Chapter 14 - Water Pollution

Question 1

Point Sources

Answer 1

A distinct location from which pollution is directly produced.

Question 2

Wastewater

Answer 2

Water produced by livestock operations and human activities, including human sewage from toilets and gray water from bathing and washing of clothes and dishes.

Question 3

Dead Zones

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Eutrophication

Answer 4

A phenomenon in which a body of water becomes rich in nutrients.

Question 5

Septic Tank

Answer 5

A large container that receives wastewater from a house as part of a septic system.

Question 6

Leach Field

Answer 6

A component of a septic system, made up of underground pipes laid out below the surface of the ground.

Question 7

Manure Lagoon

Answer 7

Human-made pond lined with rubber built to handle large quantities of manure produced by livestock.

Question 8

Biochemical Oxygen Demand ( BOD )

Answer 8

The amount of oxygen a quantity of water uses over a period of time at specific temperatures.

Question 9

Fecal Coliform Bacteria

Answer 9

A group of generally harmless microorganisms in human intestines that can serve as an indicator species for potentially harmful microorganisms associated with contaminated sewage.

Question 10

Indicator Species

Answer 10

A species that indicates whether or not disease-causing pathogens are likely to be present.

Question 11

Safe Drinking Water Act ( SDWA )

Answer 11

Legislation that sets the national standards for safe drinking water.

Question 12

Maximum Containment Level ( MCL )

Answer 12

The standard for safe drinking water established by the EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Question 13

Clean Water Act ( CWA )

Answer 13

Legislation that supports the “protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water” by maintaining and, when necessary, restoring the chemical, physical, and biological properties of surface waters.

Question 14

Thermal Pollution

Answer 14

Non chemical water pollution that occurs when human activities cause a substantial change in the temperature of water.

Question 15

Non-point Sources

Answer 15

pollution that comes from many different sources

Question 16

Turbidity

Answer 16

measures amount of suspended solids in the water (measures clarity)

Question 17

Primary Treatment

Answer 17

Mechanical sewage treatment in which large solids are filtered out by screens and suspended solids settle out as sludge in a sedimentation tank.

Question 18

Secondary Treatment

Answer 18

Which aerobic bacteria decompose up to 90% of degradable, oxygen-demanding organic wastes in wastewater. This usually involves bringing sewage and bacteria together in trickling filters or in the activated sludge process.

Question 19

Tertiary Treatment

Answer 19

Uses a series of chemical and physical processes to remove specific pollutants left.

Question 20

Disinfection (Chlorine / UV / Ozone)

Answer 20

When the remaining water is disinfected using UV light, ozone, and chlorine. Used to treat sewage and to reduce any pathogens

Question 21

Acid Mine Drainage

Answer 21

Pollution caused when sulfuric acid and dangerous dissolved materials such as lead, arsenic, and cadmium wash from coal and metal mines into nearby lakes and streams.

Question 22

Oxygen-depleted Zone (Septic Zone)

Answer 22

“dead zones” form mostly in temperate coastal waters and in land locked seas such as Baltic and Black Seas

Question 23

Sewage Sludge

Answer 23

A gooey mixture of toxic chemicals, infectious agents, and settled solids removed from wastewater at a sewage treatment plant

Question 24

Recovery Zone

Answer 24

Oxygen sage curve - waste concentration decreases, DO goes up and BOD goes down - trash and fish

Question 25

Decomposition Zone

Answer 25

Oxygen sage curve - decomposition increases to break down pollution and oxygen decreases as it is used by the decomposers - trash and fish make up the zone

Question 26

Dissolved Oxygen (DO)

Answer 26

Organic matter that enters a body of water and feeds the growth of the microbes that are decomposers - the more waste that enters the water, the more the microbes grow and the more oxygen they demand

Question 27

Escherichia Coli (E. Coli)

Answer 27

Is a disease in humans and animals and are not harmful although there are strains that can be deadly to people who are very young, old or possess weak immune systems - the presence of the disease in water is an increased risk of other wastewater pathogens being in the water

Question 28

NPDES

Answer 28

Regulates point sources of pollution by requiring a permit to discharge any pollutants into a navigable waterway. (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System)

Question 29

Oxygen Sag Curve

Answer 29

Graphed curve of dissolved oxygen concentration in a stream as the water flows by a point sources of pollution

Question 30

Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)

Answer 30

Sets up daily limits for total pollutant discharges into impaired water bodies - sets based not he maximum pollution levels the water body can receive and still meet water quality standards

Question 31

Clean Zone

Answer 31

Part of the oxygen sag curve - the DO is high and the BOD is low - normal clean water animals