1. University of Khartoum Institute of Environmental Sciences Dip/ M
University of Khartoum Institute of Environmental Sciences Dip/ M.Sc in Environmental Sciences Semester 2 ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION COURSE By: Dr. Zeinab Osman Saeed

2. Water Pollution
Lecture 6

3. WATER POLLUTION
 Water pollution is the introduction into fresh or ocean waters of chemical, physical, or biological material that degrades the quality of the water and affects the organisms living in it.

4. This process ranges from simple addition of dissolved or suspended solids to discharge of the most insidious and persistent toxic pollutants (such as pesticides, heavy metals, and non-degradable , bioaccumulative, chemical compounds).

5. Water pollutants- Conventional
Conventional or classical pollutants are generally associated with the direct input of (mainly human) waste products.
Rapid urbanization and rapid population increase have produced sewage problems because treatment facilities have not kept pace with need.

6. Untreated and partially treated sewage from municipal wastewater systems and septic tanks contribute significant quantities of nutrients, suspended solids, dissolved solids, oil, metals and biodegradable organic carbon to the water environment.

7. Nonconventional
The nonconventional pollutants include dissolved and particulate forms of metals, both toxic and nontoxic, and degradable and persistent organic carbon compounds discharged into water as a by-product of industry or as an integral part of marketable products.

8. Water pollutants Water pollutants include:
insecticides and herbicides,
food processing waste,
pollutants from livestock operations,
volatile organic compounds (VOCs),
heavy metals
chemical waste and others.

9. POINT AND NONPOINT SOURCES
Two types of water pollutants exist:
point source
nonpoint source. 
Point sources of pollution occur when harmful substances are emitted directly into a body of water. 

10. A nonpoint source delivers pollutants indirectly through environmental changes. 
An example of this type of water pollution is when fertilizer from a field is carried into a stream by rain, in the form of run-off which in turn effects aquatic life. 

11. The technology exists for point sources of pollution to be monitored and regulated, although political factors may complicate matters. Nonpoint sources are much more difficult to control. 
Pollution arising from nonpoint sources accounts for a majority of the contaminants in streams and lakes.

12. FRESH WATER
Sewage contains pathogens which cause typhoid, cholera and gastroenteritis if there is inadequate sanitation.
Nutrients in sewage cause eutrophication.
Fertilizers used in agriculture also cause eutrophication.

13. FRESH WATER
Silt build up in freshwater ecosystems, caused by inappropriate agriculture, smothers aquatic organisms.
Pesticides used in agriculture and by the health services are toxic and interfere with breeding of mammals and birds.
Toxic metals which are produced by industry are health and life threatening

14. MARINE
Sewage released into marine systems due to inadequate sanitation will cause the diseases mentioned above.
Fertilizers used in agriculture cause eutrophication.
Pesticides used in agriculture and by the health services also causes the death of sea life.
Oil spills from tankers smother marine plants and animals.
Plastics in the sea causes the death of marine animals.

15. Water Pollution Prevention
Measures to prevent water pollution essentially strive to conserve and protect water quality - in terms of its use reduction and disposal, waste water treatment, procedural changes and recycling.

16. Water conservation programmes have also included the substitution/reduction of hazardous materials and the generation of hazardous wastes.
Employee awareness, education and training in pollution identification and reduction is critical in achieving successful results.

17. Many causes of pollution including sewage and fertilizers contain nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates. 
In excess levels, nutrients over stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algae.  Excessive growth of these types of organisms consequently clogs our waterways, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, and block light to deeper waters.

18. This, in turn, proves very harmful to aquatic organisms as it affects the respiration ability or fish and other invertebrates that reside in water.     

19. Pollution is also caused when silt and other suspended solids, such as soil, construction and logging sites, urban areas, and eroded river banks when it rains. 
Under natural conditions, lakes, rivers, and other water bodies undergo Eutrophication, an aging process that slowly fills in the water body with sediment and organic matter.

20. When these sediments enter various bodies of water,
fish respiration becomes impaired,
plant productivity and water depth become reduced, and
aquatic organisms and their environments become suffocated. 

21. Pollution in the form of organic material enters waterways in many different forms as sewage, as leaves and grass clippings, or as runoff from livestock feedlots and pastures. 
When natural bacteria and protozoan in the water break down this organic material, they begin to use up the oxygen dissolved in the water. 

22. Many types of fish and bottom-dwelling animals cannot survive when levels of dissolved oxygen drop below two to five parts per million. 
When this occurs, it kills aquatic organisms in large numbers which leads to disruptions in the food chain.

23. ADDITIONAL FORMS OF WATER POLLUTION
Three last forms of water pollution exist in the forms of:
petroleum,
radioactive substances,
heat. 

24. Petroleum often pollutes waterbodies in the form of oil, resulting from oil spills.
These large-scale accidental discharges of petroleum are an important cause of pollution along shore lines.
 Oil pollution is a growing problem, particularly devestating to coastal wildlife.  Small quantities of oil spread rapidly across long distances to form deadly oil slicks.

25. Radioactive substances are produced in the form of waste from nuclear power plants, and from the industrial, medical, and scientific use of radioactive materials.
Heat is a pollutant because increased/ decreased temperatures result in the deaths of many aquatic organisms.  These decreases in temperatures are caused when a discharge of cooling water by factories and power plants occurs.

26. CLASSIFYING WATER POLLUTION
The major sources of water pollution can be classified as:
municipal,
industrial,
agricultural.

27. Municipal
Municipal water pollution consists of waste water from homes and commercial establishments.  For many years, the main goal of treating municipal wastewater was simply to reduce its content of suspended solids, oxygen-demanding materials, dissolved inorganic compounds, and harmful bacteria. 

28. In recent years, however, more stress has been placed on improving means of disposal of the solid residues from the municipal treatment processes.
The basic methods of treating municipal wastewater fall into three stages:
primary treatment, including grit removal, screening, grinding, and sedimentation;

29. secondary treatment, which entails oxidation of dissolved organic matter by means of using biologically active sludge, which is then filtered off.
tertiary treatment, in which advanced biological methods of nitrogen removal and chemical and physical methods such as granular filtration and activated carbon absorption are employed. 

30. Industrial
The characteristics of industrial waste waters can differ considerably both within and among industries. 
The impact of industrial discharges depends not only on their collective characteristics, such as biochemical oxygen demand and the amount of suspended solids, but also on their content of specific inorganic and organic substances.

31. Three options are available in controlling industrial wastewater.
Control can take place at the point of generation in the plant;
wastewater can be pretreated for discharge to municipal treatment sources; or
wastewater can be treated completely at the plant and either reused or discharged directly into receiving waters.

32. Agricultural
Agriculture, including commercial livestock and poultry farming, is the source of many organic and inorganic pollutants in surface waters and groundwater. 
These contaminants include both sediment from erosion cropland and compounds of phosphorus and nitrogen that partly originate in animal wastes and commercial fertilizers.

33. Animal wastes are high in oxygen demanding material, nitrogen and phosphorus, and they often harbor pathogenic organisms. 

34. GLOBAL WATER POLLUTION
Estimates suggest that nearly 1.5 billion people lack safe drinking water and that at least 5 million deaths per year can be attributed to waterborne diseases.
With over 70 percent of the planet covered by oceans, people have long acted as if these very bodies of water could serve as a limitless dumping ground for wastes.

35. Raw sewage, garbage, and oil spills have begun to overwhelm the diluting capabilities of the oceans, and most coastal waters are now polluted and marine wildlife is beginning to suffer.

36. WATER QUALITY
Water quality is closely linked to water use and to the state of economic development.
Bacterial contamination of surface water caused serious health problems
Industrial and agricultural chemicals

37. Eutrophication- The process of slowly filling in a water body with sediments and organic matter- of surface waters from human and agricultural wastes and nitrification of groundwater from agricultural practices has greatly affected large parts of the world.
Acidification of surface waters by air pollution is a recent phenomenon and threatens aquatic life in many area of the world.