Bacteria and Viruses

1. Bacteria and Viruses By Haley Flake and Jack Balog

2. Causes and Indicators • Pathogens may enter the water through point and non-point sources, while others may occur naturally in the environment • The major sources of bacterial contamination are due to the point sources. • During heavy rains, there are too much water for sewage treatment plants to handle, and some untreated water may be disposed into the bay. • Wild life, domestic animals, and birds may contribute pathogens into the environment.

3. Specific Effects on Humans • Long-term Effects • Viruses- A coma or death may occur. . Short-term Effects . Virus- Fever, Muscle ache, Cough, sneezing, vomiting, confusion, sleepiness . Bacteria- Illness, Strep Throat, infections, coughing

4. Specific Effects On Environment • Long-term effects • In the form of effluents or other chemicals that have been pumped to the ocean or washed out in rainwater runoff. This pollution can make an otherwise beautiful looking beach unusable for humans, and dangerous for the wildlife that call the coastal zone their home. • Thermal Heating is also a potential longer problem: global warming as it is conceived of today primarily deals with a rise in air temperature which in turn warms waters and melts the ice caps, but water is a much better conductor of heat than air, so heated water runoff raises the temperature of water much faster than hot air can. • Short-term effects • Red tide releasing nitrogen to plants and decomposing material

5. Work sited www.Enchantedlearning.com www.ehow.com www.coastalcoalition.org