Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Note:
Keep in mind that when we specify “water pollutants” we are in
most cases speaking about pollutants that somehow get into the water
(by whatever means) due to the interactions of the other two environ-
mental mediums: air and soil. Probably the best example of this is the
acid rain phenomenon. Pollutants originally emitted only into the atmo-
sphere land on Earth and affect both soil and water. Consider that 69%
of the anthropogenic lead and 73% of the mercury in Lake Superior have
reached it by atmospheric deposition (Hill, 1997).
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Waste piles
—Arsenic, sulfuric acid, copper, selenium, molybdenum,
uranium, thorium, radium, lead, manganese, vanadium
•
Materials stockpiles
—Aluminum, iron, calcium, manganese, sulfur,
and traces of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, zinc, uranium, and
copper (coal piles); metals and non-metals; microorganisms (other
materials piles)
•
Graveyards
—Metals, non-metals, microorganisms
•
Animal burial
—Site-speciic contamination, depending on disposal
practices (e.g., surface or subsurface), hydrology, proximity of the site
to water sources, type and amount of disposed material, cause of
death
•
Aboveground storage tanks
—Organics, metal and non-metal inorgan-
ics, inorganic acids, microorganisms, radionuclides
•
Underground storage tanks
—Organics, metal, inorganic acids, micro-
organisms, radionuclides
•
Containers
—Organics, metal and non-metal inorganics, inorganic
acids, microorganisms, radionuclides
•
Open burning and detonating sites
—Inorganics (including heavy met-
als), organics (including TNT)
•
Radioactive disposal sites
—Radioactive cesium, plutonium, strontium,
cobalt, radium, thorium, uranium
•
Pipelines
—Organics, metals, inorganic acids, microorganisms
•
Material transport and transfer operations
—Organics, metals, inorganic
acids, microorganisms, radionuclides
•
Irrigation practices
—Fertilizers, pesticides, naturally occurring con-
tamination, sediments
•
Pesticide applications
—Estimated at 1200 to 1400 active ingre-
dients, including alachlor, aldicarb, atrazine, bromacil, carbo-
furan, cyanazine, dibromochloropropane (DBCP), dimethyl
tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA), 1,2-dichloropropane, dyfonate,
ethylene dibromide (EDB), metolachlor, metribyzen, oxalyl, sia-
zine, 1,2,3-trichloropropane
