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References:

Introduction to Environmental Engineering and


Science Second Edition by Gilbert M. Masters
Principles of Environmental Engineering and
Science by Davis and Masten
Principles of Environmental Science by Cunningham
and Cunningham
RA 9275 Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004
Water Resources
Sources of water that are useful or potentially
useful.
Water is so common and we take it for granted.
After all, it covers nearly three-fourths of the
surface of the earth. And we probably think it is
much like any other liquid, but it is not. In fact,
nearly every physical and chemical property of
water is unusual when compared with other
liquids, and these differences are essential to
life as we know it.
Water Resources
The hydrologic cycle constantly redistributes
water

Renewable water supplies are resources that


are replenished regularly e.g., surface waters
and shallow groundwater

Agriculture is the greatest water user


Water Resources
Industry uses about one-fourth of water
withdrawals (taken from a water body)

Domestic or household water use accounts for


only about 6% of world water use

Water shortages prevent agriculture, industry


and other developments
Distribution of Earths Water
What is Water Pollution?
Is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes,
rivers, oceans, and groundwater.

Occurs when pollutants are discharged directly


or indirectly into water bodies without adequate
treatment to remove harmful compounds.
What is Water Pollution?
Affects plants and organisms living in these
bodies of water.

In almost all cases the effect is damaging not


only to individual species and populations, but
also to the natural biological communities.
Point Sources
refers to contaminants that enter a waterway
from a single, identifiable, and specific source or
location, such as a pipe, sewer outfalls, or ditch

are discrete and identifiable and easy to monitor


and regulate
Point Sources
possible to divert effluent from the waste
streams of these sources and treat it before it
enters the environment

Examples of sources in this category include


discharges from a sewage treatment plant, a
factory, a storm drain, power plants,
underground coal mines and oil wells
Non-point Sources
refers to diffuse contamination that does not
originate from a single discrete source

are diffuse, having no specific location where


they discharge into a particular body of water

is often the cumulative effect of small amounts


of contaminants gathered from a large area.
Non-point Sources
Much harder to monitor and regulate than point
sources because their origins are hard to
identify

Include runoff from farm fields, feedlots, golf


courses, lawns and gardens, construction sites,
logging areas, roads, street (episodes of
rainfalls may flush gasoline, lead, oil, rubber
residues, etc. off city streets)
Non-point Sources
may also come from atmospheric deposition of
contaminants carried by air currents and
precipitated into water sheds or directly into
surface waters

A common example is the leaching out of


nitrogen compounds from fertilized agriculture
lands.
Water Pollutants
Water that has been withdrawn, used for some
purpose, and then returned will be polluted in one
way or another.
Agricultural return water contains pesticides,
fertilizers, and salts; municipal return water
carries human sewage; power plants discharge
water that is elevated in temperature; industry
contributes a wide range of chemical pollutants
and organic wastes.
Oxygen-demanding Wastes
Are substances that oxidize the receiving body of
water.
As bacteria decompose these wastes, they utilize
oxygen dissolved in the water, which reduces the
remaining amount of DO (dissolved oxygen). As DO
drops, fish and other aquatic life are threatened and,
in the extreme case, killed.
Are usually biodegradable organic substances
contained in municipal wastewaters or in effluents
from certain industries, such as food processing and
paper production.
Nutrients
Are chemicals that are essential to the growth of
living things.
In terms of water quality, they are considered as
pollutants when their concentrations are
sufficient to allow excessive growth of aquatic
plants, particularly algae.
excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous
and other nutrients disturb the food web causing
some organisms to proliferate at the expense of
others
Nutrients
When nutrients stimulate the growth of algae,
the attractiveness of the body of the water for
recreational uses, as a drinking water supply,
and as a viable habitat for other living things can
be adversely affected.
Major sources of nutrients are phosphorous-
based detergents, food processing wastes and
animal and human excrement
Pathogens
Are disease causing organisms that grow and
multiply within the host.

The resulting growth of microorganisms in a


host is called an infection.

Examples of pathogens associated with water


include bacteria, viruses, protozoa, helminths or
parasitic worms.
Pathogens
When discharged to surface waters, make water
unfit for drinking (non-potable)

Increase toxicity levels in shellfish


Suspended Solids
are organic and inorganic particles and includes
eroded soil carried by water

Organic suspended solids exert oxygen demand

Sediments -solids that settle at the bottom of


water bodies
Colloidal particles those that do not settle
readily
Suspended Solids
Organic and inorganic suspended solids
Effects: cause turbidity, decrease light
penetration, destroy habitat for many
aquatic (benthic) organisms
Salts
When the concentration is increased
natural population of plants and animals is
threatened.
water is no longer useful for water public
supplies or irrigation.
results to crop damage or soil poisoning.
Heavy Metals
It is often used to refer to metals with specific gravity
greater than about 4 or 5. in terms of their
environmental impacts, the most important heavy
metals are mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic.

They may be inhaled, as is often the case with lead,


for example, and they may be ingested. How well
they are absorbed in the body depends somewhat on
the particular metal in question and the particular
form that exists in.
Toxic Metals and Organic
Compounds
incompatible with the natural ecosystem and many
human users

Agricultural runoff contains pesticides and


herbicides

Urban runoff contains zinc from tire wear


Toxic Metals and Organic
Compounds
Industrial wastewaters contain either toxic
metals or toxic organic/inorganic substances

Oil pollution from marine transport

Discarded plastics polystyrene foam


containers or polyethylene packing materials

These toxic compounds are concentrated in the


food web making fish and shellfish unsafe for
human consumption
Endocrine-Disrupting
Chemicals or EDCs
include polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly
used pesticides such as atrazine and other
triazine chemicals and the thalates
EDCs can mimic estrogens, androgens, or
thyroid hormones, or their antagonists
EDCs interfere with the regulation of
reproductive and developmental processes in
mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish
Endocrine-Disrupting
Chemicals or EDCs
EDCs can alter the normal physiological
functions of the endocrine system and can
affect then synthesis of hormones in the body

EDCs need close monitoring and surveillance


studies for characterization and evaluation of
potential environmental effects
Pesticides
Is used to cover a range of chemicals that kill
organisms that humans consider undesirable.
Pesticide use raises a number of environmental
concerns. Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and
95% of herbicides reach a destination other than
their target species, including non-target
species, air, water and soil.
Pesticides
Pesticide drift occurs when pesticides
suspended in the air as particles are
carried by wind to other areas, potentially
contaminating them. Pesticides are one
of the causes of water pollution and
some pesticides are persistent organic
pollutants and contribute to soil
contamination
Arsenic
naturally occurring element in the environment
e.g. in ground water as a result of minerals
dissolving naturally from weathered rocks and
soils (from iron oxides and sulfide minerals)
Arsenic
Arsenic poisoning have health effects ranging
from circulatory disorders, gastrointestinal
upsets, diabetes, peripheral neuropathies and
skin lesions

Arsenic contaminated drinking water may result


to skin cancer, internal cancers of liver, bladder,
kidney and lungs
Thermal Pollution(Heat)
A large steam-electric power plant requires an
enormous amount of cooling water. A typical nuclear
plant for example warms about 150,000 m3/hr of
cooling water by 10C as it passes through the
plants condenser. If that heat is released into a local
river or lake, the resulting rise in temperature can
adversely affect life in the vicinity of the thermal
plume.
As water temperature increases, two factors
combine to make it more difficult for aquatic life to
get sufficient oxygen from the water.
Thermal Pollution(Heat)
Effluent from cooling systems of power plants and
other industries

May have both positive and negative effects on the


receiving water depending on the requirement of
organisms

High temperatures cause abnormalities in development


of some aquatic species, increase the rate of oxygen
depletion in areas where oxygen demanding wastes are
present, hence deterioration of water quality
Volatile Organic Compounds
Are among the most commonly found contaminants
in groundwater.
They are often used as solvents in industrial
processes, and a number of them are either known
or suspected carcinogens or mutagens.
Their volatility means they are not often found in
concentrations above in surface waters, but in
groundwater their concentrations can be hundreds
or thousands of times higher.
Water Pollution Control
Cheapest and most effective way to reduce
pollution is to avoid producing it or releasing it
in the first place
Eliminating lead from gasoline
Careful handling of oil and petroleum products
during usage or transport and distribution
Banning of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)
and PCBs (Persistent chlorinated biphenyls)
Water Pollution Control
Industries can reduce pollution by
recycling or reclaiming materials that
otherwise might be discarded in the
waste stream
Waste Water Treatment

Primary Treatment removal of solids from waste


streams with screens and settling tanks
Waste Water Treatment
Secondary Treatment removal of pathogens and
organics
Aeration of effluent with sprayers or in an aeration tank
Stand in sewage lagoons where sunlight, algae and air
process waste more cheaply
Effluent from secondary treatment process is usually
disinfected with chlorine, UV light, or ozone to kill
harmful bacteria before release into nearby waterway
Waste Water Treatment
Tertiary Treatment removal of dissolved metals
and nutrients especially nitrates and phosphates
from secondary effluent
Use of chemicals to bind and precipitate nutrients
Remediation
cleaning up contaminated sites

environmental engineering solutions

Containment methods addition of chemicals to


precipitate, immobilize or solidify contaminants

Physical methods stripping off the solvents and other


volatile organic compounds from solution by aeration and
then burned in an incinerator (result: air pollution)
Bio-remediation
use of living organisms to clean up contaminated
water
Some plants take up heavy metals and organic
contaminants
Duckweed covering eutrophic ponds can remove
large amounts of organic nutrients from water
(duckweeds can be harvested and used as feed, fuel
or fertilizer)
Philippine Environmental Legislation Related to
Water Pollution

REPUBLIC ACT 9275 : CLEAN WATER ACT


OF 2004

Read pertinent provisions of this Act.

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