How to Determine if Your Coastline Is Contaminated
Determine which types of infrastructure are locally located within a couple miles radius to the coastline/beach., Determine whether there is "non-point source contamination" occurring., Study the direction that the wind typically blows and where...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Determine which types of infrastructure are locally located within a couple miles radius to the coastline/beach.
Areas that act as drivers of local pollution include but are not limited to: highways/busy roads, different types of factories (coal burning, fossil fuel burning), farmland/cattle pastures/rural areas, urban areas/cities, shipyards, and so forth.
Basically, any area that burns fuels and or uses a water source to wash away harmful materials, could be a source of contaminants.
Places that can be considered point sources of water pollution are places that are the sources of negative impact in an ecosystem. -
Step 2: Determine whether there is "non-point source contamination" occurring.
It will be hard to find an area without non-point source pollution.
It’s also more difficult to detect.
To determine non-point source water pollution capabilities of the surrounding area, you need to know if there are locations near your water source where heavy fossil fuel burning, construction, or agriculture takes place.
These sources of contamination have to go through a process before becoming a contaminant in your water source.
For example, when you drive and burn gasoline, your car's exhaust emits nitrogen oxide; this combines with sulfur oxides (particularly SO2) and other pollutants in the atmosphere, which then mixes within the clouds causing acid rain.
When the nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, reach the cloud layer, they mix within the precipitation, then it rains upon the land.This acid rain causes the pH level in a water system or soil to decrease.
The lower the level of pH, the more acidic a water system gets.
The more acidic a water system gets, more organisms die. , There are also geographic implications as well.
In Provo, Utah, the community sits between two mountain ranges, so the wind if it blows east to west over this valley, air pollution blowing from California and Nevada collects in the valley like a funnel.
This causes the local news team to sometimes announce that it would be imperative to stay indoors that day.
However, the difference between acid rain and this process is that there there is no precipitation to mix with.
The dryness creates smog, which is airborne gaseous pollutants and airborne particulate pollutants.
This also affects water quality because when it does rain, all these pollutants will travel as run-off into the water table. , If you notice a red, brown, or green hue form in the coastal waters, it is because there is an algal bloom occurring.
This can be caused by sewage and/or agricultural runoff.
This occurs because of a build-up of the nutrients phosphorous and nitrogen, that are used in fertilizers.The fertilizers are added into the water table every time a fertilized field is watered.
All of these nutrients flow into nearby streams and waterways, and end up in the ocean if left unchecked.
These nutrients are then consumed by phytoplankton or better known as algae, causing the numbers of these photosynthetic organisms to multiply, consuming all the nutrients.
When it is all depleted, they begin to die from lack of nutrients needed to continue metabolic process, thus falling to the bottom of waterways.
As they decompose, the chemical reaction depletes the oxygen levels in the environment, creating what is known as a dead zone.Fish and other aquatic organisms that live underwater extract oxygen from the water, and when there is no oxygen, they fairly obviously, suffocate.
So most organisms either attempt to vacate the premises, or not.
The process of an aquatic environment becoming depleted of dissolved oxygen is called hypoxia., This affects human beings directly, because as these harmful metals accumulate in aquatic organisms, the trade of harmful metals from prey to predator continues up the food chain, until we are consuming these organisms and accumulating the harmful metals into our bodies.
This is a process called bio-accumulation., There are many different types of test strips that can be purchased at most home appliance stores.
Strips testing for pH, nitrates (fertilizer), and lead are used all the time for home water supply contaminant checks. , Dip one of these test strips into the water to determine the levels of pH, nitrates, etc. , What levels of chemicals are showing up? , It is also possible to use a microscope to test samples of the water to find out which microorganisms are thriving.
There will be different types of microorganisms and differing compositions of them depending on whether or not the water is healthy. -
Step 3: Study the direction that the wind typically blows and where this wind is coming from.
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Step 4: Watch for color changes in local waters.
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Step 5: Be aware that industrial runoff can go undetected into the sediments
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Step 6: as well as organism’s epidermis
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Step 7: lipid stores
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Step 8: and internal organs.
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Step 9: Use testing strips.
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Step 10: Transfer some of the water source in question into a container.
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Step 11: Do readings off the test strips.
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Step 12: Use a microscope.
Detailed Guide
Areas that act as drivers of local pollution include but are not limited to: highways/busy roads, different types of factories (coal burning, fossil fuel burning), farmland/cattle pastures/rural areas, urban areas/cities, shipyards, and so forth.
Basically, any area that burns fuels and or uses a water source to wash away harmful materials, could be a source of contaminants.
Places that can be considered point sources of water pollution are places that are the sources of negative impact in an ecosystem.
It will be hard to find an area without non-point source pollution.
It’s also more difficult to detect.
To determine non-point source water pollution capabilities of the surrounding area, you need to know if there are locations near your water source where heavy fossil fuel burning, construction, or agriculture takes place.
These sources of contamination have to go through a process before becoming a contaminant in your water source.
For example, when you drive and burn gasoline, your car's exhaust emits nitrogen oxide; this combines with sulfur oxides (particularly SO2) and other pollutants in the atmosphere, which then mixes within the clouds causing acid rain.
When the nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, reach the cloud layer, they mix within the precipitation, then it rains upon the land.This acid rain causes the pH level in a water system or soil to decrease.
The lower the level of pH, the more acidic a water system gets.
The more acidic a water system gets, more organisms die. , There are also geographic implications as well.
In Provo, Utah, the community sits between two mountain ranges, so the wind if it blows east to west over this valley, air pollution blowing from California and Nevada collects in the valley like a funnel.
This causes the local news team to sometimes announce that it would be imperative to stay indoors that day.
However, the difference between acid rain and this process is that there there is no precipitation to mix with.
The dryness creates smog, which is airborne gaseous pollutants and airborne particulate pollutants.
This also affects water quality because when it does rain, all these pollutants will travel as run-off into the water table. , If you notice a red, brown, or green hue form in the coastal waters, it is because there is an algal bloom occurring.
This can be caused by sewage and/or agricultural runoff.
This occurs because of a build-up of the nutrients phosphorous and nitrogen, that are used in fertilizers.The fertilizers are added into the water table every time a fertilized field is watered.
All of these nutrients flow into nearby streams and waterways, and end up in the ocean if left unchecked.
These nutrients are then consumed by phytoplankton or better known as algae, causing the numbers of these photosynthetic organisms to multiply, consuming all the nutrients.
When it is all depleted, they begin to die from lack of nutrients needed to continue metabolic process, thus falling to the bottom of waterways.
As they decompose, the chemical reaction depletes the oxygen levels in the environment, creating what is known as a dead zone.Fish and other aquatic organisms that live underwater extract oxygen from the water, and when there is no oxygen, they fairly obviously, suffocate.
So most organisms either attempt to vacate the premises, or not.
The process of an aquatic environment becoming depleted of dissolved oxygen is called hypoxia., This affects human beings directly, because as these harmful metals accumulate in aquatic organisms, the trade of harmful metals from prey to predator continues up the food chain, until we are consuming these organisms and accumulating the harmful metals into our bodies.
This is a process called bio-accumulation., There are many different types of test strips that can be purchased at most home appliance stores.
Strips testing for pH, nitrates (fertilizer), and lead are used all the time for home water supply contaminant checks. , Dip one of these test strips into the water to determine the levels of pH, nitrates, etc. , What levels of chemicals are showing up? , It is also possible to use a microscope to test samples of the water to find out which microorganisms are thriving.
There will be different types of microorganisms and differing compositions of them depending on whether or not the water is healthy.
About the Author
Christopher Richardson
Creates helpful guides on pet care to inspire and educate readers.
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