Sources of Sewage Pollution
The sources are simple, the pollutants come from either community or industrial sewers that are near a body of water. Although the United States is against sewage dumping, it is still found in some states, one of which was Florida. When sewage waste leaves the sewage system, it gets transported to an underground septic-tank where it is then treated. This system is not always effective and there are still parts of untreated sewage discharged into the ocean. Not all countries used a filtering system though. Most underdeveloped countries dump the waste directly in, but also Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia continues to let raw sewage pour into the ocean.
It doesn't stop at sewage though. Industrial waste is divided up into four main categories: petroleum, thermal, hazardous, and radioactive. Petroleum waste is referred to oil or oil-derived chemicals such as oil remains in fuel, plastic-making, and/or manufacturing. Water waste used to help cool power plants and factoring is labeled thermal waste. Hazardous waste includes toxic, reactive, corrosive or ignitable chemicals. Lastly, radioactive waste is waste that has an unstable nucleus and can decay at any moment. Little do people know, chemical air pollution via smoke stacks and power plants can mix with atmospheric moisture and cause it to deplete in acid rain.
These strong chemicals can effect marine life's growth, reproduction and development. Some traces of chemical contaminants have been found in fish flesh of not only those living in the Atlantic, Pacific, and/or Indian oceans, but also in polar regions. The biggest case of chemical poisoning occured in Japan from 1932-1968. Mercury was dumped in Minimata Bay between those years and the fish started absorbing the compound. When it came time to eat the fish, many people died of mercury poisoning. This fatal poisoning was later called "Minimata disease". The United States tried being proactive about contaminant poisoning and forced some shellfish farms to close because of high contamination rates.
Sewage sludge poses as another threat to marine and human life. Disposed bio-solids, which are the semi-solid byproduct of the treatment proccess, is what the sludge is composed of. New York Bight used to be a sludge dump site in New York, but has since been stopped because of the new regulations the United States has passed that prohibits the practice of sludge dumping. Other countries however continue to do it.
It doesn't stop at sewage though. Industrial waste is divided up into four main categories: petroleum, thermal, hazardous, and radioactive. Petroleum waste is referred to oil or oil-derived chemicals such as oil remains in fuel, plastic-making, and/or manufacturing. Water waste used to help cool power plants and factoring is labeled thermal waste. Hazardous waste includes toxic, reactive, corrosive or ignitable chemicals. Lastly, radioactive waste is waste that has an unstable nucleus and can decay at any moment. Little do people know, chemical air pollution via smoke stacks and power plants can mix with atmospheric moisture and cause it to deplete in acid rain.
These strong chemicals can effect marine life's growth, reproduction and development. Some traces of chemical contaminants have been found in fish flesh of not only those living in the Atlantic, Pacific, and/or Indian oceans, but also in polar regions. The biggest case of chemical poisoning occured in Japan from 1932-1968. Mercury was dumped in Minimata Bay between those years and the fish started absorbing the compound. When it came time to eat the fish, many people died of mercury poisoning. This fatal poisoning was later called "Minimata disease". The United States tried being proactive about contaminant poisoning and forced some shellfish farms to close because of high contamination rates.
Sewage sludge poses as another threat to marine and human life. Disposed bio-solids, which are the semi-solid byproduct of the treatment proccess, is what the sludge is composed of. New York Bight used to be a sludge dump site in New York, but has since been stopped because of the new regulations the United States has passed that prohibits the practice of sludge dumping. Other countries however continue to do it.