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Comprising over 70% of the Earth’s surface, water is undoubtedly the most precious natural resource
that exists on our planet. Without the seemingly invaluable compound comprised of hydrogen and
oxygen, life on Earth would be non-existent: it is essential for everything on our planet to grow and
prosper. Although we as humans recognize this fact, we disregard it by polluting our rivers, lakes, and
oceans. Subsequently, we are slowly but surely harming our planet to the point where organisms are dying
at a very alarming rate. In addition to innocent organisms dying off, our drinking water has become
greatly affected as is our ability to use water for recreational purposes. In order to combat water
pollution, we must understand the problems and become part of the solution.
Most water pollution doesn't begin in the water itself. Take the oceans: around 80 percent of ocean
pollution enters our seas from the land. Virtually any human activity can have an effect on the quality of
our water environment. When farmers fertilize the fields, the chemicals they use are gradually washed by
rain into the groundwater or surface waters nearby. Sometimes the causes of water pollution are quite
surprising. Chemicals released by smokestacks (chimneys) can enter the atmosphere and then fall back to
earth as rain, entering seas, rivers, and lakes and causing water pollution. That's called atmospheric
deposition. Water pollution has many different causes and this is one of the reasons why it is such a
difficult problem to solve.
According to the American College Dictionary, pollution is defined as: “to make foul or unclean;
dirty.” Water pollution occurs when a body of water is adversely affected due to the addition of large
amounts of materials to the water. When it is unfit for its intended use, water is considered polluted. Two
types of water pollutants exist; point source and non-point source. Point sources of pollution occur when
harmful substances are emitted directly into a body of water. The Exxon Valdez oil spill best illustrates a
point source water pollution. A non-point source delivers pollutants indirectly through environmental
changes. An example of this type of water pollution is when fertilizer from a field is carried into a stream
by rain, in the form of run-off which in turn effects aquatic life. The technology exists for point sources of
pollution to be monitored and regulated, although political factors may complicate matters. Nonpoint
sources are much more difficult to control. Pollution arising from nonpoint sources accounts for a
majority of the contaminants in streams and lakes.
Oil spills. New Danglayan’s ocean has been a seaport for years. Oil spills can happen if tankers are too
poorly built to survive accidents at sea. But the economic benefit of compromising on tanker quality brings
an economic cost when an oil spill occurs. The oils are washed up on the nearby beach, devastate the
ecosystem, severely affect tourism and the river connected to it. The main problem is that the people who
bear the cost of the spill (typically a small coastal community) are not the people who caused the problem
in the first place (the people who operate the tanker). Yet, arguably, everyone who puts gasoline (petrol)
into their car—or uses almost any kind of petroleum-fueled transport—contributes to the problem in
some way. So oil spills are a problem for everyone, not just people who live by the coast and tanker
operates.
Sewage is also another water pollutant that affects the large part of New Danglayan’s River. Sewage can
not only affect humans but also the marine animals. Sewage discharged into coastal waters can wash up
on beaches and cause a health hazard and affect marine animals. People who bathe or surf in the water
can fall ill if they swallow polluted water—yet sewage can have other harmful effects too: it can poison
shellfish (such as cockles and mussels) that grow near the shore. People who eat poisoned shellfish risk
suffering from an acute—and sometimes fatal—illness called paralytic shellfish poisoning. Shellfish is no
longer caught along many shores because it is simply too polluted with sewage or toxic chemical wastes
that have discharged from the land nearby.
Plastic wastes During typhoon or thunderstorms the wastes blocks the drainage that causes the river to
flood. This plastic wastes could be chewed up by fishes or other marine animals that could cause them
death.
A river clean-up
Trash Removal
The first solution implemented was trash removal, where they used manpower to clean the river, from
plastics to debris, hand by hand.
The simplest method of dealing with the oil spill cleanup operation is to make use of the components of
nature like the sun, the wind, the weather and the tides. The particles of the oil spill, in due course of time
evaporate because of the constancy of these elements. This also forms the most cost efficient and the
slowest method of cleaning up oil spills.
With the help of these methods of oil spill cleanup, the task and its hugeness do not affect the optimism
of the person. Just like one makes use of the broom, these methods are adopted to clean affected and
problematic areas at a much higher level. However it can be hoped that since many shipping companies
are getting aware of the risks and problems caused to the oceanic atmosphere, the requirement of such
oil spill cleanup methods will reduce in the days to come, or not.
Advantages and Disadvantages of The Correction
The river came to be clean but not as clean as before. But it is just a matter of time, that it came back to its
before uncleaned water. People didn’t stop throwing their wastes on the water, and gas leaks from seaport
keeps washing off to the river. Due to these circumstances, it created a huge impact on the river, that it
came to be much more polluted.
Seeing the condition of the river, it is visible that the caused of it being polluted were the plastic wastes
and gas leaks that formed in some parts of the water.
Though the correction has no disadvantages, the corrections implemented is obviously a lot of advantage,
but seen to the people’s laziness and environmental unawareness the river has always been polluted for
years and never have been cleaned again.
The people have more solutions to give, but people might have been tired on the recurring event.
Workers use special nets or booms to clean up a California beach after an oil tanker spill. And it is possible
if the private officials of Bauan will implement these projects to save the New Danglayan River. Tanker
spills are an increasing environmental problem because once oil has spilled, it is virtually impossible to
completely remove or contain it. Even small amounts spread rapidly across large areas of water. Because
oil and water do not mix, the oil floats on the water and then washes up on broad expanses of shoreline.
Attempts to chemically treat or sink the oil may further disrupt marine and beach ecosystems.
Other Corrections that should have been Implemented
Support organic farmers by purchasing organic food and other products, since
these farms are against using pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
Properly dispose toxic products such as; paint, oil and other hazardous materials.
Preserve our forest, which are natural water purifiers, by reducing paper use and
by supporting reforestation.
Use storm bins to save rain water for future watering of gardens and lawns.
1. Dispersents
Advantages
Oil is prevented from moving into sensitive environments or standing onshore. This eliminates or
reduces damage to important coastal habitats, marine life or coastal facilities (biologically
sensitive shoreline environments)
Small chemically dispersed oil droplets not prone to re-coalescing. This means that treated oil is
unlikely to form tar balls or patties.
Reduces risk to birds & mammals (seabirds & fur-bearing marine mammals). The oil interferes
with animal’s ability to maintain body temperature, thus causing death due to hypothermia. With
the oil being dispersed, there is less or no effect on birds and mammals.
Oil concentrations are extremely low and dilute quickly in ocean. This limits the overall impact to
sensitive environmental resources
Disadvantages
Dispersion process moves oil from surface to water column. This exposes water column & near
shore shallow bottom-dwelling organisms to oil.
Both dispersants and dispersed oil particles are toxic to some marine organisms
Effectiveness of dispersant is dependant on type of oil spilled, weather conditions & how quickly
the dispersant is applied onto oil slick.
Has to be mixed with oil & water: Some energy required for effective dispersion
Heavier oils or highly emulsified oils are less amenable to successful dispersion
Advantages
Disadvantages
3. Bioremediation Agents
Advantages
Disadvantages
The nature of the hydrocarbons: different hydrocarbons are easier to break down.
The availability of nutrients: biodegradation requires oxygen & nitrogen from nitrates
Biodegradation is a slow process & often remains incomplete, particularly with heavy oil
Not a good choice to clean up oil spills due to inability to degrade large volumes of oil
Only useful as finishing technique to remove residual oil
Employed at various stages of the oil spill cleanup rather than the main cleaning agent
6. Burning In-situ
In simple terms, this means burning of the oil on the site where the spillage has
occurred. The burning has to be done quite promptly before the oil spill can spread to a
larger area. But the most important disadvantage of such an on-site burning is that the
exhaust that is released contains toxic particles that can cause damage to the oceanic air
in addition to the marine life-forms.
Burning may not be prudent near populated areas, because it produces a variety of
toxic chemicals which may adversely affect human health and welfare. For example, soot
and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons created by burning can cause cancer and
mutations in living tissue. Along with these items, the smoke may also contain zinc,
vanadium, lead, nickel, or other metals which were in the oil. It is important to recognize
that the combustion products from burning can travel great distances before falling to
earth. In view of the environmental risk associated with burning, this response technique
should not be used for large spills without permits form federal, state and local agencies
responsible for air quality control.
7. Using dispensers
This method involves using fertilizers to disperse the oil spillage in the water. Even
though the method sounds and looks unconventional, it is one of the highly recommended
oil spillcleanup methods. The fertilizers help to hasten the growth of micro-organisms
which help to diffuse the components of the oil spilt in the water.
8. Skimming
As the name suggests, skimming involves the removal of the oil spillage with the help
of tools and equipments from the surface of the water. The most important aspect to be
noted that only lighter oils can be separated and removed from the water in this method
of cleaning up oil spills. This is because the density of oil will tend to be lighter than the
density of water.
Environmental factors must also be considered when dealing with skimmers. For
instance, wave height effects the operability of skimmers. Equipment intended for use in
calm waters is small. For sheltered waters and on the open sea it must include devices,
which will deal with oil at a reasonable rate. Moreover, majority of skimmers suffer form
interference from trash, seaweed and most devices have some means incorporated for
preventing this. Trash is most damaging where it can enter pipes, valves, and pumps.
Trash can also build up at the water surface near the unit and prevent oil from being
pulled towards the skimmer and thus give a low oil recovery rate (Institute of Petroleum,
1975). Skimmers can be cleaned relatively easily using dispersants, but these materials
interfere with the pick-up capability of skimmers that rely upon adhesion to metal or
other surfaces, and should therefore not be used if the skimmer is to be deployed at the
same incident.
Raw sewage includes waste from sinks, toilets, and industrial processes. Treatment of the sewage is
required before it can be safely buried, used, or released back into local water systems. In a treatment
plant, the waste is passed through a series of screens, chambers, and chemical processes to reduce its
bulk and toxicity. The three general phases of treatment are primary, secondary, and tertiary. During
primary treatment, a large percentage of the suspended solids and inorganic material is removed from the
sewage. The focus of secondary treatment is reducing organic material by accelerating natural biological
processes. Tertiary treatment is necessary when the water will be reused; 99 percent of solids are
removed and various chemical processes are used to ensure the water is as free from impurity as possible.
Agriculture, including commercial livestock and poultry farming, is the source of many organic and
inorganic pollutants in surface waters and groundwater. These contaminants include both sediment from
erosion cropland and compounds of phosphorus and nitrogen that partly originate in animal wastes and
commercial fertilizers. Animal wastes are high in oxygen demanding material, nitrogen and phosphorus,
and they often harbor pathogenic organisms. Wastes from commercial feeders are contained and
disposed of on land; their main threat to natural waters, therefore, is from runoff and leaching. Control
may involve settling basins for liquids, limited biological treatment in aerobic or anaerobic lagoons, and a
variety of other methods.
Some people believe pollution is an inescapable result of human activity: they argue that if we want to
have factories, cities, ships, cars, oil, and coastal resorts, some degree of pollution is almost certain to
result. In other words, pollution is a necessary evil that people must put up with if they want to make
progress. Fortunately, not everyone agrees with this view. One reason people have woken up to the
problem of pollution is that it brings costs of its own that undermine any economic benefits that come
about by polluting.
Pollution matters because it harms the environment on which people depend. The environment is not
something distant and separate from our lives. It's not a pretty shoreline hundreds of miles from our
homes or a wilderness landscape that we see only on TV. The environment is everything that surrounds us
that gives us life and health. Destroying the environment ultimately reduces the quality of our own lives—
and that, most selfishly, is why pollution should matter to all of us.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Institute of Petroleum, (1975). Mechanical systems for the recovery of oil spilled on water. Great Britain:
Galliard Ltd Great Yarmouth. Retrieved from
http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/sustain/global/sensem/S98/Aynechi/Oil.html
Robert, J.M. and Associates , (1989). Oil spill response guide. New Jersey: NOYES DATA Corporation..
http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/sustain/global/sensem/S98/Aynechi/Oil.html