Water Pollution Test Review

Available Water:

-Sea Water: 97.5%

-Freshwater: 2.5%

Ice caps/glaciers: 79%

Groundwater: 20%

Surface water (lakes/streams): 1%

Main Uses of Water:

-domestic (drinking, cooking, toilets)

-industrial (cooling systems, cars)

-agricultural (irrigation-animals, crops)

Water Pollution:

Point Source Pollution: specific locations of pollution

-sewage or drain pipes

-leaky gas tanks

-industrial sites

Non-point Source Pollution: pollution from widespread (unknown) areas

-agricultural, residential, or industrial runoff

-atmospheric deposition

Categories of Water Pollution:

-Sewage- ex) wastewater from toilets, household drains

-Pathogens- ex) human and animal wastes (typhoid, cholera)

-Plant nutrients- ex) phosphates, nitrates

-Organic compounds- ex) oil, gasoline, plastics, detergents

-Toxic inorganic compounds- ex) lead, acids

-Sediment- ex) soil, silt

Oil Spill in The Gulf of Mexico

A few nights ago, on Tuesday April 20th, an oil rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana. Two days later, the once burning oil rig has now sunk to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and has left a 5-square-mile trail of spreading oil. Not only is burning oil being released into the atmosphere and leaking into the gulf, but the explosion caused 11 workers to be blown into the gulf of mexico and there is currently a search out looking for them. Out of the 115 people on board at the time of the explosion, 11 are missing, 17 are injured, are the remaining 94 were taken ashore with no apparent injuries. They are determined to find the missing workers as soon as possible because they longer they go unfound, the more likely it is that they will be dead. The oil released into the gulf is estimated to be around 336,000 gallons. Along with that oil, it is estimated that 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel also leaked out.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/22/oil.rig.explosion/index.html?hpt=T1

The Botany of Desire

The book that I read was The Botany of Desire. I personally found this book to be very very interesting, it forced me to think of plants in a different manner. Never before had it occurred to me that plants could be using people the same ways that plants use bees to spread and become more populated. In the book it focuses on four main plants the apple, the tulip, the potato, and the marijuana plant. Each plant represents a desire that humans have the apple represents sweetness, the tulip beauty, marijuana intoxication, and the potato is control. Pollan the author starts off talking about how the apple attracts are desire of sweetness. The book talks about how the apple originated in Kazakhstan and slowly made its way through Europe and then to America. Then it talks about Johnny Appleseed's journey across America spreading the apple tree. After that it talks about all of the uses the apple has had since and how popular it is. The reason the apple is so popular is because of how its natural sweetness is so rare and how it represents that it is healthy and good for humans. The next plant is the tulip. The tulip represents the desire of beauty. The tulip is specifically attractive to humans because of its contrast to its surrounding and its variation. The next plant is marijuana. This represents the human desire for change in consciousness. The plant itself is very adaptable to its situations so humans take advantage of it. They even risk their lives and freedom for it. People are so drawn to the high that they receive from marijuana that it has such a popular market people will risk everything to get their hands on it. The final plant talked about is the potato plant. This plant specifically is very representative of the humans desire to control everything. This is specifically an appropriate thing to control because it is a great sense of food for humans. If people can control food then they can pretty much control their own destiny.
I found this book to be very interesting and I personally really enjoyed how it opened my eyes to a new look at the relationship between humans and plants. I had to skim through certain parts of the book because i felt like some of it was unnecessary details but for the most part I was very interested by the details the story goes into about the plants. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in understanding the relationship between humans and the plants we surround ourselves with.

Typhoid Fever

Typhoid Fever is caused by ingesting liquids or foods that have been contaminated with Salmonella Typhi bacteria (a type a bacteria that only lives in humans). Water that has sewage contaminated with S. Typhi is a main cause of the disease in areas of the world where water doesn't undergo intensive treatment. Symptoms of the disease include a high fever (103-104 degrees), stomach pains, headache and loss of appetite. If someone infected does not receive antibiotics the fever may continue for weeks to months. 20 % of people who contract typhoid fever die from complications of the infection. When traveling in foreign countries, in order to reduce the risk of contracting the fever, avoid risky foods and drinks, and get vaccinnated against the disease. If you drink water when traveling, buy it bottled or boil it before consuming. also, avoid raw vegetables and fruits that cannot be peeled (i.e. lettuce, carrots ect.)

A Super Fun Review of Water Pollution

There are two types of water pollution:

Point Source: Pollution can be traced to a SPECIFIC location

Non-Point Source: Pollution can NOT be traced to a specific location

There are seven categories of water pollution:

1.) Sewage: human and food wastes, soaps, detergents

2.) Pathogens: disease carried in waterways such as typhoid and cholera

3.) Plant Nutrients: phosphates and nitrates from sewage, animal feedlots. Can cause eutrophication and baby blue syndrome

4.) Organic Compounds: oil, gas, plastics from industry, household cleansers, and runoff. Can cause neverous system damage, reproduction disorders

5.) Toxic Inorganic Compounds: lead, arsenic, acids from surface runoff. Can cause skin cancer, nervous system damage

6.) Sediment: soil, silt from land erosion. Can cloud water and reduce photosynthesis

7.) Radioactive materials

Biomagnification

Biomagnification is the process by which a pollutant can become more and more concentrated at each step in the food chain. This normally means that the place where pollutants (such as mercury) are most concentrated are in the biggest fish. So in the picture to the left, the organism that would have the highest concentration of the toxin would be the catfish.

Hermaphrodite Frogs

Since the movie we watched touched on some male frogs becoming hermaphrodites, I thought I would elaborate on the topic:

The popular fertilizer Atrazine has been found to affect the sexual development of male frogs. The most interesting fact about this is, these frogs are being exposed to amounts 30 times lower than the amount deemed safe by the EPA. Like Ms. Meyer said, humans don't have to worry about the fertilizer getting into their water, but it does raise questions such as how other chemicals will affect human bodies.

"If you take five grains of salt, divide this weight by five thousand, that is the

amount of atrazine that causes these abnormalities," added Hayes.

Besides the frightening amount of chemicals that have caused this change, frogs native to the mid-west of the U.S. have found to be undergoing some changes. Althought Hayes said that this information cannot be deemed accurate until it is peer reviewed, he believes that the data is correct.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/04/0416_020416_TVfrog.html