Dionisio, Charisse Elaine V. August 13, 2015

CE-3/2011150701 Homework No. 2

Groundwater and Surface Water Contamination

Groundwater and surface water contamination occurs when man-made products such as gasoline, oil, road salts and chemicals get into the groundwater and cause it to become unsafe and unfit for human use.

Materials from the land's surface can move through the soil and end up in the groundwater. For example, pesticides and fertilizers can find their way into groundwater supplies over time. Road salt, toxic substances from mining sites, and used motor oil also may seep into groundwater. In addition, it is possible for untreated waste from septic tanks and toxic chemicals from underground storage tanks and leaky landfills to contaminate groundwater.

Potential Sources of Groundwater and Surface Water Contamination

Storage Tanks

May contain gasoline, oil, chemicals, or other types of liquids and they can either be above or below ground. There are estimated to be over 10 million storage tanks buried in the United States and over time the tanks can corrode, crack and develop leaks. If the contaminants leak out and get into the groundwater, serious contamination can occur.

Septic Systems

Onsite wastewater disposal systems used by homes, offices or other buildings that are not connected to a city sewer system. Septic systems are designed to slowly drain away human waste underground at a slow, harmless rate. An improperly designed, located, constructed, or maintained septic system can leak bacteria, viruses, household chemicals, and other contaminants into the groundwater causing serious problems.

Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste

Hazardous waste sites can lead to groundwater contamination if there are barrels or other containers laying around that are full of hazardous materials. If there is a leak, these contaminants can eventually make their way down through the soil and into the groundwater.

Landfills

Landfills are the places that our garbage is taken to be buried. Landfills are supposed to have a protective bottom layer to prevent contaminants from getting into the water. However, if there is no layer or it is cracked, contaminants from the landfill (car battery acid, paint, household cleaners, etc.) can make their way down into the groundwater.

Chemicals and Road Salts

The widespread use of chemicals and road salts is another source of potential groundwater contamination. Chemicals include products used on lawns and farm fields to kill weeds and insects and to fertilize plants, and other products used in homes and businesses. When it rains, these chemicals can seep into the ground and eventually into the water. Road salts are used in the wintertime to put melt ice on roads to keep cars from sliding around. When the ice melts, the salt gets washed off the roads and eventually ends up in the water.

Atmospheric Contaminants

Since groundwater is part of the hydrologic cycle, contaminants in other parts of the cycle, such as the atmosphere or bodies of surface water, can eventually be transferred into our groundwater supplies.

Effects of Contaminated Groundwater and Surface Water

Drinking contaminated groundwater can have serious health effects. Diseases such as hepatitis and dysentery may be caused by contamination from septic tank waste. Poisoning may be caused by toxins that have leached into well water supplies. Wildlife can also be harmed by contaminated groundwater. Other long term effects such as certain types of cancer may also result from exposure to polluted water.

Water-borne diseases are infectious diseases spread primarily through contaminated water. Though these diseases are spread either directly or through flies or filth, water is the chief medium for spread of these diseases and hence they are termed as water-borne diseases.

Most intestinal (enteric) diseases are infectious and are transmitted through faecal waste. Pathogens – which include virus, bacteria, protozoa, and parasitic worms – are disease-producing agents found in the faeces of infected persons. These diseases are more prevalent in areas with poor sanitary conditions. These pathogens travel through water sources and interfuses directly through persons handling food and water. Since these diseases are highly infectious, extreme care and hygiene should be maintained by people looking after an infected patient. Hepatitis, cholera, dysentery, and typhoid are the more common water-borne diseases that affect large populations in the tropical regions.

A large number of chemicals that either exist naturally in the land or are added due to human activity dissolve in the water, thereby contaminating it and leading to various diseases.

Renovation

The most effective approach for cleaning up contaminated surface water is to prevent further discharges from contaminated sources and enable natural biological, chemical, and physical processes to break down the existing contamination. In some surface water bodies where natural processes are not enough to break down the contaminants, other cleanup approaches such as mixing and aeration may be required to further promote natural cleanup. A significant source of surface water contamination may be contaminated sediments. Contaminated sediments generally contain persistent contaminants and are difficult to clean up. Three main approaches to cleaning up contaminated sediments are: 1) remove them by dredging; 2) place a cover over them to prevent contact with the surface water; or 3) allow natural processes to cover them or break them down over time. For contamination that does not mix with surface water and floats on the surface, such as that encountered during an oil spill, contamination can be removed by skimming it from the surface using a "boom."

Water-borne epidemics and health hazards in the aquatic environment are mainly due to improper management of water resources. Proper management of water resources has become the need of the hour as this would ultimately lead to a cleaner and healthier environment.

In order to prevent the spread of water-borne infectious diseases, people should take adequate precautions. The city water supply should be properly checked and necessary steps taken to disinfect it. Water pipes should be regularly checked for leaks and cracks. At home, the water should be boiled, filtered, or other methods and necessary steps taken to ensure that it is free from infection.

Cases

Local

In 2007, a broad study was carried out by Greenpeace to investigate the quality of various surface and ground water systems in four countries, including the Philippines. Water from the systems investigated is known to be abstracted for distribution as drinking water, generally following purification treatments that include chlorination. Treated waters are supplied either via piped distribution networks or as bottled water. However, many of these river and canal systems also receive inputs of potentially contaminated wastewaters either from point sources and/or diffuse run-off from agricultural land. These and other sources

may also be contributing to contamination of groundwater aquifers in their vicinity, some of which are used untreated as drinking water.

For most of the areas examined, the primary identified point sources to the surface waters were wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) that receive and treat wastewaters from numerous industrial facilities located on adjacent industrial estates (IE). The facilities on each industrial estate are involved in a wide range of activities, though for all estates investigated in this study, a large proportion of enterprises are electronic/electrical industries.

In two areas in the Philippines (Metro Manila and Bulacan) there are no major wastewater point sources, though there are likely to be some inputs from domestic and agricultural sources. A summary of the water systems in the Philippines included in the study is given in the table below.

AreaRiver/canal system

Major wastewater point source

Water abstracted for distribution to

Other drinking waters analyzed

Metro Manila

Angat-La Mesa River system

Domestic and agricultural sources

Manila, Caloocan City, Quezon City

Groundwater (direct /treated & bottled)

Laguna-Pasig River Basin

San Juan River

Carmelray Industrial Park WWTP

- Groundwater

Spring water

Laguna-Pasig River Basin

Diezmo and San Cristobel Rivers

Light Industry’s Science Park WWTP

- Groundwater (direct /treated)

Bulacan Angat River / Bustos Dam

Domestic and agricultural sources

Angat water district,

Tibagan water district

Groundwater

Table i: Water systems in the Philippines included in the study, with significant point sources of wastewaters from industrial/municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), as well as surface and groundwater sources abstracted for drinking water purposes

Samples of various types of waters were collected and analyzed for a range of metals and organic chemical contaminants. These included surface waters at or near locations where water is abstracted for use by water supply utilities, as well as at locations of major wastewater inputs. Drinking water sourced from certain surface water systems and supplied via piped networks was also collected, as well as local groundwater that is used for drinking, either directly or following treatment and supply as bottled water.

Two of the surface water systems investigated in the Philippines receive inputs of treated industrial wastewater, though in neither case is water abstracted from the rivers for use as drinking water. However, some groundwater is abstracted in the vicinity of each site.

At one of these sites, the Light Industry’s Science Park (LISP) 1 in Laguna, river water collected immediately downstream from wastewater discharges contained a range of chemical contaminants, particularly organic chemicals. These included a range of chlorinated solvents, as well as potentially toxic and irritating acrylate esters, the oestrogenic chemical nonylphenol and the phthalate esters DEHP and DnDP, both of which are classified in the European Union as toxic to the human reproduction system. Some of these same chlorinated solvents (di-, tri- and tetrachloroethene) were also found in water drawn from a groundwater source nearby, despite the fact that this water was sampled after it had already been treated and distributed through a piped network. One of two other groundwater samples collected in the vicinity of LISP 1 contained copper at a level slightly elevated above background, though far below national drinking water limits. The source of elevated copper is not clear.

For the other industrial estate in the Laguna area, the Carmelray Industrial Park II, very few industrial chemicals were found in wastewater discharged from the WWTP. No organic chemicals were found in the two groundwater samples from this area. However, one sample from a well within the Industrial Park contained zinc at a level far higher than typical background levels, though significantly below the national maximum drinking water level. The exact source of zinc to this groundwater is not clear, though once again the possibility that activities within the estate may be causing localized contamination of the groundwater needs further investigation.

For the other two water systems that do not receive wastewater discharges from large WWTPs, namely Metro Manila and Bulacan, no significant chemical contamination was identified at locations where water is known to be abstracted for use as raw water for drinking water supply. Nevertheless, volatile organic chemicals and high levels of metals were found in some samples of tap water sourced from these systems, and also in samples of groundwater from the two areas. In Metro Manila, for example, one of three tap water samples contained not only trihalomethanes derived as byproducts of chlorine disinfection, but also

traces of the chlorinated solvents trichloroethene and dichloropropene which are likely to have arisen from industrial sources. None of these samples contained high levels of metals. In the Bulacan area, one of two tap water samples contained trihalomethanes as well as a relatively high level of zinc (approximately half the national maximum drinking water level). These chemicals were not found in the surface waters used to supply raw water for treatment for drinking water supplies.

A groundwater sample from close to the Metro Manila surface water system also contained trihalomethanes and an elevated zinc level, which might possibly be related to the nearby Payatas landfill. Bottled water purchased in Metro Manila contained higher than usual levels of zinc and, once again, traces of the more unusual contaminant bis(chlorophenyl)sulphone. However, no chemical contamination was found in the groundwater sample from the Bulacan area.

In short, in many of the cases in which contaminants have been found in treated tap or bottled water, the river systems from which the raw water is drawn for these supplies do not appear to be the source of these contaminants. Instead, these may arise from materials used in the piping network (e.g. zinc, and possibly bis(chlorophenyl)sulphone) and water treatment processes employed (trihalomenthanes). At some locations, however, the results do indicate localized contamination of groundwater aquifers, especially where sources are located within or close to industrial estates. Further and more detailed investigations would be necessary if the sources of this contamination are to be determined.

Abroad

A bucket of water drawn from a polluted well. India. Photo by Blacksmith Institute.

Discolored polluted water. India. Photo by Blacksmith Institute.

Polluted ground water especially affects poor communities without the resources to use other sources.  Bhiwadi, India. Photo by Blacksmith Institute.

Global Warming / Climate Change

Our Earth is warming. Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years. Small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather.

The evidence is clear. Rising global temperatures have been accompanied by changes in weather and climate.

Many places have seen changes in rainfall, resulting in more floods, droughts, or intense rain, as well as more frequent and severe heat waves. The planet's oceans and glaciers have also experienced some big changes - oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, ice caps are melting, and sea levels are rising. As these and other changes become more pronounced in the coming decades, they will likely present challenges to our society and our environment.

Causes

Over the past century, human activities have released large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The majority of greenhouse gases come from burning fossil fuels to produce energy, although deforestation, industrial processes, and some agricultural practices also emit gases into the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases act like a blanket around Earth, trapping energy in the atmosphere and causing it to warm. This phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect and is natural and necessary to support life on Earth. However, the buildup of greenhouse gases can change Earth's climate and result in dangerous effects to human health and welfare and to ecosystems.

The choices we make today will affect the amount of greenhouse gases we put in the atmosphere in the near future and for years to come.

Effects

Our lives are connected to the climate. Human societies have adapted to the relatively stable climate we have enjoyed since the last ice age which ended several thousand years ago. A warming climate will bring changes that can affect our water supplies, agriculture, power and transportation systems, the natural environment, and even our own health and safety.

Some changes to the climate are unavoidable. Carbon dioxide can stay in the atmosphere for nearly a century, so Earth will continue to warm in the coming decades. The warmer it gets, the greater the risk for more severe changes to the climate and Earth's system. Although it's difficult to predict the exact impacts of climate change, what's clear is that the climate we are accustomed to is no longer a reliable guide for what to expect in the future.

We can reduce the risks we will face from climate change. By making choices that reduce greenhouse gas pollution, and preparing for the changes that are already underway, we can reduce risks from climate change. Our decisions today will shape the world our children and grandchildren will live in.

We can make a difference

You can take action. You can take steps at home, on the road, and in your office to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the risks associated with climate change. Many of these steps can save you money; some, such as walking or biking to work can even improve your health! You can also get involved on a local or state level to support energy efficiency, clean energy programs, or other climate programs.

La Nina and El Nino

Sea surface temperatures play a major role in global weather and nowhere is that more evident then in El Nino and La Nina patterns. These type of patterns often lead to weather extremes, some of which can be seen in our own backyards. Sea surface temperatures indicate that we'll have a La Nina this winter, which could mean a season of weather extremes across parts of the United States.

What is La Nina and El Nino?

La Nina is described as cooler-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, near the equator off the west coast of South America. El Nino is like La Nina's brother, the totally opposite and attention grabbing brother. This is described as warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the same area of the Pacific Ocean.

What Causes La Nina and El Nino?

Simply put, easterly trade winds over the equatorial Pacific Ocean are partly to blame for both phenomenon. For La Nina, the easterly trade winds strengthen. This blows more warm water west, and allows cold water below the ocean's surface to push towards the top near the South American coast to replace the warm water.

In an El Nino, the opposite occurs. The easterly trade winds become weaker, and can even reverse direction. The warm Pacific Ocean becomes nearly stationary or pushes eastward and gains heat. Besides affecting weather, El Nino has also been known to hurt fishing off the coast of Peru.

What Does All of This Mean for the Weather?

We're already seeing affects of the building La Nina. A typical La Nina winter will feature drier and milder conditions across the South, much like what we're seeing in the current Southeast drought and elevated fire conditions. The Pacific Northwest will become wetter than normal, while the Northeast will have cold periods, but these are usually short lived.

In an El Nino winter, we see what we had last season. The southern branch of the jet stream gets displaced across the Deep south, leading to wetter conditions from Los Angeles to the Southeast. The Northeast typically has stormy winters, which in the case of last season led to "Snowmageddon." Finally the Northwest is typically milder.

In other parts of world, La Nina and El Nino can affect Asia's Monsoon's and rainfall from Australia to Peru.

How Long Will This All Last?

Typically a La Nina lasts 9 to 12 months, while an El Nino will last roughly a year. As for this year's La Nina, forecast models are indicating slight strengthening through October and then a steady period in November and December. All of the models have the La Nina weakening throughout the spring and early summer.

Advanced Water Treatment

The purification processes

Currently, recycled water is used in the county for irrigation and industrial purposes. The new purification center will purify water to such levels that it will be suitable for a variety of future uses, including the potential future expansion of drinking water supplies.

1. MicrofiltrationThe recycled water first goes through microfiltration, an initial filtration process where water is pumped through tubes filled with tiny membranes. Each membrane is made up of hollow fibers, perforated with holes 1/300th the width of a human hair! Solids, bacteria, protozoa, and some viruses are removed from the water as it is drawn through the tubes.

2. Reverse OsmosisThe water then goes through reverse osmosis where it is forced under high pressure through membranes with holes so small that a water molecule is almost the only substance that can pass through. As a result, constituents such as salts, viruses, and most contaminants of emerging concern (e.g. pharmaceuticals, personal care products and pesticides) cannot pass through the membranes and are left behind. This is the same process that is used by some bottled water companies, baby food manufacturers and for kidney dialysis.

3. Ultraviolet LightNow the water is very clean but as a further safety back-up, the water is sent through ultraviolet light to break down any remaining trace organic compounds. Ultraviolet light is a powerful disinfection process that creates water of a near-distilled quality.