Water Pollution

Giving full credit to restricting the Mississippi River as the culprit for loss of wetlands is not accurate. The booming oil and gas exploration of the 1970’s and 1980’s merits a name on the marquee as well. The pipelines and canals used to transport the resources to the outside world placed a great deal of stress on the fragile wetlands. Erosion from the barges in and out of the marshes as well as the salt water allowed into the fresh water, providing a precarious habitat for fresh water species – flora and fauna alike. Plants provide root systems to hold soil in place. Fish and fowl provide an economy for the area. Enter

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.

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.

Recently, the heap of pollution caused a massive drainage in the Everglades’ water quality. Tramontana and Johnson (2003) reported that “much of Florida’s early development was based upon draining and removing excess water from wetlands… and it was thought if drained, the land could be put to better use” (Human Development section, para. 2). Pollution destroys the cleanliness of the wetland leading to a decrease in restoration. Millions amount of cash produced to repair water quality leads to the consequences of continuous flow of freshwater.

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

Smelly, insect infested, and disease ridden are many words that people have used to describe the attributes of wetlands in our country. Until recently it was thought that wetlands served very little use as a part of our ecosystem. However, as the developers began to drain and destroy these wetlands in order to build housing developments and commercial buildings environmental scientists emerged from the woodwork. These environmental scientists found the value and absolute necessity for wetlands and brought it to the attention of politicians. The politicians are the only ones who could slow the destruction of wetlands with their policies.

In his presentation, Cal Dueck of the Parker Wetlands conservation committee, argued that the wetlands should not be destroyed, because the ecosystem contributes to the overall health of the city and its inhabitants. His first point, to support his view, is the fact that the land serves as a natural water management system. The wetlands help regulate floods by absorbing excess water. If the land is developed, and covered in concrete, flooding may become a bigger problem in the city, and thus decrease the overall health of the city. In addition to flood control, the wetlands also help purify the ground water. The vegetation in the wetlands, per Ducks Unlimited Canada, “traps sediment and pollutants, and wetlands microorganisms break down the contaminants.” This means, that the people of Winnipeg, would have their rights to better ground water taken from them, if the land gets developed. Cal therefore argues, that when wetlands are destroyed, the well being of the cities inhabitants is also destroyed. This argument is in line with the arguments of William Blackstone, as presented by Joseph Desjardins in his book “Environmental Ethics: An introduction to environmental philosophy”. Blackstone argues that there is a need to recognize a new human right, which is the “right to a livable environment” . Furthermore, Blackstone also argues the right to a livable

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

This paper will inform the reader why the Delaware River was polluted and how it is being solved. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is trying to clean up all rivers and lakes to make sure that every waterway in America is healthy and not harmful to humans or animals. With the coordination of the EPA, and the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority (DELCORA) are trying to fix the problems that have occurred over years that humans have been around the Delaware River. The use of a Combined Sewer Overflow Program also known as a CSO is very important for the protection of drinking water in major cities including New York City and Philadelphia. The toxic chemical levels are at an all-time high making this one of the dirtiest rivers in North America. This paper will talk about what results were received from the multiple tests that were taken from multiple sites along the Delaware River and its tributaries. Also, what solutions are being used to solve the problem that is at hand to make sure the public has knowledge of the toxic levels in the water and to make sure that everyone including the animals nearby have clean and safe drinking water?

These wetlands support a wide variety of life; it has the ability to control flood waters and protect them from those dangers. The loss of wetlands would put humans at risk, because wetlands serve as a natural buffer-zone against storms and hurricanes, slowing down storms and reducing their force before they move inward. They act as a filter by cleaning and restoring the quality of the water that is used daily in Florida. “One out of every three Floridians (7 million people) rely on the Everglades for their water supply” (The Everglades: Quick facts). Florida’s Everglades also provide a source of livelihood, as there are specific centers for hunting, fishing, and recreation.

Storm water is a great danger to the environment because it does not receive any treatment before entering waterways. A storm can overload the system, causing it to reach its max capacity. The water treatment plant is then forced to let the overflowing, untreated, water dump into the river. This leads to an almost opaque water, like that found in the Puget Sound. There is an average of 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage water entering larger bodies of water each year in the United States (Barnett). The rain that falls on surfaces drains into bodies of water through storm water collection systems, usually, without treatment. There is a strong relationship between concrete thickness and imperviousness in residential areas, leading researchers to believe that roads create impervious surfaces. When rain down the streets and rooftops, it absorbs all the harmful materials from those surfaces and flows into the major bays and the Puget Sound. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the remodeling of the aging water system would cost between $300 billion to $1 trillion over the next 20 years (Barnett).

In this research paper I will be talking about the Connecticut River, the common sewer overflow and sewer discharge that goes into the river, I will be focusing on the pollutants that are in the CT river, I will also focus on the high density towns and the affect it has on them, then I will talk about the ecological impacts and economical aspects. The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region, it spans through five states Maine (Small portions), Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, discharging into the Long island sound. The river serves more than two million people throughout New England. The main issue with the river is the untreated storm water and sewer waste that is being discharged into it which causes many harmful effects not only to the many different species that call the CT River its home, but to the people that live around the CT River. Combined sewer overflows (CSOs), the discharging of combined sewer systems directly into surface waters upon capacity overload, are a large source of pollution of U.S. waterways. A report from the Environment and Connecticut Research and policy center has said that industrial facilities have discharged 224,029 pounds of toxic waste into the Connecticut waterways in the year of 2012. There are many government agencies such as the EPA and committees like the Connecticut River Cleanup Committee that are raising funds and awareness in order to help clean up the Connecticut River

The Banksia Street Wetland is an offline wetland, meaning that water from a stormwater channel located close to the wetland, flows into the body of the wetland. After the water has made its way through the wetland, it flows back into the channel to be eventually transported to Lake Burley Griffin. (ACT Government, 2015). The wetland plays an essential part in the quality of Canberra’s water, as it can “intercept sediment and pollutants like nitrogen, ammonia, phosphorous and even heavy metals that would otherwise end up waterways.” (McCarthy, 2015). This helps

Beginning in the late 1990’s the city realized the importance of stormwater management and initiated the necessary steps to identify and minimalize the adverse effects of inadequate drainage infrastructure. Although the city had adopted stormwater regulations for new development, older developments and roadways in the city were not regulated prior to 1984 and many of those drainage systems