River natural sources

Mass Balance Estimates. Based on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System monitoring reports, the total daily discharge of trace elements into the main stem Willamette River is of the order of 100 pounds per day. Seventy-five percent of the total is zinc with the bulk of the remainder due to chromium and copper. Table 6 identifies industrial and natural sources of trace elements into the Willamette basin. The table indicates that an average of 97 percent of all trace element loading to the basin is natural in origin. The natural component is due to weathering of soil and rocks in the basin and this... 

Chlordecone has been detected in the air, surface water, soil and sediment, aquatic organisms and foodstuffs. Historically chlordecone was released to the environment primarily during its production at a manufacturing facility in Hopewell, Virginia. There are no known natural sources of chlordecone and production of the compound was terminated in 1975. Currently, hazardous waste disposal sites and contaminated sediment sinks in the James River are the major sources for chlordecone release to the environment (EPA 1978c Huggett and Bender 1980 Lunsford et al. 1987). 

The most serious contamination was recognized as a result of production as well as use of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), mainly because of vast amount of water necessary for manufacturing of this compound made it necessary to locate the factories near natural sources of water - mostly rivers. The environment around large rivers is usually characterized by sand-rich soil that allows easy seepage of rainwater. NACs are therefore... 

Considerable geographic variability exists in the distribution of the source rocks contributing salts to river and groundwaters. As shown in Table 21.3, most of the evaporites, which are the dominant natural source of Na and Cl in river water, lie in marginal and endorheic (internal) seas. Some of these subsurfece evaporite deposits dissolve into groundwaters, which eventually carry Na and Cl into the ocean. Carbonates are the prevalent rock type between 15°N and 65°N. Precambrian-age crustal rocks and meta-morphic minerals predominate between 25°S and 15°N and north of 55°N. Shales and sandstones represent on average 16% of the terrestrial surfece lithology. 

Hexanone, also known as methyl n-butyl ketone or MBK, is a clear, colorless liquid with a somewhat sharp odor. The liquid form can easily evaporate into the air as a vapor. It is a waste product of wood pulping, coal gasification, and oil shale operations. 2-Hexanone was formerly used in paint and paint thinner and in various chemical substances. However, since it was found to have harmful health effects, it is no longer made in the United States, and its uses have been restricted. There are no known major natural sources of 2-hexanone in the environment. When 2-hexanone is released to rivers or lakes, it dissolves very easily, and it may evaporate into the air in a few days. We do not know if 2-hexanone binds to soil. When 2-hexanone is released to the water, air, or soil, it is probably broken down into smaller products, possibly within a few days. 

Almost any chemical not arising from natural sources is a pollutant in water. Agricultural wastes from fertilizers and pesticides are the major pollution sources nationally. Fertilizers add nutrients that promote algae growth whose decay can cause the lake or river to become anaerobic through the overall reactions... 

Aside from desalinators used in some regions of the world that have severe insufficiencies of rain and freshwater and thus must depend upon purified saline waters, drinking water and the water required by industry for a plurality of reasons come from two classes of natural sources. The first is surface waters from ponds, streams, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and glaciers. Natural water precipitation (rain and snow) is the result of Earth s natural hydrologic cycle. Precipitation also reaches below Uie surface to collect or flow in aquifers and thus is referred to as groundwater. See also Desalination. 

At least in the recent past, the Waikato River and other streams in New Zealand have had excess arsenic (Aggett and Aspell, 1979). For the Waikato River, the arsenic originated from both natural sources and a... 

The behavior of gases dissolving in water appears to be less complex. The solubility of a gas in water typically decreases with increasing temperature, as shown for several cases in Fig. 17.6. This temperature effect has important environmental implications because of the widespread use of water from lakes and rivers for industrial cooling. After being used as a coolant, the water is returned to its natural source at a higher-than-ambient temperature (thermal pollution has occurred). Because it is warmer, this water contains less than the normal concentration of oxygen and is also less dense it... 

Thermal pollution the oxygen-depleting effect on lakes and rivers of using water for industrial cooling and returning it to its natural source at a higher temperature. (17.3)... 

Biosensors based on a Clark oxygen electrode, coupled to tyrosinase immobilized by three different methods, were investigated for the determination of phenol in real matrices, such as water of various natural sources, industrial wastes and oil press. The feasibility study included direct use of the biosensors and in situ analysis. An integrated system, incorporating SPE, desorption, fractionation and biosensor detection, was validated for screening phenolic compounds in water. Two types of electrode were tested, solid graphite and CPE incorporating tyrosinase. Correct analyses were found for river water samples spiked with phenol (10 p.gL ), p-cresol (25 p.gL ) and catechol (1 A mul-... 

The use of chemicals for the control of biological growth has strong environmental connections, as the water is often taken from, and returned to, natural sources such as a river, lake, or sea. Unless proper steps are taken, the discharged water, containing the additive chemicals, could become an environmental hazard and a threat to the local ecology. 

V-alkanes (No. 1) and n-carboxylic acids (No. 9) occur in all natural materials and are as well used for numerous industrial syntheses (see Table 2). Thus, their appearance in Lippe river water can be attributed to various sources. This is also the case for vanillin (see section Perfumes, odors and additives for cosmetics ). In contrast, di-zvo-propyldisulfide (No. 45) and dipropyltrisulfide (No. 46) which were detected in several water samples (see Table 1) are clearly related to natural sources. It is known that they are formed by blue-green algae (Microcystis flos-aquae) in fresh waters (Hofbauer and Juttner, 1988) and the industrial application is unknown. 

The dissolved concentrations of the 25 selected elements in ocean deep water are controlled by natural processes. This is not principally the case for river water and rain. The data on river water listed in Table 1.2 (according to Turekian 1969 Wedepohl 1969-1978 and Martin and Mey-beck 1979) are mainly from rivers without major contamination from industrialized areas. Suspended clay materials in the rivers have a high capacity to adsorb organic residues and metals from anthropogenic and natural sources (sewage, industrial immissions, soil extraction by acid rain water, etc.), and in this way they keep the level of dissolved metals reasonably low. 

The water used in industrial operations (usually for cooling purposes) comes from some natural source, for example bore holes, rivers, lakes or from the sea. The total dissolved solids (TDS) in natural water ranges from 40 mg/l for ground water - 35,000 mg/l for sea water. Crittenden [1984] states that most land derived water has a TDS < 550 mg/l. He also observes that the hardness alone does not govern the corrosivity of water, but the following observations may be made ... 

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