Thermal Pollution

Thermal Pollution

Recently we've allowed our planet to begin overheating. With the introduction of CFC's and Carbon Dioxide into the

atmosphere we've managed to raise the temperature of this vast resource. Even more ignorant is our failure to learn from our

mistakes. Now, through thermal pollution (the introducton of waste heat into water), we've began destroying the womb of all

life-the earth's vast water network.

The Causes:

There are three major causes of thermal pollution.

the use of water as a cooling agent

deforestation of shorelines

soil erosion

The foremost cause being the use of water as a cooling agent in nuclear power plants and other industrial facilities. After the

water has absorbed the excess heat of nuclear rods or other machinery it is returned to the environment (usually a river or lake)

at 9 to 20 degrees warmer a temperature. More stringent regulations are imposeed in the U.S. , but this doesn't help much

because most of the world's nuclear power plants are located in France and other European nations.

Less obvious is how shoreline deforestation and soil erosion contribute to the problem. The soil erosion makes the water

muddy, which in turn increases the light absorbed. Thus, the water temperature is raised. Deforestation of shorelines further

contributes to the problem in two ways. First, it increases soil erosion. Secondly, it increases the amount of light that strikes the

water. Both of which increase the water's temperature.

By increasing the water's temperature we affect many other aspects of the ecosystem. Most importantly, the amount of oxygen

dissolved in the water is decreased. Remember that fact for later. Also, the rates of photosynthesis and plant g...

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..., the water becomes deficient in

oxygen. Anaerobic organisms (those that do not require oxygen to live) then attack

the organic wastes, releasing gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide, which are

harmful to the oxygen-requiring (aerobic) forms of life. The result is a foul-smelling,

waste-filled body of water, a situation that has already occurred in such places as

Lake Erie and the Baltic Sea and is a growing problem in freshwater lakes of Europe

and North America. The process by which a lake or any other body of water changes

from a clean, clear condition--with a relatively low concentration of dissolved nutrients

and a balanced aquatic community--to a nutrient-rich, algae-filled body and thence to

an oxygen-deficient, waste-filled condition is known as accelerated eutrophication.

Bibliography:

some web sites

world book encyc