Activated Carbon is Used in Wastewater Treatments

As decades continued to pass by the wetlands change. "People have begun to realize that wetlands are valuable and productive ecosystems that fulfill an essential function for both humans and wildlife. Due to their unique characteristics, wetlands can support a wide diversity of plants, mammals, reptiles, birds and fish. They also control floodwaters and protect us from storms and hurricanes. Wetlands also improve water quality by filtering, cleaning and storing water. Lastly, many people rely on wetlands for their livelihood, as they are important centers for hunting, fishing and recreation." Referring to this from "Wetlands and Habitat Loss", we now see how wetlands are valuable and helpful to the ecosystem. The wetlands are known for our water source. Many people depend on the Everglades for a water source. We also use the Everglades for activities. These activities include fishing, recreation, and

Wetlands provide fish and wildlife habitat. It supplies food water, along with areas that can be used for nesting or resting. Wetlands also act as a aquifer recharge and discharge area. They are able to recharge groundwater or excess groundwater is able to discharge into the wetland. Wetlands act as flood storage when rainfall and snowmelt leave an excess of water around and no place to go.

If the government designates certain areas within a community to be "wetlands," and therefore illegal to build upon, what happens to land not classified as "wetlands" within the community?

Based on research completed by University of Minnesota soil scientists, the state mandates that every wetland should be protected by a 50-foot buffer zone. The City of Lilliput, a rural town located 30 miles north of St. Cloud, Minnesota, increased the buffer zone to150 feet in1990 within their municipality. The rationale behind Lilliput’s increase was because the town is zoned for predominantly rural uses, i.e. farming and cattle ranching. Due to the animal wasted and farmers’ use of pesticides on their crops, the Town Council felt that increasing the buffer around surrounding wetlands would better protect it from these sources of contamination than would the state minimum of 50

Ducks Unlimited tries to revert these watersheds back to their natural levels by draining the wetlands that have extremely high levels of contaminants in the water. They then clean the soil in the habitat and find a way to decrease the extra contaminates from entering the watershed. Next they will pump healthy water back into the wetlands and install buffer strips that act like a filter that will catch the extra nutrients and silt.

Wetlands improve water quality by helping with nearby flood control. The bottomland hardwoods areas contain large amount of nutrient rich soil which is capable of soaking up excess water from floods or runoff. These types of wetlands also contain marshes or swamps where the water is gathered to create a new environment for other

A major function of wetlands is that they naturally clean the table waters. With the use of microorganisms it is possible to naturally clean the water supply much better than many water purification plants. A benefit of purifying water with the use of wetlands is that not only does it save the taxpayers money but it also saves the environment from the pollution that a water purification plant would produce. Another function of wetlands is its storage ability. In the event of a large storm or heavy rain wetlands can store the floodwaters so that they do not over run the near by area. To reduce the effects of flooding wetlands are able to store "stormwater and gradually returning it to surface flow, reducing the effects of erosion by stabilizing soils, and dampening the effects of wave action". M. Dennison et.al. 1993. Wetlands also provide a feeding ground and habitat to many fish, waterfowl and other wildlife. Many endangered birds nest and breed on the shores of wetlands and these habitats are crucial for their survival. The destruction of wetlands has become a major problem, especially in California.

One of the most important things that wetlands can do is improve our water quality. With the increasing usage of pesticides in farming and other pollutants that get spread around, most of these chemicals end up in our water supply from runoff. When a lake has wetlands at or near its borders, it tends to be cleaner and more protected from pollutants. Groundwater also benefits from wetlands, as the plants use the extra nitrogen from the runoff. In Iowa, nitrogen is the most common pollutant in out drinking water (Iowa Wetlands). In one study, it was found that “it

Although the amount of pollutants from a single town or construction site may seem insignificant, the combined concentrations of contaminants threaten our lakes, streams and wetlands. When things such as: human and animal waste, decaying plants and animals, discarded litter, or food waste enter surface waters, either dissolved or suspended in stormwater runoff, they can deplete the supply of dissolved oxygen in the water. When dissolved oxygen is reduced below a certain critical level, it can impair or kill aquatic plants and animals (CNYRPDB, 2011).

The Duck Creek watershed in Scott County, IA is currently facing high levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria contamination. This pollution has put the watershed on the impaired waters list for the state of Iowa. The impaired waters list is a comprehensive list of every waterway in a state that has a contamination problem according to EPA regulations (insert source for impaired waters explanation & EPA regulations). Much of the pollution that can be found in the Duck Creek watershed is coming from nonpoint source (NPS) pollution. Nonpoint source pollution significantly contributes to the deterioration of water quality due to the difficulty in identifying, assessing and controlling the sources of this type of pollution (citation Wang). This pollution is caused by runoff moving over the land. It picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, streams, rivers, wetlands and even our underground sources of drinking water (citation SCSWCD). Examples of nonpoint sources in the watershed could include failing septic systems, livestock access to streams, pastures full of manure, fertilizers applied to crops, miscellaneous urban sources such as gasoline or oil, pet waste, and wildlife (citation SCSWCD). Another source of NPS pollution is that conventional urban storm

The wetlands are valuable in many ways. They provide fish for commercial fishing and eating. The wetlands also act as a sponge for floodwater during storms and heavy rains. Also retaining its water during dry spells as a flash flood preventer.

In conclusion, many water treatment plants use different natural sources to get their water to the plant. For instance, the mountains, rivers, and the oceans. Once the water is brought to the plant, it goes through a water treatment process to purify the water. The most common steps in water treatment are coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and last disinfection. Once the water has being treated and clean, it goes to storage and later distribute to the public by pipes underground. The primary contaminants found in the sources of Flagstaff’s drinking water are Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, Pesticides and Herbicides, which may come from agriculture or

REMIEDIATING AGRICULTURAL WATER CONTAMINATION Remediating Agricultural Water Contamination: Problem, Solution, and Barriers Paper Problem Concerns about water pollution are generally focused towards sources that are highly visible and chemically oriented. However, the greatest causes of water contamination and quantity abuse in the United States come from agricultural production (United States Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2012a), which is defined as a nonpoint source that pollutes with nutrients. In 2011, nine

The second step of water treatment process is aeration. At the aerator, raw water is mixed with air. The aeration process helps to provide oxygen to the raw water which is needed for the oxidation process of dissolved iron and manganese in order for it to precipitate and therefore enables its removal through filtration (SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd., n.d.). Wormleaton and Tsang (2000) stated that for water treatment process and also natural streams, it is essential to maintain a high amount of dissolved oxygen. Aeration also provides the escape of dissolved gases, such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide to reduce the corrosiveness of water, thus controls the tastes and odors of the water (Shun, 2007). Groundwater with high dissolved carbon dioxide levels or high concentrations of iron and manganese commonly require aeration as well as water drawn from reservoirs that is low in dissolved oxygen.

I decided to test the ecological status of the wetland by gathering samples from the wetland and testing it for various aspects in the water and the plants that are found within the area.