In a modern world, everyday things are used with much thought, like ice. People usually relate ice with the cubes they put in their drinks, and more notably the melting of the polar ice caps. But ice causes big problems in a large scale across the United States. Americans are faced with the problem of road ice, a cause of major road accidents in icy cities. A simple solution to this is road salt, but not many people know of its devastating effects to the environment, such as destroyed plant life, increased sodium chloride in watersheds, decreased water circulation in bodies of water, and much more (Stromberg, 2014). The purpose of this project is to research, find, and test an alternative solution to road salt by manipulating the pH of different …show more content…
When it dissolves, it gets split into sodium and chloride ions that are carried by runoffs and deposited into surface water and ground water, thus increasing the amount of sodium and chloride found (Stromberg, 2014). Godwin, Hafner, and Buff (2003) analyzed how much sodium and chloride there was in the Mohawk River in New York due to road salt. They found that concentrations of sodium increased by 130% and concentrations of chloride increased by 243% over a 50 year period because of the use of road salt while the surrounding area became more developed. Chloride levels are a greater concern since it is transported more easily than sodium, and because of this, 40% of the United States urban streams have chloride levels that are higher than safety guidelines for aquatic life, mainly because of road salt (Stromberg, 2014). Road salt pollution becomes a bigger issue for the organisms in the surrounding area and their environment. Chloride concentrations above 800 ppm (parts per million) are harmful to most aquatic freshwater animals because it interferes with their process of regulating salt levels in their bodies, thus decreasing the survival rates of animals, such as amphibians. The road salt also attracts mammals such as deer to roads, causing a major safety risk for both humans and animals (Stromberg, …show more content…
In the modern world, many fossil fuels are being burned, thus causing a prodigious amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) to be released into the air and water, like the ocean. Even though there are plants that take in the CO2 and release oxygen, the glut of carbon dioxide is too large for plants to take it all in at once, thus CO2 becomes a problem. Carbon dioxide’s acidity can decrease the ocean’s pH levels dramatically in the future. That said, CO2 is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, thus causing ice to melt. With this information, you can deduce how pH affects ice. Since Carbon dioxide is acidic, and CO2 is causing ice to melt, it can be concluded that the more acidic water is, or any liquid substance, for that matter, the faster it melts and changes state of matter into water (“Ocean Chemistry,” n.d.). Acidity still has negative effects, such as precluding fish from receiving oxygen and nutrients, but these only happen when there are extreme amounts of acidity like acid rain. The acid levels used in this project are minuscule, so they do not have as big of an impact as road
This is an experimental lab that tested if drinking water passes the United States maximum phosphate standard. The results of this lab can help the American who drink the water know if there are too much phosphate in the water. Each group made a Potassium phosphate dilution from a stock solution. The concentration of the solution that needed to made affected the amount of Potassium phosphate that was diluted. To create a calibration curve, each group used the different concentrated Potassium phosphate solutions in their test.
Common salt is necessary in everyday lives because it carries vital substances. It also has many uses, but is found to be used in food only one percent of the time (McGrath and Travers, 1999). It is used to clear ice and snow off of roads, during the production of chlorine, in livestock feeding, to preserve foods, and to improve the taste of some foods. (Aasen, et Al 1999).
Bibliography Laws, Edward A. Aquatic Pollution. 2nd edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1993. Pg. 301-305. Adams, Aurthur G. The Hudson Through the Years. New Jersey: Lind Publications, 1983. ------------------------. The Hudson: A Guide to the River. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981. Barnthouse, Lawrence W. Science, Law, and the Hudson River WWW.SCENICHUDSON.ORG WWW.HUDSONRIVER.ORG WWW.RIVERKEEPER.ORG
... the residual effects of pollution left behind by both mining in the Chesapeake Bay area around rivers, such as the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, that feed into the Chesapeake Bay. Lutz also had quoted John Dawes, now the executive director of the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, on the damage done to streams and to the aquatic life in the streams. Dawes told Lutz "'we're looking at 4,600 miles of dead streams in Pennsylvania'" in reference to the vitality in polluted regions. This can occur in several ways but the two generally accepted causes are the toxicity levels in the water are too high to support life and the contaminated water is slowly killing off members of the food chains for the aquatic life. In either theory, the death of fish and their food chain caused by AMD is impacting the billion dollar fishing industry that calls Chesapeake Bay home.
Raven, J., Caldeira, K., Elderfield, H., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Liss, P., Riebesell, U., ... & Watson, A. (2005). Ocean acidification due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Royal Society
As swans drift with the current on a secluded lake in upper Canada they think not of the water they are in but of dreams of the past and wants for the future. On the other hand, seals off the coast of Northern California fear for their lives every day of humans exploiting their natural habitat. Many things can endanger water born animals, and most all of these come directly from humans. The pollutants of water come from many sources both close and far away from the water body itself. Wastes of humans are the major cause of pollution in the water, such materials include sewage, chemicals among other notable items. First, the composition water: water is odorless, tasteless and a transparent liquid. Though in large quantities water appears to have a bluish tint, it maintains the transparent tendency when observed in smaller quantities. Water covers approximately seventy percent of the Earth's surface in the solid and liquid form. Pollutants can be carried over a great distance by combining with evaporating moisture, forming clouds and then the wind taking the clouds to the larger body of water. This process is called acid rain and it is a major source of water pollution. Acid rain has been a problem since the Industrial Revolution, and has kept growing ever since. With acid rain moving over to a fresh water body, the plants and animals could experience pollution that they never had to deal with before and they could possibly die for the sudden change without them having time to adapt, if this is possible.
Ocean acidity will spoil marine ecosystems if it remains persistent. Preserving sustainable fishing industries will become unmanageable if the carbon dioxide absorbed by the world’s oceans is not considerably abridged.
Salt is made up of sodium and chlorine and it is a natural occurrence on our planet, it can be found and harvested mainly from the seas, oceans or salt lakes. However salt can also be mined from within the earth from dried up underground seas, normally it’s only used as road salt (maldonsalt). The product salt has multiple functions, Salt is used to preserve foods and also to flavor foods, salt can also be used as a stabilizer in water and rock salt is used to melt ice during the winter (Freeman, 2007).
High carbon monoxide, ocean heating, glacial melt, acid rain, ocean acidification, and coral bleaching are just a small number of the adverse effects that we as humans are having on the planet. The earth’s waters are an excellent source to find out the adverse effects of climate change. The surface of the earth is covered in more water than land and knowing how our waters are affected is a key element to understanding the true dangers of climate change.
...als in addition it is very salty. Therefore, this can be very harmful for drinking water sources and to the environment as well if it was not properly controlled by officials (USGS).
It’s no mystery that having clean water is a fundamental element to living in a prosperous society and one of the few things essential for human survival. Water not only sustains our health, but is required in making everything from electronics to clothes. Clean water may seem as ordinary as putting on your shoes, but it’s a daily party of our life that’s being threatened.
This paper shows that acid rain is a reality. It is destroying our freshwater ecosystems and must be stopped in order to save them. If the problem is not fixed soon the aquatic ecosystems will be destroyed.
In another case study relating to amphibians, scientists exposed species tolerant Bufo americanus (American toad) and the not tolerant Rana sylvatica (wood frog) to pond sediments in laboratory microcosms. Microcosms are experimental ecosystems created to simulate and predict the behavior of natural ecosystems under controlled conditions. The ecosystems had elevated sediment metal levels and chloride water concentrations. The reason for this experiment was to look at issues in rapidly urbanizing areas and the potential impact of stormwater runoff to natural bodies of water. Roof tops, roads, and parking lots are just a few examples of the typical urban and suburban areas that collect a wide range of pollutants such as metals, salts, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Councell et al., 2004; Davis et al., 2001; Marsalek, 2003; Pitt et al., 1995; Van Metre and Mahler, 2003). The stormwater ponds are a common feature in stormwater management plans, and are designed to detain (detention ponds) or retain (retention ponds) stormwater runoff, allowing pollutants like metals, sediments, and nutrients to be removed from the runoff and reducing the impact of flooding on natural bodies of water (Novotny, 1995; US Environmental Protection Agency, 1991). Since stormwater ponds often have plants and vegetation, they are important in that they often provide habitat for
As a nation, we are facing many different problems with our environment. Two of the most important focuses are conserving our water supply and protecting the ozone layer. These two ...
Richmond, E., (2010). Pollution of streams by garbage and trash. Water encyclopedia. Retrieved: November 10, 2010, from: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Pollution-of-Streams-by-Garbage-and-Trash.html