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 THROUGH THE AIR
Surprised? What goes up must come down.
Surface water, ground water and the atmosphere are all linked in a hydrologic cycle therefore, the stuff that gets into the air eventually gets in the water – it falls to the ground and runs off or it falls directly into the water.
When you can “smell” a chemical, such as paint thinner, you are actually breathing that chemical, which is in the air. Eventually, this air-borne chemical falls back to the ground in snow and rain (e.g., acid rain). One of the most significant sources of this type of pollution is auto exhaust. Others include fumes from open containers and smoke from burning solvents. This process of going up and coming down is known as atmospheric deposition.
So now the chemicals are in the Sound, but how can that paint can really affect the environment?
Environmental Impacts:
These toxic substances, when they reach our lakes, streams, bays, and Long Island Sound, can cause death or reproductive failure in the fish, shellfish, and wildlife that use the habitat. In addition, they can accumulate in animal and fish tissue (leading to fish consumption advisories), become attached to sediments, or find their way into drinking water supplies, posing long-term health risks to humans. Particular negative include the following:
- Impairment of the nervous system:. Lead and mercury are components of many household chemicals. When overexposed, animals can suffer from lead or mercury poisoning- resulting in death
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- Mutations: Over time species mutate to develop “immunity” to a new threat, in this case pollution, so that they can survive as a species
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- Oxygen Depletion or hypoxia caused by Antifreeze, Slicks from oil, fuel, and solvents can starve aquatic animals of the oxygen required for their existence by preventing the natural (and necessary!) process of oxygen entering the water from the air causing reduced growth or the elimination of fish by either death or emigration
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- Reduction of Species Variety: The bounty of organisms that live on or in the sediments on the bottom of the Sound (and other water bodies) are killed off and are replaced by only a few pollution-tolerant species. Their predators – fish and birds – either move (emigrate) or die from lack of prey
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- Reduce Light Penetration, caused by slicks and excess algae, decreases the amount of light available to aquatic plants
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Light reduction reduces the growth of plants, such as eelgrass, that provide vital underwater food and shelter. In turn, the animals that depend on those plants either emigrate or die. Additionally, less light results in poor visibility, making it difficult for animals to find prey and avoid predators
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- Fewer plants, such as eelgrass, are a principle reason for the loss of scallops from many parts of the Sound and its bays
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- Toxins accumulate in the flesh of animals, from benthic worms to striped bass. These toxins are passed up through the food chain at increasing concentrations until they reach top predators
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- Only one gram of mercury (about the amount found in a traditional thermometer) can make the fish in a 20-acre lake unsafe to eat for one year
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- The Bridgeport Harbor coal-burning power plant that presently releases 60,781 grams (134 pounds) of mercury per year
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- Mercury, a persistent and toxic pollutant, bioaccumulates in the environment as it rises up the food chain. Consumption of mercury-contaminated fish poses a significant public health threat and all of the Northeastern states have issued freshwater fish advisories, warning certain individuals against consuming from many affected water bodies
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