Environmental Pollution Water Management Describe Water Management

Environmental Pollution

Water Management

Describe water management its uses and importance

There are a number of fresh water sources to include: rivers, lakes streams, underground water and snow / glaciers.

Fresh water supply problems include: over usage, pollution and waste.

To address these issues water conservation programs have been established. They are changing the practices utilized by the general public.

The increasing water usage around the country is forcing everybody to utilize strategies that offer sustainable growth. (Botkin, 2011)

Effects of water control and management practices on the environment.

The short-term effects are supplies will drop, prices will increase and it takes time for everyone to change.

The long-term effects are: growth is more sustainable, there is continuous monitoring for negative changes, business can grow responsibly and the environmental footprint of humans is reduced. (Botkin, 2011)

A. Three major types of environmental pollution

1. Air pollution

a. Air pollution is the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels.

b. To reduce these effects more energy must be derived from resources that are renewable (i.e. sun and wind power).

c. This is having a negative effect on the ecosystem by contributing to global warming with the destruction of the ozone layer.

d. The effects on humans are more cases of skin cancer is reported, there are frequent floods / droughts / extreme weather conditions and coastal erosion. (Botkin, 2011)

2. Water pollution

a. The causes of water pollution are from littering, overdevelopment in different areas and a lack of regulation.

b. The best way to address these challenges is to have strong monitoring and enforcement of various regulations.

c. This is creating challenges in finding usable water for farming and needs of many urban areas.

d. The effects this is having on human health include: it is changing where people live and their utilization of water. (Botkin, 2011)

3. Noise pollution

a. It is caused primarily from airplanes, cars / trucks, sporting events / concerts and construction / demolition.

b. The best ways to deal with these issues are to introduce regulations controlling what decibels are allowed inside the community.

c. As far as the ecosystem is concerned, this creates additional amounts of pollution from these activities.

d. This is having a negative impact on human health by damaging their hearing and disrupting someone's biological clock. (Botkin, 2011)

A. Global Warming

1. Background

a. The Earth's atmosphere protects life through absorbing ultra violet radiation in the ozone layer.

b. The energy budget is the flow of shortwave radiation into Earth and long wave energy reflected into deep space. (Botkin, 2011)

2. Global warming concepts

a. What makes the Earth warmer is the amount of ultra violet radiation collected at the North and South poles. This traps in greenhouse gases.

b. The release of methane into the atmosphere is a natural cause associated with the greenhouse effect.

c. The anthropogenic gases contributing to global warming are CO2 and methane. (Botkin, 2011)

3. The future

a. The climate and weather patterns will be unpredictable. While the oceans, will erode away many areas which are sitting on the coastline.

b. This will create a pattern of the temperatures becoming warmer every single year. For many regions, this will make it difficult to grow food or live within a specific area. The societal effects are more people will migrate to those locations which have these resources.