ANTHROP 1AA3 Quiz: poisoned waters video notes.docx
11 Dec 2014
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Examines widespread pollution in two us waterways = chesapeake bay and. Puget sound; caused by 25 years of unregulated toxic industrial, agricultural, and municipal runoff. Dead zones occupy 40 percent of the chesapeake bay; have been doubling in size and frequency every decade. Enormous volumes of water with a shallow basin; 21 feet, ecological hothouse. Humans have drastically overfished the resources, especially crabs; dramatic decline in fisheries tied to man-made pollution and growing dead zones. Dead zones happen when too much fertilizer (nitrogen, phosphorus) comes in; grows excess algae; algae die, decompose, suck up oxygen from deep waters which aquatic life needs; a dead zone is barren and empty. Providing recreational services to people (swimming, eating, etc. Nixon created the environmental protection agency; clean water act; imposed strict pollution limits and penalties for violators. Potomac overrun with algae cause by excess nutrients from human waste (phosphorus and nitrogen) They had to remove nitrogen which was costly.
