Water Pollution
For years people have also used Earth’s waterways as the dumping ground for various materials. Because of the resiliency of oceans, rivers, seas, etc., the feeling was that the effects would be minimized as these pollutants were dispersed over these vast areas.
Pollution of our waterways are caused by a variety of substances such as radioactive substances from uranium and thorium mining. Rubbish, organic chemicals, infectious materials, fertilizers, and plant nutrients, sediments of soil and minerals particles eroded by storms and floodwaters, sewage and other oxygen depleting waste have all found their way into our waterways.
Eutrophication, which is the abnormal growth of aquatic plants, occurs when synthetic nutrients leak into lakes. These artificial nutrients generate abnormal growth of aquatic vegetation. These plants in return deplete the oxygen supply in the lake as they decay. Bad tasting water, odor and ugly green scums of algae are some of the products of eutrophication.
The urgency for control of these impurities led to the approval of the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Strict controls and cleanup deadlines were established for industrial and municipal pollutions. These deadlines were not relaxed until the passing of the 1977 amendments. Supplemental provisions to this law helped to strengthen the suppression of toxic water pollution.
Objectives
1. To show the children to how plants will also absorb pollutants in the water.
Materials
Jars, cut white cut flowers or sticks of celery, and food coloring.
Procedure
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1. Review how plants use water.
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2. Share the materials you have gathered with the children and allow time for discussion of what they might be used for.
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3. Explain that the children will be doing an experiment to show how plants can absorb pollutants from the water.
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4. Place some food coloring in the jars and then add water. Trim the stems of the plants and stand them in the colored water for several hours.
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5. Let the children observe the discoloration of the plants by the absorption of the “pollutant” in the water.
Help Keep Your World Beautiful
The environment is all around us. Everything that affects and surrounds us is a part of our environment. The environment is made up of the things we can see, hear, feel, touch, and smell. It is time for the people of the United States and perhaps even the world to roll up their sleeves and ask, “How Can I Help.” just as the oceans of our world are made of individual droplets of water, so each individual contribution to lessening the production of trash and litter can add up to make an ocean of difference.
The majority of the population disposes of its trash in the proper manner. We throw our trash into the receptacle, we flush our toilets, and haul large debris to the city dump. Our industries load their toxic waste into the proper receptacles and ship them off to some graveyard for toxic and nuclear waste. And then we go about the business of creating more. More household trash, more toxic and nuclear waste, more chemicals, more cars, more of all kinds of things which will eventually end up as trash.
Waste disposal has produced some serious problems for all of us. Land fills are over flowing. Garbage buried years ago is still lurking just below the surface. We don’t know how to make those canisters full of nuclear waste disappear so the mountain just keeps growing. In the recent years we’ve watched as an bombardment of disposable materials became available on the market. Disposable diapers, plates, cups, flashlights, cameras, etc. have all piled up be added to the heap of trash which already litters the landscapes and oceans. We have so much trash that we don’t know what to do with it all. So we’ve tried to ship our garbage to other parts of the country or world to be buried in someone else’s backyard.
This was the case of Mabro, a smelly sea vessel which left the harbors of New York on March 22, 1987. It was loaded with 3,168 tons of solid waste in the form of smelly garbage and chemicals produced by the residents and commercial businesses of Islip, Long Island and other New York townships. The destination was Jones County, North Carolina.
Upon arriving at Jones County, it was discovered that the people their had changed their minds. They too had more garbage than they needed and they weren’t about to receive any more. The ship began a search for a township or country which would accept Long Island’s smelly trash. The barge loaded with garbage was turned away by four states and two countries. On May 16, after 162 days at sea, Mabro, now having been nicknamed GAR-BARGE, returned to New York Harbor still carrying its smelly cargo.
Suggested Activity
Let the children sit on the town council to decide whether the garbage on Mabro should be accepted. Let them debate the pros and cons of their decision.
There are no easy solutions to the problem of waste disposal. It may be a problem for which we will have to contend with for the remainder of human existence. We can however begin to reverse some of the damage done by learning to care for our environment and by become wise consumers. By recycling, reusing and reducing we can reduce the amount of poilution we produce each day and that can make a difference.