Solutions...Eureka!!!

Of course the majority of water pollution comes from the amount of oil spills that occur every year. However, it is essential to the safety of our environment that oil and oil by-products are prevented from reaching the ocean.

What Can the Government Do?
• “Tightening regulations governing maintenance and inspections of commercial ships, motor boats, and recreational water craft, which can leak oil and fuel into the water.“
• “Requiring filtration ponds and natural buffer zones around roads and parking lots to help keep runoff contaminated with oil and gas drips from getting into waterways.”
• “Doing more citizen education on the subject of how to keep oil out of our environment.”

What can we do?
• “Drive your vehicle less. That will mean your vehicle is putting less petroleum pollution into our waters (not to mention less air pollution into our air).”
• “Maintain your vehicle more. If you see oil stains on your driveway, your car needs attention.”
• “If you must own a motorized boat or jet ski, keep it well maintained.”
• “We hope it goes without saying, but if you change your oil yourself, don't dump the used oil down the nearest sewer drain! In many places, local service stations are required by law to accept your used oil. Alternatively, most municipal recycling centers accept used motor oil.”

Miscellaneous Solutions:
• “All countries should pass laws to prevent cruise ships from dumping untreated sewage, gray water, and oily bilge water into oceans and coastal waters. Globally, coast guards should coordinate enforcement efforts.”
• “Traditional power plants use fresh water and can add thermal and other types of pollution to that water. Moving much more aggressively on increasing our use of solar energy, wind power, wave/tide energy, and other clean technologies that don't use freshwater resources is a good solution generally, not just for water pollution.”
• “The growing impact of plastic pollution in the oceans will be one of the big disaster stories of this century. Much of the plastic in the oceans comes from ships and boats, but some comes from land-based use. Try to figure out ways you can use less plastic, especially plastic food storage bags and other types of plastic that are easily blown around.”
• “Litter from land is carried by wind or rivers to oceans and beaches. So, don't litter. It's also good if you can occasionally pick up someone else's litter. Every litter bit help. Anyway... A healthy sea turtle somewhere thanks you.”

http://www.grinningplanet.com/2008/01-08/water-pollution-solutions-article.htm

The Prevention Act

In 1990, the US government put forth a pollution prevention act:
(a) Findings
The Congress finds that:
(1) The United States of America annually produces millions of tons of pollution and spends tens of billions of dollars per year controlling this pollution.
(2) There are significant opportunities for industry to reduce or prevent pollution at the source through cost-effective changes in production, operation, and raw materials use. Such changes offer industry substantial savings in reduced raw material, pollution control, and liability costs as well as help protect the environment and reduce risks to worker health and safety.
(3) The opportunities for source reduction are often not realized because existing regulations, and the industrial resources they require for compliance, focus upon treatment and disposal, rather than source reduction; existing regulations do not emphasize multi-media management of pollution; and businesses need information and technical assistance to overcome institutional barriers to the adoption of source reduction practices.
(4) Source reduction is fundamentally different and more desirable than waste management and pollution control. The Environmental Protection Agency needs to address the historical lack of attention to source reduction.
(5) As a first step in preventing pollution through source reduction, the Environmental Protection Agency must establish a source reduction program which collects and disseminates information, provides financial assistance to States, and implements the other activities provided for in this chapter.
(b) Policy
The Congress hereby declares it to be the national policy of the United States that pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible; pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled in an environmentally safe manner, whenever feasible; pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner whenever feasible; and disposal or other release into the environment should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner.
Definitions:
(A) The term ''source reduction'' means any practice which -
(i) reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment (including fugitive emissions) prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal; and
(ii) reduces the hazards to public health and the environment associated with the release of such substances, pollutants, or contaminants. The term includes equipment or technology modifications, process or procedure modifications, reformulation or redesign of products, substitution of raw materials, and improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training, or inventory control.
(B) The term ''source reduction'' does not include any practice which alters the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics or the volume of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant through a process or activity which itself is not integral to and necessary for the production of a product or the providing of a service.
Obviously this act was not reinforced effectively. In 1999, a group of investigators went to the “Garbage Patch” and found that the ratio of plastic to plankton was of 6:1. After a recent visit to the “Garbage Patch”, the ratio had increased to 100:1!

Terrifying Statistics!!!

· “...2/3rds of the earth is ocean, and is now a plastic soup.” [Moore] also showed the shriveled stomach from the rainbow runner [he] caught a couple weeks ago, with 14 fragments of plastic in its stomach.”

o http://junkraft.blogspot.com/

· “There are over 20,000 man-made chemicals produced by the billions of pounds annually that are dispersed throughout the globe in an open loop of consumption that often ends as waste to be buried, burned or to flow down coastal watersheds out to sea.”

o http://junkraft.blogspot.com/

· “Plastic in the oceanic garbage dump outweighs zooplankton six to one, and goes as far down as 300 feet below sea level—here’s hoping the plastic raft’s voyage gathers some more attention.”

o http://blogs.discovermagazine.com

· “In 1999 there was 0.002 gram of plastic per square meter of ocean in the Eastern Garbage Patch, and as of 2005 there was 0.004 gram per square meter in the same place. In that same period plastic production in North America alone experienced double-digit growth, topping 113 billion pounds in 2006, according to the plastics division of the American Chemistry Council in Arlington, Virginia.”

o http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/10-the-worlds-largest-dump/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C=

Fish are Friends not Garbage

The debris in the ocean make the fish sick and they eventually die. However, fish are important for the environment because their excretions "play a key role in maintaining the ocean's delicate pH balance" (www.newscientist.com). Bony fish excrete lumps of calcium carbonate known as "gut rocks". It plays a major part in buffering the carbon dioxide that acidifies the seawater. These gut rocks have a chemical structure that is very soluble in seawater. When fish drink salt water, they consume a lot of calcium, which causes them to excrete more or less calcium carbonate, depending on the size of the fish and the temperature of the water. Different environments are better for different fish but in general, "[f]or a given total mass of fish, smaller fish produce more then bigger fish, and fish at higher temperatures produce more than fish at lower temperatures" (www.newscientist.com). Warmer temperatures create the optimum environment for the most efficient calcium carbonate production. Therefore, as the temperature increases, so does the rate at which calcium carbonate is produced. Another problem besides the garbage killing the fish is over fishing. Over fishing is a concern because it depletes our food stock, which also results in a reduction of this valuable carbon buffer needed for our ocean and environment. This is important because some other marine animals build their external skeleton on calcium carbonate, which is excreted by fish.

The ocean and atmosphere are constantly in contact and any change in one of them directly affects the other. They share water, gases, and energy. Consequently, the pH of the ocean is important since it affects the carbon cycle. This cycle is a pathway to exchange carbon and there are four main reservoirs: the atmosphere, the terrestrial biosphere, the oceans, and sediments. Carbon is constantly being exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean.

The series of reactions that CO₂ participates in when it enters the ocean are:

Solution:

• CO₂(atmospheric) ⇌ CO₂(dissolved)

Conversion to carbonic acid:

• CO₂(dissolved) + H₂O ⇌ H₂CO₃

First ionization:

• H₂CO₃ ⇌ H⁺ + HCO₃⁻ (bicarbonate ion)

Second ionization:

• HCO₃⁻ ⇌ H⁺ + CO₃⁻⁻ (carbonate ion)

The lack of fish in the ocean results in a decrease of the pH in the ocean, and then increase of carbon dioxide. This would mean that the ocean is acidic and it will lead to acid rain to faster decaying of buildings and it also damage trees. Acid rain weakens a tree and thus harming their leaves and limiting the nutrients that are available for them.

Plastic Problem- Legit and not Fake

If you are still not convinced that this garbage patch situation is serious, you better believe it, because it's twice the size of United States.
About 100 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year. Let's just discuss one product. This product has been present in the lives of many girls, and ever since 1959, has been made the perfect model to-be, and has even lived through criticism of creating a bad self-image for girls. You've probably guessed it. Yes, it's Barbie. From the curly-banged, retro looking model in 1959, to the brow-lifted, collagen-filled lips fifty years later, the company has no doubt created many models of Barbie. All this contributes to the statistics of 100 million tonnes of plastic being produced every year. Although Barbie is obviously not the only culprit to the problem, this example just shows that one product alone produces such a vast amount of plastic. Think of all the other companies out there, all producing products with plastic. That's a lot of plastic.
Statistics show that 10 percent of the 100 million tonnes of plastic result in the ocean, which translates to 10 million tonnes of plastic in the ocean every year.

As said before, the garbage that is dumped or swept into the ocean is a large problem, but the main problem is the photodegradation of plastic. What really happens is that plastic is photodegradable, which means that the plastic absorbs photons from sources like the sun and infrared radiation, which then enters the process of photodissociation, causing the plastic to break down into smaller particles. The reason why plastic is a bigger problem compared to other garbage is because most other flotsam (marine debris) are capable of biodegrading, but plastic photodegrades into smaller particles, and even breaks down into its polymers. The broken down plastic collects at the top of the water column, where it can be accessed by neustons (organisms that float on the surface of the water or live just below the surface), and mistaken for food. This causes plastic to be ingested into the digestive system of these organisms and cause them to die eventually.

Even though you may not see any visible flotsam in the water, you think, out of sight, out of mind, right? Not true. The photodegradation of the plastic causes it to photodisassociate and break down into particles maybe even too small to be visible by the naked human eye. As well, the United States alone produces about 27 million tonnes of nurdles (small, plastic pellets) every year. Nurdles can also be formed from plastic broken down into smaller pieces. Nurdles are also known as "mermaid tears," which sounds all good and dandy, but it's really not. This is especially harmful to the filter-feeders in the water, like: jellyfish, clams, and krill, because the plastic can act as a sponge that soaks up more toxic substances than normal, impairing their function to filter the water and filter the ocean water and even causing death.

Garbage in the Ocean, Something's Fishy.

The collection of garbage in gyres is due to the currents of the Pacific Ocean. Of these wastes, 80% comes from the land and 20% are thrown off of ship or oil platforms.

The garbage in the ocean ends up being eaten by the animals in the sea, such as fish and turtles. Although the garbage is in the ocean, it also affects birds seabirds because their source of food is in the ocean where all the garbage is. Hence, they end up eating the garbage instead of their intended meal. As a result, "[s]yringes, cigarette lighters, and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food" (Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent, and Daniel Howden). The UN Environment Programme have found that "plastic debris cause the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more then 100,000 marine mammals" (Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent, and Daniel Howden).

Often fish and other sea animals are deceived by plastic because the floating particles resemble zooplankton, which leads the the plastic particle are mistaken as food and is being consumed by jellyfish, therefore entering the ocean food chain. Plastic can never be digested because of the nature of its chemical bonds and its high molecular weight. Not only does it not provide nutrients, but plastic makes the fish feel full even though they are not consuming food. Investigations have shown that plastic in birds prevent migration, reproduction, and ultimately cause starvation and later death. If no reproduction is occurring, then as the birds die, they will become extinct. In turtles, plastic blocks their intestines and also causes them to float. Thus, they are unable to dive underwater to eat food. Plastic is like ghost fishermen and the animals get entangled in these plastic nets. If the animals die because of ingested plastic, they decay and since the plastic doesn't get digested, it is still present. After the animal decays, the leftover plastic gets washed back into the ocean and it is ready to kill another marine animal.

The toxic chemicals from the debris also make the marine animals sick. Toxic chemicals are released from "plastic sectors" are harmful to animals and humans as well.

Garbage in Gyres

You might be thinking, how does all that garbage stay in the same place, especially in the North Pacific Gyre. Shouldn't the garbage diffuse into the rest of the ocean so that there is just a little bit of garbage everywhere, but not so much that it's unmanageable? The answer is no, because of the characteristics of a gyre. Gyres rotate and become almost like a whirlpool; once you're in, it's hard to get out. A good way to picture it is to imagine the garbage as foam piled up in the middle of a hot tub where it is the calmest. The garbage can't even fight its way out like a human can.

Our main contact, Curtis Ebbesmeyer, has told us: "The garbage patch is localed under the subtropical high pressure cell. Dynamics of the winds and currents beneath the cell cause flotsam to converge into the patch." This high is called the North Pacific subtropical high and it pushes storms north or south. This high is the eye of the North Pacific Gyre and it consists of weak winds and slow currents just naturally collect marine debris, flotsam. In actuality, because similar wind and current configurations occur in all major oceans, so every large body of water has this problem of having a trash vortex. Not a lot of people know about this problem because that area of the Pacific Ocean is not frequently travelled. 70% of marine litter sinks and the ligher plastic photodegrades into smaller components which cannot be seen unless you're on a boat right on top of all the garbage, which is highly unlikely for an ordinary citizen.

Anyways, garbage accumulates in the ocean in these gyres and us silly humans continue dumping trash into the ocean off boats and land. As you might have read in previous blogs by my other group members, it takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to fully photodegrade but they never ever biodegrade. Plastic bottles aren't even the worst thing that people throw into the ocean. Disposable diapers apparently take 500 years to become invisible to the human eye but the effect on the environment can be seen much longer than that.

In certain areas, ocean currents carry the garbage, concentrate it in one area, and prevent it from washing ashore, especially in the circulating currents in stable weather conditions. In the image above, it can be seen that it is in between the two gyres where there is both warm and cold water that most garbage is collected. In each of the smaller gyres, the garbage moves toward the other gyre. But storms and rain can wash out some of the garbage out of the edges of the gyre and onto the beaches and shorelines of nearby Hawaiian islands that are in the same general area. This is often referred to as "a big animal without a leash. When it gets close to an island, the garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic," said Ebbesmeyer.

http://viewfromthemountain.typepad.com/david_sobotta_weblog/2006/08/the_eastern_gar.html
http://www.howstuffworks.com
http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/the-expedition/news/trashing-our-oceans
www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Trashing-Oceans-Plastic4nov02.htm