APES Chapter 19 Water Pollution
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Created by:
FreshToDeath on October 18, 2010
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Chapter 19 Vocab
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16 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Water Pollution | any physical or chemical change in surface water or groundwater that can harm living organisms or make water unfit for certain uses |
| Fecal Coliform Bacteria | Bacteria found in the intestinal tracts of mammals. Their presence in water or sludge is an indicator of pollution and possible contamination by pathogens. |
| Biological Oxygen Demand | amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic decomposers to break down the organic material in a given volume of water at a certain temperature over a specified time period |
| Point Sources | single, identifiable source that discharges pollutants into the environment |
| Nonpoint Sources | large or dispersed areas such as crop fields, streets, ad lawns that discharge pollutants into the environment over a large area |
| Indicator Species | species that serve as early warnings that a community or ecosystem is being degraded |
| Biomonitors | a specie that is sensitive to, and shows measurable responses to, changes in the environment, such as changes in pollution levels |
| Eutrophication | physical, chemical, and biological changes that take place after a lake, estuary, or slow-flowing stream receives inputs of plant nutrients - mostly nitrates and phosphates - from natural erosion and runoff from the surrounding land basin |
| Degradable Wastes | potentially polluting substance that can be broken down completely or reduced to acceptable levels by natural physical, chemical, and biological processes |
| Dead Zones | condition of the ocean where all or most marine life is unable to survive because of extreme pollution |
| Septic Tank | underground tank for treating wastewater from the home in rural and suburban areas. Bacteria in the tank decompose organic wastes and the sludge settles to the bottom of the tank. The effluent flows out of the tanks and into the ground through a field of drainpipes |
| Primary Sewage Treatment | mechanical sewage treatment in which large solids are filtered out by screens, and suspended solids settle out as sludge in a sedimentation tank |
| Secondary Sewage Treatment | Second step in most waste treatment systems in which aerobic bacteria break down up to 90% of degradable, oxygen-demanding organic wastes in wastewater. This usually involves bringing sewage and bacteria together in trickling filters or in activated sludge processes. |
| Tertiary Sewage Treatment | specialized chemical and physical processes that reduce the amount of specific pollutants left in wastewater after primary and secondary treatments; usually inexpensive |
| Sludge | gooey mixture of toxic chemicals, infectious agents, and settled solids removed from wastewater at a sewage treatment plant |
| Chlorination | the application of chlorine to drinking water, sewage, or industrial waste to disinfect undesirable compounds |
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