Asid rainswater pollution

http://www.earthday.gov/
Today is Earth Day, April 22nd 2003

It isn’t the pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.
Dan Quayle
Our Society needs a better understanding
of how we get clean water for all human needs

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Manage Your Household’s Water Pollution - Although individual homes may contribute only minor amounts of water pollution, the combined effect of an entire neighborhood can be serious.
What can you do?

Learn to Conserve Water in Your Home - You can also take a virtual tour that will show you how to save water in nearly every room in your house at the California Urban Water Conservation Council's Web site H2OUSE
Maintain Your Septic System - One in four American homes is served by septic systems. The U.S. Bureau of the Census reported that at least 10% of septic systems failed in the previous year.
Help Prevent Stormwater Runoff - Pollution from stormwater runoff is the most common cause of water pollution today.
Help Prevent Pollution in Your Community - Learn about a variety of steps you can take.
What can you do?

Ecosystems
an assemblage of different species and their physical environment, all organized in a way that each population of organisms obtains energy and nutrients through specific pathways within the ecosystem.

Acid Rain
Reactions to convert to acid take place in ~2 days - travel 1000 miles
Down wind - Acid rain
Dry Dep. vs Wet Dep.
Dry Deposition
50 % of total
Can react with plants - strip nutrients
Tree dieback

Acid Rain and Trees

Forests affected by Acid Rain
Northeast US
Canada
Northern Europe
Asia

Acid Rain and Buildings
Many buildings are made of concrete and or stone
These compounds act as bases and react with acid
The building technically “weathers” very fast, or
Non technically “crumbles”

Europe
The US Capitol

Human Emissions - Combustion
NOx
N2 +O2 --> 2NO
Forms in high temperatures of combustion engine
Converted in the atmosphere to HNO3 - nitric acid
From atm.

Human Emissions - Fertilizer
N2 +Energy H+--> NH3
Formed by the Haber process
Added to fields all over the world, but often lost after harvest

Acid Neutralization
How does this work?
Cation Exchange on clay minerals
Role of chemical weathering...

Where do N emissions originate?
~ 55% come from agriculture
~ 25% come from industry – e.g. coal fired power plants
~ 20% come from automobiles

Major powerplants – sources of N emissions – Acid rain

Nitrogen deposition 1989 - 1991
Nitrogen deposition 1995 - 1998

Change in NOx emissions 1990 - 1999

Surface water sensitivity to Acid Deposition - known in 1990

Surface water sensitivity to Acid Deposition - known in 1998

1990
5,700
1998
11,600
Emissions increasing in the western US

1990
15,800
1998
17,600
Emissions increasing in the western US

1990
24,700
1998
28,800
Emissions increasing in the western US

Recent and current policies to reduce acid precipitation and
Nitrogen emissions are shifting the problem from one area
to another
While emissions are remaining stable or decreasing in already
Heavily impacted areas, they are increasing in formerly
“clean” or relatively unimpacted areas
(including other countries!)
Nitrogen is only one compound important in acid rain and
pollutant emissions to the atmosphere
sulfur – SOx – has been a relative success story
mercury is not an acid forming element, but is extremely
toxic and is still increasing
Acid Rain Summary

Other types of air pollution
The difference between stratospheric and tropospheric ozone
Photochemical smog
Inversion layers

Where is ozone the “good guy”?
trophosphere
stratosphere

In the stratosphere….
Ozone blocks incoming Ultra-violet radiation
Ultraviolet radiation
Skin cancer
Cataracts
Plant Damage

But, what’s happening to ozone in the Stratosphere?
1979-1985
1986-1992
Deeper purple color means
Less ozone above
Antartica

Why?
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) are very stable compounds that we produce at earth’s surface
They migrate to the stratosphere
Their chlorine gets excited by ultraviolet light
After excitation, chlorine attacks ozone layer, depleting it.

The Montreal Protocol has reduced use of CFC’s, but…
Their long life span means that they will be in the stratosphere for a long time, still destroying ozone.
However, the rate of increase of ozone depletion has slow, showing we are on the right track
By the way, ozone “holes” are opening up in places other than Antarctica

Where is ozone the “bad guy”?
trophosphere
stratosphere

Photochemical Smog
VOCs break
Cycle, allowing
PAN to form from
NO +VOC
PAN = Peroxyacetyl nitrate

Examples of Smog

NOx + VOC Ozone + Pan
light
reactants
products
Chemical Equation for Photochemical Smog
PAN = Peroxyacetyl nitrate

Where reactants come from
NOx primarily from transportation
VOC from a variety of sources, including refining, other industries, etc.

Inversion layers trap cold air, allowing pollutants to build up in concentrations, including the compounds needed for photochemical smog
Cold air
Warm air

Ozone’s bad features
Extremely reactive will burn leaves, lungs, synthetic compounds (e.g. rubbers, plastics)
Because of reactivity, is toxic in very low concentrations (parts per billion)

Humans depend on very small reservoirs of water
for all our needs
These reservoirs cycle/ turnover very quickly
As they cycle they can either
collect pollution from other sources, or
be cleaned by passing through functioning
ecosystems
Water Pollution

Water Pollution

Water Pollution

Water Pollution
Two major classifications
Point Source
Non-point Source

Point Sources
Single large source
Can localize it to one spot
Industrial Plants
- Sewage pipes

Point Source - Example
LUST - Leaky Underground Storage Tanks
22% of the 1.2 million UST are LUSTy
Look at water pollution from gasoline...

Point source
examples

Non-point Sources
Diffuse source or many smaller point sources
Automobiles
Fertilizer on fields

Non point source
examples

Non-point source pollutants - nutrients

End Lecture 4/22/03

In class activity – pollutant sources in the Chesapeake Bay

The four main roles for class debate on 5/1/2003
Pacific Lumber Company /Maxxam Corporation
The CEO’s
The managing directors of the project
Environmentalists
Sierra Club Members
EarthFirst! Activists
Townspeople
Local loggers
Local sports persons
Government Representatives
Bureau of Land Management
California Representative who introduced the legislation

How does acid kill the fish?
One way is mobilizing metals
When all base cations are striped from soils
Acid now reacts with metals e.g. aluminum
Normally aluminum is immobile
below pH 5 - mobile aluminum
Fish breath in the water
Aluminum comes out of solution
Clogs gills - suffocate

When the pH drops below 6.0 species start to die off.
When one species dies, others that depend on it may as well
Acid Rain Effects – Aquatic Systems

Watersheds – Large areas thought to be nitrogen saturated

Land - Sensitive Ecosystems to Nitrogen Deposition

Acid Rain Summary