Water Quality

Learn about essential water quality factors, pollution, and the Clean Water Act!

The term that describes how clean or polluted a water source is Water Quality Water Clarity Water Health Match the Water Quality term with the correct description. Dissolved Oxygen the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water; High = Good; Low=Bad Temperature Cool = Good; High=Bad (Thermal Pollution) Turbidity How clear the water is...Low =Good; High = Bad Nitrates/ Phosphates Excess nutrients from agriculture runoff; a sewage leak; or soaps & detergents Bio-Indicators Life trying to tell you something is not right with the water system. pH how acidic or basic a water system is; 6.5-8.5 is considered acceptable Click and drag the clues associated with each Water Quality Factor. Temperature Increase Cooling @ Power Plants Cooling @ Factories Drought AKA: Thermal Pollution Dissolved Oxygen Decrease Increase in Temperature Sewage Leak Eutrophication Turbidity Increase Erosion Clearcuts or Deforestation Land Development Oil Spills Mining Bio-Indicator Examples Caddis Fly May Fly Salamanders Frogs High levels of Bad Bacteria Algal Blooms Dragon Flies Deformed Organisms Dead Fish Presence of Trout Nitrates/ Phosphates Sources Fertilizer Runoff Animal Wastes Human Sewage Phosphate Only Source Soaps Detergents pH Decrease Acid Rain Factory Runoff Click and drag the descriptions into the correct type of pollution classification. Point Source Pollution Comes from a single pollution source and can easily be identified Easy to contain and clean up Easy to prevent Sewage Leak Oil or Gas Spills Thermal Pollution from a Power Plant Chemical Spills Landfill Leak Non-Point Source Pollution Comes from many sources and hard to identify where the pollution is exactly coming from Almost impossible to clean up Hard to prevent Urban Runoff Agriculture Runoff Litter Greenhouse Gases Acid Rain Water Quality must comply with the standards established by the Department of Agriculture Environmental Protection Agency Water Police All water systems must comply with which law? The Clear Water System Act The No Water Pollution Act The Water Quality Act The Clean Water Act What year did this law get passed? 1985 1968 1972 2010 Which president signed this bill to make it a law? Richard Nixon Ronald Reagan Barack Obama John F Kennedy Use the Word Bank below to complete the Fill in the Blanks. The process in which excessive nutrients are added to a water system is known as eutrophication. These nutrients can come from the following sources: fertilizer runoff, animalwaste, human sewage and soaps or detergents.During this process the excess nutrients create algal blooms, which are harmful to an ecosystem because they: block the amount of sunlight; deplete the water of dissolvedoxygen; which causes fish and other organisms to suffocate and die, thus creating dead zones. Urban runoff can include anything that might come from urban areas; ie. yard debris, sediment, salt on roads from trying to de-ice during winter storms, carfluids, soaps, fertilizers and litter that seeps into rivers by storm drains.Erosion is a Water Quality issue because it adds sediment to a water system. This sediment increases the turbidity levels. A high turbidity level can block out sunlight, disrupt food webs, and decrease the numbers of fish populations because sediment can limit fish reproduction (spawning) and clogs the fishs' gills. Human activities that increase erosion and turbidity levels include: deforestation, land development, surface mining and improper farming practices. Monitoring Watersheds Using the image above, which Water Quality Factor would be monitored the most at Site 1? Turbidity Nitrates and Phosphates Dissolved Oxygen All of the above Referencing the image above, what is the special name for the pollution that comes from site 2? Thermal Pollution Eutrophication Point Source Pollution Urban Runoff Using the image above, which Water Quality Factor would be monitored the most at site 3 if a large section of the forest was removed for product or land development? Turbidity Nitrates and Phosphates Dissolved Oxygen Temperature