Contaminated Water

Or in the least contain them. No two oil spills are the same because of the variation in oil types, locations, and weather conditions involved. However, broadly speaking, there are four main methods of response. One way is to leave the oil alone so that it breaks down by natural means. If there is no possibility of the oil polluting coastal regions or marine industries, the best method is to leave it to disperse by natural means. Another way is to contain the spill with booms and collect it from the water surface using skimmer equipment. Next is to use dispersants to break up the oil and speed its natural biodegradation. Dispersants act by reducing the surface tension that stops oil and water from mixing. Small droplets of oil are then formed, which helps promote rapid dilution of the oil by water movements. The final way being discussed is to introduce biological agents to the spill to expedite biodegradation. Most of the components of oil washed up along a shoreline can be broken down by bacteria and other microorganisms into harmless substances such as fatty acids and carbon dioxide. ( "How Do You Clean up an Oil Spill?" How Do You Clean up an Oil Spill? Web. 12 Nov. 2015. ) So, basically, hair has never been tried and will be experimented with as a new absorbing

In the article, they came up with the idea of gelling agents which is a chemical used to solidify any kind of spilled oil, making it easier to collect. Using the motion of the waves and sea, the gelling agent turns the oil into a rubbery material that can be easily removed from the water with nets, vacuuming, suction, devices or skimmers. This method helps clean the water without taking a lot of the water with it since when it solidifies you just pull out the chunks of oil instead of taking a lot water with it like if you were to try the hay or fleece

Hexane is used to extract material (oil and grease) from an acidified aliquot of water. The hexane is evaporated. The remaining residue is defined as oil and grease. This analysis is for relatively non-volatile hydrocarbons, vegetable oils, animal fats, waxes, soaps, greases, and related materials in surface/saline waters and industrial/domestic aqueous

Oil constantly surrounds consumers throughout the world, whether it be in transportation, electricity, and heating. Since consumers use, transportation, electricity, and heating every day, the demand for oil has surged and thus, multiple companies race to provide this dark elixir promptly. As all thoughts concentrate on the speed in which oil becomes transported, reckless mistakes happen, which swiftly unleashes the toxic elixir into the ocean. The oil then resides in the water with death looming over its shoulder; countless birds, mammals, and fish become poisoned by the oil, which proves lethal. However, an antidote, colonies of microscopic bacteria that consume oil can be used to clean the oil pollution. Although oil satisfies humans with

2005). It’s a sticky substance, when it gets on something it acts like a glue. With such a massive concentration of oil, which was about 11 million gallons of oil, it had a huge effect on marine life and plants. Oil has herbicides, which are chemicals that kill plants and when they’re exposed to such a huge amount of it, it can affect a big area of plants on the shoreline and underwater. Oil has lower density than water, it will float when it’s mixed with it. It blocks sunlight and air from reaching the underwater pants. It does not allow plants to photosynthesize. Without photosynthesis, plants aren’t able grow or get oxygen so they will end up dying (Effect of oil spills on aquatic plants 2014). Oil affects the way most marine animals breathe and grow and can leave a sub lethal effect on them without killing them (How does oil impact marine life? 2014). Such a chemical like oil affects the way on how birds and marine life do in cold water like keeping a certain temperature. The study of chemical risks, or toxicology shows that without this ability to maintain a certain temperature they will die from hyperthermia. Oil is like a poison to marine life, and if it doesn’t kill the animal it leaves long lasting effects on them. With the huge dose most of these animals took of the oil, it led to a lot of deaths. This oil spill showed a lot of persistence because even after 30 years, the water was still contaminated with

For instance, Rufe, who is a scientist, states that we have not developed an approach that can clean more than 3 to 5 percent of the spilled oil” (Mufson, 2012). Furthermore, In the Gulf of Mexico, although 205.8 million gallons of oil have been spilled, just 51.8 million gallons have been collected, which equals approximately 25 percent. Moreover, in order to clean the Gulf from the oil spills almost 2 million gallons of toxic dispersants were used. Unfortunately, the toxic dispersants did not truly purify the spilled oil, but fractured them into tinier particles. As a consequence, that may make the oil more harmful for some ocean animals and plants ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report, 2008). However, with the increasing of offshore oil drilling accidents, and with no solution to solve the problem efficiently. The hazardous impact is not going to affect only on animals and plants. It might affect people who depend on the polluted area for food, ecological enrichment, and entertainment ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report,

Many Americans may suffer from drinking contaminated water and not even know it. For example, In Flint Michigan, they were once getting a nice clean water supply from Lake Huron, but they had to pay the city of Detroit. So the city council decided they could cut costs by using the water from the Flint River. The river was known to the local people as filthy and thought that it was a joke switching to the river water. Once they switched their water supply to the river they had noticed the water was brown and looked dirty. After testing they found out the river water was nineteen times more corrosive compared to the Lake Huron water since it so corrosive it eats at the water. With 50% of the water lines in Flint Michigan being lead this also

carried out after construction work. To avoid oil contaminant into water bodies, a system for the proper

“Spilled oil poses serious threats to freshwater and marine environments. It affects surface resources and a wide range of subsurface organisms that are linked in a complex food chain that includes human food resources. Spilled oil can harm the environment in several ways, including the physical damages that directly impact wildlife and their habitats (such as coating birds or mammals with a layer of oil), and the toxicity of the oil itself, which can poison exposed organisms. The severity of an oil spill 's impact depends on a variety of factors, including the physical properties of the oil, whether oils are petroleum-based or non petroleum-based, and the ultimate fate

Researchers have been studying the causes and effects of contaminated water on human life. Water is to be considered a major and important resource on the planet, but it can also be a major health risk towards human life especially on young children. Young children are more vulnerable to diseases because their immune systems are experiencing everything for the first time. These health risks can include diarrhea, dental fluorosis, or toxicant. Diarrhea can be life threatening due to fluid loss. In 1998, diarrhea was estimated to have killed 2.2 million people, most of whom were under 5 years of age (WHO, 2000). It is more common when there is a shortage of clean water for drinking. Dental fluorosis is a defect of the teeth marked by the increased porosity of the enamel. The longer one has dental fluorosis the more their teeth begin to rotten and crumble. The water sources that can be contaminated are ponds, lakes, seas, oceans, or reservoirs. All these sources are what we use for drinking and bathing. But having clean water cannot be achieved everywhere. Africa, especially, has a poor water quality. Africa does not have the resources for clean water like the United States does. Humans need to be careful of where they get their source of drinking water because of the health risk that contaminated water possesses on humans, but mostly young children.

Oil spills also contain dispersed and emulsified hydrocarbon toxins. Oil spills can during any stage from extraction to usage and can have a large impact. For example, the 2010 BP deep-water mining accident released 4.9 billion barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 87 days [16-18]. When oil spills in a water body, a physicochemical changes occur which are referred to as weathering [19-23]. Weathering includes evaporation of volatiles components, dispersion of oil particles, dissolution, microbial degradation, emulsification, spreading, and photo-oxidation [24-26]. Weathering intensifies oil dissolution in seawater, causing severe damage to marine life from toxic components [27-30]. Effective in situ methods are needed to remove dissolved, dispersed and emulsified oil as a result of oil spills.

Commonly, oils spills are caused by a human error, or a faulty piece of equipment. However, there are times when an oil spill occurs but is not the result of a manmade error. “Oil spills into rivers, bays, and the ocean most often are caused by accidents involving tankers, barges, pipelines, refineries, drilling rigs, and storage facilities” (“How Do Oil Spills Happen?”). For example, an oil spill can result from natural disasters such as hurricanes; oil spills may also be caused by deliberate attacks by other countries or those who illegally dump oil (“How Do Oil Spills Happen?”). Once the oil has begun to spill it will begin to infiltrate the source of water in which it has come into contact with. Depending on the type of water the oil will react in different ways. For example, if oil comes in contact with salt water, commonly found in the ocean, the oil will float on top of it (“How Do Oil Spills Happen?”). If

Introduction: After the oil spills, we do not just leave it there to be encompassed around the world. (Add a “transitioning sentence here to the next sentence)To clean up the oil spill, there are many techniques in practice today such as situ burning– where they burn the oil or they may use a process that contains the oil and then vacuum it off the surface of the water. However, all of these processes take a long time to do and by the time before anyone could service the control of the oil spill, the oil has already spread many miles across the ocean making the problem even more difficult to contain. Also, processes like situ burning release toxic fumes into the atmosphere making CO2 emissions in the water start to skyrocket. Fortunately, there is a better, cheaper, and more efficient way of cleaning up oil spills that should be implemented immediately. By using waste hair from humans or animals that come from salons, barbers, groomers, etc., this hair will be weaved into mats and can be used to clean up oil spills. Our hair naturally absorbs oil which is why our hair is always oily all the time. (Explain how our sweat glands react with our hair) Then, once the hair has performed in soaking up the oil, this hair is biodegradable. All you have to do is put some mushrooms on it, let it ferment, and you have nice rich soil full of nutrients for plants to grow. (Really Rishe?

While I went through this project I noticed that I truly do not have a green thumb, the only plants that really changed much were the plants that I killed. My motor oil plants rapidly died, shrinking quickly and drying up. I actually still only have two of the control group plants. My hypothesis was supported, the plants that I administered motor oil to died rapidly while the other plants just kind of continued life. I know that most oil spills usually occur in the ocean or coastal waters, but this project really made me understand how tragic just a little bit of oil could be on vegetation.

This process is very efficient, and it produces great amounts of oil, usually greater than the first phase of recovery. However, the injected water doesn’t mix with the present oil in the reservoir, it only pushes out the free particles and bypasses the other ones that are trapped or attached to the rocks, leaving 50 to 70%of the available oil in the reservoir.