Polluted Water in Virginia

Water pollution has been an issue around the world due to increases in human activities.  The New River in Radford Virginia is one of these infected waterways.  It was listed as one of the most contaminated waterways in the U.S.  An article written on virginiaplaces’ webpage tells what started this pollution, “due to nitrate released by the Radford Army Ammunition Plant.”  The plant was built to get ready to supply combat in WWII without consideration of its effect on the environment.

In order to help fix the issues, the plant had reduced the release of nitrates.  Another chemical affecting the river and the environment is Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the fish tissue.  This chemical mixture is explained best by the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, “Polychlorinated biphenyls are mixtures of up to 209 individual chlorinated compounds (known as congeners). There are no known natural sources of PCBs. PCBs are either oily liquids or solids that are colorless to light yellow. Some PCBs can exist as a vapor in air. PCBs have no known smell or taste. Many commercial PCB mixtures are known in the U.S. by the trade name Aroclor.”

The government has placed allowable limits for PCBs to be in food.  The article that discusses these chemicals further explains that the discharge, spill or accidental release of 1 or more pounds requires a report to the EPA.  Health advisories have been put out to warn people of the fish and wildlife consumption.  A lot of these came from various factories along the river.  This chemical is no longer produced as of 1977 in the U.S. but does still exist in products produced prior to 1977.

This chemical is a non-biodegradable compound that will take a long period of time to get rid of.  Fish and aquatic life pick up these chemicals in the things they eat which in turn contaminate the animal.  This makes the chemical more potent and more dangerous for humans who consume the animals.  Without a primary, secondary or even a tertiary treatment the only way to prevent further contamination of this chemical is strict disposal in authorized areas.

A second area suffering from water pollution is the Shenandoah River.  One company is being blamed for a majority of the pollution in this river.  S.I.L. Clean Water, LLC has been recorded exceeding the limitations on chemical discharge.  They were releasing excessive amounts of Nitrogen and Phosphorous which compromise the environment it is being released into.  The state attorney general is trying to get the courts to place injunctions or penalties on the company to force them to comply with the laws.

In an article by the channel 3 news in Virginia the yearly violations are listed, “in 2004 the company exceeded the limit for nitrogen and total phosphorous discharges by 200 percent, in 2005 it was over by 800 percent and in 2006 it is over more than 100 percent.”  The article further explains that this chemical dumping is the cause of the high amount of fish kills in the river.  They also state that the river is not a safe environment for fish.

The chemical plant may not be using the correct treatments, or there is a problem with the one they are using.  The company has released a statement that they are working on addressing concerns over the waste water discharges.  A major clean-up is being attempted to fix this issue and make it safe to use this water for crop irrigation and fish consumption.

A river watch group has been placed in charge of monitoring pollution along the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers.  The actions they take are described on a water keeper webpage, “We notify government oversight agencies, contact the polluter, and if needed, take legal action if other actions do not result in improvements.”  They have developed an app to make it easier to report issues along the river.

Plastic in the Oceans

There are many concerns for plastic being dumped in our oceans.  One reason for these concerns is the fact that it is non-biodegradable.  There are no ways to filter plastic through a treatment system to make it safe to dispose of it into the ocean.  It is one of the major killers of wildlife in general.  Animals do not know that it is dangerous, so they end up eating it.  Some of the plastic remains on the surface and blocks the sunlight from reaching the areas that depend on it.

Certain sea algae and coral reefs depend on the sunlight to reach them.  The blocking of sunlight hinders the growth and survival of the sea plant life.  Without the plant life, other aquatic life dies off or moves to other areas to find food and shelter.  One major issue is known as the “great pacific garbage patch”.  These are areas that naturally collect the ocean debris mostly consisting of plastic waste.

These garbage patches are explained in an article by the office of response and restoration.  “A combination of oceanic and atmospheric forces causes trash, free-floating sea life (for example, algae, plankton, and seaweed), and a variety of other things to collect in concentrations in certain parts of the ocean.”  The animals that eat the sea life end up consuming the plastic as well.  This causes internal injuries, suffocation and eventually death.

This issue is something that happens in each of the oceans on the planet.  People do not consider the consequences of not recycling or reusing the plastic they dispose of.  This affect is measured in an article by Charles Moore, a journalist for the New York Times.  He states in his article, “We suspect that more animals are killed by vagrant plastic waste than by even climate change — a hypothesis that needs to be seriously tested.”  He further tells how there are many solutions but none of them are being tried.

Another reason for concern is the quickly dying supply of food sources from the ocean.  The amount of plastic as discussed before is slowly killing off various sea life.  The chain of losses goes all the way down to affecting humans.  Plastic blocks out the sunlight which in turn kills the algae and coral reefs.  Loss of the algae and coral causes various sea creatures to lose homes and food sources.  This causes predators to lose their food sources and eventually die off or move away.  The lack of sea life takes away from fishermen being able to catch supplies for people to eat.

The other issue with the dying food sources is contamination.  The smaller creature eats the plastic, ending up with failure in various bodily functions.  This causes the animal to fall ill.  When consumed by its predators, they end up sick from the bad meat of the prey.  This contaminates the predator that is caught by the fisherman.  This bad meat is then provided to the market and when it gets cooked it makes the consumer sick.

This effect was reported in a study that was mentioned on the nature news webpage,  “a study in June from fish ecologists Oona Lönnstedt and Peter Eklöv, in which they exposed perch larvae to ‘environmentally relevant’ concentrations of microplastics. The larvae ate the plastics — they even seemed to prefer them to actual food — which made them grow more slowly and fail to respond to the odor of predators.”  They also found that this slower reaction to predators that only 34% of the contaminated larvae survived in a tank with them.

The disregard for consequences has made such a big problem and major concern that it may not be fixable.  It is expected that there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish by the year 2050.  People have the right to be concerned about this problem.  It will not be fixed until someone starts using the ideas that have been presented.  Without action these concerns will only grow.

Importance of Safe Drinking Water

When a population moves into an area, it needs to have access to the necessities of survival.  One necessity is safe drinking water.  A reason safe drinking water is important to a population is the protection from disease and illness.  Without safe drinking water a population is exposed to the chance of catching, and spreading disease.  The effects of polluted water are exposed by the national academy of science, “Some 1.8 million people die every year of diarrheal diseases like cholera. Tens of millions of others are seriously sickened by a host of water-related ailments—many of which are easily preventable.”

These diseases and ailments are brought on by the pathogens within the water source.  The pathogens could have been introduced to the water by various means.  Without safe drinking water a population has a harder time surviving and has a higher chance of dying off.  Water-borne pathogens are more deadly than warfare.  Another cause for this issue is the lack of water treatment facilities, especially in developing countries.

A study by the Population Resource Center, reported by Live Science showed a startling fact, “2.2 million infants and children die each year from diarrhea, caused largely by contaminated water and food. And, according to their estimates, polluted water in Africa and India causes 1.4 million deaths each year as a result of diarrheal diseases such as cholera and dysentery.”  In the cities lacking water treatment, these numbers are brought on by the dumping of untreated sewage in the same water they draw from.

Another reason safe drinking water is needed for a population is the body’s need for water to keep their bodies functioning properly.  Our bodies require us to drink so much water per day.  Without drinking the proper quantity, our bodies will stop functioning properly.  This requirement is covered in an article released by the United Nations, “Safe drinking water is fundamental to healthy lives and prosperous communities. Every person needs 20 to 40 liters of freshwater per day for drinking, cooking, and sanitation needs alone.”

The lack of water, compromises our bodily functions which lowers the build-up of our immune systems.  This leaves our body vulnerable to the first issue discussed, disease and illness.  Without sustainable safe drinking water a population will end up having to move to another area, or quickly develop water treatments to keep them alive.  The issues discussed show that without the proper water treatment a population has less of a chance to survive, and is vulnerable to various diseases that may end up in death.

 

References

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (July 2014) Toxic Substances Portal – Polychlorinated Biphenyls (NPG.) retrieved from: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=140&tid=26#bookmark10

Broder, Robin (August 20, 2014) Shenandoah Riverkeeper (NPG.) retrieved from: http://www.waterkeeperschesapeake.com/about-us/resources/item/56-shenandoah-riverkeeper

Cressey, Daniel (Aug. 17, 2016) Bottles, bags, ropes and toothbrushes: the struggle to track ocean plastics (NPG.) retrieved from: http://www.nature.com/news/bottles-bags-ropes-and-toothbrushes-the-struggle-to-track-ocean-plastics-1.20432

Editorials (March 21, 2010) The Importance of Fresh Water (NPG.) retrieved from: http://editorials.voa.gov/a/the-importance-of-fresh-water-88867567/1481752.html

McKay, Lauren (Oct. 12, 2006) Contamination in the Shenandoah River (NPG.) retrieved from: http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/4387576.html

Moore, Charles (Aug. 25, 2014) Choking the Oceans With Plastic (NPG.) retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/opinion/choking-the-oceans-with-plastic.html

National Acadamy Of Sciences (unknown) Why is Safe Water Essential? (NPG.) retrieved from: https://www.koshland-science-museum.org/water/html/en/Overview/Why-is-Safe-Water-Essential.html

Office of Response and Restoration (Feb. 7, 2013) Where are the Pacific Garbage Patches? (NPG.) retrieved from: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/where-are-pacific-garbage-patches.html

Thompson, Andrea (September 10, 2007) Pollution May Cause 40 Percent of Global Deaths (NPG.) retrieved from: http://www.livescience.com/1853-pollution-40-percent-global-deaths.html

Virginia Places (Unknown) Water Pollution in Virginia (NPG.) retrieved from: http://www.virginiaplaces.org/waste/point.html