thermal pollution

Summary: This article, called thermal pollution was posted january4, 2007, and by an unknown author. The article is reliable hence the fact it was posted on a professional website and it give facts on what thermal pollution is doing to the environment and the problems that it is causing. It is also a topic that is still currently happening and not getting any better in our modern society.

The article starts of by giving a definition of what thermal pollution is, and that is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature. It also talks about what bodies of water it is normally associated with such as streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. The article also tells about how thermal pollution often happens when humans are producing electricity, but it can also be from the removal of vegetation.

The article goes into deep detail about what causes thermal pollution and how it happens. It talks about how energy can come from two sources, a direct source, which would be the burning of wood in a fireplace or it can be from the conversion of heat from a heat engine such as turbines and steam engines. It also talks about how much energy is tuned to fuel or a fuel source (30-40% of energy) and what happens to what is left over. Afterwards it tells you about how water is transported to facilities that use water as a coolant and gives a specific example, The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station between Los Angeles and San Diego, California, and how much water is consumed and transported (2,400 million gallons per day and830, 000 gallons per minute). There is also a good graphic of how the water temperature is distributed.

Next it talks about the effects it has on the environment. A primary effect that was stated in the article would be direct thermal shock. Some others are changes in dissolved oxygen and redistribution of organisms in a local community. The article say that they are trying to stop fish and other aquatic organisms from getting stuck and killed in the pipes by gradually increasing to temperature of the water of the heat treatment. Although they are trying to stop the wildlife from getting killed, their plan, ironically, is causing more problems. That is because those changes in temperature change the reproduction of the organisms making them more susceptible to disease. The article also states how if the water is colder it can then brake down organic material faster and therefore reduce oxygen levels. So that gives the problem of not solving thermal pollution by adding cold water to the mix. The article also stated how some good came out of thermal pollution, believe it or not. Some organisms like coral adapted to have a higher thermo tolerance.

Finally the article talks about the abatement of organisms that is caused by thermal pollution. So far the only immediate effects seen are the mortality of plankton. Some other possible abatement can be caused by nuclear power plants and their steam towers, which can cause meteorological changes.

Opinion: I think that thermal pollution can be a serious problem when in local area, especially one were a lot of endangered species live or a habitat that select organisms need to live and survive. It can also cause other local issues but it can also help organisms and commercial companies by increasing reproductive rates of certain fish and increase thermo tolerance for other organisms. On a world wide scale I do not think that thermo pollution will be a problem unless we make so many energy plants that it will happen everywhere. I, myself have no personal connection to this topic but I’m sure others will, especially those who specialize on this topic.

1-Should we try to dump the hot water to where commercial fisheries fish to help with a supply of food?

2- If more people move up north, should we limit the amount of people who can live up there so electrical plants aren’t numerous and start pumping hot water into the cold?

3- Should we try to use hot water treatments on aquatic organisms in labs to get the same thermo tolerance seen in coral and then try to breed them as a new species for commercial gain?