Terms : Hide Images
| 9461979487 | Point Source | Single identifiable source that discharges pollutants into the environment. Examples: smokestacks of power plants, drainpipe of meatpacking plant, chimney of a house, exhaust pipe of a car | 0 | |
| 9461979488 | Non-point Source | Broad and diffuse areas, rather than points, from which pollutants enter bodies of surface water or air. Examples: runoff of chemicals and sediment from cropland, livestock feedlots, logged forests, urban streets, parking lots, lawns, and golf courses |  | 1 |
| 9461979489 | Fecal Coliforms | A group of generally harmless microorganisms that live in the intestines of human beings and other animals. Come from warm-blooded animals. When found in water, it serves as an indicator of worse bacteria from feces that may be present. | 2 | |
| 9461979490 | Dissolved Oxygen (Content) | Amount of oxygen gas (O2) dissolved in a given amount of water at a particular temperature and pressure, often expressed as concentration in parts of oxygen per million parts of water | 3 | |
| 9461979491 | Biological Oxygen Demand | The amount of oxygen a quantity of water uses over a period of time at specific temperature. A low amount means less water pollution; a high amount means more water pollution | 4 | |
| 9461979492 | Oxygen Sag Curve | The pattern obtained when the concentration of dissolved oxygen in a river into which some sewage or other pollutant has been discharged is plotted against the distance downstream of the sewage outlet. Samples of water are taken at areas upstream and downstream of the outlet. |  | 5 |
| 9461979493 | (Cultural) Eutrophocation | Overnourishment of aquatic ecosystems with plant nutrients (mostly nitrates and phosphates) because of human activities such as agriculture, urbanization, and discharges from industrial plants and sewage treatment plants - creates dead zones | 6 | |
| 9461979494 | Plume (groundwater pollution) | An elongated body of ground water containing contaminants, emanating and migrating from a point source within a hydrological unit. Occurs when pollutants are released into the ground and make their way down into the groundwater system. | 7 | |
| 9461979495 | Degradable Waste | Biodegradable, broken down by bacteria etc. (naturally) | 8 | |
| 9461979496 | Dead Zones (water bodies) | An area with little oxygen and thus little life | 9 | |
| 9461979497 | Harmful Algal Blooms | Algal blooms composed of phytoplankton known to naturally produce biotoxins. They can occur when certain types of microscopic algae grow quickly in water, forming visible patches that may harm health of environment, plants, or animals EX: Ohio River near Cincinnati 2017 |  | 10 |
| 9462008742 | Agriculture | #1 cause of water pollution in the US | 11 | |
| 9462024824 | US Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 | requires EPA to establish national drinking water standards | 12 | |
| 9462033135 | untreated sewage and industrial waste | main cause of water pollution in less developed countries | 13 | |
| 9462054468 | turbidity | muddiness created by stirring up sediment or having foreign particles suspended | 14 | |
| 9462056558 | nitrates &/or phosphates in water | a sign of pollution from animal wastes &/or fertilizer runoff; causes eutrophication | 15 | |
| 9820741656 | drift net | long expanses of net that hang down in water. traps many types of bycatch: turtles, seabirds, marine mammals. | 16 | |
| 9820755725 | trawler | a boat that drags a net along the bottom of the sea; most destructive | 17 | |
| 9820762964 | overfishing | harvesting fish to the point that species are depleted and the value of the fishery reduced; main cause of fish population decline | 18 | |
| 9820767442 | primary treatment | the removal of solid materials from wastewater. | 19 | |
| 9820771005 | secondary treatment | second step of sewage treatment; bacteria breakdown organic waste, aeration accelerates the process. | 20 | |
| 9820771006 | tertiary treatment | removes dissolved metals and nutrients, especially nitrates and phosphates, not always done because it's expensive | 21 | |
| 9820794215 | deepwater horizon | This oil spill was the worst in US history. Gulf of Mexico, BP, 2010 | 22 | |
| 9820799006 | booms | floating bumpers that hang into the water and reduce the spread of oil on the surface | 23 | |
| 9820805434 | skimmer | a device that moves across the water surface and contains the oil floating there | 24 | |
| 9820816662 | absorber | a material that takes on the oil for removal | 25 | |
| 9820819910 | chemical dispersant | breaks up oil into tiny droplets that spread out and down through the water column | 26 | |
| 9820840423 | water table | The upper level of the saturated zone of groundwater | 27 | |
| 9820843945 | aquifer | A body of rock or sediment that stores groundwater and allows the flow of groundwater. | 28 | |
| 9820847701 | watershed or drainage basin | Land from which the surface runoff drains into a body of water | 29 | |
| 9820855213 | Ogalla Aquifer | largest in the world, overtapped, located in midwestern US | 30 | |
| 9820867618 | land subsidence | Over draft from aquifer that can cause the land above the groundwater reservoir to sink or collapse | 31 | |
| 9820873760 | Aral Sea | Large inland sea is drying up as a result of water diversion | 32 | |
| 9820880103 | desalination | A process of removing salt from ocean water, expensive and energy intensive | 33 | |
| 9820886054 | drip irrigation | a proccess by which pipes placed near plant roots drip only as much water as the plants need. | 34 | |
| 9820899984 | long-lining | -Lines up to 80 miles long that are hung with baited hooks -Leads to Bycatch | 35 | |
| 9820906495 | estuary | A habitat in which the fresh water of a river meets the salt water of the ocean. | 36 | |
| 9820910503 | benthos | organisms that live attached to or near the ocean floor | 37 | |
| 9820910504 | nekton | free-swimming animals that can move throughout the water column | 38 | |
| 9820913796 | plankton | Microscopic organisms that float and drift in the ocean waters are called | 39 | |
| 9820919089 | coastal zone | most ocean biodiversity and commercial fisheries are located here | 40 |
