Report Of Sea Pollution And Its Prevention

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INTRODUCTION:-

Sea water covers approximately an area of 328,000,000 cubic miles which is about 71% of the total area of earth. This large amount of sea water is used to support more than 6.1 billion people living in earth. Water is also necessary for other living beings on earth. But this highly essential thing is getting polluted day by day. Majority of the sea water pollution are occurred by man directly or indirectly. This is a potential threat for the existence of all living beings on earth. We have to save our oceans for our own sake. Unfortunately we are still unaware of this great fact. As a result, they construct industrial areas near the sea are without any plan, they throw wastes to rivers and sea water indeterminately. Tons of oils are spills daily in sea water which make laminar or thick layers on the sea water and makes dangerous effects on sea lives. Thus ecological balance is disrupted. For this reason, mass awareness is the main keystone to solve this problem. Our bays, lakes, rivers, harbors, and finally our sea and oceans are in trouble. Our sea creatures are showing sign of diseases; garbage is floating on top of the water; and the water itself is not fit for men to swim. Many beaches are being closed as they are not safe to go in to the water and it is sometimes not safe to eat the fish. In the following report we will see the effects of sea pollution, causes of sea pollution and possible steps that how we can get rid of this problem.

2. BACKGROUND HISTORY:-

At one time scientists thought that amount of sea water in earth is as vast that it can dilute all harmful elements delivered by industries and agricultural activities and also from other sources. Significant laws to prevent sea pollution did not found before twentieth century. Sea pollution concern was first raised at about 1950 when several meeting of United Nations discussed about ‘the law of the sea’. Marine sea pollution became a worldwide issue after The Mediterranean Sea Controversy and campaign carried out against sea pollution. Sea pollution became more widespread after the 1967 crass of the oil tanker Torrey Canyon and after the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill off the coast of California. Marine

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pollution was the major concern at “United Nations Conference on the Human Environment’1972” held in Stockholm. From the history of United States found that extensive sea water pollution began about nineteenth century as a result of urbanization, industrialization, and modern practice in agricultural sectors. Industrial by-products, human sewage and animal waste joined together and foul pure drinking water. As a result waterborne epidemic was spread out mainly at New York Cityat 1832. Man started to purify their drinking water and they realize that sea water is getting polluted. After the Second World War, USA started to develop in agricultural sectors. They used fertilizers which contains high amount of sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorus. These elements got mixed with sea water and plants and bacteria were born which cause oxygen crisis in sea water. As a result fishes and other animals living in sea became dead and made sea pollution. After those happenings mass awareness was build up against sea pollution to preserve sea animals and human health. With the increase of world population, human waste and other man made problems increase. 3.

SEA POLLUTION FACTS:3.1.

Sea pollution facts based on USA.

 40% of American rivers are too polluted for fishing, swimming, and for aquatic life.  Mississippi river throws about 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen waste every year in to The Gulf of Mexico which comes from farm land.  1.2 trillion gallons of untreated sewage, storm water, and industrial waste are discharged every year in to the sea water of USA.  About 25% of US beaches are closed in a year because of sea pollution. 3.2. Condition of other continents.  Asian rivers are most polluted in the world.  Greece has the cleanest and Lithuania and Estonia has the dirtiest coastal water.

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 The king river is most polluted in Australia. Water of this river is severely acidic because of mining.  Many diseases caused by using contaminated water with virus, bacteria, or other parasites such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery and other diarrheal diseases.  Because of plastic waste in sea water and in coastal areas, annually 100,000 marine mammals, 1 million sea birds and countless fish are died.  80% pollution of seas and oceans comes from land-based activities.  Baltic Sea is the world most polluted sea.

Fig 1:-Baltic Sea  In one week, a typical cruise ship produces1. 210,000 gallons of sewage 2. 1,000,000 gallons of gray water 3. 37,000 gallons of oily bilge water 4. More than 8 tons of solid was 4. CAUSES OF SEA POLLUTION:4.1.

Oil pollution:-

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Oil is such a chemical which can persist with sea water for many years. Primarily specific gravity of oil is less than water, so it can see that oil make laminar or thick layers on water surface. Then it reacts with atmospheric chemical components, products of which make effect on sea life. Large oil pollution comes from tanker accident, or tanker clean up illegally. sources Large spill accident Routine ship maintenance Drain and run off From air pollution Natural seepage Offshore drilling

Million gallons/year 37 137 363 92 62 15

Chart 1:- oil pollution sources Large tanker accident of THE Exxon Valdez spills nearly 11 million gallons of oil into the sea recently. Land-based petroleum carried out by rain water is another cause of oil pollution. This includes drips of oils, fuels, and fluid from cars and trucks; dribbles of gasoline spilled in to the ground at the filling station; and drips from industrial machinery. Effect of this oil pollution is so much terrible. Oil and its constituents can change the ecology of aquatic habitat and the physiology of marine organism. Components of crude oil, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs), persist in the marine environments for years and are toxic to marine life. The oil penetrates the structure of the plumage of birds, reducing its insulating ability. Damage its kidney, liver function, and alter total digestive system. Marine mammals exposed to oil spill are facing problem in similar way. Oil coats the fur of sea otters and seals reducing its insulation ability, which cause their body temperature fluctuation and hypothermia. By the following picture we can show that how oil can effect marine environment.

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Fig 2:- effects of oil in marine environment 4.2.

Urban waste and sewage:-

Urban waste consists of garbage dumping, storm water, industrial waste etc. Urban waste goes through sewage pipe line to sea. Many sewage pipelines were built years ago when people did not know the negative effect of pollution. And it was thought that sea would dilute the sewage. Since then amount of swage has been increased terribly. Waste from garbage dump taken away by rain water mix with sea water can cause heavy pollution. Industries emits large amount of waste every day. These wastes are directly dumped to river and sea. The toxic and poisonous materials of waste can harm many plant and animals and our health also. When toxic waste harms an organism it can quickly be passed along the food chain and imbalance the ecology.

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Chart 2:- containments of urban waste. 4.3. Gas impact:Gases have multiple effects on sea pollution. Co2 emission in atmosphere can alter ocean chemistry. About 1/3 of atmospheric Co2 is absorbed by ocean surface, which make carbonic acid in sea water and damage corals. It also increases the acidity of sea water which is very much harmful for phytoplankton and zooplankton. But these are the base of food chain in marine environment. The pH scale of sea water lower every year drastically because of presence of Co2 in water.

Fig 3:- decreasing pH with year

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Sulfur gas in environment coming from industrial areas and also from cars and vehicles mixed with air and then with cloud. It causes acid rain. Acid rain is dangerous for sea water. It kills fish and sea plants. NH4 (ammonia) pollution basically comes from agricultural sectors. But living beings produce large amount of ammonia every day. This ammonia is a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen. So ammonia can be disintegrated in to these elements causing extra amount of nitrogen in sea water. This nitrogen then gets mixed with oxygen and form NO2. This is a strong green-house-gas. Nitrogen-die-oxide cause global warming also. CH4 (methane) gas comes from industrial and garbage waste. This methane gas disintegrated to carbon and hydrogen. Extra amount of carbon give birth to many algae and other sea plant. These sea plants depend on oxygen. So other animals like fish are dead. 4.4.

Plastic pollution:-

Fig 4:- polybags and bottles mixed with sea water Research found than about 25% sea birds contain plastic fragments in their digestive system. And their chicks are also dead because of having medium size plastic piece in their stomach. Not only sea birds but also other animals like whales, dolphins, seals, puffins, and turtles, are infected by plastic pollution. In

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most polluted region plastic to plankton ratio is 48 to 1. So when small fishes eat planktons, they obviously eat up these plastic also. 80% of the plastic come from land and other 20% come from ships and sea going vessels. 4.5. Agricultural waste:Agricultural waste contains harmful toxic elements which pollutes sea water. These are two types. One is fertilizers like phosphate, sulfate, nitrate, and other metallic salts. These chemicals get mixed to rivers, lakes and seas. It causes huge algae growth power in less deep water. Decomposition of algae consumes all oxygen present in water and cause massive death of sea lives. Another type of agricultural waste is pesticides used to protect crops from bugs, fungi, and harmful parasites. It pollutes sea in the same way to fertilizers and cause death to fishes and also causes infection in their body. Then death fish

cause another type of pollution. Many fishermen believe that toxic chemicals are killing majority of fishes. This is also a problem to our food chain as we eat fish to fulfill requirement of protein. 4.6. Pollution by ship:Ships are used for transport system in deep sea. But different types of ships cause huge pollution to sea. Exhaust gas contains huge amount of carbon-die-oxide, nitrogen-die-dioxide, sulfur, excess gasoline and other elements. Majority parts of these exhaust gas are absorbed by sea water. That makes water poisonous in various ways. Ship causes noise pollution also. Many marine organism including marine mammals, sea turtles and fishes use sounds to communicate, navigate and hunt. The intensity of noise coming from ship engine has a negative effect to these living beings. Oil spills from ship is also a pollutant for sea. A high amount of lubricating or fuel oil is discharged to sea every day. Dirty water used by passengers and crews is thrown to sea water. Tons of garbage and wastes makes sea water polluted day by day. 4.7. Radioactive pollution:Sea can be polluted by radioactive activities also. Radioactive waste has a long terrible effect on sea plans and animals. Volcanic eruption under sea is the basic cause of these wastes. When volcanoes under

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sea are blast, it emits lava, fumes, hard rocks and many harmful radiations. These radiations and wastes have permanent impact on sea environment. Mining is another type of radioactive pollution. It exposes many heavy metals and sulfur compounds which were locked in earth core. Rain water washes away these compounds to sea. Now-a-days mining also happened in deep sea level. And radioactive pollutants are thrown to sea water directly without any consideration. Nuclear power plant emits large amount of nuclear waste which is highly radioactive. It is also discharged to sea water causing damage of sea lives and ecosystem. 4.8. Ecological disruption:Ecological imbalance is the basic cause of sea pollution. Ecology is the most important factor which is related to every single factor. When we talk about global warming, here also ecological facts is arises. ➢ CO2 (carbon-die-oxide) ➢ NO2(nitrogen-die-oxide) ➢ CFCs These are the main green house gases on environment. They are the main factors to global warming and melting the polar ice bergs. The sea water levels become rise up for this. But polar ice is so important for many species living in seas. Phytoplankton, the base of most aquatic food chain, depends on sea ice to bloom. As there is less sea ice, so less phytoplankton. Less ice has not only bad effect on marine life, but also seasonal krill population. Krill (which feed on phytoplankton) form the base of food chain all over the world. Ecological disruption has also bad effect on coral reefs. Corals give habitat to about 25% of all marine life. But because of temperature rise, corals are about to die. We are about to lost our sea beauties and many species of beautiful fishes. The following picture shows that how corals and other species living together.

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Fig 5:- corals and colorful species of fish. 5. PREVENTION:To solve a problem it is necessary to point out the causes of the problem. We have seen the basic causes of sea pollution in previous section. Now we proceed to find the solution of it. ⇒ As waste is a major cause of sea pollution, it should be managed strictly. Several procedures can be followed. Figure below is called waste management hierarchy.

Chart 3:- waste management hierarchy

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And for the big amount of waste we can follow the flow chart given below. This is called waste minimization assessment.

Select new assessment targets & reevaluate previous options

FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS ➢ Technical evaluation ➢ Economic evaluation ➢ Select option for implementation

Final report including recommended options

IMPLEMENTATION

➢ Justify projects and obtain funding ➢ Installation (equipments) ➢ Implementation (procedure) ➢ Evaluate performance

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Successfully waste minimization Repeat project the process Chart implemented 4:- the waste minimization assessment procedure

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⇒ ⇒

Hospital and industrial waste can be reduced by using it in waste management plants like incinerator. To reduce global warming and protect rise of sea water level and also to save corals and other marine animals Ecocity should create immediately. Ecocity is a city that is designed to emit less CO2, pollution, use less fossil fuels and more renewable energy.

Fig 6:- Dongtan ecocity situated in China ⇒ To reduce the oil floating in the sea, microorganism or biological agent can be used. Controlled burning is also effective to reduce oil from sea water. ⇒ Personal vehicles should maintain carefully to protect oil spill and harmful emission. ⇒ Sea going vessels should be managed well to reduce huge amount of waste, gray water, and tons of oils to the sea. Every days waste produced in ship including antifreeze (glycol),paint, thinner, oil, filters, bilge water, gasoline and oily rags should be placed in the dumpsters. ⇒ Use bio-dynamic farming no-till planting can be used instead of harmful pesticides for agricultural purposes. Or try to reduce using these. ⇒ Consume less pesticide dependent foods. ⇒ Try to use nontoxic chemicals in household use like cleaning, washing etc. there are several cleaners for certain purposes which is non toxic. For convenience I attach a chart here of safe cleaners.

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Reduce fishing when they are too small and leave over fishing. It causes food chain disruption. Cleaning task Suitable cleaner ⇒

Aluminum

1tablespoon cream of tartar in 500 mL hot water

Bleaching

Hydrogen peroxide

Brass Chrome

Vinegar and salt solution Vinegar and salt solution

Chrome/metal

Polish with baby oil

Clear plastic

1 part vinegar to 2 part water

Copper

Lemon juice and salt solution

Decks

1 part vinegar to 8 part water

Fiberglass

Baking soda and salt

Hair

Baby shampoo

Hands

Baby oil and margarine

Mildew

Vinegar and salt solution

Scouring

Baking soda

Toilet

Baking soda

Windows

1 part vinegar to 2 part water

Woods

Polish with olive oil Chart 5:- nontoxic household chemicals

⇒ Develop public education about the importance of saving marine birds and mammals and their habitats. ⇒ Prohibit commercial mineral exploration inside certain zone. ⇒ Avoid buying foods or household products in plastic container to reduce plastic pollution in sea environment. ⇒ Do not create a locality without any plan beside sea shore or beside sea beach. ⇒ Try to keep sea beach always clean. ⇒ Some technical and biological process, which is friendly to environment, can be adopted to reduce pollutant materials or all types of pollutant. Such as Bioremediation process, powerverde electrical generation system, alabaster microbial bioremediation, biogas plant, etc.

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6. RECOMMENDATION:Sea pollution is a vast problem. It is not only related to causes described above but also many other causes make effect on it. But as a whole we can conclude that the world is in a great problem indeed. We have to bear in mind that it is a slow process. But its effect is so dangerous and longer lasting. So the people of the world have to think immediately about this problem. Otherwise dangerous results are waiting for all of us. So to keep – • Our existence • Animal’s existence • Plant’s existence We have to do something right now. Our government and personally we have to take care of it.

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APPENDIX

Questionnaire As sea pollution is an important issue in this modern world, following questions has been given for expecting public opinion about this problem. Name:-

Age:-

Sex:-

Occupation:-

1) What is the major cause of sea pollution you think? a) Oil pollution c) Radioactive waste

b) garbage dumping d) dissolved gasses in sea

water 2) Do you think air also can pollute sea water? a) Yes

b) No

3) How global warming effect on marine life? a) Rising water level c) Killing planktons

b) rising temperature d) all of above

4) Has sea pollution any effect on human health? a) Yes

b) No

5) Do you know about ecosystem of marine environment? a) Yes no comment

b) no

c)

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6) As an awareness person, what have you to do about sea pollution? a) Obey rules only yourself

b) inform others

who does not know c) Don’t care about it 7) Do you think ecocity can solve many environmental problems? a) Yes

b) no

8) Increase in acidity of sea water means? a) Less pH

b) more dissolved CO2

c) Harmful environment for marine life

d) all of

above 9) How many percentage of total earth is covered by sea water? a) About 45% c) About 67%

b) about 95% d) about 71%

10) Do you think it is possible to solve sea pollution problem? a) Yes

b) no

LIST OF REFFERENCES

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1.

Guide to pollution prevention, risk reduction engineering laboratory and centre for environmental research information, office of research and development, U.S environmental protection agency, Cincinnati, OH 45268 Wikipedia, search result on sea pollution www.grinningplanet.com

2. 3. 4. codahub.net/What_is_an_EcoCity_.html 5. www.rise.org.au/info/Res/waste/index.html 6. www.ati-incinerators.com/en/four_1/incinera.htm 7. www.envirocentre.ie/Content.aspx?ID=96448806-... 8. www.alabastercorp.com/seabrat.htm 9. faculty.weber.edu/.../parks/parks_t2_review.html 10.www.boyslife.org/.../ 11.www.drgeorgepc.com/OceanGovernance.html 12.www.indianapoliszoo.com/content.aspx?CID=1009 13.dadecosurf.com/node?page=4 14.www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2007/10/plastic-... 15.earth2care.blogspot.com/2008/08/oil-spill.html 16.www.seathesea.org 17.www.sciencedaily.com/.../05/080515145350.htm 18.Gas and gas impact/gasimpact.html 19.www.epa.gov/glnpo/atlas/glat-ch4.html 20.www.hickerphoto.com/ocean-pollution-6666-pict... 21.bp0.blogger.com/.../s320/BeachWarning.bmp 22.www.oregon.gov/LCD/OCMP/Ocean_Policies.shtml 23.blog.wired.com/.../environment/index.html 24.www.indianchamber.org/.../virtual_tour.htm 25.www.answers.com/topic/water-pollution 26.www.geo.utep.edu/.../1310/LECTURE_27.html 27.feww.wordpress.com/.../ 28.oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-bo... 29.news.mongabay.com/2007/0921-oceans.html 30.http://www.jp.kids/commons.net/vc96/vc13/ocean_pollution/ocean1.html#tw 31.www.marinepollution.co.uk/

GLOSSARY

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pH – a measurement of the acidic or basic (alkaline) quality of a substance. The pH scale ranges from a value of 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very basic), with 7 being neutral. The pH of surface water is usually between 6.5 and 8.2. In Santa Barbara, the pH of most surface water is higher than

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8. Most aquatic organisms are adapted to a specific pH level and may die if the pH of the water changes even slightly. 2. Plankton – A general term for the entire community of microscopic freefloating organisms, including phytoplankton, zooplankton, and a host of other marine organisms. Plankton serves as the primary food source for most marine ecosystems. Many animals like the blue whale feed entirely on planktonic organisms. 3. Phytoplankton – Microscopic marine plants that live in the upper layer of the world’s oceans and float freely in the water column. 4. Microorganism – an organism of microscopic or ultramicroscopic size. 5. Marine Debris – the human litter that is found in the marine environment. 6. Nitrate – Nitrate is a nutrient needed by all aquatic plants and animals to build protein. The decomposition of dead plants and animals and the excretions of living animals release nitrate into the aquatic system. Excess nutrients, like nitrate, increase plant growth and decay, promote bacterial decomposition, and therefore decrease the amount of oxygen available in the water. Sewage is the main source of excess nitrate added to natural waters, while fertilizer and agricultural runoff also contribute to high levels of nitrate. 7. Phosphate – a nutrient needed for plant and animal growth and is also a fundamental element in metabolic reactions. High levels of this nutrient can lead to overgrowth of plants, increased bacterial activity, and decreased dissolved oxygen levels. Phosphate comes from several sources including human and animal waste, industrial pollution, and agricultural runoff. 8. Sewer System – (also known as a wastewater collection system) the system of pipes and pump stations that transports wastewater (sewer) from homes and businesses to the wastewater treatment plant. 9. CFCs- cloro-fluro-carbon, a complex compound of chlorine, fluorine gases. 10.mL- milli littre (1/1000 of a littre)

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