Which of the following is an example of a point source of pollution?

Almost everything humans do, from growing food to manufacturing products to generating electricity, has the potential to release pollution into the environment. Regulatory agencies charged with protecting the environment identify two main categories of pollution: point-source and nonpoint-source pollution.

Índice Show

Point sources
Non-point sources
Urban land use
Agricultural land use
Forestry land use
Managing non-point sources of water pollution
Which is an example of point source pollution?
Which of the following is an example of point source?
Which of the following is an example of point source pollution quizlet?
What is an example of point source pollution Brainly?

Point-source pollution is easy to identify. As the name suggests, it comes from a single place. Nonpoint-source pollution is harder to identify and harder to address. It is pollution that comes from many places, all at once.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines point source pollution as any contaminant that enters the environment from an easily identified and confined place. Examples include smokestacks, discharge pipes, and drainage ditches.

Factories and power plants can be a source of point-source pollution, affecting both air and water. Smokestacks may spew carbon monoxide, heavy metal, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, or “particulate matter” (small particles) into the air. Oil refineries, paper mills, and auto plants that use water as part of their manufacturing processes can discharge effluent—wastewater containing harmful chemical pollutants—into rivers, lakes, or the ocean.

Municipal wastewater treatment plants are another common source of point-source pollution. Effluent from a treatment plant can introduce nutrients and harmful microbes into waterways. Nutrients can cause a rampant growth of algae in water.

Nonpoint-source pollution is the opposite of point-source pollution, with pollutants released in a wide area. As an example, picture a city street during a thunderstorm. As rainwater flows over asphalt, it washes away drops of oil that leaked from car engines, particles of tire rubber, dog waste, and trash. The runoff goes into a storm sewer and ends up in a nearby river. Runoff is a major cause of nonpoint-source pollution. It is a big problem in cities because of all the hard surfaces, including streets and roofs. The amount of pollutants washed from a single city block might be small, but when you add up the miles and miles of pavement in a big city you get a big problem.

In rural areas, runoff can wash sediment from the roads in a logged-over forest tract. It can also carry acid from abandoned mines and flush pesticides and fertilizer from farm fields. All of this pollution is likely to wind up in streams, rivers, and lakes.

Airborne pollutants are major contributors to acid rain. It forms in the atmosphere when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides combine with water. Because acid rain results from the long-range movement of those pollutants from many factories and power plants, it is considered nonpoint-source pollution.

In the United States, the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act have helped to limit both point-source and nonpoint-source pollution. Thanks to these two legislative initiatives, in effect for some 50 years now, America’s air and water are cleaner today than they were for most of the 20th century.

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Find out how pollutants enter water environments.

Point sources

A point source is a single, identifiable source of pollution, such as a pipe or a drain. Industrial wastes are commonly discharged to rivers and the sea in this way.

EPA regulates high-risk point source waste discharges through the works approval and licensing system, and associated compliance and enforcement activities.

EPA’s regulation of point source waste discharges has been important in improving the quality of Victoria’s water environments. No longer do we have raw sewage and abattoir waste continually flowing in our rivers as we did in the 1970s. While effort is still needed to maintain and further improve these environments, some of the major threats to the health of Victoria’s water quality are now from non-point sources.

Non-point sources

Non-point sources of pollution are often termed ‘diffuse’ pollution. They refer to inputs and impacts which occur over a wide area and are not easily attributed to a single source. They are often associated with particular land uses, as opposed to individual point source discharges.

Urban land use

In our urban areas, rainfall run-off as stormwater is one of the major non-point sources of pollution impacting the water quality of our waterways and bays. Stormwater from street surfaces is often contaminated with car oil, dust, animal faeces, and soil and sediment run-off from construction sites, and in industrial areas often contains more toxicants and chemicals.

In some outer-urban and urban fringe areas, a reticulated sewerage system is not available so sewage is discharged to onsite wastewater systems and septic tanks. Seepage and surface run-off of septic tank effluents may also be forms of non-point source pollution of streams in these areas.

Agricultural land use

In farming areas non-point sources of pollution include pesticides, fertilisers, animal manure and soil washed into streams in rainfall run-off. Where stock are given access to stream banks they may foul the water and accelerate erosion.

Forestry land use

Forestry operations may contribute to non-point source pollution of streams by increasing soil erosion and sediment run-off.

Managing non-point sources of water pollution

Non-point source pollution is often more difficult to control than point source pollution. In urban areas the provision of reticulated sewerage systems and adequate street cleaning are important measures, while in farming and forestry areas, soil conservation practices and the controlled application of pesticides and fertilisers are necessary if pollution of waterways is to be avoided.

While EPA does not directly license or approve many of these non-point source activities through regulation, we often work with partners from government, industry and community across different aspects of our operating model to help tackle these issues.