Water pollution is an epidemic that countries around the world are dealing with. A quick search across the internet will return hundreds of videos showing massive oil spills covering hundreds of square miles of water and beaches. These videos are shocking reminders of what man has done to the world’s water supply. Though oil slicks are one of the most apparent forms of water pollution, there are many more that are just as toxic but can’t be detected just by sight alone. Water pollution is a growing problem the entire world needs to deal with and is caused by major contributors such as sewage, waste water, and oil waste.
Sewage is one of the leading causes of water pollution nations are dealing with around the world. Developing nation’s populations
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It is estimated that countries around the world generate 5-10 billion tons of industrial waste that is released untreated into rivers, lakes and oceans (Water Pollution: An Introduction, 2006). Factories are not the only contributors of waste water though. People generate thousands of gallons of waste each year just from typical activities around their homes. Detergents used when washing clothes ultimately end up in rivers. Fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals used to treat lawns and farmland all makes its way back into the surrounding water systems. Roadways are another huge source of waste water. Roads are covered in chemicals that get washed back into the water system during each rain. All of these sources add up to the ever growing problem of waste water …show more content…
These accidents often dump thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean killing countless amounts of fish, mammals and birds. Man’s dependence on fossil fuels ensures that these types of accidents will continue. In 2010, BP’s Deep Water Horizon’s safety systems failed, leading to the largest oil spill in history. The oil well gushed oil into the gulf for 87 days before it was finally sealed. The Exxon Valdez spilled an estimated 11 to 38 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, causing massive loss of life to the surrounding marine life. Disasters of these kinds are not the only source of oil pollution. Of the tens of millions of gallons of oil that enter North American oceans each year due to human activities, only 8 percent comes from tanker or pipeline spills (3 Surprising Sources of Oil Pollution in the Ocean, 2014). Not all oil spills are related to human mishaps. Some 40 percent of all oil that makes it into the ocean comes from natural seeps on the ocean floor. The combination of both natural and man-made spills are one of the most devastating forms of water pollution being dealt with
The British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was one of the worst ecological catastrophes in human history, causing vast damage to a fragile and beautiful ecosystem while at the same time calling attention to the deficits in current approaches to energy prospecting, risk management, and cleanup. This analysis of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill will devote attention to the following questions: (a) What kind of technology is in use for deep-sea oil extraction, what are the factors that accounted for the BP catastrophe, what were the statistical components of the spill in terms of volume and concentration, and what was the spatio-temporal scale of the oil spill? (b) What were the environmental (physical, biological, hydrological, and atmospheric) impacts of the oil spill, in addition to the economic and social impacts? (c) What were the scientific, technological, and policy solutions implemented by various actors to pursue the cleanup of coastal areas, wildlife, and wetlands damaged by the oil spill? (d) What is the feasibility of long-term biodiversity conservation measures and the limits of such solutions?
In 2010, there was a huge oil spill near the Gulf of Mexico that we now know as the BP Oil Spill today. The Spill sent about 170 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill killed 11 men aboard the deep-water Horizon. The BP Oil Spill impacted the environment very negatively. There were different types of environmental impact as a result of the Oil Spill, but the two that grabbed my attention the most are the Polluted Air and the Contaminated Food Chain. The first impact that grabbed my attention was the Polluted Air. Because of the Oil Spill, the air around the surroundings neighborhoods was polluted. All the lightest chemicals in the oil that had spill evaporated within hours of the incidence forming air pollution particles. These particles that are in the air poses significant threats to the human health from being inhaled. The chemical found in the particles that was formed is known as Volatile, which has been known to cause respiratory irritation and central nervous system depression (Solomon & Janssen, 2010). The second impact that grabbed my attention was the contamination of the food chain, specifically the food chain of sea animals that lives near the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists found traces of oil in zooplanktons; this could only mean that the sea creature has had contact with the spilled oil. According to the Staff at Houston Business Journal (2012), “Baby fish and shrimp feed on the tiny, drifting zooplankton, and then introduce contamination and pollution to the larger sea creatures in the food web.” With these findings, it isn’t going to take long before the baby fishes become grown and caught by fishermen and before we know it, it’s on our dinner plate. And here we are eating fishes w...
Clean water involves seclusion of lakes and hoping the acid rain does not reach these pure water supplies. Another major source of contaminating clean water are oil spills and how destructively they blanket the shoreline they come in contact with. Although offshore drilling expeditions contribute some to the devastating outcome, oil tankers are the superior enemies toward the water. One estimate is that for every one million tons of petroleum shipped one ton is spilled. The largest super tanker spill was in 1979 when 3.3 million barrels was spilled off the coast of France. The largest in the United States was the Exxon Valdez in the gulf of Alaska. On the night of March 24, 1989 the 987 foot Exxon Valdez ran aground in the gulf of Alaska spilling 260,000 barrels of oil. With the help of the forceful winds, the slick soon covered about 1,100 miles of shoreline, including many islands in the sound.
Water pollution is a very serious problem as it affects one of the most essential ingredients to our very livelihood. The earth is covered in water, in fact about 70% of the Earth is covered in water, only
What are some of the main causes of water pollution in Canada, and what progress has Canada made in dealing with water pollution? Provide some indication of the seriousness of air pollution in Canada.
On April 20, 2010, the Gulf of Mexico experienced a disaster unprecedented in scale and environmental impact. Fifty miles off the coast of Louisiana in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a BP drilling rig suffered an explosion that claimed eleven lives and caused the rig to sink over 5000 ft. to the sea bed floor. This was the beginning of the BP oil spill which spanned over eighty seven days, releasing an approximate 2.3 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Although the flow of oil into the Gulf was contained July 15, 2010, the lasting effects of the oil spill on the environment continue to be devastating and widespread. (Kirkwood 1)
Whether we want to believe it or not water pollution is one of the world’s l...
Most people believe that one man-made natural disaster would teach us to be better, but we have learned that history repeats itself. The Exxon Valdez oil spill (in 1989) and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or BP oil spill, (in 2010) were both devastating oil spills that shocked the nation. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred due to a tanker grounding. The BP oil spill was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. These two oil spills were both disasters and had greater effects in certain categories. In this essay, I will be comparing the cause of both oil spills, the damage/effect of both oil spills, and the cleanup of each oil spill.
In the three months that it took to finally put a stop to the leak, 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the ocean. The spill caused considerable damage to marine and wildlife habitats and the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. The White House energy advisor, Carol Browner, goes as far as to say that the Deepwater oil spill is the “worst environmental disaster the US has faced”. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has had an extremely negative effect on the surrounding wildlife and ecosystem. Oil spreads across the gulf, contaminating any living organism that comes into direct or indirect contact with it.
This oil as it moved through the water killed 300,000 sea birds, 2,600 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, and perhaps millions and millions of fish. Of the 23 studied species hurt by the spill only 2 are said to be completely recovered. The 2 are the Bald Eagle and the River Otter. Some show no recovery at all. Of these that haven’t recovered at all are the Harbor Seal, Harlequin Ducks, Pacific Herring, Cormorants, and even certain whales. If people were familiar with some of the clean up that went on, they would probably remember that cleaning of all those ducks. Well I hate to tell you but it was useless. Some of them died 5 days after they were released.
Renee Cho of state of the planet Blog, a blogs from the Earth Institute says in the opening of his article entitled From Wastewater to Drinking Water, that “Across the globe, 2 out of 10 people do not have access to safe drinking water.” To bring it closer to home, right here, in the U.S, many states and cities are suffering from water shortages and droughts. Robert Glennon in his book Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It reports “Americans use 24 gallons of water each day to flush their toilets—approximately 5.8 billion gallons.” Most of this wastewater will not be reused for drinking but instead cleaned to EPA standards of Drinking and then used for other reasons. Cho reports that most of the wastewater is released into rivers and lakes, and some is reused and recycled for” irrigation, landscaping, industry and toilet flushing.” While it may be good to replenish sensitive ecosystems that sustain wildlife, fish and plants who are left vulnerable after water is diverted for the needs of urban and rural communities. It is also important to limit the amount we take from these sources in the first...
Water Pollution is a current issue that has serious consequences; it progresses everyday in our lakes, oceans, rivers and other bodies of water.
While our population continues to grow, so does the amount of waste we produce. Due to the fact that there are so many humans, a majority of the waste we produce do not get disposed of properly and it eventually ends up contaminating the la...
Untreated sewage can contaminate the environment and cause diseases, such as diarrhea. The sewage is mainly biodegradable and can be treated in water treatment plants, but it is a major problem in countries that are not quite developed yet.
Water pollutants are of different types such as oxygen demanding wastes, disease causing agents, synthetic organic compounds, plant nutrients, inorganic chemicals and minerals, oils, thermal discharge and radioactive wastes. Of all these water pollutants, heavy metals and synthetic organic compounds cause majority of water pollution. Industries like paper and pulp, tanneries, textiles and coke ovens, pha...