Erica Waite

 The point of my paper is to look into the negative effects some industries have on water quality, and how they in turn affects plants, animals, and humans in the ecosystem.  I will show how each type of industry produces the pollution it does, and why these pollutants are harmful to the environment.  For example, steel mills utilize a number of metals in the process of creating alloy.  These metals are poisonous when released into waterways.  The oil industry risks contaminating water from the building of oil derricks to the transportation of the oil across waterways.  I will look into the effects of oil spills and other leakage.  I will also relate the story of a small town that was plagued by the effects of water pollution from a nearby tannery.

 Yes.  In fact, many individual factors that contribute to the quality of water are strongly impacted by topographical features.  These factors are listed, followed by a brief description on how they are changed .
 

• Temperature-  Due to variations in exposure to sunlight or thermal pollution from nearby industries, the temperature of a river or stream may be raised.
• pH-  The pH can change due to discharge from factories, air deposition, or geographic events such as volcanic eruptions.
• Oxygen Content-  The O2 content of any river body may change from the temperature of the water, or a rapid change in elevation such as a waterfall.  Another way the O2 content may be raised is the presence of rapids or "white water" this term described the churning of air into the water, therefore the O2 content increases.
• Erosion-  Erosion takes place at the place in a body of water (usually a river)  where it begins to turn.  Erosion also takes place along river banks.
• Deposition-  The counterpart to Erosion where the sediments removed by erosion are deposited.  This usually occurs where the river finishes a turn of changes the direction or a turn.
• Total Solids-  The amounts of these increase with the presence of industry, geological events like land or mud slides, and high erosion.
• Pollution (Organisms)-  The type of organisms found in different parts of water bodies are usually good indicators of the pollution levels in the water. As mentioned before, nearby factories or production facilities may pollute the water allowing different types of macro-invertebrate life. The concentration and type of organisms directly change with the amount of pollution present, which is directly related to the water’s location and geographical features that "filter out" pollution.

Clean water is the earth's most valuable resource.  If it is not properly restored and returned after use, it will eventually disappear.  Fortunately, there are many treatment plants throughout the world which are designed to recycle clean water. The three main steps that unclean water must take on its way to purification are; primary filters, secondary molecular removal and finally, the chemical elimination of unwanted elements.

Wastewater Treatment:

Primary Treatment: Includes use of large filters, grit chambers and settling tanks to remove solid waste and debris from the liquid sewer. Only liquid wastes make it through this process. Around 25-45% of the total pollution in the water is removed after only the first process.

Secondary Treatment: Removes about 85 percent of the organic matter in sewage by using the natural bacteria in it. The two principal techniques used in secondary treatment are trickling filters and the activated sludge process.
After a solution leaves the sedimentation tank in the primary stage of treatment, it flows or is pumped to a facility using one or these processes. A trickling filter, has a bed of stones from three to six feet deep through which the sewage passes.  These stones act as a bed for millions of bacteria.  The bacteria gather and multiply on these stones until they can consume most of the organic matter in the sewage. The cleaner water flows out through the pipes for further treatment.
Today, the “Activated Sludge Process” is the more commonly used process. After the sewage leaves the settling tank in the primary stage, it is pumped into an aeration tank, where it is mixed with air and sludge loaded with bacteria.  They mix for several hours.  During this time, the bacteria break down the organic matter into harmless by-products.   The sludge, with tons of bacteria and other tiny organisms, can be used again by returning it to the aeration tank for mixing with new sewage and more air. From the aeration tank, the sewage flows to another sedimentation tank to remove excess bacteria. Further cleaning of the effluent with chlorine is usually done to kill more than 99% of the bacteria.

Tertiary Treatment: May be needed to remove nutrient elements. For example, phospuorus and nitrogen, from human waste, runoff and detergent, can be eliminated by the addition of ferric chloride or any form of an iron salt. An Iron salt speeds up the biological process of degeneration.Nitrogen compounds such as ammonia can be turned into nitrates and nitrites that can be removed or left in the water.

After all three processes, the water is over 99% free of pollutants and is returned to local streams and rivers. Sludge after further treatment is loaded off to a landfill, incinerated or put back on land,possibly as fertilizers. Without wastewater treatment, the earth’s clean water supply would surely run out, as would its inhabitants.

When Mrs. lewis informed us that we would have to do an extra project about water quality, we had a tough time coming up with ideas that would adequately capture the excitement this project stirred within us. Then we looked out a window and saw young children frolicking carelessly in the yard, and inspiration struck. We would teach this fascinating subject to children!  Who better than children to understand and appreciate the critical nature of water quality!
Without further ado, we commenced working on a lesson plan.  We called Mrs. Sylvia Peters, a third grade teacher at Strongsville’s Zellers Elementary, and asked if she would like for her class to participate in our lesson.  She eagerly agreed, and the wheels were set in motion!  Now there was just one task ahead of us: formatting a 30 minute lesson on Water Quality!

We first determined what facts were important to convey to the kids. For example, it would have been futile to try and explain to young minds the fecal coliform test or the importance of pH. We stuck to simple ideas, like the importance of water, ways that water can be polluted, and ways that kids can prevent pollution.
We also made it a goal to make this presentation interesting.  After all, many a youngster has had a keen love of science quashed by boring teachers who lecture all the live-long day. By the time students arrive in a chemistry classroom, their razor sharp minds have been dulled to blunt objects.  We decided to make science fun again... after all, who doesn’t prefer a baking soda-acetic acid explosion to balancing equations?
 
We designed two simple experiments for the purpose of teaching kids.  Each experiment demonstrated a type of pollution.  To show point source pollution, we added food coloring directly to a fish tank half-full of water.But the real beast was our second experiment, to demonstrate nonpoint source pollution.  We added food coloring and soap to a large sponge and placed the aforementioned sponge in the same fishtank.  Then we poured water over the sponge to simulate rain.You should have seen the wonder in the children’s eyes as blue foaming water gushed forth from the sponge!

We were most surprised by the enthusiasm that the students had for the project. They volunteered to answer all of the questions we asked, and clamored about to participate. We’d like to thank Mrs. Peters, her class, and Zellers Elementary for allowing us to come and experience the joy of teaching.  This was a fun project I’d recommend to anyone who likes to see the light of learning in a small child’s eyes. After the lesson a girl was heard to say "I want to take chemistry when I grow up!"
 

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                       Student teachers from left to right are Maria Moser, Brittany Kopkas and Lucy Benson

                                               Mrs. Peter's third graders are exciting eager learners!!