Finding out about water pollution
Please note that this page is now archived. A number of the links are broken and we are very unlikely to revisit or update them. However, you can always track down an old page by copying its name into a search engine and looking for its new location.
The world's oceans and rivers have never been under more pressure from pollution. This handy list of information sources points you to books, articles, and websites that tell you what the problems are, how they're caused, and how we can attempt to solve them. There are thousands of web pages about pollution and this is not a complete list. But it'll give you a good start in finding out about most of the issues involved.
Have you read this Introduction to water pollution page? If not, you might like to start there.
Looking for pictures? We have a whole page of pollution photos.
Last updated: January 4, 2011.
Photo by US National Park Service, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, courtesy of US EPA Great Lakes National Program office.
Contents: What you can find on this page
- Cool stuff for schools!
- Water pollution activities for kids
- Government agencies and international organizations
- Institutions, campaign groups, NGOs, etc.
- Sewage and wastewater
- Beaches
- Endocrine disruption
- Toxic chemicals and pesticides
- Introduced (non-native) organisms
- Farming, fertilization, nutrient addition, harmful algal blooms
- Oil pollution and slicks
- Decommissioning of oil platforms and structures
- Radioactive waste
- Debris and dumping
- Atmospheric deposition (ocean pollution caused by air pollution)
- Indoor air pollution caused by water pollution
- Drinking water quality
- Measuring water quality
- Laws and conventions
Books
Articles
Cool stuff for schools!
A lot of the information on this page is quite detailed scientific stuff. If you're doing a project for school, you might not have time to work through all these zillions of links. We suggest you take a look at the links below - you will probably find everything you need for your project right here!
Start here
- Introduction to water pollution - our own introduction to the subject for students of all ages, now hosted for us by ExplainthatStuff.com
- What on Earth do you know about water?: Why water is important to us on Earth.
- USGS: Water science for schools: "We offer information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and test your water knowledge."
- US EPA Office of Water: Kids Page
- Water pollution introduction: from the City of Oceanside Clean Water Program.
- Love your beach: A neat little animation for younger students from Surfers Against Sewage.
- Encyclopedia.com: Articles on "Pollution"
- Info Please article on "Water pollution
- Search Yahooligans! for "Water pollution"
- Search Fact Monster for "Water pollution"
- US EPA: Kids letters about marine pollution
- Kids Stuff: Gulf of Mexico pollution
- Especially for Kids: Information on oil spills from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- NRDC Make Waves!: How kids can protect the Earth, one ripple at a time
- Secrets@Sea A game produced by Engaging Science - a partnership of the Pacific Space Centre, Science World and the Vancouver Aquarium.
- Oceans Alive
- Kids for Saving Earth, Earth Saving Kids Planet
- ThinkQuest: Water Around Us
- How to Clean Up Our Water: Twelve simple ways you can help stem the tide of polluted runoff: Practical steps you can take, from the NRDC.
- Australian Maritime Safety Authority: Environment education for kids: Includes interactive flash activities, games, and color-ins for younger students.
More advanced introductions
For other kinds of information about water (e.g. groundwater, wetlands, aquifers, wastewater), look at the DMOZ/ODP site on Water Resources. (The section on Education contains about 50 websites with water education activities, interactive games, factsheets, teaching materials, and more.)
- Introduction to water pollution - our own introduction to the subject for students of all ages, now hosted for us by ExplainthatStuff.com.
- Wikipedia article on Pollution
- Wikipedia article on Marine Pollution
- Google: Search for articles on "Pollution"
- Water pollution Links and resources from About.com
- OceanLink: Marine pollution causes and effects
- Surfers Against Sewage: Educational resources: Lots of good stuff for older students and researchers.
- Water pollution and society an excellent and detailed introduction to the whole subject by David Krantz and Brad Kifferstein
- Marine pollution: a briefing from the National Council for Science and the Environment.
- Scientific American Presents: Oceans: Feature Article: Exploring the Ocean Planet: August 1998: Exploring ocean wonders with the Internet.
- Smithsonian Institution/NASA Ocean Planet: Oceans in peril
- Water quality educational materials: From University of Michigan.
- Water Resources Institute Library at UW-Madison - Water Information
- Environmental Education Link: EE-Link develops and organizes Internet resources to support, enhance and extend effective environmental education in grades K-12.
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Education Resources Page
- Sierra Club: Environmental Education Section
- Yahoo! Society and Culture:Environment and Nature:Pollution:Water
- dmoz Open Directory Project: Water pollution
- Australian Maritime Safety Authority: Environment education for teachers: Includes classroom projects, games, and other resources.
Pictures of water pollution
If you're doing a water pollution project for school or college, you probably want some pictures to go with it? You might like to start with our own page of pollution photos, which (as far as we can tell) are all copyright free and in the public domain (so you can use them without worrying). Also try the following sites. These should also be mostly public domain images since they're federal government agencies.
- US Fish and Wildlife Service Digital Photo Library: Type "pollution" into the keyword search panel on the left and (as of November 2007), you get about 50 pictures.
- US Geological Survey: Measuring Water Quality: You can find pictures here of people measuring water quality and water pollution.
- US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory: This is a good source of pictures of "pollution solutions". Click on "text search", enter "pollution", and you'll get a couple of hundred photos of solar power, wind turbines, and other clean technologies that help us tackle pollution in a positive way.
- NOAA Photo Library: This huge photo library doesn't give many hits if you do a simple search for "pollution", but if you browse around the different collections you can find quite a lot of relevant images. (I think the problem is that the images are mostly old and haven't been given enough keywords to show up on a search.)
- US NOAA: Caastlines: Problems: Chesapeake Bay: Various photos of water-related problems in Chesapeake Bay, including erosion and pollution.
- NASA Image Exchange: Enter "pollution" or "water pollution" into the field marked "With all these words" and you'll get quite a few good NASA satellite images of air and water pollution.
- The Best Copyright-Free Photo Libraries: Lots more ideas on this very helpful page.
Water pollution activities for kids
- The Water Source Books: "The Water Sourcebooks contain 324 activities for grades K-12 divided into four sections: K-2, 3-5, 5-8, and 9-12. Each section is divided into five chapters: Introduction to Water, Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment, Surface Water Resources, Ground Water Resources, and Wetlands and Coastal Waters".
- Slick sea spills: This oily experiment from the Franklin Institute for grades 4-6 aims to help students "gain an understanding of what happens in an oil spill and to develop a greater awareness of taking responsibility for the environment."
- Polluted runoff: games and activities: All kinds of games and activities for children of different ages from the US EPA, including
- Articles and activities for middle school students: Seven interesting hands-on water pollution activities.
- All about water and pollution: A selection of pollution lesson plans and activities.
- Water pollution graphing activity: For grades 2-8. Purpose: "To describe and identify the link between land use activities within a watershed and water quality."
- Drinking Water & Ground Water Kids' Stuff: Lesson plans and activities for teachers and children, at grades K-3, grades 4-8, and grades 9-12, includes great activities like...
- Build your own aquifier in a cup.
- Tracking Pollution - A Hazardous Whodunit: "An activity for the class trying to figure out who is responsible for the water pollution and who has to pay for the cleanup in the town of Riverville."
- Lesson Planet: Water pollution lesson plans and activities An educational search-engine for teachers, which offers a free trial for 10 days.
- Australian Maritime Safety Authority: Environment education for teachers: Includes a variety of classroom projects, hands-on experiments, and activities, mainly concerned with oil spills and cleaning them up.
- Science Buddies: This great website has lots of excellent science fair projects, including several on water pollution:
- Goo-Be-Gone: Cleaning Up Oil Spills: Testing the effectiveness of different sorbents on oil spills.
- Acid Rain and Aquatic Life: Test the effects of acid rain on aquatic plants and creatures.
- Too Much of a Good Thing?: Experiment to see how fertizilers contribute to algal blooms.
Government agencies and international organizations
- U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Homepage
- EPA: Office of Water
- EPA: Office of Water: The Quality of Our Nation's Waters
- EPA: Treasured Waters: Protecting our Coastal and Marine resources (PDF file)
- EPA: Oceans and Coastal Protection: Marine Pollution Control Programs
- EPA: Office of Wetlands,Oceans, and Watersheds
- EPA: Nonpoint Source Pollution
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Home Page
- U.S. Geological Survey Water Quality Information
- U.S. Department of Agricultural, Natural Resource Conservation Service
- U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA)
- The oceans: a U.S. perspective: by Dr James Baker
- US government: Marine pollution speech by T. Wirth: Remarks of the Honorable Timothy E. Wirth, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, to the Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment, Oceans Conference, May 25, 1995.
- UN Atlas of the Oceans: Go to the home page and search on "pollution" to find information, statistics, and maps on all kinds of marine-pollution topics.
- European (EU) Environment Commission (formerly Directorate General (DG) XI)
- UK Department
for
Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
- Environmental Protection: Water: lots of stuff about UK water
- UK Drinking Water Inspectorate : a variety of useful information about drinking water, from technical reports to leaflets for householders
- EMEP: The Co-Operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-Range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP),
- English Nature
- Environment Agency of England and Wales
- Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Environmental Marine Pollution (GESAMP)
- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (of UNESCO) - IOC
- Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
- World Bank
Institutions, campaign groups, NGOs, etc.
- A.C.O.P.S. Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea, Sea Pollution marine enviroment
- American Oceans Campaign
- Clean Ocean Action
- Friends of the Earth UK
- Friends of the Earth US
- Greenpeace
- International Water Association
- International Rivers Network and European Rivers Network
- Marine Conservation Society
- National Audobon Society
- National Resource Defense Council: Clean water and oceans
- The Ocean Conservancy
- Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB): UK group
- Save our Seas
- Sierra Club: Conservation Policies - Marine Conservation
- Surfers Against Sewage
- Surfrider Foundation
- Wetlands International
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [Try a keyword search on "pollution"]
- World Resources Institute: Water resources and freshwater
- WWF
Sewage and wastewater
- Flush Gordon's Wastewater page
- Surfers AgainstSewage
- US EPA:Office of Solid Waste
- Environment Canada: Wastewater
- UK House of Commons - Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs - Second Report: Sewage treatment and disposal
- UK House of Commons Hansard Debates for 31 Mar 1998: Sewage treatment on the south coast
- US EPA: Oceans and Coastal Protection: Vessel Sewage Discharges and No Discharge Zones
- American Water Works Association
- Clean Kills? Will Boston Harbor's Once-Rich Fisheries be Ruined by a $5 Billion Sewage Plant? E Magazine, Sep-Oct 1998 (unfortunately, you now need to subscribe to E magazine to read the full article)
- Closing Surf City. E Magazine, Jan-Feb 2000: The California beaches of surfing legend are now off limits because of uncontrollable solid waste pollution. (Unfortunately, you now need to subscribe to E magazine to read the full article.)
- US Geological Survey Marine and Coastal Geology Program Fact sheet: Sewage Contamination of the Deep-Sea Floor Near the 106-Mile Dumpsite off New Jersey
Beaches
- US EPA Beaches Environmental Assessment, Closure, and Health (BEACH) Watch Homepage
- US EPA: Frequently Asked Questions Beach Water Quality
- Keep America Beautiful, Inc. - Community Cleanup
- Marine
Conservation Society UK
- Up, up, and away?: A leaflet about the impact of balloons (released through balloon races) on the marine environment.
- Balloon releases: environmental concerns: A longer factsheet about the impact of balloons (released through balloon races) on the marine enironment.
- Adopt-a-beach: UK scheme from the Marine Conservation Society
- Our Beleaguered Beaches: Increased Pollution And Lax Water Quality Standards Lessen Summer Fun In The Sun. E Magazine, May-Jun 1999. (Unfortunately, you now need to subscribe to E magazine to read the full article)
- Closing Surf City. E Magazine, Jan-Feb 2000: The California beaches of surfing legend are now off limits because of uncontrollable solid waste pollution. (Unfortunately, you now need to subscribe to E magazine to read the full article.)
Endocrine disruption
- US EPA: Endocrine Disruption
- Endocrine disruptor: A good introductory overview from Wikipedia, covers the theory of disruption, objections to the theory, types of endocrine disruptors, and approaches to tackling the problem.
- Male fish turning female: article from the UK Guardian
- US Fish and Wildlife Service: Environmental Contaminants Program
- National Academy of Sciences: Research Needed to Reduce Scientific Uncertainty About Effects of Hormonally Active Agents in the Environment
- Friends of the Earth UK campaigns: Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Consultation response
- US Geological Survey. Report on the potential for endocrine disruption in fish from streams throughout the United States
Toxic chemicals and pesticides
- World Wildlife Fund: Global Campaign to Reduce the Use of Toxic Chemicals: lots of useful information and publications
- Common toxic chemicals and their effects: a comprehensive table of the worst offenders
- United Nations GEO-2000: Chapter Two: The State of the Environment - Global issues - Toxic chemicals and hazardous waste
- Pesticides in Fish and Shellfish: The dangers of eating contaminated fish explained by Environmental Defense.
- U.S. Geological Survey: National assessment of pesticides in the streams, rivers, and ground water of the United States
- US EPA: Toxics factsheets
- More waters test positive for drugs: Science News Online, apr. 1, 2000: pharmaceutical contamination of lakes, streams, and groundwater
- Dishonorable Discharge - Toxic Pollution of America's Waters:Where are the 50 most polluted rivers or waterbodies in the U.S?
- Weedkillers in water: An interesting 1995 article from CNN.
- Mercury threatens the arctic ocean from Earth Island Journal, Winter/Spring 1999.
- Northern Overexposure: "The top of the world--with its frigid expanses of water, ice, tundra, stunted forest, and wetlands--may look pristine, but the Arctic environment and its inhabitants contain surprisingly high levels of heavy metals, organic pollutants, and radiation." From Focus, Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 106, Number 2, February 1998.
- Transport Programme Overview: Understanding the transport and fate of contaminants arriving at the Arctic ocean. Study by Norwegian Ministry of Environment
- Everyday Exposure to Toxic Pollutants: Scientific American: Feature Article: February 1998. This is a subscription only or pay-per-view article, but search for the title with your favourite search engine and you might be lucky enough to find it for free.
- Dangerous Beauty: Flower Farms May Threaten Workers and the Environment. E Magazine, May-Jun 1999. (subscription required)
Introduced (non-native) organisms
- Audubon: Stop invasives
- US Department of Interior Invasives Fact Sheet
- National Geographic Feature: Alien Invaders
- Environmental and Economic Costs Associated With Non-indigenous species in the United States
- Invasive species cost $123 billion a year - full report by David Pimentel et al
- Ultimate Sea Weed Loose in America: Science News Online, July 15, 2000
- Water Pollution - Killer Amoeba: Pfiesteria piscicida strikes again.
- Black sea battles: What happened when Mnemiopsis invaded the Black Sea
- European Green crab reaches Oregon: news article from SCIENCE magazine, Volume 276, Number 5310, Issue of 11 Apr 1997, pp. 203-205.
- Images of invasive species: A selection of pictures of invasive insects, plants, diseases, and animals from the Bugwood Network, the USDA Forest Service, and others. Although these images are not public domain, they are published under creative commons licenses.
Farming, fertilization, nutrient addition, harmful algal blooms
- United Nations GEO-2000: Chapter Two: The State of the Environment - Global issues - Nitrogen loading
- Gulf dead zone to be biggest ever: BBC news story from July 2007 about the biggest ever dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
- The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
- NOAA: Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico
- US EPA: Nutrients & Nutrient Impacts
- Death by Suffocation in the Gulf of Mexico" by David Malakoff, Science, Volume 281, Number 5374 Issue of 10 Jul 1998, pp. 190-192.
- The Harmful Algae Page: comprehensive page from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
- Overcoming Agricultural Water Pollution in the European Union : A detailed World Bank article from September 1996.
- Control of water pollution from agriculture: a detailed paper from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
- NOAA Websites - Sciences - Ocean - Marine Pollution & Harmful Algal Blooms
Oil pollution and slicks
- Especially for Kids: Information on oil spills from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- ThinkQuest Oil spills: simple overview for children
- Oil spill: Introductory article from Wikipedia reviews the effects of spills, how they are cleaned up, and how they can be prevented. Also includes a table of the world's largest oil spills.
- NRDC: Oil Spills - Green Gateway: Oil spills in the San Francisco Bay area
- University of Wales Swansea School of Biological Sciences: Sea Empress Oil Spill: Crude oil in the sea
- US EPA OIL PROGRAM HOME PAGE
- Scientific American: Oil spills leave lasting mark, November 2002
- International Maritime Organization
- US Coastguard: Oil spill information
- International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation
- The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited
- UK Maritine and Coastguard Agency: Counter pollution and response: how UK trams are equipped to deal with oil spills and ocean pollution incidents
Exxon Valdez oil spill 1989
- Exxon Valdez oil spill: An overview and timeline in this Wikipedia article.
- Exxon
Valdez Oil
Spill Trustee Council
- US
NOAA:
Exxon Valdez Spill
- EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL: Ten Years Later: Technical
Background Paper for Alaska Wilderness League by Pamela A. Miller,
Arctic Connections 3/99
Gulf of Mexico (Deepwater Horizon) oil spill 2010
- Deepwater Horizon oil spill: A comprehensive overview in this Wikipedia article.
- Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico in maps and graphics: A neat graphical explanation of the spill from BBC News.
- Gulf of Mexico Response: Oil company BP's own account of how it tackled the spill.
- National Geographic: Gulf oil spill news: National Geographic's website has a useful archive of news stories and photos charting the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Decommissioning of oil platforms and
structures
- Greenpeace: Oil installations
- Brent Spar gets the chop: BBC News story, November
1998.
- Brent Spar: Wikipedia article
- Drill
cuttings and the decommissioning of oil and gas platforms: Dr
Alastair Grant, UEA.
Radioactive waste
- Costanza, Robert, et al. "Principles for Sustainable
Governance of the Oceans." Science, Volume 281, Number 5374
Issue of 10 Jul 1998, pp. 198-199 (Abstract only. You need a subscription for access to the full article)
- The Norwegian Ministry of Environment: Radioactive pollution in northern ocean areas
- Greenpeace: radioactive waste dumping
- UN
Atlas of the Oceans: Ocean dumping and ship wastes. Go to the home page and search for "radioactive waste"
- Barrels
of Radioactive Waste Rusting on Seabed: a Greenpeace story and
action from 2000.
- Irish PM steps up Sellafield campaign: a BBC News
story from 2001.
- "No health risk" from radioactive waste: a BBC News
story from 2000.
- Gray lady down, Salonmag.com, 16 August
2000: pollution risks from nuclear submarines
Debris and dumping
- Marine
debris timeline: how long it takes for different items (from
plastic bottles to apple cores) to decompose in the sea
- Plastic Debris:
A project designed to assess and begin to reduce sources of plastic debris and other discarded materials in urban runoff.
- US EPA: Oceans and Coastal Protection: Marine Debris
- Ocean Conservancy: Marine Debris: includes statistics on debris for different US beaches.
- US EPA: Plastic Pellets in the Aquatic Environment: Sources and Recommendations, 1992 report.
- Cruising for trouble: stemming the tide of cruise ship pollution from
Bluewater Network's Cruise Ship Campaign
- Shipboard Pollution Control: U.S. Navy Compliance with MARPOL Annex V: A whole book about how the US Navy's (approximately) 373 ships comply with marine pollution regulations.
Atmospheric deposition (ocean pollution caused by air pollution)
- Air Pollution: An introduction from Explain that Stuff.
- US EPA: Air Pollution and Water Quality
- Acid Rain and Aquatic Life:a nice little science fair experiment from Science Buddies, in which you can test for yourself the effects of acid rain on aquatic plants and creatures.
- Chesapeake
Bay: Water quality problems caused by air pollution
- Convention
on
Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution
- EMEP: The
Co-Operative
Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-Range Transmission
of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP),
- Transport Programme Overview: Understanding the
transport and fate of contaminants arriving at the Arctic ocean. Study
by Norwegian Ministry of Environment
Indoor air pollution caused by water
pollution
- How dishwashers pollute the indoor air: Science
News, 1999
Drinking water quality
- UK Drinking Water
Inspectorate : a variety of useful information about drinking
water, from technical reports to leaflets for householders
Measuring water quality
- US Geological Survey: Measuring Water Quality: A pictorial guide to how USGS scientists measure water quality.
Laws and conventions
- International
Maritime Law Institute
- INTERNATIONAL
MARITIME LAW TREATIES AND LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENTS (requires free registration)
- Oslo and Paris
Commissions (OSPAR)
- "The
London Dumping Convention" (CONVENTION ON THE
PREVENTION OF MARINE POLLUTION BY DUMPING OF WASTES AND OTHER MATTER,
1972)
- MARPOL: 1978 International
Treaty on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Ships: summary
and full text
- Protection
of the seas: Summary of international conventions and agreements by
North Sea Directorate.
- EPA: Office of Water - Clean Water Act Section 301(h)
Program
- Oceans
& Coastal Resources: A Briefing Book: Marine Pollution: Summary
of international legislation covering marine pollution.
- US EPA:
Office of Water: Federal legislation covering water
pollution
- US
EPA: Major environmental laws administered by the EPA
- NOAA: Oil Pollution Act of 1990 guidance and documents
- European Union legislation
- RAMSAR convention on
wetlands: The Convention on
Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental
treaty which provides the framework for national action and
international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands
and their resources.
- United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
- Australia: Marine Pollution Conventions and Legislation (PDF file, last revised 2010).
Books
Introductory
- Allaby, Michael. Water: Its Global Nature. New York: Facts on File, 1992. [Excellent,
simple introduction to global importance of water.]
- Day, Trevor. Oceans. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999. [Excellent overview of all aspects of
oceans.]
- Living Earth Foundations. The Oceans: A Celebration. London: Ebury Press, 1993.
- Ross, David. Introduction to Oceanography. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. [Ch 16 "Marine
Pollution" is a very good introduction and overview.]
- Stowe, Keith. Exploring Ocean Science. New York: Wiley, 1996. [See Part 9 "The Health of
the Oceans".]
- Thurman, Harold and Alan Trujillo. Essentials of Oceanography. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
1999. [Good coverage of marine pollution in Ch11 "The Coastal Ocean".]
Detailed general books on water pollution
- Farmer, Andrew. Managing Environmental Pollution. London/New York: Routledge, 1997. [Good
chapter on marine pollution.]
- GESAMP (Group of
Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution). The State of
the Marine Environment. Oxford/New York: Blackwell, 1990.
[Definitive survey]
- Wood, I.R., R.G. Bell, and
D.L. Wilkinson. Ocean Disposal of Wastewater. Singapore: World
Science, 1993.
Chemical and biological effects of water pollution
- Alloway, B.J. and D.C. Ayres. Chemical
Principles of Environmental Pollution. London/New York:
Blackie/Chapman and Hall, 1997. [Good on chemical and toxiological
effects of pollutants]
- Carson, Rachel. Silent
Spring. New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 1962. [Classic introduction to
the threat posed by use of chemicals (mainly pesticides) on the natural
environment.]
- Dudley, Nigel. Nitrates:
The Threat to Food and Water. London: Green Point, 1990. [Simple,
accessible guide to nitrate pollution from agriculture etc. and what to
do about it.]
- Sindermann, Carl. Ocean
Pollution: Effects on Living Resources and Humans. Boca Raton, FL:
CRC Press, 1996.
- Steingraber, Sandra. Living Downstream: An
ecologist looks at cancer and the environment, Virago, 1999.
[Silent Spring revisited. A combination of powerful scientific evidence
to support links between environmental pollution and different kinds of
cancer and moving, poetic reflections on Steingraber's own battles
against cancer.]
- Tapp, J., J. Wharfe, and S.
Hunt. Toxic Impacts of Waste on the Aquatic Environment.
London: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1996.
- Welch, E.B. and T. Lindell. Ecological
Effects of Wastewater: Applied Limnology and Pollutant Effects.
London: E & F N Spon, 1992.
Political and economic analysis
- Cook, Hadrian F. The
Protection and Conservation of Water Resources: A British Perspective.
Chichester/New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
- Man and the Maritime
Environment. Edited by Stephen Fisher. Exeter: University of Exeter
Press, 1994.
- Gourlay, K.A. Poisoners of
the Seas, London; Zed Books, 1980.
- Gourlay, K.A. World of
Waste, London; Zed Books, 1992.
- Harrison, Paul. The Third
Revolution: Population, Environment, and a Sustainable World., New
York/London: Penguin Books. [See Ch14: "Sea of troubles: Polluted
waters".]
- Independent World Commission
on the Oceans. The Oceans: Our Future. Cambridge/New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1998.
- Wilder, Robert Jay. Listening
to the Sea: The Politics of Environmental Protection. Pittsburgh:
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998. [Political analysis of the
problems of protecting the oceans]
- World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. London/New
York: Oxford University Press, 1987. [See Ch10 "Managing the Commons",
Section 1. "Oceans: The Balance of Life".
Also check out: Friends of
the Earth UK's Publication Catalogue: Pollution
Articles
- Borgese, Elisabeth. "The Law
of the Sea." Scientific American, March 1983, Volume 248 Number
3, p. 28. [Introduction to the Convention on the Law of the Sea and the
problems of signing international agreements to protect the world's
oceans.]
- Clark, W.C. "Managing Planet
Earth." Scientific American, September 1989, Volume 261 Number
3, p. 48.
- Costanza, Robert, et al. "Principles for Sustainable
Governance of the Oceans." Science, Volume 281, Number 5374
Issue of 10 Jul 1998, pp. 198-199
- Deere-Jones, Tim. "Back to the
Land: The Sea-to-Land Transfer of Radioactive Pollution." The
Ecologist, Vol 21 No 1, January/February 1991, p.18. [Considers
effects of nuclear pollution, notably discharges from Sellafield in the
Irish Sea, and their political background.
- Heyerdahl, Thor. "Ocean
Pollution Seen from Rafts." Statement to US Senate Committee on Oceans
and Atmosphere, November 8, 1971. In Oceanography: Contemporary
Readings in Ocean Science, Ed. R. Gordon Pirie. New York/Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1973.
- la Riviere, J.W. Maurits.
"Threats to the World's Water." Scientific American, September
1989, p.48. [A general introduction to global water water resources and
the threats they face.]
- Macdonald, Ian. "Natural Oil
Spills." Scientific American, November 1998. As much oil seeps
into the Gulf of Mexico every decade from natural fissures in the
seabed as was lost from the Exxon Valdez.
- Mitchell, John. "In the wake
of the spill: ten years after the Exxon Valdez." National Geographic,
March 1999.
- Ryan, Heather E. "[E] Conversations -- Sandra
Steingraber: Living Downstream and Fighting Back", E Magazine, Nov-Dec
1999.
- Nadis, Stephen. "The Sub-Seabed Solution", Atlantic
Monthly, October 1996: "Far from being embraced, a promising
solution to the radioactive-waste problem faces stiff opposition from
the federal government, the nuclear industry, and environmental
interests". Unfortunately, you now need a subscription to Atlantic Monthly to read this.
- Schneider, David. "Not in my back yard", Scientific American, Volume
276 Number 3, 1997, p. 20. A scientific look at using the deep ocean
floor as a nuclear waste repository.
- Down the Drain, Scientific American, December 1996. How Russian
nuclear waste if disposed of in alarming ways.
- Wood, Campbell "[E] Conversations -- Ted Danson: Acting
for Oceans", E Magazine, Jan-Feb 1998
- Scientific American:
Feature Article: Enriching the Sea to Death: August 1998
- Scientific American:
Explore!: Costly Interlopers: February 15, 1999 [this article has
now been removed from Sci Am's website, but see if you can track it
down somehow]
- Deepwater Horizon oil spill: A comprehensive overview in this Wikipedia article.
- Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico in maps and graphics: A neat graphical explanation of the spill from BBC News.
- Gulf of Mexico Response: Oil company BP's own account of how it tackled the spill.
- National Geographic: Gulf oil spill news: National Geographic's website has a useful archive of news stories and photos charting the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Decommissioning of oil platforms and structures
- Greenpeace: Oil installations
- Brent Spar gets the chop: BBC News story, November 1998.
- Brent Spar: Wikipedia article
- Drill cuttings and the decommissioning of oil and gas platforms: Dr Alastair Grant, UEA.
Radioactive waste
- Costanza, Robert, et al. "Principles for Sustainable Governance of the Oceans." Science, Volume 281, Number 5374 Issue of 10 Jul 1998, pp. 198-199 (Abstract only. You need a subscription for access to the full article)
- The Norwegian Ministry of Environment: Radioactive pollution in northern ocean areas
- Greenpeace: radioactive waste dumping
- UN Atlas of the Oceans: Ocean dumping and ship wastes. Go to the home page and search for "radioactive waste"
- Barrels of Radioactive Waste Rusting on Seabed: a Greenpeace story and action from 2000.
- Irish PM steps up Sellafield campaign: a BBC News story from 2001.
- "No health risk" from radioactive waste: a BBC News story from 2000.
- Gray lady down, Salonmag.com, 16 August 2000: pollution risks from nuclear submarines
Debris and dumping
- Marine debris timeline: how long it takes for different items (from plastic bottles to apple cores) to decompose in the sea
- Plastic Debris: A project designed to assess and begin to reduce sources of plastic debris and other discarded materials in urban runoff.
- US EPA: Oceans and Coastal Protection: Marine Debris
- Ocean Conservancy: Marine Debris: includes statistics on debris for different US beaches.
- US EPA: Plastic Pellets in the Aquatic Environment: Sources and Recommendations, 1992 report.
- Cruising for trouble: stemming the tide of cruise ship pollution from Bluewater Network's Cruise Ship Campaign
- Shipboard Pollution Control: U.S. Navy Compliance with MARPOL Annex V: A whole book about how the US Navy's (approximately) 373 ships comply with marine pollution regulations.
Atmospheric deposition (ocean pollution caused by air pollution)
- Air Pollution: An introduction from Explain that Stuff.
- US EPA: Air Pollution and Water Quality
- Acid Rain and Aquatic Life:a nice little science fair experiment from Science Buddies, in which you can test for yourself the effects of acid rain on aquatic plants and creatures.
- Chesapeake Bay: Water quality problems caused by air pollution
- Convention
on
Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution
- EMEP: The Co-Operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-Range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP),
- Transport Programme Overview: Understanding the transport and fate of contaminants arriving at the Arctic ocean. Study by Norwegian Ministry of Environment
Indoor air pollution caused by water pollution
- How dishwashers pollute the indoor air: Science News, 1999
Drinking water quality
- UK Drinking Water Inspectorate : a variety of useful information about drinking water, from technical reports to leaflets for householders
Measuring water quality
- US Geological Survey: Measuring Water Quality: A pictorial guide to how USGS scientists measure water quality.
Laws and conventions
- International
Maritime Law Institute
- INTERNATIONAL MARITIME LAW TREATIES AND LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENTS (requires free registration)
- Oslo and Paris Commissions (OSPAR)
- "The London Dumping Convention" (CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION OF MARINE POLLUTION BY DUMPING OF WASTES AND OTHER MATTER, 1972)
- MARPOL: 1978 International Treaty on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Ships: summary and full text
- Protection of the seas: Summary of international conventions and agreements by North Sea Directorate.
- EPA: Office of Water - Clean Water Act Section 301(h) Program
- Oceans & Coastal Resources: A Briefing Book: Marine Pollution: Summary of international legislation covering marine pollution.
- US EPA: Office of Water: Federal legislation covering water pollution
- US EPA: Major environmental laws administered by the EPA
- NOAA: Oil Pollution Act of 1990 guidance and documents
- European Union legislation
- RAMSAR convention on wetlands: The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
- Australia: Marine Pollution Conventions and Legislation (PDF file, last revised 2010).
Books
Introductory
- Allaby, Michael. Water: Its Global Nature. New York: Facts on File, 1992. [Excellent, simple introduction to global importance of water.]
- Day, Trevor. Oceans. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999. [Excellent overview of all aspects of oceans.]
- Living Earth Foundations. The Oceans: A Celebration. London: Ebury Press, 1993.
- Ross, David. Introduction to Oceanography. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. [Ch 16 "Marine Pollution" is a very good introduction and overview.]
- Stowe, Keith. Exploring Ocean Science. New York: Wiley, 1996. [See Part 9 "The Health of the Oceans".]
- Thurman, Harold and Alan Trujillo. Essentials of Oceanography. Upper Saddle River, NJ: 1999. [Good coverage of marine pollution in Ch11 "The Coastal Ocean".]
Detailed general books on water pollution
- Farmer, Andrew. Managing Environmental Pollution. London/New York: Routledge, 1997. [Good chapter on marine pollution.]
- GESAMP (Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution). The State of the Marine Environment. Oxford/New York: Blackwell, 1990. [Definitive survey]
- Wood, I.R., R.G. Bell, and D.L. Wilkinson. Ocean Disposal of Wastewater. Singapore: World Science, 1993.
Chemical and biological effects of water pollution
- Alloway, B.J. and D.C. Ayres. Chemical Principles of Environmental Pollution. London/New York: Blackie/Chapman and Hall, 1997. [Good on chemical and toxiological effects of pollutants]
- Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 1962. [Classic introduction to the threat posed by use of chemicals (mainly pesticides) on the natural environment.]
- Dudley, Nigel. Nitrates: The Threat to Food and Water. London: Green Point, 1990. [Simple, accessible guide to nitrate pollution from agriculture etc. and what to do about it.]
- Sindermann, Carl. Ocean Pollution: Effects on Living Resources and Humans. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1996.
- Steingraber, Sandra. Living Downstream: An ecologist looks at cancer and the environment, Virago, 1999. [Silent Spring revisited. A combination of powerful scientific evidence to support links between environmental pollution and different kinds of cancer and moving, poetic reflections on Steingraber's own battles against cancer.]
- Tapp, J., J. Wharfe, and S. Hunt. Toxic Impacts of Waste on the Aquatic Environment. London: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1996.
- Welch, E.B. and T. Lindell. Ecological Effects of Wastewater: Applied Limnology and Pollutant Effects. London: E & F N Spon, 1992.
Political and economic analysis
- Cook, Hadrian F. The Protection and Conservation of Water Resources: A British Perspective. Chichester/New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
- Man and the Maritime Environment. Edited by Stephen Fisher. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1994.
- Gourlay, K.A. Poisoners of the Seas, London; Zed Books, 1980.
- Gourlay, K.A. World of Waste, London; Zed Books, 1992.
- Harrison, Paul. The Third Revolution: Population, Environment, and a Sustainable World., New York/London: Penguin Books. [See Ch14: "Sea of troubles: Polluted waters".]
- Independent World Commission on the Oceans. The Oceans: Our Future. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
- Wilder, Robert Jay. Listening to the Sea: The Politics of Environmental Protection. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998. [Political analysis of the problems of protecting the oceans]
- World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. London/New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. [See Ch10 "Managing the Commons", Section 1. "Oceans: The Balance of Life".
Articles
- Borgese, Elisabeth. "The Law of the Sea." Scientific American, March 1983, Volume 248 Number 3, p. 28. [Introduction to the Convention on the Law of the Sea and the problems of signing international agreements to protect the world's oceans.]
- Clark, W.C. "Managing Planet Earth." Scientific American, September 1989, Volume 261 Number 3, p. 48.
- Costanza, Robert, et al. "Principles for Sustainable Governance of the Oceans." Science, Volume 281, Number 5374 Issue of 10 Jul 1998, pp. 198-199
- Deere-Jones, Tim. "Back to the Land: The Sea-to-Land Transfer of Radioactive Pollution." The Ecologist, Vol 21 No 1, January/February 1991, p.18. [Considers effects of nuclear pollution, notably discharges from Sellafield in the Irish Sea, and their political background.
- Heyerdahl, Thor. "Ocean Pollution Seen from Rafts." Statement to US Senate Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere, November 8, 1971. In Oceanography: Contemporary Readings in Ocean Science, Ed. R. Gordon Pirie. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.
- la Riviere, J.W. Maurits. "Threats to the World's Water." Scientific American, September 1989, p.48. [A general introduction to global water water resources and the threats they face.]
- Macdonald, Ian. "Natural Oil Spills." Scientific American, November 1998. As much oil seeps into the Gulf of Mexico every decade from natural fissures in the seabed as was lost from the Exxon Valdez.
- Mitchell, John. "In the wake of the spill: ten years after the Exxon Valdez." National Geographic, March 1999.
- Ryan, Heather E. "[E] Conversations -- Sandra Steingraber: Living Downstream and Fighting Back", E Magazine, Nov-Dec 1999.
- Nadis, Stephen. "The Sub-Seabed Solution", Atlantic Monthly, October 1996: "Far from being embraced, a promising solution to the radioactive-waste problem faces stiff opposition from the federal government, the nuclear industry, and environmental interests". Unfortunately, you now need a subscription to Atlantic Monthly to read this.
- Schneider, David. "Not in my back yard", Scientific American, Volume 276 Number 3, 1997, p. 20. A scientific look at using the deep ocean floor as a nuclear waste repository.
- Down the Drain, Scientific American, December 1996. How Russian nuclear waste if disposed of in alarming ways.
- Wood, Campbell "[E] Conversations -- Ted Danson: Acting for Oceans", E Magazine, Jan-Feb 1998
- Scientific American: Feature Article: Enriching the Sea to Death: August 1998
- Scientific American: Explore!: Costly Interlopers: February 15, 1999 [this article has now been removed from Sci Am's website, but see if you can track it down somehow]
