Douglas Lee
June 23, 2019 Study Guide for Lecture 8
Define the following terms:
nutrients (in terms of water pollution) – mainly nitrogen and phosphorus, are added to bodies of water and can
act like fertilizer, causing excessive growth of algae
Eutrophication – excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from
the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen.
Phytoplankton – microscopic marine algae
biological oxygen demand (BOD) – the amount of dissolved oxygen that must be present in water in order for
microorganisms to decompose the organic matter in the water, used as a measure of the degree of pollution.
Hypoxia – deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching the tissues.
dead zones in oceans – a place or period in which nothing happens or in which no life exists.
harmful algal blooms – occur when colonies of algae—simple photosynthetic organisms that live in the sea and
freshwater—grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine
mammals, and birds
sanitary sewage treatment systems – part of an overall system called a sewage system or sewerage.Sewage may
be treated to control water pollution before discharge to surface waters.
