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APES > APES Chap 20-21 > Flashcards

APES Chap 20-21 Flashcards

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1
Q

water pollution

A

the introduction of chemical, physical, or biological agents into water that degrades the quality of the water and affects the organisms that depend on it

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2
Q

point source pollution

A

discharged from a single source (ex wastewater treatment plant, oil tanker)

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3
Q

non point source pollution

A

comes from many sources (ex farm runoff, storm sewers), you can’t point to the source

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4
Q

water-soluble inorganic chemicals

A

acids, salts, toxic metals, chemicals, endocrine disrupters, organic chemicals (oil, gasoline, plastics, pesticides, detergents)

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5
Q

endocrine disrupters

A

lead to birth defects, developmental disorders, and gender imbalances (fish can be an indicator species?)

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6
Q

oxygen-demanding wastes

A

organic wastes that are decomposed aerobically, measured by the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), which is the amount of oxygen needed for decomposition, Oxygen Sag Curve, Oceanic dead zones

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7
Q

Oxygen Sag Curve

A

a plot of dissolved oxygen levels versus the distance from a source of pollution, usually excess nutrients and biological refuse

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8
Q

oceanic dead zones

A

areas of low oxygen caused by increased nutrient pollution

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9
Q

inorganic plant nutrients

A

nitrates, phosphates

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10
Q

pathogens

A

disease-causing agents, bacteria, viruses, protozoa, parasitic worms

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11
Q

sediment

A

suspended material, measured by turbidity

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12
Q

heavy metals

A

harm through bioaccumulation, mercury (minimata)

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13
Q

thermal pollution

A

thermal shock, lowers DO and organisms immune response, nuclear power plants,

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14
Q

Pollution of streams and rivers

A

streams and rivers have the ability to rapidly recover from pollution events because of their continuous flow and dilution resulting from surface runoff. Problems occur when the influx of pollutants is large (ex hog pit break) or the stream flow is reduced (ex dams, sedimentation)

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15
Q

forever chemicals

A

man-made class of chemicals, PFAs, persist in the environment for thousands of years, have been linked to cancer, liver damage, thyroid disease, and other issues in humans

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16
Q

EPA limits on Forever Chemicals

A

Under the Safe Water Drinking Act the EPA is expecting to release a recommended limit in drinking water at .004ppm with standards enforced by 2028

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17
Q

pollution of lakes

A

lakes and reservoirs are vulnerable to pollution because they have little/no flow and because they often contain stratified layers that undergo little mixing. This means that pollutants accumulate and DO gets reduced. eutrophication v cultural eutrophication

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18
Q

eutrophication

A

the natural amount of nutrients and silt from surrounding land that lakes receive

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19
Q

cultural eutrophication

A

the accelerated input of nutrients into lakes by human activity (Lake crabtree - PCBs)

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20
Q

The Law of the Sea Treaty 1982

A

134 nations participated, laws of a coastal nation extend 22km from its coastline (territorial sea), nations control of economic activity, environmental preservation, and research extend 370 km from its coastline (economic zone)

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21
Q

__% of all ocean pollution originates from land activities, with coastal areas taking the most damage

A

85, which is not surprising since half of the world’s population lives within 160 miles of the coast

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22
Q

Oil pollution in the sea may be cleaned up by the use of

A

floating booms, skimmers that vacuum up the oil, absorbent pads, coagulation agents that cause the oil to clump, dispersing agents that break up the slick

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23
Q

Oil pollution in the sea results primarily from…

24
Q

exxon valdez

Study These Flashcards
A

the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling almost 11 million gallons onto the Alaskan coastline

25
Gulf Oil Spill of 2010
On April 20th, 2010, BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank of the coast of Louisiana after an explosion. The aftermath left broken wellheads one mile deep that leaked for 107 days. The total numbers make it the largest offshore oil spill in US History. 206 million gallons of oil, 1.84 million gallons of dispersant (Corexit 9500)
26
Groundwater contamination
particularly concerning because groundwater flows very slowly, limiting dilution and dispersion... so it can take tens to thousands of years for groundwater to cleanse itself, and you don't really know when it is contaminated
27
Sewage treatment
In rural and suburban areas, sewage from each house is discharged into a septic tank, which is emptied every 3-5 years. In urban areas, wastes travel to wastewater treatment plants through a network of sewer pipes
28
Groundwater Protection Methods
since pumping polluted water to the surface to clean it isn't economically feasible, prevention is the only good way of protecting groundwater. This includes monitoring aquifers near landfills and underground tanks, requiring leak detection systems for underground tanks, banning disposal of hazardous wastes in deep injection wells and landfills, and storing hazardous liquids above ground
29
Clean Water Act
based on the Water Pollution Control Act of 1948. These laws and subsequent amendments set standards for allowed levels of key water pollutants and requires polluters to get permits limiting how much of various pollutants they can discharge into aquatic systems
30
Methods for sustainable water use
source reduction to reduce the toxicity or volume of pollutants, reuse of wastewater, recycling pollutants
31
Primary sewage treatment
a mechanical process that uses screens to filter out debris... the liquid that flows through the screen is called the effluent
32
secondary sewage
biological process in which aerobic bacteria are used to remove up to 90% of biodegradable, oxygen-demanding organic wastes
33
advanced sewage treatment
tertiary treatment, a series of specialized chemical processes that remove specific pollutants left in the water after primary and secondary treatment (chlorine, UV light)
34
The US has __% of the world's population and produces about __% of the world's solid waste
4.6, 33
35
Sources of solid waste (and percentages)
98.5% of solid waste in the US is industrial solid waste from mining, oil production, natural gas production, agriculture, and industrial activities 1.5% of solid waste is municipal solid waste (garbage) from homes and businesses
36
Hazardous Waste
any discarded solid or liquid material that contains toxic compounds at levels that exceed established limits, catches fire easily, or is reactive or unstable enough to explode or release toxic fumes
37
Hazardous waste may be detoxified by
bioremediation or phytoremediation
38
bioremediation
a way to detoxify hazardous waste, breakdown by microorganisms
39
phytoremediation
a way to detoxify hazardous waste, breakdown by natural or genetically engineered plants in artificial marshes or greenhouses
40
e-waste represents only __% of total waste in landfills, but comprises __% of overall toxic waste
2, 70
41
E-waste includes...
cell phones, computers, printers, televisions. Has high levels of may toxic metals like mercury, copper palladium, silver, and gold
42
Things that aren't hazardous waste (in the US)
radioactive wastes, toxic materials discarded by households, mining wastes, oil and gas-drilling wastes, liquid waste containing organic hydrocarbon compounds, cement kiln dust produced when burning hazardous wastes, wastes from small businesses and factories
43
Love Canal
Niagra Falls, NY - Used as an industrial dump by Hooker Chemical Company, twenty five years later 82 different compounds (11 suspected carcinogens) have been percolating upward through the soil, their drum containers rotting and leaching their contents into the backyards and basements of 100 homes and a public school built on the banks of the canal
44
RCRA
1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, requires the EPA to identify hazardous wastes and set standards for their management, "cradle to grave"
45
CERCLA
1980, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the superfund program. Identifies and cleans up abandoned hazardous waste dump sites and implements "polluter-pays" principle allowing the EPA to sue any parties they consider liable for the pollution... but the Bush administration didn't renew this tax to corporations, so there have been smaller cleanups and payment by taxpayers
46
Waste management
high-waste approach, manages unavoidable increases in waste
47
waste prevention
low-waste approach, acts to reduce waste and pollution, reuse, recycle, and compost, and then chemically or biologically treat what's left before burying the rest
48
Sanitary landfill
lined with plastic, leachate that leaks out of the plastic goes to a drainage system under the landfill that goes to a wastewater treatment plant. Trash is compacted with layers of soil between. Methane is vented through a pipe and is used to generate electricity
49
Pros of producing less waste
save energy and virgin materials with a lower input of energy, reduce the environmental effects of extracting, processing, and using resources, improve worker health and safety by reducing exposure to toxic and hazardous materials, decrease pollution control and waste management costs, are less costly on a life cycle basis
50
Methods of producing less waste
decrease consumption, redesign manufacturing to use less materials and eliminate unnecessary packaging, redesign manufacturing to produce less waste and pollution, use of less hazardous cleaning materials by individuals, develop products with a long life cycle, incorporate trash taxes
51
Primary recycling
closed-loop recycling, occurs when wastes discarded by consumers are recycled to produce new products of the same type (newspaper, aluminum)
52
secondary recycling
open-loop recycling, occurs when waste materials are converted into different products
53
primary recycling reduces use of virgin products by __-__%, secondary recycling reduces use of virgin products by a maximum of __%
20-90, 25
54
Critics of recycling say that
it is being done regardless of cost to communities, it doesn't make sense if it costs more than landfills, the US isn't running out of landfill space, it doesn't make economic sense for cheap and plentiful materials like glass and plastic
55

APES (6 decks)

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