Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Apes unit 8
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Point source pollution | Pollutants discharged from a single identifiable location (e.g., pipes, ditches, channels, sewers, tunnels, containers of various types). |
| Nonpoint source pollution | pollution that comes from many sources rather than from a single, specific site |
| Clean Water Act | (CWA, 1972) set maximum permissible amounts of water pollutants that can be discharged into waterways; aims to make surface waters swimmable and fishable |
| Range of tolerance | Range of chemical and physical conditions that must be maintained for populations of a particular species to stay alive and grow, develop, and function normally |
| Dead zones | In a body of water, an area with extremely low oxygen concentration and very little life |
| Nutrient pollution | The process where too many nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus, are added to bodies of water and can act like fertilizer, causing excessive growth of algae. |
| Oxygen sag curve | The curve obtained when the concentration of dissolved oxygen in a river into which sewage or some other pollutant has been discharged is plotted against the distance downstream from the sewage outlet |
| Dissolved oxygen | oxygen dissolved in water, dissolved oxygen is important for fish and other aquatic animals |
| Endocrine disruptors | chemicals that interfere with the normal functioning of hormones in an animal's body |
| Water filtration | The process of cleaning water by running it through different layers of rocks and chemicals; |
| Water purification | the process of treating wastewater and turning it into water that can be used again. |
| Eutrophication | excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen. |
| Fertilizers | a substance that provides nutrients to help crops grow better (NPK) |
| Algal blooms | rapid growth of algae encouraged by too many nutrients (nitrates/phosphates) in the water |
| Hypoxic | deficient in oxygen |
| Anthropogenic | derived from human activities |
| Wastewater | any water that has been used by humans. This includes human sewage, water drained from showers, tubs, sinks, dishwashers, washing machines, water from industrial processes, and storm water runoff. |
| BOD (biological oxygen demand) | A measure of the amount of oxygen necessary to decompose organic material in a unit volume of water. As the amount of organic waste in water increases, more oxygen is used, resulting in a higher BOD. |
| Thermal pollution | a temperature increase in a body of water that is caused by human activity and that has a harmful effect on water quality and on the ability of that body of water to support life, decreased DO in water |
| POPs | Persistent organic pollutants. Chemical compounds that persist in the environment and retain biological activity for a long time. |
| Synthetic | not naturally produced; made by artificial processes |
| PCBs | synthetic chemicals containing chlorine that are used in the manufacture of plastics and other industrial products, become stored in the tissue of animals, and also persist in the environment |
| persistent chemicals | chemicals that don't readily degrade over time |
| Bioaccumulation | The accumulation of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in various tissues of a living organism. |
| Biomagnification | The increase in chemical concentration in animal tissues as the chemical moves up the food chain |
| Mercury Pollution | A toxic metal released into the air and water mainly from coal-fired power plants and mining. |
| Solid waste disposa | landfills (usually) |
| Hazardous Waste | Any material that can be harmful to human health or the environment if it is not properly disposed of |
| Landfills | Land disposal sites for solid waste; operators compact refuse and cover it with a layer of dirt to minimize rodent and insect infestations, wind-blown debris, and leaching by rain. |
| E-waste | discarded electronic equipment such as computers, cell phones, television sets, etc. contains potentially toxic heavy metals |
| Leachate | polluted liquid produced by water passing through buried wastes in a landfill |
| Incineration | The process of burning waste materials to reduce volume and mass, sometimes to generate electricity or heat |
| RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) | The goal of this federal law is to prevent unsafe and illegal disposal of hazardous wastes on land, created "cradle to grave" |
| CERCLA | Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: created superfund sites, companies are responsible for cleaning up toxic waste |
| Reduce Reuse Recycle | three steps used to reduce the amount of waste produced and put in landfills |
| Composting | a process that allows the organic material in solid waste to be decomposed and reintroduced into the soil, often as fertilizer. |
| Combustion | the process of burning something |
| Sewage | solid and liquid waste from homes and other buildings that is carried away by sewers or drains |
| Primary sewage treatment | first step of sewage treatment; eliminates most particulate material from raw sewage using grates, screens, and gravity (settling). |
| Secondary sewage treatment | second step of sewage treatment; bacteria breakdown organic waste, aeration accelerates the process. |
| tertiary sewage treatment | Advanced Sewage Treatment: series of specialized chemical and physical processes used to remove specific pollutants left in the water after primary and secondary treatment |
| Sludge | Solid waste material from wastewater |
| Aerate | to fill with air; to expose to air |
| Pathogenic/pathogen | Refers to a microorganism capable of or prone to causing a disease state |
| Fecal coliform | bacteria that are found in excrement or sewage contamination occurring naturally in the digestive tract of human beings and animals to aid in digestion. |
| Lethal dose (LD50) | Dose required to kill 50% of animals tested |
| SDWA (Safe Drinking Water Act) | The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is allowed to set the standards for drinking water quality and oversees all of the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement these standards |
| Dose response curve | Plot of data showing effects of various doses of a toxic agent on a group of test organisms. |
| Dysentery | an infection of the intestines marked by severe diarrhea |
| Vectors | An organism that transmits disease by conveying pathogens from one host to another |
| Bubonic Plague (Black Death) | a deadly disease that spread across Asia and Europe in the mid-14th century, killing millions of people, spread by fleas that live on rats/rodents |
| Tuberculosis | An infectious disease that may affect almost all tissues of the body, especially the lungs |
| Malaria | A disease caused by mosquitoes implanting parasites in the blood. Common in tropical and subtropical regions & eradicated in the US |
| West Nile virus | Transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito & is common in the US |
| MERS | Middle East Respiratory Syndrome |
| SARS | severe acute respiratory syndrome |
| Zika virus | a virus transmitted by mosquitos which can cause many health problems for unborn babies |
| Cholera | intestinal infection caused by ingestion of contaminated water or food |
| Infectious | A disease that is caused by a pathogen and that can be spread from one individual to another. |
Created by:
lcoyle19