Free Essay with Q&A on Water Pollution

Describe dispersed-source pollutants.

Dispersed source pollutants are pollutants that enter the water from unconfined zones. Most scattered source toxins originate from stormwater overflow. Agrarian regions can have spillover that conveys composts and pesticides into streams and lakes. Another wellspring of scattered source toxins is stormwater frameworks in urban areas (Nathanson & Schneider 2015, p. 106).

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Explain how plant nutrients, radioactive substances, and oil contribute to water pollution.

Plant supplements, radioactive substances, and oil all add to water contamination. The surface spillover from these substances enters the water up and down a stream as it moves through the region. Supplements overflow from agricultural exercises to a great extent enter streams and waterways. Lethal and dangerous synthetic compounds can likewise enter water straightforwardly through surface spillover, and additionally mechanical movement. Oil is washed into surface waters in overflow from streets and parking areas, notwithstanding, coincidental spills from large transport tankers adrift.

Discuss how a natural draft cooling tower works.

A natural draft cooling tower utilizes the natural draft of air because of the thickness contrast between the cold air outside of the pinnacle and the warm air inside the crest. Cold air is pulled in through the base of the spire and moves crosswise over channel media that warm water is moving through. This causes an evaporative cooling impact on the water. The cooled water tumbles to the bowl of the pinnacle and is reused again into the power-plant for cooling (Nathanson and Schneider, 2015, p. 108).

How do mulch and hay bales help reduce erosion?

A natural vegetative cover gives insurance against erosion. Precedents of materials used to monitor soil incorporate mulch and hay bales. Mulching materials, for example, salt feed or wood chips, are frequently utilized as short cover on troublesome zones where there are steep slants or inadmissible soil (Nathanson and Schneider, 2015, p. 109). Hay is used to blocking dregs loaded spillover from arrangement around tempest water bays or low purposes of the influenced region.

Is dilution an acceptable means to solve pollution problems? Explain your reasoning.

No, dilution is not a solution to pollution problems. There are a few issues with expecting that weakening will evacuate any dangers presented by contaminants in the earth. Now and again, researchers have been shocked that toxins can in any case cause issues in the ground, notwithstanding when present at low levels. Likewise, the decent variety of human-made mixes keeps on growing, and many are mainly intended to have impacts at low focuses e.g., pharmaceuticals (Nathanson and Schneider, 2015).

Explain how an oligotrophic lake can become eutrophic?

Oligotrophic lakes have clear waters with little organic matter or sediment and minimum biological activity. These lakes are usually thick, and the shoreline is sparsely populated with aquatic plants. Eutrophic lakes, on the other hand, are described by waters wealthy in nutrient supplements, with high organic profitability. These lakes have higher convergences of phosphorus and chlorophyll and poorer lucidity. Regularly, they are shallow, frequently sloppy and contain a bounty of aquatic plants (Nathanson and Schneider, 2015). Therefore, oligotrophic lakes can become eutrophic once there is an increment in the number of nutrients in the water.

Describe saltwater intrusion and its impact on groundwater.

Seawater intrusion is the development of saline water into fresh water aquifers because of standard procedures or individual exercises and is caused by reductions in groundwater levels or by ascends in seawater levels. As the demand for water consumption is on a constant rise, the population living along the coastlines are exposed to higher salts intakes which in turn will lead to health risks concerning diseases such as hypertension and strokes.

Describe the advantages and disadvantages of ocean dumping of sludge.

The perils of dumping dangerous waste are self-evident. The materials may instantly execute marine life, cause ailments over the long haul or influence the capacity of reproduction. A portion of the materials legitimately allowed for sea dumping, for example, silt dug for boat ways, happen frequently. However, residue from riverbeds regularly has effectively amassed high amounts of contamination from industries and agriculture. When these materials are dumped adrift, the poisons affect marine life, including commercially critical fish. Organic materials, for example, sewage additionally comprise an abundance of supplements, which prompts algal sprouts and thus forming ocean dead zones.

The advantage of ocean dumping is majorly regarding convenience and cost, whereby for an individual, there might be little bureaucracy and no landfill expenses to pay. Typically, something being unlawful doesn't generally limit people or organizations from doing it, and the seas are a troublesome place to manage. Besides, there are a few items of waste that enhance the marine condition. Artificial reefs give a living space to a considerable number of aquatic creatures and fish. Substantial things of garbage, including old tires, decommissioned boats and auto bodies, have all been deliberately set to make artificial reefs. In the correct area, junk can improve as opposed to harm marine biological communities (Nathanson and Schneider, 2015).

Question Two

Discuss the typical differences in treating surface water versus groundwater for drinking water.

Generally, groundwater is discovered underground in significant aquifers and must be drawn out of the ground in the wake of exhausting a considerable well. Surface water is found in lakes, conduits, and streams and is brought into the overall public water supply by an admission. Groundwater is, all in all, more accessible and cheaper to treat than surface water since it tends to be less contaminated. Surface water is majorly treated artificially through conventional processes such as coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation or dissolved air flotation whereas groundwater is filtered off contaminants as it sips into the soil and rock.

List one health effect of too much exposure to each of the following: nitrate, selenium, and benzene.

Nitrate- exposure to elevated levels of nitrate in drinking water results in a condition known as Methemoglobinemia or blue-baby syndrome which is caused by the inability of the blood to circulate enough oxygen in the body.

Selenium- chronic exposure to selenium compounds results in dermatologic effects in human beings such as nail and hair loss as well as a condition known as dermatitis.

Benzene- long-term exposure to benzene in the body affects the bone marrow and can lead to a decrease in red blood cells and thereby leading to anemia.

A sedimentation tank for water treatment is designed to have a detention time of four hours. If the flow rate entering the tank is 20 ft3/s, what is the tank volume required in cubic feet?

288000 ft3

Explain the coagulation/flocculation process including when and why it is used.

Coagulation water treatment is the initial phase in chemical waste-water treatment. Rather than ignoring particles that would somehow or another sneak past the channel and fall too gradually to possibly be caught as residue, coagulation bunches them together, so they are all the more effortlessly evacuated. In coagulation treatment, an innocuous synthetic; for example, alum makes the majority of the particles emit a positive charge and in this manner bunch together, making them less demanding to channel. Coagulation is particularly helpful in expelling the concoction phosphorus from water (Bratby, 2016).

Flocculation runs as an integral unit with coagulation in waste-water treatment. When the waste particles have bunched together utilizing condensation, flocculating operators in waste-water treatment are being used to evacuate the clusters. Flocculants are lightweight, medium weight and overwhelming polymers that reason the destabilized groups of particles to agglomerate and drop out of the arrangement, expelling them from the separated water. The pressure utilized relies upon the sort of molecule (Bratby, 2016).

If a rapid sand filter is to be operated at two gpm/ft2, what filter surface area (in square feet) is required to treat 200,000 gpd (gallons per day)?

100000 ft2

Discuss the chlorination process.

Chlorination is the process towards adding chlorine to drinking water to clean it and eliminate germs. For membranes, the chlorination is the response of chlorine with membrane materials. The chlorine is generally utilized as the pretreatment specialist amid numerous sorts of membrane process as a result of their oxidability (Wang, 2015).

Explain the lime-soda method of water softening.

Soda lime is a procedure utilized in water treatment to expel Hardness from the water. This procedure is currently old yet was exceptionally helpful for the treatment of vast volumes of hard water. Expansion of lime and soda to the hard water hastens calcium as the carbonate, and magnesium as its hydroxide. The measures of the two synthetic concoctions required are effortlessly ascertained from the investigation of the water and stoichiometry of the responses. Calcium and Magnesium bicarbonate is complexed by lime. In this procedure, Magnesium and Calcium particles are encouraged by the expansion of lime and soda ash (WHO, 2009).

References

Bratby, J. (2016). Coagulation and flocculation in water and wastewater treatment - third edition. Place of publication not identified: Iwa (Intl Water Assn).

Nathanson, J. A., & Schneider, R. A. (2015). Basic environmental technology: Water supply, waste management, and pollution control (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Organizacion Mundial de la Salud. (2009). Calcium and magnesium in drinking water: Public health significance. Geneva: World Health Organization.

Wang, Z. (2015). Encyclopedia of membranes: Chlorination process (living edition).