Heavy Metal Contamination of the Earth and Water Essay

Arsenic is well known for its dangerous toxic features it brings to humans and the environment. But, it was not until the late 1980’s did scientists and public health officials realized that even at low doses of ingestion, arsenic is very dangerous and can cause serious health effects (Bolt, 2013). Till this day arsenic continues to be a huge public health issue, not only in parts of the United States but in developing countries worldwide (Bolt, 2013). The main trend that researchers have been focusing on is the amount of arsenic that is contaminating drinking water. Arsenic has been known to be a health issue in water for many years, but it was not until the 1980’s and later that the government and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started to really crack down on monitoring it (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry [ATSDR] , 2010). Before 2001 the legal amount of arsenic that was allowed in drinking water was 50 parts per billion (ppb), but since then public health officials and the government realized that this amount of arsenic in the water was making people sick (ATSDR, 2010). So on January 22, 2001, the EPA adopted a new standard of 10 ppb of arsenic is drinking water (ATSDR, 2010). This level has been tested to be the safest allowable amount of arsenic in drinking water to be ingested by humans. To this day parts of the world and about 2% of the United States are still having issues with keeping the

Bioremediators need to be able to grow in order to remediate the soil of pollutants. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the presence of Stropharia rugoso-annulata in the soil will support and accelerate the growth of ryegrass in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. If the growth of the ryegrass is accelerated and supported, the combination of the two bioremediators could potentially accelerate the degradation of PAHs in the soil. Techniques such as soil washing, soil flushing, vitrification, etc., exist to remediate contaminated soil. Although, these techniques are effective, they also disturb the natural environment to some degree. Bioremediation is often accomplished in situ resulting in minimal environmental disturbance. This study is being performed because healthy soil is a limited resource that needs to be preserved and replenished. The state of soil can impact the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems, therefore, it’s important to be able to monitor and control the pollutants in

Water contamination in America has been caused by numerous things that we do on the everyday Bases before we rest around evening time. For instance Driving, Placing oil in the auto , tossing unfilled jug, manufacturing plants that work regular in morning the significant reason for contamination to america soil, there are 43 thousand of plant in america that work ordinary and evenings.Without sound water for drinking, cooking, angling, and cultivating, humankind would die. Clean water is additionally fundamental for recreational interests, for example, swimming, drifting, and water skiing. However, when Congress started surveying national water quality amid the mid 1970s, it found that a great part of the nation's groundwater and surface water

Households can recycle and reduce their amount of waste by taking certain biodegradable materials and start a compost bin. It is here that the common wastes such as food scraps, coffee grounds or anything that has a high organic matter can be put together and let nature take its course. “Using composts in agriculture to minimize organic wastes and to reduce the addition of fertilizers and fungicides in crop production is highly effective”. (Stan, Virsta, Dusa, Glavan, 2009 pg 1) So the compost that is produced can be used to help fertilize the ground in which crops even flowers are grown cutting down on pesticides and fertilizers. The organic component, in materials, can be used in compost recycling to help to promote a healthy soil. By having a healthier soil this provides a healthier plant. This

Trust is constructed through a consistency that be counted on, when a person or a people are vulnerable and not taken advantage of. The exact opposite of this is what happens all over the country and most recently in the news, Flint Michigan. The water and food system in the United States is mostly a trust system between the people and the government that provides it. This trust was compromised from a group that had no knowledge that they were vulnerable and being taken advantage of. This lead to problems with the lead levels in the living and drinking water rose to toxic levels; then knowingly swept under the rug. This happens all too often from people that we have put our trust in to keep our water safe. It seems, as if they don’t understand the troubles that that misplaced trust can lead to down the road. Looking at the causes, the effects of lead contamination; we can analyze the physical and psychological state that specifically Flint, and many other communities were left in.

What effect did each of the contaminants have on the water in the experiment? Which contaminant seemed to have the most potent effect on the water?

Industry is the leading cause of hexavalent chromium contamination, and the United States is the world leader in hexavalent chromium generation. The major producers among all industry are the electroplating companies which is located in Garfield New Jersey and many other sites (EPA 1998; ATSDR 2000). As numerous as the electroplating companies are, there are still many industries where hexavalent chromium is produced in a big quantities. Wood treatment, leather tanning, chemical production companies, paint pigment production companies, and of course, mining operations can all generate various amounts of hexavalent chromium.

All around the world, countries are fighting to keep their drinking water clean. Whether it’s streams, rivers, or lakes, countries have taken great measures to maintain high quality drinking water for both human consumption and animal consumption. Countries must first understand the sources of the polltion, then determine the best methods to eliminate the pollution. Clean drinking water is a valuable resource and a the key to human survival. Plants and animals also depend on water for their growth, so all water must be kept clean. The major contributors to water pollution can be classified in three categories, industrial, agricultural and municipal.

Napoleon Bonaparte once said “an army marches on its stomach.” I offer in addition, that an army hop/skips on its bladder (relies on delivery). Whether entering the body or leaving it, the world waits for only one thing, Water. Everyone requires water for their survival, so fortunately, as of 2004, the World Health Organization reported that for the first time in human history, 50% of households in the world have access to running water. Unfortunately, the quality of that water has been slipping for decades. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 90% of the world’s water has become contaminated in some way. So in addition to pissing oneself, people who rely on public water supplies need to worry about contracting serious diseases as well as exposing themselves to dangerous chemicals. Let me dive in to these problems by first looking at the sources of the water and pollution. Next I’ll talk about waterborne disease, and finally the effects of chemical contamination on the world’s water supply.

One of the major technologies being developed for the mining industry are water treatment methods. It was estimated that the demand for water treatment equipment in the mining industry would rise up to $3.6 billion by 2016 (Balch, 2015). Some of these water treatment methods include in situ fixation (removing contaminated substances on site), excavation and extraction, and a new technique called the Virtual Curtain (trapping metal contaminants and releasing the waste water into rain water) (Lambert, Leven, Green, & R.M., 2006) (CSIRO, 2016). Phytoextraction is one method being used for soil recovery and is being tested on a small scale. It is the process of planting grasses and other small types of vegetation to stabilize the surrounding soil. It has been found to be effective, but can take up to 60 months to take full effect (Lambert, Leven, Green, & R.M.,

Since the dawn of the industrial revolution in the 19th century, both food production and the world’s population have experienced dramatic increases. The last five years have seen particularly significant benchmarks, with the world population reaching 7 billion in 2011. Looking to the future, experts have estimated that the population is likely to surpass 9 billion by 2050. As a result, the same amount of land (30% of the earth’s surface) will be expected to feed increasing numbers of people. The area will have to be used more intensively leading to soil deployment. For the above reasons fertilizers, will be in great

The capability of metal complexes to supply plant available micronutrients under different soil types are related to stability and solubility of metal-HS complexes. So that, the increases in plant growth under expermintal conditions caused by an improvement plant nutrients uptake (Garcia-Mina, 2004).

The inorganic metals that often plague brownfields include arsenic, cadmium, zinc, nickel and copper. However, the bioavailability of other problematic metals such as lead and chromium are very low and require more advanced resources and strategies in order to be extracted. In addition to these toxic metals, it has been suggested that phytoextraction techniques can be used to remove radionuclides that exist in sites with mixed wastes. Radionuclide refers to any element that emits radiation and that can cause cancer through drinking water that it contaminates. In addition to the environmental and health concerns that brownfields pose, there are also many sociological impacts associated with them.

The human population is projected to reach 10 billion by 2050. This growth will demand almost twice of currently globally produced agricultural products. However, long periods of intensive agriculture have resulted in soil nutrient depletion, salinity accumulation, and acidification of agricultural soils, resulting in an overall reduction of the soil’s ability to support a growing population (Godfray et al., 2010; Smith et al., 2013, Tillman et al 2011, Ray et al 2013). Despite the fact that soil is one of the mankind’s most essential and threatened resources, supporting food production, wildlife biodiversity, and playing a central role in biogeochemical cycling (Carpenter et al., 2009). Currently, one of the main practices applied to

Treatments of heavy metal contaminants from effluent discharged by industries are more complex than designing the treatment process. Bacopa Monnieri is one of the wetland plant used for the removal of heavy metal, lead (Pb) from the aquatic medium. Effluent was collected from the Lead acid battery waste treatment plant. It is standardized to 5, 10 and 15ppm to observe the uptake by plant. Effluent was categorized as Direct Effluent (DE), DE+Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and DE+Cow Dung Manure (CDM), where EDTA and CDM were used as a chelating agent to influence in accumulation rate and degradation rate. Concentration of Pb in soil, plant (root and shoots), and effluent had been done to calculate the degradation of Pb, Translocation factor (TF) and Bioconcentration factor (BCF). This experiment shows tremendous differences in wetland plant unlike the researches done in past. Results of the experiment were discussed below.