Biology 1290B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Shigellosis, Fish Kill, Coliform Bacteria
20 Oct 2015
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Document Summary
Water pollution includes biological changes harmful to water quality. Potability is water that is safe to drink. Unpolluted and polluted water contain different microbial populations. Unpolluted water contains low organic nutrients, thus low numbers of microbes. Water can be polluted with sewage, agricultural runoff, industrial pollutants. Polluted water is high in organic matter, coliform and noncoliform bacteria. Accumulated phosphates cause algal blooms( huge growth all of a sudden) The blooms supply nutrients to other microbes, which use up oxygen. Aquatic animals and plants die, they accumulate on the bottom where anaerobic bacteria thrive. Physical pollution occurs when sand and soil or cyanobacterial blooms cloud the water. Chemical pollution occurs when inorganic and organic waste enter the water. Biological pollution occurs when microorganisms enter the water from anthropogenic sources. The biological oxygen demand (bod) of water is the amount of water microbes need to decompose organic matter.
