Waterway Contamination

Florida springs are one of our state's biggest natural resources; with the state having over 900 springs, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has made groundwater management a major priority, with Governor Rick Scott including 69 million dollars for spring water protection in the 2014 budget.

When you think of problems in the world today, water pollution isn’t one that would normally come up. In fact it is one of the worst problems in the world today. Water pollution, by definition, is the contamination of streams, lakes, underground water, bays, or oceans by any substances harmful to living things. All living things contain water and most need water to survive, so water pollution is a big problem. If severe, the pollution can kill off birds, fish, and any animals that use the water source. In some cases even killing an entire species.

individuals are affected by this issue. The once clean water in these wells is now polluted

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?

Although the amount of pollutants from a single town or construction site may seem insignificant, the combined concentrations of contaminants threaten our lakes, streams and wetlands. When things such as: human and animal waste, decaying plants and animals, discarded litter, or food waste enter surface waters, either dissolved or suspended in stormwater runoff, they can deplete the supply of dissolved oxygen in the water. When dissolved oxygen is reduced below a certain critical level, it can impair or kill aquatic plants and animals (CNYRPDB, 2011).

The polluted water supply that results can become harmful to humans. Aquatic life quickly suffers the effects of watershed pollution.

Given the substantial population growth in Florida over the past half-century and the continued development of land, water conservation is crucial in the Tampa Bay area and throughout Florida.

The water would not be safe to drink or use because it is contaminated leads to sickness of cholera, malaria and diarrhea or even thyroid cancer and can eventually leads to death.

Water pollution impacts how humans and other living organisms live their life. Most common way humans are effected by water pollution is through diseases while drinking the water. Scientists have found over “five hundred different types of diseases” that can affect humans. (Book). These diseases get into the water streams by human and animal wastes. The diseases in the water can often lead to death for humans. Recent research has shown that that each year

The health hazards for humans who come in contact with contaminants from exposure to polluted water can have long term effects on the body causing possible organ failure and death. Contaminants and chemicals such lead and mercury can bring about many minor illnesses ranging from nausea, lung irritation, skin rash, vomiting, and dizziness, to the major diseases that include cancer, liver and kidney damage, disorders of the nervous system, damage to the immune system, birth defects and even death.

Lake Mary is a source with the least nitrate, chlorine, and calcium concentrations, and the second lowest turbidity by 3.7 NTU. The Swimming Area and the Marina are both close in rank for second place as the calcium and chlorine tests of the marina are much lower than the swimming area, but the turbidity and nitrate test favores the swimming area. The swimming area we tested at Lake Powell is ranked second over the marina because of its extremely lower value of turbidity compared to the marina and 2nd lowest value of nitrate concentration. The turbidity test outweighs the three ion tests to de-rank its status as they are the main causes of harm and have a very minute difference in turbidity. The turbidity of the marina is much higher than the swimming area, with almost five times more suspended particle frequency than the swimming area. The cloudiness of the water may contain many more harmful chemicals and contents in the water that can affect human health, regardless of ion levels. The lowest water quality out of all four water sources is the Colorado River. The water in the colorado contains the highest chemical composition of nitrates, calcium, and chloride tests. While turbidity shows its lesser abundance of aquatic life in the area and a lesser chance for disease, the chemicals alone will affect you the most. In conclusion, my ranking for each of the water sources, in terms of overall water quality from highest to lowest is Lake Mary, the Lake Powell Swimming Area, the Lake Powell Marina, and finally the Colorado River

Because of the drought, California’s water treatment departments struggle with high chemical contaminated water. A drought can develop a chemical contamination because it forces families to conserve and reduce their water use, which limits the movement of water. As a result, the chemicals that are implemented to purify faucet and drinking water compounds with other matters: “with fewer people using water, the chlorine and organic matter were allowed to sit and concentrate” (cbs.localnews). Stockton, as an example, decides to purify the delta water with chlorine, but because the “chlorine particles react and form carcinogenic disinfectant byproducts, Stockton got into trouble with the EPA” (wired.com). Therefore, “Stockton found a higher

As our population is growing, when we are taking it for granted to ask the nature for resource we want, environmental protection is becoming more and more important and necessary. Water protection is especially urgent now. We can see the water pollution is becoming worse. In this essay, I am going to talk about the recent situation of the water pollution, the bad effects of it and some ways help to solve the problem as well.

Water pollution is the state of change in the natural physical, chemical, biological, bacteriological and radiological properties of water that causes in an impairment of its inherent (Susan & Joy 1998) .Many investigation were carried out by many researchers and organization over past year to assess the source of pollution and its impacts on water body. Among the source of pollution the major pollution from Nonpoint source (NPS) was urban runoff and it has been established as a major cause of receiving water degradation ( VASSILIOS A. TSIHRINTZIS and RIZWAN TSIHRINTZIS , 1997)) and additionally USEPA stated that urban storm water runoff in the U.S.A. is the fourth most extensive cause of water quality impairment of rivers, and the third most extensive source of water quality impairment of lakes regardless of 1988 report to the Congress, (EPAUS, 1999)

70 % of our Earth surface is covered by water and almost 60% of the human body contain water for nutrient transportation. The unique characteristic of water is water molecule is the only substance in this Earth that exist in all three physical states of matter which are solid, liquid and gas. All human beings need water to survive. The national development over the years cause the rate of water pollution increased. According to Gebre & Rooijen (2009) water pollution can be considered as a sign that derives from economic growth and is a common phenomenon in urbanized cities in developing countries. In general, there are three main issues that related to water pollution which are the causes, effects and the way to decrease this problem.