1. Our Water
Part I: Freshwater

2. Tapped: the documentary

3. Water of the world
As a natural resource, fresh water is renewable. However, qualities of fresh water on earth are limited as well as access to fresh water is becoming difficult for a tremendously growing world population.
Less than 0.5% of water on earth is actually drinkable, rest is oceans and ice.
Impacts of global climate change are affected fresh water availability.
Examples: Seasonal Mt. Melting and wet/dry seasons shortened or lengthened.
Water availability based on location and
population is becoming a huge issue
Examples: Las Vegas and India vs. Australia
1/3 of the world’s population are affected by
water shortages!
Many sources of our surface and groundwater are drying up.

4. Water Systems Freshwater is classified into:
Terrestrial ecosystems are classified by the dominant plant life (broadleaf vs. coniferous trees) but aquatic ecosystems are classified largely based on the features of the physical environment, usually beginning with salinity.
Ecologists subdivide marine ECOSYSTEMS:
Ocean ecosystems into two broad categories;
coastal and
open-water systems.
Freshwater is classified into:
lotic (flowing water- rivers and streams)
lentic (sitting water- ponds, wetland and lakes)
Oceans over 71% of the Earth’s surface
Oceans also contain 97.2% of all water on Earth!
Major oceans are Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic

5. Water Usage and Water of the world lab
What is the actual percentage of drinkable water on the planet for over 7 billion people and agriculture?

6. Groundwater Watersheds
Groundwater refers to the water below the water table where saturated conditions exist.
Water table is the upper surface of the groundwater.
Aquifer is an underground area where water is stored between rocks and pebbles.
A watershed is the area of land that precipitation drains into a stream, river, lake, or other body of water.
Watersheds can be both large and small. For example, a small stream in a rural neighborhood may have a tiny watershed.
In contrast, the Mississippi River's watershed covers almost two-thirds of North America!
Most freshwater regions are created by the remnants of ancients glaciers. The Great Lakes and the lakes of NJ formed the Wisconsin Glacier in the last ice age, around 10,000 years ago!

7. The water cycle and Water Systems

8. Land Usage of Morris and Sussex Counties

9. Lake Creation and zones
Lakes can be formed through four processes:
Glacier melting (most of NJ lakes were generated 10,000 years ago from the melting of an extremely large glacier called the Wisconsin Glacier
Erosional deposits close-off a stream or river.
Shifting of earth’s crust through fault movements
Beavers can naturally close of a flowing system of water
Zones in a lake are determined solely by the amount of light at each level:
Littoral Zone- shallow water zone
Limnetic Zone- extends to depth of visible light
Profundal Zone- lack of light causes life to depend on matter from limnetic zone
Benthic Zone- bottom zone, primarily for decomposition

10. Eutrophication
Eutrophication- The process by which the surrounding watershed enriches bodies of water with nutrients that stimulate excessive plant growth, especially algae.
The excessive algae growth not only absorbs the oxygen from the other plants and animals in the watershed but the algae create a blanket on the surface of the water blocking sunlight to the organisms underneath.
Bacteria than consume all dead matter and reproduce rapidly.
The bacteria consume all oxygen leaving the body of water as a dead zone.

11. Nitrates and phosphates
What are the main sources of Eutrophication?
2. What are the main chemicals that cause Eutrophication?
Sewage plants, agriculture runoff, fertilizers and pesticides, burning of fossil fuels and cars
Nitrates and phosphates

12. Determining the healthiness of a freshwater systems
Healthiness of watershed is determined by observing the following factors:
pH- acidity levels
Nitrate and Phosphate levels- runoff from farms and domestic areas
BOD- Biochemical Oxygen Demand (amount of oxygen available for life)
Coliform- fecal bacteria
Turbidity- suspended matter
Macroinvertebarates.

13. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
BOD indicates how much decaying organic matter is present. More organic waste, more oxygen demanding bacteria.
Dissolved Oxygen measures the amount of oxygen available. Higher BOD means lower dissolved oxygen.
Organic waste such as sewage and food waste is high in nitrates and phosphates with leads to an increase in oxygen- demanding bacteria.
This bacteria strips the ecosystem of oxygen for the larger organisms.

14. Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)
AMD is the outflow of acidic water from metal and coal mines.
AMD is caused by the oxidation of pyrite which a mineral produced commonly along coal.
Coal mining exposes the pyrite creates a iron-sulfide discharge (orangish-red precipitate) which dramatically lowers the pH of the stream
The Appalachian Mountains is known to have the best anthracite coal in the world and is therefore, heavily mined.

15. Wetlands are also used clean up AMD
Treatment of AMD
To neutralize the pH, limestone (a natural base) is used.
The contaminated water goes through a series of pools that uses organic matter and plants to absorb the pollutants while the pH is neutralized by the limestone.
Wetlands are also used clean up AMD

16. pH Scale
pH Scale

17. Is your watershed healthy lab
What qualifies as a healthy watershed and how can you determine if a water shed is healthy?

18. Importance of Wetlands:
Are a natural sponge for water to help prevent flooding
Provide recharge for water tables underground for our usage
Provides habitat for specialized and rare plants/animals (45% endangered animals and 26%endangered plants are only found in wetlands)
Natural filters to purify water
Provide buffer for storms coming in off the ocean
Has high carbon-rich, organic soil
Importance of Wetlands:

19. Marsh
Types of Wetlands: A. Marshes- abundant in nutrients, saturated soil and neutral pH to support a lot of life. -Can be Tidal or non-tidal -From inches to 3 feet of water -Examples; Everglades and Meadowlands B. Swamps-is any wetland dominated by woody plants -highly organic soils of swamps form a thick, black, nutrient-rich environment for the growth of water-tolerant trees such as Cypress C. Bogs- have acidic waters, and a floor covered by a thick carpet of sphagnum moss. -Bogs are unique communities that can be destroyed in a matter of days, but require hundreds, if not thousands, of years to form naturally. D. Fens-are peat-forming wetlands that receive nutrients from sources other than precipitation: usually from upslope sources through drainage from surrounding mineral soils and from groundwater movement -Fens differ from bogs because they are less acidic and have higher nutrient levels
Swamp
Bog
Fen

20. Wetland Destruction Wetland Restoration
One percent of the nation’s wetlands are lost every two years, 95% are freshwater wetlands
Over 200 years 50% of the wetland of the US have disappeared b draining and/or damming.
Perhaps as much as 90% of freshwater wetlands are gone.
The National Environmental Protection Act of 1969 states that if a wetland is destroyed in a particular project, the developer must create an additional wetland at another site-
Was is this not a simple as stated?
Mining
development

21. Why are wetlands important and how are they being destroyed?
Wetlands lab
Why are wetlands important and how are they being destroyed?

22. Water Treatment Process

23. Water treatment processes
Preliminary Treatment
Primary Treatment
Wastewater first goes through a BAR SCREEN which removes large solid objects such as sticks and rags.
Next the wastewater enters the GRIT TANK which separates sand, gravel and other heavy materials.
These solid substance are then disposed of at a landfill or recycled.
Second step in treatment
Allows for physical separation of solids and greases in a settling tank
Settling tank allows solids to separate based on density
Solids settle to bottom, greases float to top to be easily removed

24. Water Treatment continued…
Final treatment Wastewater that remains is disinfected to kill harmful micro-organisms before being released into receiving waters. Although there are many methods available to kill these micro-organisms, chlorine and ultraviolet disinfection are the most widely used.
DE chlorination occurs in the final wastewater treatment step.
Following disinfection and Dechlorination, the treated wastewater (now called final effluent) can be returned to the receiving waters from which it came. (water body or stream)
Secondary treatment
This is a biological treatment process that removes dissolved organic material from wastewater.
The partially treated wastewater from the settling tank flows into an aeration tank.
Here it is mixed with solids containing micro- organisms that use oxygen to consume the remaining organic matter in the wastewater as their food supply.
The aeration tank uses air bubbles to provide the mixing and the oxygen, both of which are needed for the micro-organisms to multiply.

25. Final Solids Processing
Primary solids from the primary settling tank and secondary solids from the clarifier are sent to the digester.
During this process, micro-organisms use the organic material present in the solids as a food source and convert it to by- products such as methane gas and water. Digestion results in a 90% reduction in pathogens and the production of a wet soil-like material called biosolids that contain 95-97% water.
To remove some of this water and reduce the volume, mechanical equipment such as filter presses or centrifuges are used to squeeze water from the biosolids.
The biosolids are then sent to landfills, incinerated, or beneficially used as a fertilizer or soil amendment.

26. Cleaning Polluted Water Lab
Tips:
Lab
Review the process of water treatment.
In a jar, Obtain 150ml of pollution water. With masking tape, place your name on the jar.
Observe possible materials for filtration system, remember that only 4 items can be selected
Draw and label design
Have design approved
Begin construction and testing of filtration system
After water is cleaned, begin final testing of the water to observe success of your design.
Be sure you have at least 20 ml of water after filtration for testing.
Do NOT use excessive cotton, it will only absorb all the water.
Place your supplies into the funnel and use the funnel to hold the materials as well as allow the water to follow through to your beaker.
Create a design similar to the water treatment process.
If bleach is needed for Dechlorination, use drops then test pH immediately.
Remember that your goal is to get your polluted water as similar to tap as possible using similar techniques of water treatment.
Complete final water tests and record on Data Table.
Full Formal Lab Report WILL BE REQUIRED!

27. DO Now: Which country uses the most water in the world?
United States
What is leading use of our water in the us? Second?
Agriculture
Manufacturing/industry
What, relating to water, causes up to 25million deaths a year (The recent typhoon will cause this in the weeks and months to come)?
water borne diseases

28. Countries water usage of the world

29. Agriculture: farmers must use water to crops for humans, crops for livestock and water for livestock.
1500L (400 gallons) are need for 2.2lbs of wheat!
15,000L are needed for 1 kilogram of beef feed!
Industry: all manufacturing and power plants need water for cooling machinery.
1 bottle of water requires twice as much water to make it than it holds!!
It takes gallons of water for 1 gallon of gasoline
Domestic (you and me): bathing, washing, toilets and cooking.
The average household leaks (broken pipes and appliances) 36L (9.5 gallons) a day!
Water Usage

30. The Aral Sea:
90% of its volume was used to grow the very “thirsty” crop of cotton to compete with foreign markets.
More than 600,000 fishing jobs were lost.
Once the 4th largest freshwater body, the Aral Sea in central Asia was completely destroyed for agriculture.
2007
1987

31. Lake Hopatcong on Halloween 2013

32. Pesticides and detergents lab

33. Using Freshwater Continued
77% of water usage for agriculture, industry and domestic use comes from lakes, pond and rivers.
Water Diversion
Damn Dams
Water diversion is the processing of moving water distances, usually for domestic use (arid regions) and agriculture.
Colorado river is taken for both. It is irrigated for 500,000 acres of cropland as well as major cities such as Las Vegas, LA and Phoenix.
However, this diversion has caused the surrounding small towns such as owns valley, mono lake and rural regions of S. California have now become deserts.
Dams are used to combat too fast flowing or season changes in water flow and are made to create a stable supply of water.
There are currently over 80,000 dams in the US

34. Costs vs. benefits of dams
Dams flood upstream ecosystems and drought downstream ecosystems killing natural wildlife.
Clean power- hydroelectric power is inexpensive and produces no emissions
Salmon and other fish’s migration patterns are completely broken.
Reservoirs can create cropland in dryer regions.
Reservoir construction have caused approximately million people to relocated in a half century
Control seasonal flooding
Sediment cannot run its natural flow so land downstream is malnourished and reservoirs are filling with silt.
Can improve shipping
Floods create productive farmland by depositing soil, without this, farmland is deteriorating.
Some recreational activities can now exist where they could not previously.
The risk of a dam leaking/breaking could kill millions.
Recreational activities such as kayaking, fishing, and white-water rafting are lost.

35. Water Pollution Terminology
Point Source Pollutants- are observable and distinct (agriculture, industrial pipes, and construction sites), non-point is discrete sources such as urban runoff, storm drains and highways.
Non-Point Source Pollutants- unidentified pollutants to that exact cause is unknown, such as, runoff from highways, cities and domestic regions, chemicals from washing cars in your driveway and trash and litter.
Effluent- The discharge of a pollutant in a liquid form, often from a pipe into a stream or river.
Influent-polluted water entering a stream or river

36. Waterborne diseases: Biological Pollution
WHO estimates 805 of all diseases in less-developed countries are caused by inadequate sanitation.
More than 2.5 BILLION people in the world do not have sanitized water.
In 1993 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 50 people died and 400,000 became ill from ecoli in their drinking water.
Water-borne diseases are any illness caused by drinking water contaminated by human or animal feces, which contain pathogenic microorganisms
At least 25 million deaths each year are blamed on these diseases
Usually caused by human waste
Typhoid
Cholera
Bacterial and amoebic dysentery
Enteritis
Polio
Hepatitis

37. Do Now: What is the leading cause of brain disorders in the US?
Heavy Metals- lead, cadinium, mercury (from electricity, industry and agriculture)
What is the newly determined percentage of NJ beaches that are below EPA standards?
100%
What are the biggest water pollution problems in NJ?
Nutrient runoff- eutrophication
Sewage
Strom drain runoff
4. PCB’s and Heavy metals form electricity plants

38. Heavy Metals in US waters:
Some chemical pollutants cannot be removed from our water.
The chemicals bond to the water and make it impossible to separate, leaving the water permanently polluted and unable e to be ingested.
Heavy metals include, mercury, lead, cadmium, tin and nickel.
Heavy Metals in US waters:
Currently, mercury, released from coal burning plants, is the largest problem for North American lakes and rivers
Fish from 260 US lades found low levels of mercury in EVERY fish sampled.
43% of all streams and surface water are contaminated by acids and metals from mine drainage as well.
Mercury is a extremely reactive and toxic element.
High levels can cause; developmental issues, muscle weakness,, attack the nervous systems, kidneys and brain function.

39. Biomaginification the accumulation of toxins (mercury and ddt) higher up the food chain

40. Your drinking water lab
Which drinkable water is healthiest and which is best in a blind taste test?

41. The facts: New Jersey Waters-as of 2011
The only place in the state with SAFE drinking and swimming water is Flat Brook in Sussex County, by PA
Out of 951 Waterways, only 22 are considered “Healthy”(2.3%)
In Monmouth County alone, 300,000 acres of sewage pipes MUST be replaced
DEP in US laid of 700 jobs since 2005 (21%)
Rainfall in NJ has increased by 5% since 1970’s, due to Global Climate change, causing more flooding statewide
Population in NJ has risen from 1.6mill in 1970’s to 8.8 in 2011
1,127 square miles of fishing areas along coast of NJ were closed due to FECAL pollution
NO eating of NJ shellfish, fish and mollusks for pregnant women and children (due to PCB’s)
Impaired Waterways include:
95% lakes and reservoirs
89% bays and estuaries
100% ocean and coastlines

42. The Causes to NJ waterway pollution
Phosphorus- nutrient pollution from fertilizer runoff, causing Eutrophication and dead zone in NJ waterways
Hopatcong Lake- BEST with little Ph.
Stony Brook Millstone bad
Storm drain runoff- trash and road pollution goes into storm drain which all lead to a large body of water or the ocean
PCB’s (“cousin” of DDT) from Coal Burning power plants
Raritan River- worst for industry along the shore
Fecal Runoff and Fecal Bacteria from old sewage treatment pants (over-flow)
Eutrophication- excessive algae growth from nutrient/fertilizer runoff
Dead Zones- Things dies and bacteria break it down consuming all the oxygen leaving an are without oxygen and life

43. Cleaning surface water: Managing storm water in your own backyard is important. As an integral part of the watershed you live in, what you do in your backyard makes a difference. Here are some examples of what you can do at home:
Reduce impervious surfaces by using pavers or bricks rather than concrete for a driveway or sidewalk.
Divert rain from paved surfaces onto grass to permit gradual infiltration.
Landscape with the environment in mind. Choose the appropriate plants, shrubs and trees for the soil in your yard; don't select plants that need lots of watering (which increases surface runoff), fertilizers or pesticides.
Maintain your car properly so that motor oil, brake linings, exhaust and other fluids don't contribute to water pollution.
Keep storm water clean. Never dump litter, motor oil, animal waste, or leaves into storm drains or catch basins