The History and Current State of Water

ENS102D

Wednesday March 15, 2006

Background image: http://members.aol.com/Mmcbs4/minnesota-coalition.jpg

Review• Atmospheric water• Green water• Surface water• Groundwater

– Aquifers

Opening• De 8:7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good

land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills,

• Eze 12:19 and say of the people of the land, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with fearfulness, and drink water in dismay, because their land will be stripped of all it contains, on account of the violence of all those who dwell in it.

• Eze 34:18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must foul the rest with your feet?

What's in your water?

Ann Bailey

2006 WorldWatch 19(2):27

Case 1: The Great River

Upper Mississippi River Water Quality Assessmenthttp://www.epa.gov/r5water/umr_wq_assess.htm

"Flowing water perspective"

• Mean densities (±1 standard error) of the long fingernailclam in Pool 19 of the Upper Mississippi River during 1973 992. Mean densities in 1989, 1990, and 1991 were too low to readily appear on the chart and are given in parentheses.

http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/SNT/noframe/ms137.htm

http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/SNT/noframe/ms137.htm

http://hale.pca.state.mn.us/about/proreport-water.html

Case 2: Cuyahoga River

The Cuyahoga River is located in northeast Ohio. It begins its 100-mile journey in Geauga County, then flows south to Cuyahoga Falls where it turns sharply north until it empties into Lake Erie. The river drains 813 square miles of land in portions of six counties. Native Americans referred to the U-shaped river as the Cuyahoga or "crooked river."Fires plagued the Cuyahoga beginning in 1936 when a spark from a blow torch ignited floating debris and oils. Fires erupted on the river several more times before June 22, 1969, when a river fire captured national attention when Time magazine described the Cuyahoga as the river that "oozes rather than flows" and in which a person "does not drown but decays." This event helped spur an avalanche of pollution control activities resulting in the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement , and the creation of the federal and state Environmental Protection Agencies. http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/aoc/cuyahoga.html

Case 3: The Death of Lake Erie

• Point Sources

• Non-point Sources

More on Lake Erie http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/laws/coa/lake-erie-e.html

click image for more informaton

Pollutant Source

Case 4:The Life of Lake Valentine

• SD depth increased

• Eutrophication has declined

B

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B TEMPERATURE J SURFACE O2 (mg/l) H BOTTOM O2 (mg/l)

ICE (cm)1986

2006

Eutrophication

Eutrophication

GroundWater

• St. Peter-Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer

http://capp.water.usgs.gov/gwa/ch_j/J-Cambrian.html

GroundWater

•

http://capp.water.usgs.gov/gwa/ch_j/J-Cambrian.html

GroundWater

http://capp.water.usgs.gov/gwa/ch_j/J-Cambrian.html

• Withdrawls by state

GroundWater

• Nitrates

• Coliforms

• Organics

http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/groundwater/gwmap/rpt-metroists-02.pdf

Case 5: TCAAP

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/newbrighton/bri_p4.html

TCAAP

• TCE Plume

Other Pollutants of Concern

• Endocrine Disrupters

Criteria Pollutants

• EPA Priority Pollutants http://www.epa.gov/wqsdatabase/reports_inter.html

• Actually are categories based upon the action of major entities in our economic/society structure.– Let's list possibilities as a final exercise.

Further ResourcesUS EPA Water Quality Standards Database http://www.epa.gov/wqsdatabase/reports_inter.htmlhttp://www.grinningplanet.com/2005/09-06/water-pollution-causes-article.htmMN Pollution Control Agency Water Page: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/index.html