Great Barrier Reef: World Heritage in Danger? Australia's Great Barrier Reef is losing coral at an alarming rate—and may soon lose its prestigious status as one of the world's great natural treasures as well. The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has warned that without the urgent implementation of sustainable management improvements, the reef could land on its list of World Heritage in Danger as early as 2014. "World Heritage in Danger is essentially the list of shame, and we've got real concerns that UNESCO may put the Great Barrier Reef on this list," said WWF-Australia's Richard Leck. "That's not the outcome that anybody wants," Leck added, noting that national prestige and some $6 billion in annual reef-related tourism could both take a hit. The reef, which stretches for some 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) off northeast Australia's Queensland coast, is the largest structure on Earth built by living organisms.
Environmentalists Give Government Failing Grades.
Threats to Clean Water Today. Air Date: Week of December 28, 2012 stream/download this segment as an MP3 file Today one of the biggest threats to clean rivers comes from agricultural runoff. (NOAA) The Clean Water Act has had considerable success over 40 years, but now it faces challenges such as crumbling infrastructure, stormwater overflows, agricultural runoff and lack of enforcement. Host Ashley Ahearn discusses some of those challenges with Robert McClure of Investigate West. Transcript AHEARN: It’s Living on Earth.
I’m Ashley Ahearn. CURWOOD: And I’m Steve Curwood. AHEARN: That’s right. CURWOOD: So, back when the act passed in 1972 there were rivers catching fire, fish washing up dead by the thousands, and raw sewage flowing into waterways from Maine to Hawaii. AHEARN: Right, and as you might imagine, the challenges we face today are different from the ones we faced back when the Clean Water Act was first created. AHEARN: That’s right. CURWOOD: So, how does it work? CURWOOD: Alright, let’s take a listen. Links. Great Lakes National Program Office- Image Collection. Pollution | Threats. The Problem of Polluted Runoff in Puget Sound — People For Puget Sound. Polluted Runoff: The #1 unaddressed problem facing Puget Sound waters. Polluted runoff is an almost invisible problem.
It doesn’t have the media visibility of greenhouse gas emissions, the smell of raw sewage outfalls, the eye-sore of air pollution, or any other obvious symbols of its disastrous effects on our quality of life. The signs are there and sadly, there are many of them. However, they seem unrelated to one another and are treated systematically, rather than systemically. Steve Spring | Marine Photobank Every year, an estimated 26,600 gallons of stormwater fall on a single home and with an estimated 4.5 million residents in the Puget Sound region, 14 MILLION POUNDS of toxic chemicals enter Puget Sound waters annually. Puget Sound region we know today is very different from the Puget Sound of the past.
This hidden, yet monstrous problem is hurting our health, our livelihoods, our wildlife, and our future. California Department of Water Resources Polluted runoff is responsible for: Ag.udel.edu/udbg/sl/hydrology/Permeable_Impermeable_Surfaces.pdf. Point and Non-point Source Pollution | Ottawa Gatineau Watershed Atlas. Point Source Pollution. Source: Jay Morrisson Point source pollution enters the environment at a specific place from an identifiable source. Examples are: Urban Runoff. Source: ign11 Non-point source pollution comes from many diffuse sources. Agricultural runoff, which can contain oil, grease, fertilizers, pesticides, bacteria and nutrients from livestock and manure; urban runoff from buildings, streets, and sidewalks that carry sediment, nutrients, bacteria, oil, metals chemicals, pesticides, road salts, pet droppings and litter; bacterial and petroleum products from recreational boating; salt water intrusion; and acid precipitation and other forms of air pollution that fall into surface waters and onto the land.
Adapted from Pollution Probe's Source Water Protection Primer. Conventional Wastewater Treatment Process : Water Reuse. Although there are many variations of wastewater treatment plants, most will have the following steps: preliminary treatment, primary treatment, secondary treatment, tertiary treatment, disinfection, and solids handling. Each of these steps will be reviewed below. Preliminary Treatment During Preliminary Treatment, the incoming raw sewage, or influent, is strained to removed all large objects that make their way into the sewer system.
These objects can be anything from rags and sticks to toys, cans and even snakes. Another component of Preliminary Treatment is the grit channel where the velocity of the incoming wastewater is carefully controlled to allow sand, grit, and stones to settle to the bottom of the channel while keeping the majority of the suspended organic material in the water column. Preliminary Treatment is vital for preventing damage to pumps and other equipment in the remaining treatment stages. Primary Treatment Secondary Treatment Tertiary Treatment Disinfection Sources: Nonpoint Source Pollution Awareness: What's Wrong with This Picture? | Polluted Runoff.