Environmental Science, 10th Edition (Cunningham)

Chapter 18: Water Pollution

GE Exercise: Arcata, California

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Overview: Arcata, California, p. 398

Arcata saved millions of dollars by constructing a wetland for wastewater treatment instead of building a conventional water treatment plant. This water treatment wetland has been extremely successful and has provided a refuge for wildlife and space for recreation. Read more about this project in the opening case study for this chapter. Zoom in/out and move north/south to see how Arcata is situated at the head of a shallow, enclosed tidal bay.

1
Arcata was forced to be creative about its water treatment plant in part because of the estuary on which it sits. Look carefully at the bay next to Arcata. What characteristics make it especially susceptible to eutrophication from poorly treated urban wastewater?
A)The bay is broad and shallow, and its outlet is a long way from the city—thus any nutrients released by a treatment plant would remain in the bay.
B)Dramatic eutrophication would result from the nutrients in urban effluent.
C)Since secondary treatment doesn't remove nutrients, expensive tertiary treatment would be required for this, making proper treatment of Arcata's wastewater especially expensive.
D)All three statements provided above are accurate.
E)None of the statements provided above are accurate.
2
Arcata is a relatively small, remote community. How is wastewater treatment different in such a situation, compared to in a larger metropolitan area?
A)In a small town, the tax base is small, and infrastructure is remote, which makes building a treatment plant still more expensive.
B)Wastewater from the two communities is made of completely different components, requiring completely different treatment strategies.
C)Remote areas always demonstrate more public awareness of the need for effective waste treatment, creating a strong constituency there for the most modern waste treatment facilities.
D)Surprisingly, the wastewater generated from remote communities is almost always substantially higher per capita than is found in metropolitan areas, a phenomenon called the Law of Inverse Waste Hydrodynamics.
3
Humboldt Bay, on which Arcata sits, is an unusual, shallow, tidal bay for this stretch of California's coast; often unusual situations such as this force people to find innovative solutions to common problems, such as occurred here in regard to wastewater treatment. Is the preceding statement true or false?
A)The statement is true.
B)The statement is false.
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