Summary: Thermal pollution refers to the disturbance of air and
water, and terrestrial and aquatic life, caused by heat. An example of thermal
pollution is the development of an urban heat island. An urban heat island
consists of a dome of warm air caused by the release of heat by buildings as
well as the retention subsequent release of heat by concrete. Thermal pollution
refers to the heating of lakes, rivers, streams, and other bodies of water. This
is usually by electric power-generating plants or factories. The increases in
the temperature can have a harmful effect on an aquatic environment. A sudden
change in the temperature can cause the death of many individuals. It can cause
potentially useful applications, such as aquatic farms where commercially desirable
fish and shellfish can be raised. An option suggested a lot is to do a better
job at cooling the water before it reenters a river, lake, or the ocean.
Opinion/ Reflection: I
believe that the people at the plant and factories should cool the water before
the put them back into the bodies of water. They should also find away to
protect the aquatic environment. The people could create the farms to protect
some of them, like they said in the article.
Questions:
1. If you had a chance to do something about thermal
pollution, what would you do? Why?
2. Do you think the plants and factories could do any
more to cut down on the thermal pollution? Why or why not?
3. Do you think in the future there will be a lower
aquatic environment if the factories keep having high amounts of pollution? Why
or why not?
I agree with Mahalia. This water should be cooled before it is put back into the habitats of many aquatic species. We need to preserve these aquatic species, and adding heated water into their environment is not the way to do that. If we can control thermal pollution of water, then it would be a huge step towards preserving our aquatic wildlife.
ReplyDeleteAnswering a question:
2. Yes, I think that they could change their methods of releasing the water they use. They could either cool the water before it leaves the factory or look for areas with minimal aquatic life to dump the heated water.
People underestimate the effect temperature has on the environment. Our society is under the assumption that a few degree's difference won't hurt. This is completely wrong and highly dangerous. Nature has a very delicate cycle that can be easily broken by as temperature difference. I was recently watching a show about global warming on the Science channel. The show explained that a measly few degrees difference can completely shatter the lifestyle many animals have adapted to. Pumping heated water into a stable ecosystem will throw it off completely. Fish will die, and they are a major part of the food web. Cooling water is a must, or we will be inching closer to total environmental chaos.
ReplyDelete3. If the future we will see a drastic decline in our aquatic environment if nothing is done about thermal pollution. Fish require a constant temperature and pH level to survive. Dumping any unwanted water into an ecosystem will leave the environment with a whole mess of problems.