envierment
ardam
BostonHarbor.pptx
In the news
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/07/climate/fin-whales-antarctica.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/04/us/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis-sunday/index.html
Zoom Poll: Where did you grow up?
A) Boston
B) Boston area
C) Massachusetts
D) Outside Massachusetts
E) Outside US
Boston Harbor
Boston harbor is adjacent to 180 miles of Coastline which includes 6 Boston neighborhoods and 7 towns
Boston Harbor is an estuarine system
Three main rivers (the Charles, Neponset, and Mystic Rivers) discharge into the Harbor
Brackish bay
Ice Age
River valley was flooded and sediment was brought in.
Geologic features called drumlins were deposited by glacial ice and meltwater rivers.
Tides
Semidiurnal tides
Tidal flushing
Harbor Islands
Made up of 34 islands and peninsulas
Totaling more than 3,000 acres.
National and state park
The largest recreational space in Eastern Massachusetts
The Dirtiest Harbor in the Country
In 1985 the EPA sued the State of Massachusetts and other Agencies over pollution in Boston Harbor
Poll: What was the environmental law that allowed the EPA to sue the State ?
Marine Mammal Protection Act
Clean Water Act
Endangered Species Act
Safe Drinking Water Act
Bush vs Governor Michael Dukakis
On the sunlit deck of the excursion craft Bay State, Mr. Bush dismissed his rival's environmental record with scorn. He said that the amount of sewage dumped into the harbor in 1986 ''would cover all of metropolitan Boston up to a depth of 17 feet.''
He cited descriptions of the harbor as ''the dirtiest'' in America and the ''harbor of shame.'' And he said Mr. Dukakis's solution was ''delay, fight, anything but clean up.''
Excerpt from the NY Times, Sep 2, 1988
Why was the harbor so dirty? What parameters were used to determine this?
•In groups of 3-4 write down one measurement that you would make to support the claim above in 1988. Please be specific.
•Why is that parameter “bad”? What is making that parameter “bad”?
Parameters
Turbidity
Conductivity
Density of trash
Toxicity
Temperature
# of living organisms
Boat Traffic
Bacterial levels
Solutions?
Confer with your group of 3-4. Determine a strategy to improve the quality of Boston Harbor in terms of your measurement/parameter.
Biological Processes and Concerns
•Photosynthesis
•Spring Bloom
•Nutrients-eutrophication
•Harmful Algal Blooms
Chemical Concerns
Contaminants
Oil
Metals
PCBs
Dissolved Oxygen
Fish kills
Water Clarity
Nutrients
Deer Island
Primary-Physical (particles and floatables)
Secondary-Biological (organic matter)
Tertiary-Chemical (nutrients)
Existing problem:Combined Sewage Overflows(CSO’s)
Old sewer pipes hold both storm water and raw sewage
Release of raw sewage during big storms
93% of remaining CSO’s receive treatment
