All About Water

An Introduction to Chemicals in Water

Chemicals in water come in a variety of forms, safe and unsafe, organic and inorganic. They also come from a variety of sources, from pollution to water treatment.

Organic and Inorganic Chemicals in Water

While some chemicals in water are harmless at lower concentrations, many chemicals in water are toxic. Chemicals in water come in two basic varieties, organic and inorganic. Organic chemicals in water are chemicals that can naturally occur. These include chemicals from food processing waste, petroleum products, and cosmetics. Inorganic chemicals are chemicals that do not naturally occur. Some inorganic chemicals in water come from heavy metals from industrial by-products, cars, and fertilizers.

Chemicals in Water: Water Treatment

We think of water treatment as a process that removes chemicals from water, purifying it. However, in the process of eliminating the chemical contaminants in water, water treatment also adds some chemicals in water. Water treatment is applied not only to drinking water, but also to water that’s used for industrial, medical, and other purposes. The goal of water treatment is to make water safe enough to return to natural environments without causing negative ecological effects. Water treatment can refer to water settling and filtration, but it can also refer to the chemical processes of disinfection, desalination and coagulation. Contaminants in water include bacteria, viruses, and chemical pollutants like fertilizers.  Water treatment is hugely important because waterborne diseases kill 1.8 million people each year.

Naturally Occurring Chemicals in Water

Chemicals in water do not necessarily constitute water pollution. Some chemicals can naturally occur in water (like sodium and calcium, for instance). However, even these chemicals can harm us and Earth’s ecosystems if they are too highly concentrated.

What Are Introduced Species?

Introduced species are species that now live outside of their native range. These species are introduced to new areas–usually over previously inaccessible bodies of water–by human activity, either deliberately or accidentally. The Environmental Protection Agency defines introduced species as “species that have become able to survive and reproduce outside the habitats where they evolved or spread naturally.”

The Terminology of Introduced Species

Scientists are ambivalent about introducing species to areas that they don’t naturally inhabit. Introduced species are introduced to these new areas by accidental or deliberate human activity. Introduced species can harm the ecosystems of the places that they’re introduced to. However, sometimes introduced species can have no effect on or even help the ecosystems they’re introduced to. For instance, some of the plants that Europeans brought into North America have aided the continent’s biodiversity and productivity. Because introduced species can spread too quickly for us to control and can sometimes help us, most environmentalists consider it impractical and undesirable to simply prohibit introducing non-native species.

How We Refer to Introduced Species

Scientists refer to introduced species by many terms, like “non-indigenous,” “non-native,” “exotic,” and even “invasive.” The broadest term applied to introduced species is “non-native,” which can be applied to both agriculturally maintained and wild species. Some introduced species can survive by themselves in nature when introduced—these are “naturalized” species. “Invasive” species threaten ecosystems by spreading or reproducing too widely or too fast, thereby harming the environment or human health.

How We Introduce Species: Intentionally Introduced Species

Through human activity, we introduce species to places that they don’t naturally inhabit. Sometimes we introduce species accidentally, and sometimes intentionally. People usually introduce species intentionally because they will economically gain by doing so. For instance, New Zealand introduced the Monterey Pine to bolster timber crops. We have also introduced species for recreational activities, like game hunting or ornamental gardening. We have also introduced species by bringing pets overseas. When we try to establish introduce these species in the wild, we often have trouble predicting how well the introduced species will fare. For this reason, we often have to make several attempts to establish an introduced species.

Accidentally Introduced Species

Sometimes people accidentally introduce species to new areas. For example, we have spread many rat species spread across the world by unintentionally transporting them aboard ships. Human travel also introduces several species to places where they don’t naturally inhabit. For example, tourists introduced the African killer bee to Brazil.

What Is DDT?

DDT, the abbreviation for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, is a well-known chemical pesticide with a controversial history.

The Properties of DDT

DDT does not naturally occur. Instead, it must be chemically synthesized. Because DDT has caused so much controversy, it has been marketed under several trade names, like Anofex, Chlorophenothane, Dicophane, and Neocidol. When ingested by insects, DDT causes spasms and eventually death. However, some mutated insects have developed a gene that has made them resistant to insecticides like DDT. When ingested by humans, DDT can disrupt our endocrine systems.

The History of DDT

The chemist Othmar Zeidler first synthesized DDT in 1874. However, he was not aware that the chemical could work as an insecticide. Later, in 1939, the Swiss scientist Paul Hermann Muller discovered DDT’s insecticidal properties. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1948 for his discovery. DDT was first used as a pesticide during WWII, where it worked so well as an insect killer that some soldiers labeled it the “atomic bomb” of pesticides. After WWII, DDT was made available to farms, where it could be used on crops. It soon became the most popular insecticide.

Rachel Carson Questions DDT’s Safety

In 1962, biologist Rachel Carson published a book called Silent Spring, a book that many credit with beginning the environmental movement. In Silent Spring, Carson questioned whether indiscriminately spraying DDT onto crops was harming the environment. She was the first scientist to truly critique the safety of releasing chemicals into the environment without knowing how they would impact us or our world. Carson worried that pesticides like DDT were harming the environment and causing cancer in humans. Largely because of Silent Spring’s popularity, the United States banned DDT’s agricultural usage in 1972.

DDT Today

After being banned, DDT is much less common today. Between 1950 and 1980, worldwide agriculture used over 40,000 tons of DDT each year. In 2009, however, only 3313 tons of DDT were produced, and they were produced mainly for the treatment of malaria, not for agricultural use. Environmentalists believe that the DDT ban has helped endangered species make comebacks, most notably the bald eagle.

What Is Salt Marsh?

Salt marsh is an ecosystem that occurs between land and saltwater, an ecosystem that helps protect the coast. Salt marshes are populated by salt-tolerant plants like herbs, grasses and shrubs. These plants allow the salt marsh to trap sediment. The salt marsh then exports these nutrients to the coast. Salt marsh also creates a habitat for land-bound animals like mammals and migratory birds.

Where Do We Find Salt Marsh?

Salt marsh occurs on temperate coasts in sheltered environments like estuaries and embankments. In tropical areas, salt marsh is replaced by mangroves, marshes populated by salt-tolerant trees instead of salt-tolerant herbs. Salt marsh frequently occurs along the deltas of large rivers, like the Mississippi.

Salt Marsh is Unique

Unlike land-bound habitats, coastal salt marsh ecosystems are flooded by tidal flow every day. This tidal flow helps deliver sediments to salt marsh. The nutrients that collect in salt marshes make them highly productive environments that enable a broad food chain of organisms. In salt marshes we can find everything from bacteria to mammals. However, to survive, salt marsh organisms must be tolerant of salinity and flooding. Flora further inland are less exposed to salinity and flooding, and therefore don’t usually need to be as hardy, allowing inland salt marsh flora more diversity.

How Humans Have Harmed Salt Marsh

People flock to salt marshes for their beauty and coastal location. In 2002, over half of the world’s population lived within thirty-five miles of the coast. However, our population density along coasts means that we greatly impact salt marshes, often in negative ways. In the past people perceived marshlands as near-wasteland, and we used “land reclamation” to convert these areas into upland for agricultural purposes. After that, this upland was sometimes again converted into urban or industrial land, as in the cities of Boston and Tokyo. We have polluted salt marsh with runoff and nitrogen loading, introducing new species while killing off old ones. However, by altering marshlands, we have altered the salt marsh ecosystem. We’ve devastated salt marshes’ biodiversity and natural water flow.

Salt Marsh Perception and Restoration

Nowadays people are trying to restore salt marsh and reverse land reclamation. People no longer perceive salt marshes as “coastal wastelands,” and now see how biologically productive these areas are. In terms of biodiversity, people now perceive salt marshes as similar to tropical rainforests. Legislation such as the United States’ Clean Water Act now protects salt marsh habitats.

What Are Phthalates: An Introduction

Many readers may be wondering, “What are phthalates?” Phthalates are a group of petroleum-based chemicals that were originally developed to make plastics more flexible. Nearly all people in industrialized and developing countries carry varying amounts of phthalate compounds in their bodies. However, phthalates have also been found to disrupt hormones in animals and humans. Because we use plastics in virtually every part of our lives, we may limit our exposure to phthalates, but never completely eliminate it.

What Are Phthalates: Common Uses of Phthalates

Once we understand what are phthalates, we must understand what they’re used for. Phthalates are chemicals that can be found in anything plastic. Food packaging, nail polish, vinyl tiling, garden hoses, shampoos and insect repellent all contain phthalates. In fact, the coveted “new car smell” is actually the smell of phthalates vaporizing as plastic parts are exposed to heat. Given our constant exposure to phthalates, it is unsurprising that these chemicals affect human health.

What are Phthalates: Health Risks of Phthalates

What are phthalates? Dangerous. Phthalates are hormone disruptors. Phthalate exposure in the womb shortens gestation, lowers male children’s sperm count and in female children causes endocrine problems that lead to premature breast development. This is especially worrying because, according to a 2000 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, women of child-bearing age receive twenty times more phthalate exposure than any other segment of the population. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has regulated phthalates as water and air pollutants since 2005. In lab animals, phthalate exposure again lowers sperm count and also causes birth defects and testicular atrophy.

What Are Phthalates: How to Avoid Phthalates

Although research has proven phthalates’ devastating health consequences for animals, research has not yet proven phthalates’ health consequences for humans to an extent that would sufficiently justify banning phthalates’ usage. However, you can lessen your phthalate exposure in several ways. Avoid products with artificial fragrances, as these products likely contain phthalates.  Shop for personal care items that are labeled “phthalate-free.” If a product’s label lists di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) or diethyl phthalate (DEP) among its ingredients, put it back on the shelf.

What Are Phthalates: Common Products That Contain Phthalates

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has published a list of 210 common household items that contain phthalates. This list can be accessed at their website and used as a guide to the products you should watch out for. The EWG also publishes a parents’ guide to phthalate-free childcare products.

Chlorine in Water

Chlorine is commonly used to disinfect our water. However, chlorine in water can also harm us. Because of this, we need to learn how to remove the chlorine in water, or how to entirely replace chlorine usage in our water treatment.

Why Chlorine Is Added into Our Water Supply

Chlorine is well-known and widely used to disinfect our water. Chlorine in water deactivates various pathogenic microorganisms (like bacteria or viruses), which cause illness. Authorities chlorinate public water supplies in order to kill the hazardous bacteria present in our water or water pipes. In addition to disinfecting water, chlorine is also used to disinfect various home and hospital areas and to bleach fabrics. We have used chlorine in water as a disinfectant for over two hundred years.

How Chlorine in Water Can Hurt Us

Although chlorine can disinfect our water, it can also hurt us if ingested. Chlorine in water can form into toxins called trihalomethanes (THMs); THMs correlate with diseases like asthma, eczema, bladder cancer, and heart diseases. Studies have shown that drinking large amounts of chlorinated tap water dramatically increases pregnant women’s risk of miscarriages and birth defects.

How We Can Remove Chlorine from Water

Carbon filters remove chlorine, THMs, and other harmful contaminants from our water. Additionally, while they produce the same excellent water quality that electronic filters produce, carbon filters are much cheaper. You can also remove chlorine and other contaminants from water without a home filtration system by placing water in an uncovered container and leaving it inside your refrigerator for twenty-four hours.

Water Treatment Alternatives to Chlorine in Water

Although we need to disinfect our water, we don’t need to use chlorine to do so. Several Canadian and European cities are disinfecting their water using the ozone instead of chlorine. Some cities in the United States, like Las Vegas and Santa Clara, are also switching to this alternative. However, the easiest way to get rid of the chlorine in water is simply to filter it out.

The world’s oceans are so vast that they might seem immune to the influence of human waste. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Marine pollutants are a problem, and despite regulation and laws like the Clean Water Act, marine pollutants continue to be a problem. Marine pollutants, like urban runoff, biostimulants, petroleum, plastics, other debris and thermal pollution, severely harm our waterways and the life they contain.

Major Marine Pollutants: Urban Runoff

Human activity concentrates naturally occurring compounds until they become hazardous. When rainwater or wastewater from homes runs into storm drains, it picks up these hazardous compounds and deposits them into waterways. Man-made compounds like DDT and cleaners are also introduced into the marine environment this way. Much of human runoff results from individuals’ day-to-day activities.

Major Marine Pollutants: Biostimulants and Sewage

Biostimulants do not stimulate life, as their name might mislead one to believe; instead, they do more harm than good. Sewage is organic and breaks down via bacterial decay. The decay process depletes available oxygen and suffocates local animal life. Additionally, the chemical breakdown produces ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. These chemicals are toxic to fish, even in low concentrations. Bacteria and other contaminants may be consumed by shellfish, which then become hazardous to humans or other animals if consumed. Some forms of algae thrive on the nutrients created by biostimulants and can overgrow into algae blooms or “red tides.”

Marine Pollutants: Oil

Oil is introduced into waterways through spills like the massive Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. Oil production also leads to the seepage of oil into the marine ecosystem, as does rainwater runoff. Oil floats on the surface of the water, coating and suffocating any marine life that touches the water’s surface. Oil also prevents oxygen from permeating from the air into water, and thereby suffocates life that may not even directly touch the oil.

Marine Pollutants: Plastics and Other Debris

As humans travel the earth’s waters, we leave our mark. Despite regulation, we toss debris over the sides of ships, and lose things like containers and fishing nets overboard. This debris is eaten by fish and water mammals and can eventually kill them.

Marine Pollutants: Thermal Pollution

Nuclear power plants and other industrial outlets use water as a coolant. The heated water is disposed of directly into waterways where it increases the temperature of the body of water. This, again, stimulates the dangerous growth of algae blooms.

An Overview of Endangered Fish and Marine Animals

Humans have left a strong mark on the world. Unfortunately, that mark sometimes comes at a hefty cost. Because of overfishing or damage to their natural habitat, many fish and sea animals are now threatened, endangered or on the verge of extinction because of overfishing or damage to their natural habitat. Atlantic salmon, leatherback sea turtles, blue whales, smalltooth sawfish, and coral reefs are just some of the creatures on the list of endangered fish and marine animals.

Endangered Fish and Marine Animals: Atlantic Salmon

Atlantic salmon once swam in every river north of the Hudson. Today, the remaining wild Atlantic salmon population can only be found in eleven rivers. Only about fifteen to thirty-five percent of eggs laid by spawning salmon will survive through the fry stage because their habitats have been destroyed by acidified water, climate change, thermal pollution, the introduction of competitive non-native species, and poaching.

Endangered Fish and Marine Animals: Leatherback Sea Turtles

Leatherback sea turtles are not only the largest species of turtle, but the largest living reptile in the world. Generally these turtles remain in the open ocean, but they return to coastal areas to breed and forage. They make the list of endangered fish and marine animals for several reasons. The turtles are ingesting marine debris, they are continually entangled in nets and fishing gear, their eggs and females are being harvested, their environment is being contaminated, and they are bombarded with infection and disease

Endangered Fish and Marine Animals: Blue Whale

Blue whales once numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Today, their population worldwide is estimated at 8,000. The blue whale’s decline is primarily attributed to the overfishing of the whaling industry.

Endangered Fish and Marine Animals: Smalltooth Sawfish

Smalltooth sawfish belong to the chondrichthyes class of animals, which includes skates, rays and sharks. This class is composed of fish with cartilaginous skeletons, rather than bony ones. Sawfish are known for their distinctive long snouts, which are ringed around with teeth that are used to locate and kill prey. Smalltooth sawfish are included among endangered fish and marine animals because of their low population growth, frequent net entanglement, and loss of habitat.

Endangered Fish and Marine Animals: Coral Reefs

Although at first glance a coral reef may appear similar to stone, it is in fact composed of tiny creatures. Coral reefs are not only alive, but they also provide a habitat for many other creatures. Currently, about two-thirds of the world’s coral reefs are damaged; ten percent of the world’s reefs are damaged beyond repair. Human activity has caused about sixty percent of that damage. We’ve condemned coral reefs to the list of endangered fish and marine animals by polluting, developing along coasts near coral reefs, mining coral for ornamental purposes, introducing non-native species to their ecosystems, and aiding climate change.

Thermal Pollution

Water and Biodiversity in the Freshwater Biome Is Under Attack