Environmental Engineering: Water Resources Water Quality Parameter: pH Water Qua
ID: 1839018 • Letter: E
Question
Environmental Engineering: Water Resources
Water Quality Parameter: pH
Water Quality Contaminant: Pesticides and Herbicides
For Parameter:
1) How does this parameter influence aquatic life and human health?
2) What range is considered healthy for an ecosystem??
3) What factors can influence, or change, this parameter?
(For example: What makes pH levels increase?)
For a contaminant:
1) What is the source of this contaminant? How does it get into the water??
2) Where does this contaminant go? (For example: Does it sink into the sediment, stay in the water, or does it get stored in animal tissues?)?
3) How does this contaminant affect aquatic life, wildlife, and humans? Why is is a problem?
Explanation / Answer
For Parameter:
Answer 1- If the pH of water is too high or too low, the aquatic organisms living within it will die.As pH levels move away from this range (up or down) it can stress animal systems and reduce hatching and survival rates. humans have a higher tolerance for pH levels (drinkable levels range from 4-11 with minimal gastrointestinal irritation), there are still concerns . pH values greater than 11 can cause skin and eye irritations, as does a pH below 4. A pH value below 2.5 will cause irreversible damage to skin and organ linings .
Answer 2- pH in the range of 6 to 8 is healthy for an ecosystem.
Answer 3- factors that can affect the pH are below.
a. Carbon dioxide concentration in water
b. Acid rain
c. Dissolved Minerals
d. Temperature
e. Waste water
For a contaminant:
Answer 1- Pesticides typically enter a waterbody through surface water runoff, often from a farm field or from neighborhoods where they are applied on lawns. Pesticides can also enter a waterbody as a result of “spray drift.” This occurs when the pesticide is sprayed over an area, and the wind blows some of the spray into a nearby waterbody.
Answer 2- it get stored in animal tissues.
Answer 3- Pesticides have been linked to a wide range of human health hazards, ranging from short-term impacts such as headaches and nausea to chronic impacts like cancer, reproductive harm, and endocrine disruption.
Fish and other wildlife species, including rare and endangered ones like the peregrine falcon, bald eagle, and osprey, have been victims of pesticide poisoning. Pesticide use is one of many factors contributing to the decline of fish and other aquatic species.
Animals like hawks, owls, squirrels, skunks, deer, coyotes, foxes, mountain lions, and bobcats can be killed by pesticides even though they are not the target.
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