vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Great Lakes
Phosphate detergents were historically a major source of nutrient to the Great Lakes algae blooms in particular in the warmer and shallower portions of the system such as Lake Erie , Saginaw Bay , Green Bay , and the southernmost portion of Lake Michigan . By the mid-1980s , most jurisdictions bordering the Great Lakes had controlled phosphate detergents , resulting in sharp reductions in the frequency and extent of the blooms .
Hurricane Katrina
Levee breaches in New Orleans also caused a significant number of deaths , with over 700 bodies recovered in New Orleans by October 23 , 2005 . Some survivors and evacuees reported seeing dead bodies lying in city streets and floating in still - flooded sections , especially in the east of the city . The advanced state of decomposition of many corpses , some of which were left in the water or sun for days before being collected , hindered efforts by coroners to identify many of the dead . A
Catawba River
On June 29 , 2009 , the EPA announced that four of the top 44 `` High Hazard Ash Ponds '' in the United States are on the Catawba River . Two ash ponds are adjacent to and discharge into Mountain Island Lake . The EPA High Hazard list also includes ash ponds on Lake Wylie and Lake Norman .
Mass versus weight
The effects of buoyancy do n't just affect balloons ; both liquids and gases are fluids in the physical sciences , and when all macro ‐ size objects larger than dust particles are immersed in fluids on Earth , they have some degree of buoyancy . In the case of either a swimmer floating in a pool or a balloon floating in air , buoyancy can fully counter the gravitational weight of the object being weighed , for a weighing device in the pool . However , as noted , an object supported by a fluid is fundamentally no different from an object supported by a sling or cable -- the weight has merely been transferred to another location , not made to disappear .
Rainwater harvesting
A large body of work has focused on the development of lifecycle assessment and lifecycle costing methodologies to assess the level of environmental impacts and money that can be saved by implementing rainwater harvesting systems .
Dead Sea
Aristotle wrote about the remarkable waters . The Nabateans and others discovered the value of the globs of natural asphalt that constantly floated to the surface where they could be harvested with nets . The Egyptians were steady customers , as they used asphalt in the embalming process that created mummies . The Ancient Romans knew the Dead Sea as `` Palus Asphaltites '' ( Asphalt Lake ) .
Water tank
A safety based news article linked copper poisoning as originating from a plastic tank . The article indicated that rainwater was collected and stored in a plastic tank and that the tank did nothing to mitigate the low pH . The water was then brought into homes with copper piping , the copper was released by the high acid rainwater and caused poisoning in humans . It is important to note that since the plastic tank is an inert container , it has no effect on the incoming water . Good practice would be to analyze any water source periodically and treat accordingly , in this case the collected acid rain should be analyzed , and pH adjusted before being brought into a domestic water supply system .
Zebra mussel
Zebra mussel and the closely related and ecologically similar quagga mussels are filter - feeding organisms . They remove particles from the water column . The zebra mussels process up to one liter of water per day , per mussel . Some particles are consumed as food , and feces are deposited on the lake floor . Nonfood particles are combined with mucus and other matter and deposited on lake floors as pseudofeces . Since the zebra mussel has become established in Lake Erie , water clarity has increased from 6 inches to up to three feet in some areas . This improved water clarity allows sunlight to penetrate deeper , enabling growth of submerged macrophytes . These plants , when decaying , wash up on shorelines , fouling beaches and cause water quality problems .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
As of 2013 , the American Society of Civil Engineers report card remains a `` D '' , and a recent paper from Stanford University 's Center for Reinventing the Nation 's Urban Water Infrastructure ( ReNUWIt ) describes why `` water infrastructure is systemically resistant to innovation '' :
Methanogen
Methanogens also effectively decrease the concentration of organic matter in wastewater run - off and minimizes greenhouse gas emissions . For instance , agricultural wastewater , highly rich in organic material , has been a major cause of aquatic ecosystem degradation . The chemical imbalances can lead to severe ramifications such as eutrophication . Through anaerobic digestion , the purification of wastewater can prevent unexpected blooms in water systems as well as trap methanogenesis within digesters . This allocates biomethane for energy production and prevents a potent greenhouse gas , methane , from being released into the atmosphere .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
There were disagreements between the federal government and local government about the appropriate level of wastewater treatment , with the former arguing for more stringent standards . For example , in the late 1980s , the city of San Diego and EPA were involved in a legal dispute over the requirement to treat sewage at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant to secondary treatment standards . The city prevailed , saying that it saved ratepayers an estimated $3 billion and that process had proved successful in maintaining a healthy ocean environment . The Point Loma plant uses an advanced primary process . The requirement to perform secondary treatment on wastewater before ocean discharge was waived by the EPA in 1995 , `` taking into account the city 's unique circumstances '' .
Loggerhead sea turtle
Artificial lighting discourages nesting and interferes with the hatchlings ' ability to navigate to the water 's edge . Females prefer nesting on beaches free of artificial lighting . On developed beaches , nests are often clustered around tall buildings , perhaps because they block out the man - made light sources . Loggerhead hatchlings are drawn toward the brighter area over the water which is the consequence of the reflection of moon and star light . Confused by the brighter artificial light , they navigate inland , away from the protective waters , which exposes them to dehydration and predation as the sun rises . Artificial lighting causes tens of thousands of hatchling deaths per year .
Colombo
The city government provides sewer , road management and waste management services , in case of water , electricity and telephone utility services the council liaises with the water supply and drainage board , the Ceylon electricity board and telephone service providers .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
Cities , utilities , state governments and the federal government have addressed the above issues in various ways . To keep pace with demand from an increasing population , utilities traditionally have augmented supplies . However , faced with increasing costs and droughts , water conservation is beginning to receive more attention and is being supported through the federal WaterSense program . The reuse of treated wastewater for non-potable uses is also becoming increasingly common . Pollution through wastewater discharges , a major issue in the 1960s , has been brought largely under control .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
In a January 2012 U.S. National Research Council report , a committee of independent experts found that expanding the reuse of municipal wastewater for irrigation , industrial uses , and drinking water augmentation could significantly increase the United States ' total available water resources . The committee noted that a portfolio of treatment options is available to mitigate water quality issues in reclaimed water . The report also includes a risk analysis that suggests the risk of exposure to certain microbial and chemical contaminants from drinking reclaimed water is not any higher than the risk from drinking water from current water treatment systems -- and in some cases , may be orders of magnitude lower . The report concludes that adjustments to the federal regulatory framework could enhance public health protection and increase public confidence in water reuse .
River Thames
Evaluation of select of lipid compounds in the Thames estuary , known as glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers ( GDGTs ) has revealed enhanced concentrations of isoprenoid GDGT compounds ( crenarchaeol ) around East London . This suggests that London 's pollution affects the spatial distribution of natural carbon in the river sediments . Other organic geochemical measurements of carbon flow such as stable carbon isotopes ( δ13C ) were found to be insensitive to this urban disturbance .
Environmental impact of mining
Dissolution and transport of metals and heavy metals by run - off and ground water is another example of environmental problems with mining , such as the Britannia Mine , a former copper mine near Vancouver , British Columbia . Tar Creek , an abandoned mining area in Picher , Oklahoma that is now an Environmental Protection Agency superfund site , also suffers from heavy metal contamination . Water in the mine containing dissolved heavy metals such as lead and cadmium leaked into local groundwater , contaminating it . Long - term storage of tailings and dust can lead to additional problems , as they can be easily blown off site by wind , as occurred at Skouriotissa , an abandoned copper mine in Cyprus .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
Reuse of reclaimed water is an increasingly common response to water scarcity in many parts of the United States . Reclaimed water is being reused directly for various non-potable uses in the United States , including urban landscape irrigation of parks , school yards , highway medians and golf courses ; fire protection ; commercial uses such as vehicle washing ; industrial reuse such as cooling water , boiler water and process water ; environmental and recreational uses such as the creation or restoration of wetlands ; as well as agricultural irrigation . In some cases , such as in Irvine Ranch Water District in Orange County it is also used for flushing toilets .
Wetland
`` Low water and occasional drying of the wetland bottom during droughts ( dry marsh phase ) stimulate plant recruitment from a diverse seed bank and increase productivity by mobilizing nutrients . In contrast , high water during deluges ( lake marsh phase ) causes turnover in plant populations and creates greater interspersion of element cover and open water , but lowers overall productivity . During a cover cycle that ranges from open water to complete vegetation cover , annual net primary productivity may vary 20-fold . ''
Long Island Sound
Few undisturbed beach and dune systems exist on the Connecticut shore , the ones that do are located along the eastern portion of the coastline ( east of the Connecticut River ) . Sea rocket and dune grass occur here , but not in abundance . Dune grass and plants that thrive on dunes are largely responsible for the creation and growth of the dunes . On the seaward side of dunes can be found Lathyrus japonicus ( beach pea ) , Dusty Miller , and seaside goldenrod . Other beach plants are orache , beach clotbur , seaside spurge , and jimson weed . On the more protected landward side of dunes are beach plum , bayberry and beach rose . Rare species found on the landward side are beach knotweed and sand false heather . Upland
Plastic bottle
In the United States , plastic water bottles are regulated by the FDA which also inspects and samples bottled water plants periodically . Plastic water bottle plants hold a low priority for inspection due to a continuously good safety record . In the past , the FDA maintained that there was a lack of human data showing plastics pose health problems , however in January 2010 , the FDA reversed its opinion saying they now have concerns about health risks . An article published on November 6 , 2017 in Water Research reported on the content of microplastics in mineral waters packed in plastic or glass bottles , or beverage cartons . In 2018 , research conducted by Sherri Mason from the State University of New York in Fredonia revealed the presence of polypropylene , polystyrene , nylon and polyethylene terephthalate microparticles in plastic bottles . Polypropylene was hereby found to be the most common polymeric material ( 54 % ) and nylon the second most abundant ( 16 % ) polymeric material . The study also mentioned that polypropylene and polyethylene are polymers that are often used to make plastic bottle caps . Also , 4 % of retrieved plastic particles were found to have signatures of industrial lubricants coating the polymer . The research was reviewed by Andrew Mayes of the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) School of Chemistry The European Food Safety Authority suggested most microplastics are excreted by the body , however the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned that it is possible that the smallest particles ( < 1.5 μm ) could enter the bloodstream and organs , via the intestinal wall .
Evidence of common descent
Another study involved species of Daphnia and the enormous increase in lead pollution that occurred during the 20th century . Lead toxicity reached an all - time high in lakes in the 1970s , and due to leads toxicity to both vertebrates and invertebrates , it could be predicted that an increase in lead pollution would lead to strong selection pressures towards lead tolerance . In this study , researchers were able to use a method of `` resurrection ecology '' whereby they could hatch decades - old Daphnia eggs from the time in which lakes were heavily polluted with lead . The hatchlings in the study were compared to current - day Daphnia , and demonstrated `` dramatic fitness differences between old and modern phenotypes when confronted with a widespread historical environmental stressor '' . Essentially , the modern - day Daphnia were unable to resist or tolerate high levels of lead ( this is due to the huge reduction of lead pollution in 21st century lakes ) . The old hatchlings ; however , were able to tolerate high lead pollution . The authors concluded that `` by employing the techniques of resurrection ecology , we were able to show clear phenotypic change over decades ... '' . Peppered
Zebra mussel
Zebra mussels attach to most substrates including sand , silt , and harder substrates , but usually , juvenile mussels prefer harder , rockier substrates to which to attach . Other mussel species frequently represent the most stable objects in silty substrates , and zebra mussels attach to , and often kill these mussels . They build colonies on native unionid clams , reducing their ability to move , feed , and breed , eventually leading to their deaths . This has led to the near extinction of the unionid clams in Lake St. Clair and the western basin of Lake Erie . This pattern is being repeated in Ireland , where zebra mussels have eliminated the two freshwater mussels from several waterways , including some lakes along the River Shannon in 1997 .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
In 1854 , the British physician John Snow found that cholera was spread through contaminated water . As a result of his findings , several cities began to treat all water with sand filters and chlorine before distributing it to the public . Cities also began to construct sewers . As a result of water treatment and sanitation , the incidence of cholera and typhoid rapidly decreased . Slow sand filtration was initially the technology of choice for water treatment , later being gradually displaced by rapid sand filtration .
Fynbos
The Working for Water ( WfW ) program was started in 1995 by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry to control these invasive species which were shown to sequester 9.95 % of usable surface water runoff . Since then , over 1,000 , 00 hectares of land have been cleared of invasive species while providing jobs to around 20,000 people per year , most of which are women and unskilled workers . Systematic monitoring of WfW 's progress is lacking but there is anecdotal evidence that endemic silver peas have returned to Table Mountain after being thought extinct .
Great Lakes
Logging of the extensive forests in the Great Lakes region removed riparian and adjacent tree cover over rivers and streams , which provide shade , moderating water temperatures in fish spawning grounds . Removal of trees also destabilized the soil , with greater volumes washed into stream beds causing siltation of gravel beds , and more frequent flooding .
Great Lakes
The amount of raw sewage dumped into the waters was the primary focus of both the first Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and federal laws passed in both countries during the 1970s . Implementation of secondary treatment of municipal sewage by major cities greatly reduced the routine discharge of untreated sewage during the 1970s and 1980s . The International Joint Commission in 2009 summarized the change : `` Since the early 1970s , the level of treatment to reduce pollution from waste water discharges to the Great Lakes has improved considerably . This is a result of significant expenditures to date on both infrastructure and technology , and robust regulatory systems that have proven to be , on the whole , quite effective . '' The commission reported that all urban sewage treatment systems on the U.S. side of the lakes had implemented secondary treatment , as had all on the Canadian side except for five small systems .
Lead poisoning
Two things make this otherwise attractive hypothesis impossible . First , the calcium carbonate deposit that formed so thickly inside the aqueduct channels also formed inside the pipes , effectively insulating the water from the lead , so that the two never touched . Second , because the Romans had so few taps and the water was constantly running , it was never inside the pipes for more than a few minutes , and certainly not long enough to become contaminated .
Environmental impact of mining
Mining can have adverse effects on surrounding surface and groundwater if protective measures are not taken . The result can be unnaturally high concentrations of some chemicals , such as arsenic , sulfuric acid , and mercury over a significant area of surface or subsurface . Runoff of mere soil or rock debris - although non-toxic - also devastates the surrounding vegetation . The dumping of the runoff in surface waters or in forests is the worst option here . Submarine tailings disposal is regarded as a better option ( if the soil is pumped to a great depth ) . Mere land storage and refilling of the mine after it has been depleted is even better , if no forests need to be cleared for the storage of the debris . There is potential for massive contamination of the area surrounding mines due to the various chemicals used in the mining process as well as the potentially damaging compounds and metals removed from the ground with the ore . Large amounts of water produced from mine drainage , mine cooling , aqueous extraction and other mining processes increases the potential for these chemicals to contaminate ground and surface water . In well - regulated mines , hydrologists and geologists take careful measurements of water and soil to exclude any type of water contamination that could be caused by the mine 's operations . The reducing or eliminating of environmental degradation is enforced in modern American mining by federal and state law , by restricting operators to meet standards for protecting surface and ground water from contamination . This is best done through the use of non-toxic extraction processes as bioleaching . If the project site becomes nonetheless polluted , mitigation techniques such as acid mine drainage ( AMD ) need to be performed .
Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
In the USA , San Diego , California is the leading state implementing IPR . MF , RO and UV / H O are employed prior to groundwater replenishment with the treated effluents ( CDPH , 2013 ) . In San Diego , the effort to increase the share of recycled water was rekindled with an extensive study in 2006 . MF provides substantial removal of the dissolved effluent organic matter ( dEfOM ) , while dEfOM reduction down to 0.5 mg / L ( in terms of TOC ) is achieved through RO application . The chemical oxidation treatment ( UV / H O ) following the membrane steps , results in the mitigation of N - nitrosodimethylamine ( NDMA ) , as well as in the improvement of the effluent quality with respect to its organic content .
Rainwater harvesting
Although New Zealand has plentiful rainfall in the West and South , for much of the country , rainwater harvesting is the normal practice for most rural housing and is encouraged by most councils .
River Thames
As early as the 1300s , the Thames was used to dispose of waste matter produced in the city of London , thus turning the river into an open sewer . In 1357 , Edward III described the state of the river in a proclamation : `` ... dung and other filth had accumulated in divers places upon the banks of the river with ... fumes and other abominable stenches arising therefrom . ''
Flint water crisis
The company ShowerPill , which includes several NFL players , donated $100,000 in anti-microbial body wipes , baby wipes and water to the United Way of Genesee County for distribution focused on high schools and senior centers . On the same day , actor Jussie Smollett visited Flint and donated $10,000 to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint .
Great Pacific garbage patch
The United Nations Ocean Conference estimated that the oceans might contain more weight in plastics than fish by the year 2050 . Some long - lasting plastics end up in the stomachs of marine animals , mature and immature . The food chain is affected as the plastic attracts seabirds and fish . When marine life consumes plastic allowing it to enter the food chain , this can lead to greater problems when species that have consumed plastic are being eaten by other predators .
Zebra mussel
On June 4 , 2014 , Canadian conservation authorities announced that a test using liquid fertilizer to kill invasive zebra mussels was successful . This test was conducted in a lakefront harbor in the western province of Manitoba . However , there continue to be outbreaks in Lake Winnipeg .
Great Barrier Reef
Mining company Queensland Nickel discharged nitrate - laden water into the Great Barrier Reef in 2009 and 2011 -- on the later occasion releasing 516 tonnes ( 508 long tons ; 569 short tons ) of waste water . The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority ( GBRMPA ) stated `` We have strongly encouraged the company to investigate options that do not entail releasing the material to the environment and to develop a management plan to eliminate this potential hazard ; however , GBRMPA does not have legislative control over how the Yabulu tailings dam is managed '' .
Cigarette
In a recent trial the city of Vancouver , British Columbia , partnered with TerraCycle to create a system for recycling of cigarette butts . A reward of 1 ¢ per collected butt was offered to determine the effectiveness of a deposit system similar to that of beverage containers .
Environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
During a January 2013 flyover , former NASA physicist , Bonny Schumaker noted a `` dearth of marine life '' in a radius 30 to 50 miles ( 50 to 80 km ) around the Macondo well . `` Since the fall of 2011 , now about 14 months , I see no turtles , few if any dolphins , few if any rays ... few sharks , few bait balls , all of the things we used to see , '' she commented . This may mean that the wildlife left the area in search of food . `` I guess the Gulf of Mexico in these parts is a stinky , dead desert for its previous visitors , '' Schumaker told NBC news .