1. Potential Environmental Impact of Liquids

2. What is a liquid?
Liquids are forms of matter which flow when subjected to a pressure difference.

3. Effects of Liquid Pollutants
Depends on four factors:
What is the pollutant?
How much of it there is?
What is it effecting?
What other conditions complicate or attenuate the effects of the pollutant?

4. The oil spill as seen from space by a NASA satellite
The oil spill as seen from space by a NASA satellite. Sunlight illuminated the lingering oil slick off the Mississippi Delta on May 24, The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image the same day.
Oil smoothes the ocean surface, making the Sun’s reflection brighter near the centerline of the path of the satellite, and reducing the scattering of sunlight in other places. As a result, the oil slick is brighter than the surrounding water in some places (image center) and darker than the surrounding water in others (image lower right). The tip of the Mississippi Delta is surrounded by muddy water that appears light tan. Bright white ribbons of oil streak across this sediment-laden water.
Tendrils of oil extend to the north and east of the main body of the slick. A small, dark plume along the edge of the slick, not far from the original location of the Deepwater Horizon rig, indicates a possible controlled burn of oil on the ocean surface.
To the west of the bird’s-foot part of the delta, dark patches in the water may also be oil, but detecting a manmade oil slick in coastal areas can be even more complicated than detecting it in the open ocean.
When oil slicks are visible in satellite images, it is because they have changed how the water reflects light, either by making the Sun’s reflection brighter or by dampening the scattering of sunlight, which makes the oily area darker. In coastal areas, however, similar changes in reflectivity can occur from differences in salinity (fresh versus salt water) and from naturally produced oils from plants.
Michon Scott NASA's Earth Observatory
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center"

5. Secondary effects of liquid pollutants
Liquids present problems in some of the following ways when a spill occurs.
Fire or explosion hazard
Toxicity to humans, to animals, or to plant life
Fumes, vapours or clouds carried from the spill
Reactivity problems where hazardous by products can be formed.

6. Evidence of pollution Population decrease in one or more species
Sickness or deformity, abnormal behaviour or sudden population increase
“fish kill” – thousands of dead fish along the banks of a river.

7. Limiting the effects of uncontrolled releases of liquid pollutants
Contain or immobilize the material and neutralize or lower its hazard potential.

8. Determining water contamination
Biochemical Oxygen Demand Test (BOD) –
environmental procedure for determining the extent to which oxygen within a sample can support microbial life.

9. Determining water contamination
Chemical oxygen Demand Test (COD)-
predicts the oxygen requirement of the effluent and is used for monitoring and control of discharges, and for assessing treatment plant performance.

10. Determining water contamination
pH testing – can determine the amount of alkaline or acidic materials.

11. Determining water contamination
Turbidity testing
Turbidity is a measurement of how cloudy water appears.

12. Determining water contamination
Colour testing – indicates material dissolved in water.

13. Determining water contamination

14. Thermal pollution
Thermal pollution is a presence of waste heat in the water which can cause undesirable changes in the natural environment.

15. Preventive Measures pH control
Effluents dumped into an existing stream should have similar pH value as the receiving water.

16. Preventive Measures Settling ponds
Effluent is allowed to slowly flow through a quiet pond where particulate matter settles to the bottom and the clean effluent is dumped into the water course.

17. Preventive Measures
Vacuum Filter

18. Preventive Measures

19. Preventive Measures
Emulsions and floating pollutants

20. Disposal of hazardous liquids
Landfill
Deep well injection
Encasement and burial at sea
Incineration
Each liquid must be handled according to information on current MSDS sheet.