Hjeresen, Dennis L. GREEN CHEMISTRY AND THE PROTECTION OF WATER RESOURCES
Directory, The Green Chemistry Institute, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036 (dlh@lanl.gov)
Most experts agree that water will be the next major environmental-stress issue, rivaling and perhaps exceeding global climate change for technical and management solutions in the coming decades. The source of the water crisis is simple but exceedingly difficult to address; water resources are finite and the population that depends on those supplies is inexorably increasing. Virtually all the global environmental impacts attributable to this population growth have ties to or severe impacts on water resources.
- Deforestation resulting from the demand for agricultural land, housing, and fuel
- Loss of biological species in forests and in waters
- Desertification, erosion, and salination of farmland from unsustainable agricultural practices
- The pollution of fresh and marine waters further depleting food sources
- The introduction of persistent organic pollutants into the ecosystem
- Changing climate with as yet unpredictable changes in the hydrologic cycle with manifestations in flood, drought, sea-level change, and the spread of infectious diseases
Among water issues facing the world today, land-based sources of water pollution is one of the most pressing. Adequate supplies of satisfactory quality water are essential for the natural resources and ecological systems on which all life depends. An estimated 20 percent of the world’s freshwater fish and 80 percent of estuarine-dependent fish species, for example, have been pushed to the brink of extinction by contaminated water and loss of or damage to their habitat.
Green Chemistry offers a scientifically based set of solutions to protect water quality. This talk will highlight examples of green chemistry approaches to water pollution.