2. Carlie
Identify potential sources of water pollution in your community:
Facts:
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department provides water to Birmingham
community. http://www.dwsd.org/
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department gets water from Detroit River and
Lake Huron.
Contaminants to Lake Huron originate from a number of sources, including
industrial and municipal discharges, spills, landfills, storm sewers, and
agricultural runoff. /www.great-lakes.net/humanhealth/lake/huron.html
3. Carlie
Science provides many practical solutions to minimizing the present level at
which pollutants are introduced into the environment and for remediating
(cleaning up) past problems. All of these solutions come with some cost (both
societal and monetary). In our everyday lives, a great deal can be done to
minimize pollution if we take care to recycle materials whose production
creates pollution and if we act responsibly with household chemicals and
their disposal. Additionally, there are choices we make each day that also can
affect the quantity of pollutants our actions will introduce into the
environment. Heavily packaged foods, for instance, contain
boxes, cartons, bottles etc . . . made with polluting dyes, many of which are
released from groundwater at municipal landfills. Whether we choose to
drive to the corner store rather than walk or ride a bicycle will determine how
much we personally contribute to acid and hydrocarbon emissions to the
atmosphere (and ultimately to global fresh water supplies).
In the end, there are many choices on the personal and societal level that
we must make (consciously).
4. Ben:
Compare point and non-point sources of pollution and give
examples of each:
Point source pollution is when there is pollution coming out of
just one source. An example is if a lake is polluted because of a
factory nearby. A none-point source of pollution is if somewhere
is polluted and it has to do with a lot of different reasons for
being polluted. An example of none-point source pollution is if a
river is polluted by fertilizer in the river, trash, etc.
5. Logan:
Suggest practices to reduce water pollution:
To stop littering and to start to pick up garbage
in our watershed because otherwise it will be
un-reversible like the rouge river.
6. Jacqueline
Identify any local agencies that work to protect water quality in your
community:
Friends of the River Rouge and Rouge River National Wet Weather
Demonstration Project (http://www.rougeriver.com/ ).
Explain how various land uses can affect water quality:
Land uses such as neighborhoods can affect the water quality because of
fertilizers and pet droppings. Farming can affect the water quality because of
fertilizers and chemicals and animal droppings. Parking lots can affect the
water quality because of oil leaks and litter. Industries can affect the water
quality because of shipping boats and chemical waste. Parks can affect water
quality because of pet droppings and litter. All these things can get into river
and lakes through runoff.
