Water Unit Test

Most of Earth’s fresh water is

• suspended in atmospheric cloud formations.

• held in reservoirs behind large dams.

• solidified at the North and South Poles.

• stored in large underground rock structures.

Most of the pollutants in the ocean come from

• commercial boats and personal watercraft

• spills from oil tankers

• activities on land

• leaking underground storage facilities

Polluted groundwater is difficult to clean because

• groundwater is deep in the ground and dispersed through large areas of rock.

• pollutants cling to the materials that makeup the aquifer and contaminate the clean water.

• the recycling process of groundwater can take hundreds or thousands of years.

• all of the above

The 1990 Oil Pollution Act requires that all

• underground storage facilities be constructed of composite

  materials.

• tankers in U.S. waterways be double hulled by the year 2015.

• oil used in the U.S. is recycled.

• leaking underground storage facilities be repaired in 90 days.

When neighborhood residents noticed a large number of dead fish in a local creek, they traced the problem to a nearby gas station. It turned out that a tank of gasoline had developed a leak. This is an example of

• point-source pollution.

• nonpoint-source pollution.

• thermal pollution.

• groundwater pollution.

Some communities have banned detergents containing high levels of phosphates because

• phosphates cause chemical reactions that raise the temperature of river and lake water, disrupting ecosystems

• phosphates are not efficient cleansers

• excessive phosphates in lakes may begin a process that causes fish to suffocate and die.

• phosphates kill algae and disrupt normal food webs in lakes.

Which of the following might occur as a result of plastic trash accumulating in the ocean?

• Turtles mistake clear plastic bags for

  jellyfish, ingest them, and die of intestinal blockage.

• Sea birds are strangled by plastic six-pack rings.

• Sea mammals, such as seals, become tangled in clear plastic fishing lines and drown.

• All of the above

Which of the following represents nonpoint-source pollution?

• unlined landfill

• polluted wastewater from a chemical plant

• leaking oil tanker

• runoff from agriculture feedlots

The effects of water pollution on ecosystems

• are always immediate and highly lethal.

• result mostly from point-source pollution sources

• can magnify over time within food chains.

• can be demonstrated by natural eutrophication.

A common feature of thermal pollution and artificial eutrophication is that they both

• have sources that are difficult to identify and control.

• cause large mats of algae to bloom in fresh water.

• are a result of power plants and other industrial activity.

• decrease the amount of oxygen dissolved in water.