Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution

NPS pollution comes from many widespread sources and can be generated by most land use activities.

- Excess fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas - Oil, grease and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production - Sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding streambanks

- Salt from irrigation practices and roads

- Acid drainage from abandoned mines - Bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes

- Atmospheric deposition (rain, snow, sleet, hail)

1. What pollutants may enter waterways from each of the areas below?2. How would the pollutants make it into the waterway?3. What solutions may help prevent these pollutants from entering the water?

City streets

Rural (country) homes

Forestry; timber, Christmas trees

Cropland/Agriculture

Suburban (city) development

Animal feedlots (hog farms, cattle, etc.)

City Streets

- gasoline- motor oil- garbage- salt- feces - chemicals from construction- acid rain- organisms from dead animals- other liquids from automobiles

What additional pollutants could be added to this list?

Rural (country) Homes- septic Tanks - leaves

- garbage - sediment

- motor oil - cleaning chemicals

- animal bodies - fertilizer

- grease - pesticides

- animal waste - herbicides

- detergents/laundry - other toxic chemicals - paint

- dump sites - grass clippings

- automobile batteries

What additional pollutants could be added to this list?

Forestry

Sediment from the removal of trees, transportation of wood in and out of forest

Debris from tree removal

What additional pollutants could be added to

this list?

Suburban Development

Sediment as areas are disturbed from development process

Chemicals

Debris from building materials

Pollution from construction vehicles

What additional pollutants could be added to thislist?

Croplands/Agriculture

HerbicidesPesticides/InsecticidesSediment from land use (plowing, tilling, etc.)Fertilizer, nitrates, phosphates, nutrients etc.

What additional pollutants could be added to

this list?

Animal Feedlots

Manure (cattle, hogs, etc.) adds nutrients to water

Manure may have parasites and bacteria.

What additional pollutants could be added to

this list?

Nonpoint Source Pollution

Motor spill Pollutants Entering Storm Drain

Sediment from Runoff

Agricultural Pollution

Cont. Nonpoint Pollution (NPS)

Roadway pollutants enter storm drain

NPS pollution, unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants (point sources), comes from many widespread sources and can be generated by most land use activities.

NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water.

Common NPS pollutants include sediment, nutrients, heavy metals, pesticides, pathogens, pharmaceuticals, oil and salt.

Point Source Pollution

* Contaminants that enter awater body that can betraced back to a specificsource, location, and offender.

* Point source pollution is easier to manage compared to nonpoint source pollution.

Examples of point source pollution include:

- dumping of industrial waste,- sewage treatment facilities, - hazardous chemical deposition

(e.g. nuclear waste). - Heat can also be a pollutant;

power plants often use water to cool overheating components. Once used, this hot water is released into nearby lakes where it alters the lake’s temperature. This heat is a form of pollution because it can be harmful and kill aquatic life including sensitive fish species.

- Another example of widespread pollution is the legal discharge of sewage and other chemicals.

Pipes ( point source)

Cont. Point Source Pollution

Industrial dumping of chemicals Wastewater Treatment Plant

Thermal Pollution Nuclear Power Plant Coal Powered Steam Plant

- Nuclear power plants and coal powered steam plants use water to cool the equipment. This heated water is then returned to the environment. What problems may this present?

- Nuclear power plants also produce radioactive materials that must be disposed of properly. What problems may this present?

- Coal powered plants produce waste products (i.e. fly ash) and air pollution (acid rain). What problems may this present? What type of nonpoint source pollution may this type of power plant produce?

Irrigation

Algal Bloom

Algal bloom results when excessive nutrients are in the water. Nutrients may include fertilizer, nitrates, phosphates, manure, etc.

As algae dies, bacteria that decomposes the algae uses up dissolved oxygen in the water.

cont. Algal Bloom-An algal bloom is a rapid increase in the population of algae (typically microscopic) in an aquatic system. Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as well as marine environments. -Typically, only one or a small number of phytoplankton species are involved, and some blooms may be recognized by discoloration of the water resulting from the high density of pigmented cells. Although there is no officially recognized threshold level, algae can be considered to be blooming at concentrations of hundreds to thousands of cells per milliliter, depending on the severity. Algal bloom concentrations may reach millions of cells per milliliter. Algal blooms are often green, but they can also be other colors such as yellow-brown or red, depending on the species of algae.Bright green blooms are a result of cyanobacteria (colloquially known as blue-green algae) such as Microcystis. Blooms may also consist of macroalgal (non-phytoplanktonic) species. These blooms are recognizable by large blades of algae that may wash up onto the shoreline.Of particular note are harmful algal blooms (HABs), which are algal bloom events involving toxic or otherwise harmful phytoplankton such as dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium and Karenia, or diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia. Such blooms often take on a red or brown hue and are known colloquially as red tides.