Lesson 16: Freshwater Stress: Part II – Water Pollution

Amy DurayEVPP 490 0035 April 2010

Water Quality Alterations

• Point-source versus non-point source pollution• pH• Eutrophication and Nutrient Load• Minerals, Metals and Toxic Substances

Drivers

• Increasing Human populations, especially in historically occupied river basins and coastal enclaves

• Increasing globalization in world economy• Natural Hydrologic processes

Pressures

• Agricultural expansion • Urbanization• Increasing industrial (point source) pollution• Increasing agricultural (non-point source) pollution• Reduced hydrologic flow – concentrates pollution and

makes it more difficult to flush or dilute pollution once it is in the water source.

• Changes in precipitation/Increasing variability especially with respect to monsoons. (Urban storm-water events)

State and Trends – (1 of 2)

• Increasing nutrient loads• Increasing pollutant loads• Groundwater pollution

State and Trends (2 of 2)State Trends

ESI Country Names (alphabetical order)

Dissolved oxygen concentration (mg/L)

Electrical conductivity (microSiemens/cm)

Phosphorus concentration (mg/L)

Suspended solids(mg/L)

Industrial organic water pollutant (BOD) emissions per available freshwater (T/km3)

Fertilizer consumption per hectare of arable land (100g/Ha)

Pesticide consumption per hectare of arable land (kg/Ha)

China 8.62 522.78 0.28 7.97 2.74 2463.03 ..Japan 9.8 163.43 0.06 2.3 4.06 3046.12 ..Mongolia .. .. .. .. 0.12 26.69 ..North Korea .. .. .. .. .. 1148 ..South Korea 11.01 145.29 0.13 2.21 5.38 4225.83 12.8Taiwan 6.1 2244 0.18 5.25 38.58 15256.8 47.33Cambodia .. 13.62 0.04 4.03 0.02 0 ..Indonesia 3.31 167.13 0.57 5.37 0.34 1231.02 0.1Laos 6.96 20.88 0.12 4.4 .. 140.06 0.1Malaysia .. .. .. .. 0.38 6281.76 1.5Myanmar .. .. .. .. 0 164.36 ..Philippines 7.42 136.7 .. 3.81 0.75 1382.95 ..Thailand .. .. .. .. 0.71 1144.67 1.1Viet Nam 5.3 559.87 0.12 4.63 .. 3075.69 2.3

Impacts

• Eutrophication• Fish kills• Impacts to human health• Decreased availability of potable water

China: Pressures• Increasing agricultural inputs of fertilizer and pesticide• Increasing urbanization means increasing storm water inputs,

and larger pollutant load• Industrial discharges• Increasing production of hazardous wastes, with poor

disposal/sequestration protocols• Increased damming for hydropower leading to reduced flow

volume• Increasing irrigation withdraws leading to reduced flow volume• Lack of adequate enforcement of National environmental

policies regarding waste water

China: State and Trends

• Aquifers below 90% of China’s cities are polluted

• The Chinese Government has reported that 30% of river water throughout the country is unfit for use in agriculture or industry

• 700 Million people drink water contaminated with animal and human wastes

China: Impacts• World Bank links water contamination as the leading cause of

death among children under age 5.• 11% of gastrointestinal cancers in China are linked to water

pollutants• Every year, an estimated 460,000 people die prematurely in China

due to exposure to air and water pollution, according to a 2007 World Bank study

• The health burden has an economic price. The cost of cancer treatment has reached almost 100 billion yuan a year ($14.6 billion), accounting for 20 percent of China's medical expenditure, according to Chinese media.

• Widespread lotic habitat destruction

China – The Huai River

The Huai River

• Most densely populated area of China• Water utilization exceed 70%• Heavily impounded: 5,600 reservoirs• Industries: paper-making, brewing, chemical

production, tanning, and tobacco and food processing

• Between 1981 and 2003, the population grew by 30 percent

Pollutants in the Huai

• Ineffective/inadequate wastewater treatment• 50% - industrial pollutants• Wheat straw

Quick Chronology of the Huai• 1853 – Major Hydrologic changes to the Yellow river leave Huai with no

outlet to the sea• 1917 – China seeks partnership with both Canada and US engineers to

relieve flooding• 1950 – Disastrous flooding: Mao creates Huai River Conservancy• 1974 – major pollution release• 1975 – collapse of two dams kills 250,000• 1991, 1996 – major seasonal flooding• 1998 – Zero Hour Operation - plan to clean the river• 1999-2000 – River runs dry in the dry season• 2001 – Additional flooding – 38 Billion Gallons• 2004 – Further flooding – 500 million tons of polluted water after a rainfall

Flooding in the Huai

River Valley

Difficulties in implementing controls

• Four provinces• Size-based standards• Unrealistically high targets for reduction• Inadequate enforcement• Impounding water makes it difficult to control

contamination created by flood events

Response - Green GDP

• http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/1219

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t77bLtIck2g&feature=related