Annotated Bibliography

1) "Water | EPA History | US EPA." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 22 Jan. 2010. .

Notes: “Everything that man himself injects into the biosphere- chemical, biological or physical- can ultimately find its way into the earth’s water,” stated by Charles C. Johnson. I found this statement profoundly true, all the more reason to take care of things and not pollute or destroy to much of anything on this earth. Take care of it or soon there won’t be anything left, like shown in many movies like “Soyolent Green” and “Mad Max: The Road Warrior” (or one of the Mad Max movies…). Another statement I found very accurate was, “…limits to natural purification—that our nation’s waters cannot indefinitely absorb an endless avalanche of waste.” Very true, if we do not stop this not only is the environment and other wildlife going to suffer, but eventually humans will suffer too. Other than this information, this article was not to informative about water trends.



2) "Health Effects of Drinking Water Contamination." Water Filters, Water Purifiers and Water Softeners. Web. 22 Jan. 2010. .

Notes: “About 14.1 million Americans routinely consume drinking water containing pesticides, including weed killers, atarzine, alachlor, and simazine…” This fact is very disturbing, but this is just the icing on the problem after reading the rest of the article. Sort of paraphrased the following: Water is the foundation of all life, therefore we must take all threats to drinkable water seriously. There were many studies performed that water quality had a correlation to many health problems throughout the nation. “The chemicals used in pipes, and joints, may contaminate drinking water after it has been treated.” This is indeed something to worry about, yet another thing that can be very problematic if there are no tests or studies. “The contamination of water is directly related to the degree of contamination of our environment.” Interesting fact that may be useful for putting things into perspective of how little fresh water we need and how much the human population will theoretically consume… “Under conditions of average… the human body… must replace about 2.3 liters of water each day.” Then the last thing that was kind of disturbing was that, “…at least 2,110 contaminants have been identified in the nation’s drinking water supplies… contaminants not regulated may be present in drinking water.” Actually after reading that again it is very disturbing! What other contaminants could there be that are dangerous to our health and environment?



3) "ARS : National Programs." ARS : Home. Web. 22 Jan. 2010. .

Notes: According to this article, U.S. citizens, organizations and the government are taking measures to protect the environment and the public health. The USDA National Program addresses three components: agricultural watershed management, irrigation and problem areas, and water quality protection and management. In the U.S. there are twelve benchmark watersheds, therefore we should be taking good care of them as well as all of the other water sources in the U.S. Overall, I didn’t find that much relevant information for the project, but there was plenty of details about this specific research project report for the government program.



4) "Water Science: Water quality." USGS Georgia Water Science Center. Web. 22 Jan. 2010. .

Notes: Defined water quality as, “…describe the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water, usually in respect to its suitability for a particular purpose.” After reading the following, “… vulnerability of surface water and ground water to degradation depends on a combination of natural… and human activities…” I realized that it takes a balance of things to make sure water is clean and that actions must be taken for bad conditions to be improved. There are a few types of pollutant types and how they enter the water some of which are the following: point source, air, and eroded soil and sediment. At first I was shocked to read this I hadn’t thought that pollutants traveling in the air would actually affect the water, but after considering it… it would be true and is a sad fact because as industrialization increases so does the pollutants getting pumped into the atmosphere. I also hadn’t really considered the fact that erosion and sediment can bring the pollutants straight into the water, which can have devastating affects on many things. Different types of pollutants are: microorganisms, bacteria, chemicals, sewage spills, pesticides and runoff. Water quality has become an important issue as the Nation’s population increases tremendously. Many of the points and facts brought up were very useful in this source.