14: Impacts to the Hydrosphere
- Page ID
- 132003
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Water is an essential resource that influences where microorganisms and other life forms can be active and to what extent. In turn, however, microorganisms significantly impact the movement and composition of water. By forming biofilms in soils and the subsurface and by causing minerals to dissolve and precipitate (Chapter 11), microorganisms help define the permeability distribution underground and its evolution over time (Gerlach and Cunningham, 2010; McMahon et al., 1992). By impacting water composition, microorganisms affect water quality, which is the focus of this chapter.
Water quality is a measure of the suitability of water for a particular use. Suitability can be assessed based on chemical characteristics (e.g., concentrations of hazardous solutes), physical properties (e.g., turbidity), and biological characteristics (e.g., pathogen abundance). Desired levels of chemical, physical, and biological properties depend on the intended use of the water. For example, water that may not be suitable for humans to use as drinking water may be acceptable for irrigation or livestock.
Microorganisms can impact water quality in many ways. What may come to mind first is the fact that the presence of some microorganisms, such as pathogens and some algal blooms, can make water unsafe for humans to drink. In addition, microorganisms impact water quality simply by driving chemical reactions forward, including reactions that affect the pH and major ion chemistry of water but also those that affect specific contaminants. This chapter considers these types of impacts to water quality as well as applications of microbiology to improve water quality.
- 14.1: Pathogens
- Factors that determine vulnerability of water sources to pathogen contamination.
- 14.2: Groundwater quality
- Subsections discuss the chemical evolution of water as it becomes groundwater, and the observed chemical qualities of groundwater in the Middendorf aquifer of South Carolina, USA.
- 14.3: Surface water quality
- Subsections discuss the relationships between qualities of surface water and groundwater, and the role of harmful algal blooms as a control on surface water quality.
- 14.4: Examples of microbial impacts to chemical contaminants
- Subsections discuss sources of some common water contaminants and how these contaminants can be influenced by microorganisms.
- 14.5: Applying microbiology to remediate contaminated water
- Discussion of how microorganisms could be used to remediate arsenic contamination in water. Intended as a basic illustration for how to create a microbial remediation strategy for any given contaminant.