunderstorms, tsunamis, etc.  Although we have seen many cases when floods are extremely destructive (i.e. Hurricane Katrina, 2004 tsunami) but floods can actually be helpful by leaving behind nutrients in the flood plains.  Floods leave land very fertile.

2. Human activities- There are several ways that humans can increase the likelihood and severity of floods.  (1) First off, human pavement causes flooding because rain cannot permeate through asphalt, so the rainwater ends up flowing into rivers. (2) Another human impact is engineering structures such as dams, levees, and floodwalls. Although these structures are built to contain water, they often fail because as water is stored and builds up, its destructive capacity increases tremendously.

This image shows the destruction caused by floods:

After years of steady rain, the Mississippi River basin failed to control the surplus of water causing water to overflow into the surrounding floodplain.

http://ks.water.usgs.gov/pubs/fact-sheets/fs.024-00.miss.flood.jpeg

We didn’t have time to discuss solutions to flooding in class, but there are ways we can prevent and control flood damage, which are found on page 245 of our textbook:

Prevention:

• Preserve forests on watersheds
• Preserve and restore wetlands in floodplains
• Use floodplains primarily for recharging aquifers, sustainable agriculture and forestry

Control:

• Strengthen and deepen stream (channelization)
• Build levees or floodwalls along streams
• Build dams

For those of you who were not in class on Thursday February 25th we discussed the first portion of Chapter 11, which was about water shortages.

If 71 percent of the earth is covered by water many would ask how could water shortage be an environmental issue? Well the fact is that only 2.6 percent of the worlds water is fresh water, and of that 2.6 percent almost three quarters of fresh water is frozen in either polar ice caps or glaciers. This leaves us with only 0.6 percent of the worlds water as a usable resource.  In other words usable fresh water is scarce on our planet.  The world population uses water for the following things:

• Agriculture (69 %)
• Industry/power (23%)
• Domestic uses (8%)

As fresh water moves throughout the hydrologic cycle we obtain it either from runoff or from aquifers. An aquifer is an area underground where fresh water is stored  in permeable soil or rock. The amount of water in an aquifer is determined by the water table, which is the top level of water in an aquifer. To help visualize how an aquifer works picture water being poured into a glass.  When the water hits the bottom of the glass, which would be bedrock in the aquifers case,  the liquid level begins to rise thus raising the water table. To take this analogy a step further now picture a straw being placed in the glass in order to extract the water from the top layer. Every time you take a sip the “water table”  in the glass decreases causing you to push your straw deeper into the glass. This analogy explains the way that well drilling works with aquifers.  However what makes this process an environmental issue the the fact that often times we are draining aquifers faster than they can replenish resulting in a water shortage.

There are four major causes for water shortages on our planet

1. Dry climate
2. Drought
3. Dessication – This is when soil dries out do to overgrazing or  too much plowing in a certain area
4. Water Stress – This is the demand for fresh water by humans

There are four major “solutions” to solving water shortages as well and these are

1. Dams
2. Water Transfer
3. Deslinization
4. Conservation

The problem is that none of these methods are true solutions, meaning that they all have pros and cons. For example  transering water from a large river or lake to a place with an arid climate has major implications.  Often times the body of water shrinks drastically making it an unreliable source of water in the future.  An example of this is the Aral Sea in the middle east.  Due to water transfer what was once the worlds fourth largest lake  shrunk to about half of its size. Another example that deals more with conservation is Xeriscaping in desert climates.

Satillite photos showing the depletion of the Aral Sea

I hope this help clarify water shortages for those of you who missed the lecture!