Test 1 Review Questions

As nations develop, different sets of environmental concerns assume priority. Discuss the different priorities among countries with an agriculturally based economy (many African nations), industrializing countries (Latin America, parts of West Asia), and heavily developed and affluent societies like the US.

Worldwide, many people die every-day from complications related to water quality issues. What water quality pollutant (or group of pollutants) is the single-most cause of these deaths? Why is this true?

The GEO report talked about vunerable groups and vulnerable places. What did they mean?

The report also talked about environmentals degradation in several resource areas: land resources, freshwater, biodiversity, coastal areas, and atmosphere. What are some of the problems in these areas?

What are the pathways through which contaminants can reach water? What regulates natural water quality?

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Take any one of the following environmental incidents and describe what is was about, where and when it occurred, what were the contaminant(s) of concern. What species did it affect and how? How, if at all, was the problem resolved?
Great Lakes pollution
Kepone releases from Allied Chemical
Love Canal
Kesterson NWR

Chlorination is obviously a good idea. Why was it such a setback to proponents of regulation in the 1920s to 1960s?

In 1965, Time magazine ran a story declaring that the "Great Lakes are Dying." Why did they make that statement?

Love Canal was considered a precursor to passage of what law?

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For the laws discussed in class know what it is, it's policy if given, what is regulated, who is the regulated public.

What is the purpose of NEPA?
What does it do?
How does it work?
What is the CEQ?
What is an EIS? EA? FONSI?
How well has it worked, what problems exist?

1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (also known as the Clean Water Act)
What is the purpose of this act?
What waters are covered under this law?
What are NPDES permits?
What do the following parts of the law cover: 303, 305, 319

Safe Drinking Water Act
What is the purpose of this act?
What waters are covered under this law?
What is a public drinking water supply?
How are the drinking water standards set? How do risk and economics figure in?
What is UIC? How are these wells classified?
What is a sole source aquifer
SDWA can be considered both proactive and reactive. What does this mean? List some of the programs within SDWA and characterize them.

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What are the three phases of toxicant action or four in ADME? Briefly describe each.

Terms: LD50, ED50, LC50, NOEL, LOEL, Threshold, Acute, Chronic
What are some non-lethal effects of toxics? Specifically, what behavioral changes can be observed?
How is toxicity determined for an individual chemical?
What does a dose-response curve show? What is a threshold?
What is epidemiology?
Why is it so hard to determine cause and effect for an environmental contaminant?
What are biotransformation reactions?
What factors affect toxicity?

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What is risk assessment and hw is it done?
What are pathways? receptors? exposure routes?
On what basis does EPA decide which contaminats to regulate?
Describe the two types of standards. List some pluses and minuses pertaining to both types.
What is an MCLG? an MCL? TT? What are the differences between them?

What is comparative risk assessment all about? What affects this?

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What is the primary mechanism for reporting on the quality of US waters? What law mandates this reporting? How often are reports done? What is contained in that report?
What is the 303d list? Who prepares it and what does it indicate?
What are some catehgories of use support? How do we characterize use support?
What is the difference between numeric and narrative criteria?
What is the leading pollutant in the nation's rivers and streams? What about lakes? Estuaries?
What are the sources of these?
Although ground water pollutants are just beginning to be identified what are the major pollutant sources cited by most states? List a few other potential sources of ground water pollution.

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How do metals exist in water, how are they transported and what controls this?
Where do metals come from both natural and anthropogenic sources, point and non-point?
Why is adsorption-desorbtion so important in considering metal contamination? What affects this balance?
What are some health effects of metals?
What are some environmental effects of metals?

For arsenic where does it come from? What is it used for?
Where do high concentrations of arsenic occur?
The arsenic standard was just changed to what?
What had to be considered in this change?

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What is meant by a limiting nutrient?

Nitrogen
What is N used for? In what forms?
Know the biogeochemical processes in the nitrogen cycle.
How do mineralization, immobilization, and leaching work?
What are the sources of nitrogen in the environment?
How is nitrogen transported?
What are the health effects of high nitrogen concentrations?
What are the standards?

Phosphorus
Know the biogeochemical processes in the phosphorus cycle.
What are the sources of phosphorus in the environment?
How is phosphorus transported?
What are the health effects of high phosphorus concentrations?

What are the environmental effects of nutrients?

What are the nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in surface waters and ground waters in the US? (Not absolute numbers, but highs and lows) What have the trends been? Where do problem areas show up? What affects these concentrations on a spatial basis? temporal basis?

What management practices can be used to reduce nutrient levels? How do these work?