Detective Work for Water Pollution in Fruitvale, Lecture notes of Water Resources Planning and Management

Download Detective Work for Water Pollution in Fruitvale and more Lecture notes Water Resources Planning and Management in PDF only on Docsity! The water in the town of Fruitvale may be polluted. Goal: Gather and organize information and data Assess the information and draw conclusions How will you do this? Detective Work! Pay attention to what is implied! Take notes as we read to gather information. What are some things you could do to determine whether the water is contaminated or not? 1. Send the water to a lab to be tested. 2. Call the water company and find out if a toxic leak has been reported nearby. 3. Look at the water with a microscope to see if anything strange is there. 4. Find out if neighbors or pet in the area have gotten sick. Paragraph 2 First you check the pond. It does smell funny – but it always smelled funny to you. Next you ask your friends’ neighbors, the Andrews, whether they’ve noticed anything wrong with the water. Your friends and the Andrews are the only people in Fruitvale who still get their water from their own wells; everyone else uses city water. Mrs. Andrews tells you she hasn’t noticed anything unusual but mentions that their dog has been sick. She wonders whether their dog drank some bad water. So, what have you learned? •A dog was sick. •The Andrews’ didn’t notice the contamination. Does this prove anything? 32 Newne Creekside/ homes f vineyara/ / before / since / / 198L Eden Agricultural Chemical Company if an // @ wg 31) ~ OEE ‘Site of Fruitvale Estates It Radrews/ / / Fresca / / orchard before 1986 f / Agua Fresca f / f_/ * water weil Li Petter: Perivel STUDENT STIEET 4-1 Fruitvale Map Sf a vue’ / /aD ae ; Eat ‘M Up Berry Farm . oe ff since 1958 during storms if Fruitvale Estate 1 / f Orchard orchard befor: 1975 / f since 1960 f “ ae friends(/ / (5) house / / = / fi} REY 30) / / Ge ty Orchard pe STUDENT SHER 4 Look at your map of Fruitvale. Look for places that could be a possible source of pollution. Do you think Randy’s Filling station could be a source? If it were would it be a point source or an area source? Remember: Point Source - Pollution that comes has as its source a single or small point, which are usually spills or leaks from a storage tank. Area Source - Pollution over a wide area, such as might come from an agricultural application. The plume would show fairly constant pollutant concentrations over the area, With no regions of extremely high or extremely low levels. What could have caused the pesticide contamination? Leachate (solution produced from passing a liquid through a solid) from the farms and orchards Roadside or workplace spills, illegal dumping Improper residential applications Leaks from holding tanks at the Eden Agricultural Chemical Company Paragraph 5 A pesticide has been found in the Fruitvale Estates well At 5ppb, five times its safe level. (This well is marked With an X on the map.) The manufacturers of this pesticide Originally thought that it would be safe if used properly Because the chemicals would break down in the soil. Later tests showed the pesticide did not decompose As expected, and it was banned in the United States 8 Years ago. City officials are worried that the pesticide may Have reached the main wells, located near the bottom of The map. You help is needed to decide where test wells Should be drilled to determine the source of the Pesticide and the extent of its spread. What additional information did you receive in this last paragraph? Look on your Fruitvale map. Find the X and mark a 5 next to it to make the test well in mentioned in the story. Pesticide of interest was banned in 1981. Either it has taken some time for it to show up in the water, or it is being used and disposed of illegally. Compare the two plumes. What are the differences? , | What is known? •Groundwater flows toward Aqua Fresca sediments around and directly under the river are made of coarse sandstone. •Sediment on surface is finer, lower permeability. •Earth fractures from earthquakes exist so there is some danger of contamination of deeper aquifers. Task You must gather information about the source of the contamination and spread of pollution without excavating all of Fruitvale. Student Sheet 3.3 1.Review maps and notes. 2.Pick three well sites you would like to test to determine contamination source and spread. 3.Record # of wells picked, record and give reasons for selecting these wells.