Kalamazoo River: Environmental Analysis

The Effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010 on the Gulf of Mexico and Its Surrounding Communities

The oil and refined products are a mixture of various hydrocarbons and other compounds whose physical and chemical properties vary; during an oil spill, the composite determines the behavior and impact on the environmental elements such as physical, biological, ecosystem, and the economical impact. During this Case Study I will continue to discuss the characteristics of each affected ecosystem including organisms commonly found in the Deepwater Horizon Spill affected area, potential threats based on their relative location to the spill, and the economic impact of damages in these communities.

6) Water quality of the Florida Gulf, in response to the oil spill, has significant implications for marine life, ecosystem function and processes, human health, and local

Due to man’s pollution of environments all of the world, today’s rivers serve as chemical fingerprints, so to speak, for their respective ecosystems. They carry chemical cocktails, and a new study recently analyzed the nuanced differences between substances throughout a watershed to figure out more about the biological processes happening both in the water and on land. This was a Mississippi River watershed comprised of all the headwaters of the Upper Mississippi.

“On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon Macondo oil well drilling platform started the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history, releasing millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico” (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, n.d., para.1). This tragedy didn’t only have a devastating impact on the environment; eleven personnel assigned to the Deepwater Horizon Macondo rig lost their lives, either in the initial oil well explosion or the subsequent fires that resulted. The environmental impact of this disaster may affect the gulf states ecosystems/wildlife (Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and Florida) for generations to come.

The threat to human life by the oil spills in the Gulf was very real. In fact, the recovery efforts in the area focused on desalination plants that supplied water to much of the population. (Hawley p 53) The contamination of Gulf water was a direct threat to the water supply. In addition, much of the 500 kilometers of coastline that were affected by the oil spills consisted of wetlands and mangroves. (Clark p 102) Both of these provide important habitats and are essential to the sustainability of all life.

My hypothesis was that the oil would harm the environment. For example, it will hurt or even kill the animals and plants. The procedures of my environment helped me to see the damage that would occur by oil coming in contact with the clay and moss. It was very difficult to clean-up the oil from the plants and clay. The data from my project helped me learn about the largest oil spill that happened in the United States. I learned about the damage and how hard it was to clean up. I learned that “nature starts to react immediately” for example, some of the oil evaporates into the atmosphere. Also I learned about the sticky black tar that long ago trapped many animals. In 1989, a 987-foot-long oil tanker, the “Exxon Valdez slammed into a reef off the coast of Alaska.” “nearly eleven million gallon of crude oil poured through gashes in the ship’s hull into the clear waters of Prince William Sound.” This was the second largest oil spill in the United States waters. In conclusion oil spills damage our environment many times having a lasting impact. The effects of an oil spill will depend on a variety of factors including, the quantity and type of oil spilled, and how it interacts with the marine environment. Prevailing weather conditions will also influence the oil’s physical characteristics and its behavior. Other key factors include the biological and

Ecologists study environments and one part of environments is water. With water quality comes water quality index. Water quality can be either excellent, good, fair, or poor. They can collect samples and analyze the samples to determine the water quality. One negative way that humans could negatively impact water quality is removal of ecosystems. When we tear down an ecosystem to build structures, we effect the water quality. We make cities and tear down ecosystems with which we interact are directly linked to the well-being of our natural water resources. Another way that we have a negative impact on water quality is urbanization, industrial development, agricultural activities, and mining enterprises. These two link together, the second way we impact the water quality mostly causes the first one. For the second one its where we are growing in population and need more space. Because of this,

The PBS documentary, Poison Waters, is a documentary on the disastrous state of America’s major water bodies that continue to be polluted by state governments and companies. The video is a source used to educate the general public on the dangers of pollution and the disastrous effects pollution will have on the environment. The video exposes a multitude of people and institutions that purposely turn a blind eye to what is going on in the environment. The main reason the state of the environment is still subpar is due of the lack of interest of the people about what’s going on. Due to the lack of interest there are many preventable problems that exist that are contributing to the depletion of our safe and healthy environment.

Although water is one of the most abundant resources on the planet, we are not able to utilize the majority of it. Ninety-eight percent of water on Earth is found in the oceans, while the remaining two percent of water is renewable. Although this may be true, irrecoverable sources, such as glaciers and underground aquifers, trap nearly all renewable water (Cooper, “Global” 2). In a final tally, less than one fourth of one percent of the water on Earth is both renewable and recoverable. Even more frightening is the fact that this supply of water is not only nominal but also polluted. By disregarding the fact that our supply of water is finite, we are further limiting this supply by throwing pollution into the equation. Nevertheless, a dwindling amount of freshwater is not the only concern. Pollution in aquatic environments contributes to shifts in the Earth 's atmosphere—infamously known as climate change. To put this phenomenon into perspective, the temperature of the ocean has gradually increased by 0.11 degrees Celsius per decade from the years 1971 to 2010 (Weeks 12). By polluting Earth 's aquatic environments, future

Water contamination is the defilement of characteristic water bodies by compound, physical, radioactive or pathogenic microbial substances. Unfriendly adjustment of water quality in no time delivers vast scale ailment and deaths, resulting of more than 50 million deaths for every year worldwide. Widespread results of water contamination upon environments incorporate species mortality, biodiversity decrease and loss of biological system administrations. Some consider that, the most dangerous of water pollutants are organisms that impel illness, since their sources may be interpreted as characteristic, however a dominance of these occasions result from human intercession in nature 's turf or human overpopulation phenomena. This

Water stress, an insufficient water supply on a worldwide scale, is “considered by many scientists as one of the biggest challenges facing humanity and struggling ecosystems in a world increasingly affected by climate change.” Even though water conveys the impression of being an interminable provision, only 3% of the Earth’s water is fresh. The preponderance of areas currently suffer from inutile freshwater. For instance, 68% of fresh water is frozen in the form of of icecaps and glaciers. Roughly 30% is groundwater, and the remainder of freshwater is .3%, located on surfaces of lakes, rivers, and swamps. Moreover, avaricious humans are not the only organisms that depend upon freshwater for survival. This leaves less than 1% of water to share with over millions of species. On the Principle of Population, by Thomas Malthus, mentions that the sustainable resource correlation to exponential population growth implies “a strong and constantly operating check on population from the difficulty of subsistence.”

Freshwater ecosystems such as rivers and lakes provide drinking water, food, energy, transportation and even joy. But a staggering amount of fresh water is wasted or spoiled every day. Experts warn that in the next 20 years, half of the world’s population could face water shortages. There are practical solutions to freshwater conservation. These solutions ensure we meet our current needs and conserve this precious resource for

Water is the greatest basic natural resource. For plants and animals alike, water is vital for life, making up as much as 65% of the human body (90% of an infant’s body). It also provide habitat for fish and animals, refuge, food, navigation, electricity and mechanical power, as well as coolant, a waste stream, and prospects for recreation. No body of water, however, can support all of these different usages without suffering some degree of disturbance: under poor management, disturbance may result from even one primary use. (Perry & Vanderklein, 1996). In Canberra, the foremost unsustainable wicked problem that the Sullivans creek catchment is experiencing at the moment is the deteriorating of water quality, which relatively affects the

Although a few key sources of water degradation have been identified, it is still the role of everyone to ensure that the earth’s water supply is protected and preserved. There are many reasons for this: water is a necessity for life, it is also a habitat for many creatures. Also, if water is saved now, it will help to meet future needs, and even money.