envierment
ardam
BostonHarborII2021-Taped.pptxBoston Harbor II
News
8 Key Concepts in Environmental Science
I.) WAYS OF KNOWING
(Scientific Method, Observations, Technology, Informatics, Habits of Mind, Faith)
“Reflection on how we know what we believe will help our understanding”
II.) HUMAN INTERACTIONS
(Sustainability, Ocean Policy and Management, Human Health)
“Currently, the human species is significantly affecting and is affected by earth systems, but has the ability to choose its relationship with the environment”
III.) ECOSYSTEMS
(Biological Communities, Population Ecology, Habitats)
“The survival and health of individuals and groups of organisms are intimately coupled to their environment”
IV.) EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
(System Properties, Oceanography, Atmospheric Science, Earth Science)
“The Earth as a whole acts as a complex set of interacting systems with emergent properties”
8 Key Concepts (cont)
V.) EVOLUTION-BIODIVERSITY
(Species Diversity, Natural Selection, Biogeography)
“Evolution explains both the unity and diversity of life”
VI.) ENERGY FLOW AND TRANSFORMATION
(Forms of Energy, Thermodynamics, Conservation of Energy, Energy Use, Motion)
“Energy transformations drive physical, chemical, and biological processes. Total energy is conserved and flows to more diffuse forms”
VII.) CONSERVATION OF MASS
(Input/Output Models, Elemental Cycles, Hydrological Cycle, Stoichiometry, Equilibrium)
“Mass is conserved as it is transferred from one pool to another”
VIII.) SPATIO-TEMPORAL RELATIONSHIPS
(Geospatial Position, Mapping, Historical Trends, Coordinate Systems)
“Choosing the appropriate reference frame is the key to understanding one’s environment.”
Physical Framework
What is an estuary?
Ice Ages
How deep?
Shipping Channels
Tides
Tidal Volume
Mixing
Tidal Flushing
“Boston Harbor is the Dirtiest Estuary in the United States” (1988)
Observation (measurement)
Why? Hypothesis.
Test hypothesis. Experiment, more measurements.
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
Parameters
Turbidity
Conductivity
Density of trash
Toxicity
Temperature
# of living organism
Boat Traffic
Bacterial levels
Possible Solutions
Confer with your group of 3-4. Determine a strategy to improve the quality of Boston Harbor in terms of your measurement/parameter.
Solutions
E. coli—regulations for boaters, river regulations
Trash-regulations, education, salt marsh clean-ups
Boater regulations
Safer chemicals
What is this?
Animal
Plant
Mineral
Bacteria
Fungus
Biological Processes
Photosynthesis
Spring Bloom
Nutrients-eutrophication
Harmful Algal Blooms
Benthos
Bacterial Water Quality Enterococci, E. Coli, Fecal Coliforms
Chemical
Contaminants
Oil
Metals
PCBs
Dissolved Oxygen
Fish kills
Water Clarity
Nutrients
Nutrients Nitrate, Ammonium, Phosphate
Biological Effects
Solutions
I) Removal of sludge
II) Improvement of sewage system (secondary)
III) Relocation of outfall
IV) Fix CSOs
I) Sludge Removal (sediment oxygen demand)
Sediment Quality
Ampelisca (Amphipod)
II) Improve the Treatment Plant
Human Impact-Sewage
2.5 million people served
890,000 households served
5,500 businesses served
230 million gallons per day of water supplied (average)
350 million gallons per day of sewage treated (average)
43 sewerage communities
50 water communities
61 communities collectively
Deer Island Sewage Treatment Plant
Primary-Physical (particles and floatables)
Secondary-Biological (organic matter)
Tertiary-Chemical (nutrients)
Improve the Quality of the Effluent
III) Move the sewage effluent
IV) Fix Combined Sewer Overflows
Old sewer pipes hold both storm water and raw sewage
Release of raw sewage during big storms
93% of remaining CSO’s receive treatment
SOUTH DORCHESTER BAY SEWER SEPARATION
Year Completed: 2007 Cost: $118,394,583
Installed 135,700 linear feet (25.7 miles) of storm drain to remove stormwater runoff from local sewers serving a 1,750-acre area in Dorchester. Closed all CSO regulators, allowing decommissioning of MWRA’s Fox Point and Commercial Point CSO facilities.
Water Quality Benefit(s) Eliminated CSO discharges to Savin Hill, Malibu and Tenean beaches, in compliance with Class B water quality standards at outfalls
Frequency of Discharge Before project: 20 (treated) With project: 0
Annual Discharge Volume:
Before project: 30 million gallons
With project: 0 gallons (discharges eliminated)
Case Study
Interdisciplinary
Mankind Environment
Land Ocean
Boston Harbor
$4.8 billion
Largest estuarine recovery project in the world
Boston College – Jeffery Howe, 1996
Exceedance Probability Maps
