Lake Pollution Issues

Introduction: The purpose of this research is to determine whether there has been a change in the overall water quality of the Lake Tarpon Basin, and if so, whether the quality has improved or worsened. The variables that will determine whether the quality has changed are: nutrients (phosphates and nitrates) and dissolved oxygen (DO). The expected changes are lower dissolved oxygen levels (from the already low levels), higher nitrogen levels (from the already high nitrogen levels), and the state qualifications still are not met for nutrients and dissolved oxygen (Levy, Flock, Burnes, Myers, Weed, River 2010). This topic relates to environmental management because the changes in water quality would be due to pollution, which relates to the question “How does human activity lead to the pollution of water stores?” The hypothesis that will be tested is that Lake Tarpon’s water quality will have worsened since the last measurements by Levy, Flock, Burnes, Myers, Weed, and Rivera in 2010.

In 1960, Lake Erie was very polluted A lot of the cities such as Toledo, Sandusky, and Port Clinton’s waste was dumped into Lake Erie. Many of the factories that were surrounding the lake erie would dump their waste into the river, which was the cause of a lot of the pollution. Pesticides and chemicals from nearby farms washed off into the river whenever it rained, so the chemicals started to pollute the river. The cities that surround the near by river or lake paid a huge amount of money to get new sewer systems to help keep the water clean. This major source of freshwater is critical to the survival of the entire ecosystem and must be protected at all costs.

Pollution is the presence of dangerous and unwanted substances in the ecosystem that causes imbalance and health hazards to the living. Water pollution is the presence of unwanted substances or particles in water, which causes imbalance in water systems. Lake Huron is among the largest fresh water sources in the States located in North America.

     Keeping the pollution to a minimal isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do. The major water pollutants are chemical, biological, or physical materials that

More than 24 billion gallons of untreated sewage waste and storm water are pumped into the lakes annually. Pollution is increasing as well, due to the cottage development, where people enjoy spending their summers relaxing. For many years, the lake habitats have been affected by pollution and habitat destruction. The market for fish is tremendous; so much so, that we have depleted our fishing resources, and have had to market on invasive species.

In order to have a thriving and healthy society a clean water supply is a very simple but necessary resource. Dating back to the beginning of civilizations the need for clean water was an essential need. The Clean Water Act dates to Franklin D Roosevelt’s administration. In 1972 Congress amended and passed what is now known as the Clean Water Act to protect our precious resource of water. The clean water Act prevented the dumping of pollutants into navigable waters without a permit. Many municipalities and commercial entities had previously dumped sewage and unregulated waste in to our rivers and streams contaminating a great percentage of our drinking water. This wreck less contamination of our waterways not only affected humans but also affected our wildlife including fish and animal’s life that depended on these waters. Any municipality or company that could affect our waters would need to apply for a permit to do so. While the Clean Water Act was a landmark legislation that was supported by both Democrats and Republicans alike over the years has seen expansion of the EPA’s interpretation of the law and has created a controversy in Administrative Law that has many challenges up to the Unites States Supreme Court. (Television, n.d.)

Moving on, there are some issues with the legislation that has been passed in order to conserve the water, especially concerning the Clean Water Act. People are having opposition with the rules of the Clean Water Act. Small business owners feel that this act is restricting the way that they tend to their property. For example, several farmers use pesticides, herbicides, and other fertilizers to keep harmful insects and other animals off of their crops, so they can grow properly. These pesticides eventually end up in our local rivers, lakes, and oceans which are making humans and animals very ill. However, they make money by the crops they sell, and to them, the Clean Water Act has a very negative economic impact on them (Landers). Although

Onondaga Lake has brought many things to this area.One of them being getting polluted as said in Document 1. The sewage was dumped into onondaga creek, whichs happens to lead into the lake. That is one of the factors that has increased the pollution. It was the simplest and closest way to dispose of the waste. There was about 55 years of dumping into the lake. In Document 2 the industry Solvay Process Company quickly took its place in the salt city industry alongside the lake. The company helped pollute the lake because they were a main company that dumped into the lake with their sewage.The

Water is probably the most important resource we as people have. Humans can survive without food for several weeks, but without water we would die in less than a week. On a slightly less dramatic note, millions of liters of water are needed every day worldwide for washing, irrigating crops, and cooling industrial processes, not to mention leisure industries such as swimming pools and water-sports centers. Despite our dependence on water, we use it as a dumping ground for all sorts of waste, and do very little to protect the water supplies we have.

There are many problems in Ohio that require attention for them to be solved. One of our main problems in Ohio right now is the level of algae we have in our lakes and rivers. Having algae in our lakes and rivers is dangerous for our present and future. Having our community drink water with algae in it can get people sick and poisoned. There have been many large algae blooms within these past few years, and having no preparations for the algae in the water caused immense panic in the community. There were stores that limited one case of water per customer, and most stores didn’t even have any water after only a couple hours, while the tap water wasn’t safe for only three days. Given that we didn’t know how long the algae would be in our water, no one was prepared and officials couldn’t tell us exactly when the water would be clean again. Most of the phosphorus that causes the algae to grow comes from our crops, like corn and wheat, being fertilized. This algae causes terror in our community and causes people to react in terrible ways. We need to have a solution figured out so that the terror stops and our families are safe. Having no water is one of the worst situations for so many people to be in when they aren’t prepared for it. This is an issue not only for our community, but for our whole country.

Lake Erie had become extremely polluted and it needs your help! Because in the 1960 people dumped all their trash and pollutants into the lake. So the effect of that is it get blue green algae. People called lake erie the burning lake or the dead lake Lake Erie contained increased levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and the city took steps to improve its sewer system and better monitor water quality and fisheries sports anglers pulled five million walleye from the rejuvenated lake every year.Lake Erie had become polluted due to the due to heavy industry.

There is a new chemical that “decreases male fertility, hormones, and testosterone” (“Declining Male Fertility”). The chemicals are in the shape or form of medicine and pesticides and can affect fish and other species in the water. Some research has shown that these “chemicals make male fish believe they are turning into females which is declining the male fertility in the water. These chemicals are getting in the water through the sewage pipes leading into the water. This not only harms the water, but also the organisms inside the water. Water pollution isn’t just hurting the environment, but also costing Americans money. Instead of drinking water from the faucets, people are buying more expensive types of bottled water. Since most people are buying expensive bottles of water, this is going to cost them more money. “Water pollution is costing the government, facilities, and Americans nearly $4.3 billion” (“Freshwater Pollution Cost $4.3 Billion”). These pollutants can cause harmful effects on us humans.

Don’t you want he plants and animals living in the lake to have a healthy environment so they do not die off? With pollution it causes algae blooms to form. When algae blooms form, they can release toxins that can sicken and kill animals that live in the water. Fish die from having so much pollution. Would you want your environment to be polluted so much that you die? Just because fish are animals does not mean that they get less respect.

Water pollution and pollution in general is a problem that people don’t like to deal with. Water pollution can cause so much damage to people and to the animals that live in that body of water. The laws that we have are doing what they need to but we need to monitor the water more closely because if we don’t catch the pollution when it happens it could have a disastrous impact on the environment. It could kill all of the plant and animal life that lives in the water. Some of the pollutions that occur are very hard to clean up and the Eco-system may never fully recover. To clean something up it takes a lot of hours and a lot of man power to get this mess taken care of. Water pollution could be the cause of some animals being endangered.

As you know Phillips is blessed with many lakes. Our waterways are very important in my town. Some of the negative effects water pollution is having in my area are sterilizing lakes and streams which are commonly used for fishing by locals and tourists who bring in a lot of money for the town. The reasons for water pollution are generally cheap disposal of waste and easy disposal waste. It is common for sewage to be dumped in local lakes. This is done because it’s easy and cheap to just dump the sewage and forget about the effects.