The water quality of the UHS creek is excellent. But even though the UHS has an excellent water quality, it doesn’t mean that all creeks have excellent water quality. Humans can negatively impact water quality in several ways. One of them is by farm runoff. Farmers sue pesticides and fertilizers on their crops. When it rains, these chemicals are washed into nearby rivers. This increases nitrates and phosphates in the water. Algae use these chemicals to thrive. They block sunlight to other living organisms in the creek, which need sunlight in order to survive—like photosynthesis. When the high number of algae dies, bacteria thrive on the dead algae and use all of the oxygen in the water. Because of this, many animals living the creek die. This entire process is known as eutrophication. Another common human source of pollution in creeks is factory runoff. Some factories use water to power machinery or cool machinery down. When this water is put back in the river it contains harmful chemicals. Also, the water is sometimes warmer than the rest of the river and lowers dissolved oxygen in the river and upsets the balance of life in water. (http://www.lenntech.com/rivers-pollution-quality.htm) …show more content…
Engineers, scientists, and/or volunteers place brush, roots, trees and other plants to cover banks. This helps to stop erosion by reversing loose soil. Hard structures like rock or cement are sometimes used too. Some pros is that there is a high chance of success and there is a recovery of streamside habitat. The recovery of streamside habitat occurs because animals use plants as shade and hiding places from predators, the plants affect dissolved oxygen levels, and because herbivores may eat/live in the plants (hollows of trees, fungi and roots). Some cons of this natural solution is loss of existing vegetation and results take time.
Conservation banking was modeled after the U.S. wetland mitigation banking system and the two programs share many similarities. However, unlike the wetland mitigation system, conservation offsets do not have a stated ‘no net loss’ goal, but instead have a species recovery goal. Both conservation and wetlands mitigation banks are privately or publicly owned lands which are protected and managed for its ecological value. By doing this, the bank sponsor generates habitat or wetland or stream credits to sell to developers or transportation departments who need to offset their impacts and comply with the legal requirements for the permitting of development or roadway projects. Both types of banks offer benefits to both the landowner that owns the natural resource and the developer that needs to purchase the credits. The landowner can take portions of their property that may have been considered unusable and turn it into an asset. The developer can streamline their permitting process by purchasing credits instead of implementing a mitigation plan themselves.
One of the tests that we did was called the critter count. In that experiment, we found several rocks in the creek and looked at them closely to discover what types of bugs - critters - were on them. The largest number of stream insects and crustaceans we saw were in group 1 where we saw 49 critters. In the second group, we found 13 critters total. In the third group, we saw 12 critters. If the water was polluted, we would have seen a bigger
This course is found closest to the sea where the river has its mouth. The flat area of land by the riverbanks is known as a floodplain. Sometimes a river can also have an estuary or a delta as its mouth. This is due to the following. Rivers and its landforms are formed and moulded over time chiefly by the processes of erosion, and by the transport and deposition of sedim... ...
Removing vegetation removes the root systems, which help hold soil in place. Running water can now more easily wash soil and rock away, increasing erosion.
Pennsylvania has the most acid rain in the country, so it is not a surprise if the creek was polluted, but it’s not. It could be because of limestone rocks, or rocks that neutralize pollution in waters. Are next experiment was a eutrophication Test. A eutrophication is an enrichment of an ecosystem with chemical nutrients typically compounds containing nitrogen, phosphorus, or both. In this test we took samples of water into clear measurable tubes. There is 3 things we tested with water, Phosphate, nitrate, and dissolved oxygen. Phosphates and nitrates are examples of polyatomic ion. Phosphates and nitrates are found in fertilizers and some detergents. We tested for them and we didn’t get big results, so we know that waters aren’t polluted. There was a lot of dissolved oxygen, which is good, because that is what fish need to
I chose to look up the topic of water pollution. I discovered this topic by going through the themes of the sci-fi books we are currently reading. In the book Feed, by M.T. Anderson, one of the themes was environmental impact on humans so I based it off of that. This topic has always been something that I was curious about because I always wondered how water pollution affected fish. Not only does water pollution affect fish, but it also affects a lot of people. The water pollution of the Mississippi halts people from doing recreational activities like water skiing, tubing, and fishing. Before I started researching this topic, I knew that phosphorus runoff from fields affected the waters health. Some questions that I asked myself during my
About 80% of the State’s surveyed freshwater rivers and streams have good water quality that fully supports aquatic life uses, 17% have fair water quality that partially supports aquatic life uses, and 3% have poor water quality that does not support aquatic life uses. Ten percent of the surveyed rivers do not fully support swimming. The major sources of impairment are agriculture (responsible for 53% of the impaired river miles), urban runoff (responsible for 16%), and construction (responsible for 13%). These sources generate siltation, bacteria, and organic wastes that deplete disssolved opxygen.
Human elements have shaped parts of the landscape with the introduction of a dam, bridges and boats which dredge the water, changing the natural f...
Three Medical Doctors wrote the book, The Water We Drink: Water Quality and Its Effects on Health. Their names are Joshua I. Barzilay, M.D., Winkler G. Weinberg, M.D., and J. William Eley, M.D. In order to put the issue of drinking water quality and its effects on health into perspective, the book is divided into three parts. It first reviews the history of water, disease, and sanitation. The next section deals with health issues. At the conclusion of the book are chapters regarding bottled water and methods of purification. The intent of the book is to educate consumers.
Water pollution is a problem progressing nationwide. Wildlife, and humans, can be significantly impacted by polluted water. Multiple factors can aggravate fragile ecosystems. Pollutants from waste water treatment plants, colossal urban development, and industry runoffs, are a few, among hundreds of causes of pollution. In the documentary “Poisoned Waters”, Hedrick Smith tries to find an explanation for the pollution of the Chesapeake Bay.
We have built dams to prevent floods, store water and create electricity. An example of a damn in Michigan is the Sturgis Dam in Sturgis City. This is an image from the Upper Peninsula Power Company’s website that shows how a dam is used to create energy. These dams are called hydroelectric dams. The dam back up the water and when it is released, its power turns the turbine which then turns a generator to create electricity (“Hydroelectric Power,” (n.d.)). However, humans have also altered the waterways in a negative way through pollution. Because we have so many different uses for water, we end up polluted the water through the toxins that are released. If we do not do something and continue to pollute our waterways, there would be a very negative effect on every life form. Many industries, companies, as well as ordinary citizens in Michigan and all around the world are doing their best to cut down their environmental
Between 300 and 400 million people worldwide live in areas near wetlands and depend on them. Wetlands are mechanisms for treatment of wastewater are extremely efficient because they absorb chemicals and filter pollutants and sediments. Half the world's wetlands have disappeared due to urbanization and industrial development. The only way to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction will be through better management of rivers and wetlands, and the land they drain and drain as well as through increased investment in them.
Agriculture also leads to soil erosion, both through rainfall and wind. This soil can damage the aquatic ecosystems it ends up in, an...
Water quality can be described as the measurement of the condition of water relative to the requirements of humans, animals and plant’s need. When we talk about water quality testing, we are highlighting a critical piece of natural observing for civil engineers in order to create a specific structure or decision. At the point when water quality is poor, it influences almost every single form of life in our planet; going from plants to animals and thereon. Hydrology, in the other hand, is the study of water. It is important to state that hydrology is a critical part for civil engineers to determine and predicting decisions that will affect our biological environment.