2. What is Thermal Pollution?
Increase in the normal temperatures of natural
waters caused by intervention of human
activities.
Temperature is a physical characteristic of water
which is characteristic of water which is
regulated under the Clean Water Act.
4. Major Causes
Nuclear power plants
Deforestation
Soil erosion
5. Nuclear Power Plants
Nuclear power plants use water as a cooling
agent.
After the water is used, it is put back into a
water supply at 9-20oC warmer
6. This 1988 thermal image of the
Hudson River highlights
temperature changes caused by
discharge of 2.5 billion gallons of
water each day from the Indian
Point power plant. The plant sits in
the upper right of the photo — hot
water in the discharge canal is
visible in yellow and red, spreading
and cooling across the entire width
of the river. Two additional outflows
from the Lovett coal-fired power
plant are also clearly visible against
the natural temperature of the
water, in green and blue.
8. Deforestation
The decrease in vegetation increases the amount
of light that hits the water, which increases the
temperature of the water
Deforestation also increases erosion
9. Soil Erosion
Erosion makes the water muddy, which
increases the light absorbed
10. Effects of Increased Water
Temperature
Thermal shock – aquatic life adapted to a certain water
temperature can go into shock when the temp is
changed even 1 or 2 degrees.
Oxygen dissolved in water decreases
Increases the rate of photosynthesis, which increases
the amount of plant growth
Increases the metabolic rate of fish, which increases
their need for oxygen
11. Biotic Effects of Thermal Pollution
• Changes in the environment may also result in
amigration of organisms to another, more suitable
environment, and to in-migration of organisms that
normally only live in warmer waters elsewhere. As
a result one has the problem of compromising food
chains of the old and new environments.
Biodiversity can be decreased as a result.
12. • Changes of even one to two degrees Celsius can
cause significant changes in organism metabolism
and other adverse cellular biology effects.
Principal adverse changes can include rendering
cell walls less permeable to necessary osmosis,
coagulation of cell proteins, and alteration of enzyme
metabolism. These cellular level effects can adversely
affect mortality and reproduction.
14. Control of thermal pollution
Cooling ponds, man-made bodies of water
designed for cooling by evaporation, convection,
and radiation
Cooling towers, which transfer waste heat to
the atmosphere through evaporation
and/or heat transfer
Cogeneration, a process where waste heat is
recycled for domestic and/or industrial heating
purposes
