These runoffs have contributed to the beach closures, and the unsustainable condition of biological life in the lake. Human health is at great risk due to the untreated waste that is dumped in Lake Huron each year. The untreated sewage contains many viruses, two being Giardia (an intestinal parasite), cryptosporidium, which causes intestinal illnesses and even death. E. coli a more familiar virus has elevated its concentrations in Lake Huron, found in either animal or human feces, which causes diarrhea, nausea, and stomach cramps. ("Testing the waters,"
These emissions can become acid rain and if it can damage a tree, it can and does damage coral. According to the Coral Reef Alliance; the world’s oceans have had “approximately 525 billion tons of carbon dioxide” dumped by human activity within their waters. [ (Coral Reef Alliance, 2012) ]. The site also goes on to state that the destruction of Mangroves,(which have been harvested for lumber) and the loss filtering saltwater swamps due to farming have caused quite a bit of stress on coral reefs. Then there are the odd ways we humans go about “enjoying the ocean”.
Not only is the water unfit for human consumption, it is now destroying the marine ecosystem and this is serious business when you consider how important the ocean's health is to human survival. The level of mercury found in tuna and salmon has already resulted in warnings about how much to consume because it is threatening to our very life. Close
For many decades, water pollution has been a major environmental issue. "Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies and occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds" (Wales). Lake Huron, which is known as the third largest of the lakes by volume of Great Lakes, (Lakes Huron) water quality has been of major concern. Few major sources identified were faulty septic systems and agriculture. Some of the effects caused by the pollution included: disruption of aquatic life, elevated levels of nitrates and phosphates from polluted underground water, swimming prevention, and numerous outbreaks of Avian Botulism.
It was literally a dumping ground and it even caught on fire a few times due to the toxic wastes. The phosphorus levels in Lake Erie are increasing due to the pollution causing harm to the fishes that reside in it. In 2014, Lake Erie had so much algae from pollution that it caused the City of Toledo to be left without fresh water. This algae was caused by the excessive amount of phosphorus in the lake. This excessive amount of Phosphorus is caused when the fertilizer is dumped into the lake by farmers.
The first couple of years were not easy for the settlers. The question is Why did so many colonist die? To start off with, one of the problems they faced was environmental problems. Many of Jamestown’s colonist died because of brackish water which was some salty water due to the mixture of fresh and salt water, because of the tides that would happen twice daily. Also, they would dump their human waste into the water and make it even more contaminated so when the people of Jamestown would drink or use the water it would make them ill and even to the point that they died.
A spill in any of the deep sea areas would reduce the biodiversity of that area through reductions of bird populations, fish-stocks and populations of marine mammals. All of which are already under severe threat of over fishing and habitat disturbance without this imposed threat. Furthermore the contamination of coastal and coral ecosystems will all lead to to damage on the livelihoods of fishermen and people involved the local tourism. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been described as the worst environmental disaster in the United States, releasing about 4.9 million barrels of crude oil making it the largest accidental marine oil spill. Most of the impact of this was experienced by the marine species.
In this environmental disaster, 10 cubic meters of water and 4.5 million cubic meters of potentially toxic slurry were spilled into virtually untouched forest, lakes and rivers. If something like this happens at the Pebble Mine, then most of the fish and wildlife in Bristol Bay would be in danger of being killed. A species that would be greatly affected by this is the sockeye salmon. More than half of the world’s population of these fish lives in Bristol Bay. This means that the survival of this species would be threatened.
The air quality on the shoreline of Lake Huron is the worst in the south Ontario area. (Sivers, A, n.d) Sediment loading is known to high levels of deferred solids being washed into creeks and rivers and carried down into the lake. (Sivers, A, n.d) Sediment loading can also be caused by dredging which can cause a decrease in food source for the aquatic life. With having foreign vessels follow in and out of the lake from the Atlantic is also causing problems. With the vessels having foreign aquatic life attached to the bottom of the ship and also leaking fluids into the lake while passing through.
SO2, sulfur dioxide effects our trees and water systems and is the prominent cause of acid rain. Mercury- when Mercury enters our water systems it becomes harmful to our ecology (fish, plants, animals etc) and effects anyone who consumes part of the food chain. Nitrogen