http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/23/mississippi...pill/index.html
The Mississippi is the primary source of drinking water for the region, and workers have deployed booms around intakes for local water systems, said Paul Book, the head of the cleanup effort for barge owners American Commercial Lines.
Water intakes in the oil spill area -- those for Algiers, Gretna, St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish -- were closed to prevent contamination, though residents there still could get water through their taps because of reserve supplies, the Times-Picayune reported.
The cleanup has to be faster, said Gary LaGrange, so the hundreds of waiting ships can get to port to load and unload goods.
"Somebody's gotta move a little quicker," he said as workers spent hours doing labor intensive work to decontaminate each vessel in the area.
The spill initially covered about 90 percent of the surface of the river after a barge collided with a tanker Wednesday.
A swifter-than-normal current quickly drew the slick downstream. The Coast Guard initially closed 29 miles of the river but expanded that to 98 miles by Wednesday evening, the service said.
The heavy, sticky oil left a "real strong" smell hanging over much of downtown New Orleans, said Carl Bauder, who runs a barber shop near the foot of Canal Street.
As we know, oil spill creates a huge oil cover or layer over the water surface which spreads over millions of miles. This oil cover prevents or blocks the interaction between air and water, due to which the oxygen level inside the water very rapidly decreases creating problems in breathing for marine animals like fishes etc. and plants. Ultimately they start dying and oceans become the fish graveyards, destroying the marine life.
Oil spills simultaneously can have a serious economic impact on coastal activities and on those who exploit the resources of the sea. In most cases such damage is temporary and is caused primarily by the physical properties of oil creating nuisance and hazardous conditions. The impact on marine life is compounded by toxicity and tainting effects resulting from the chemical composition of oil, as well as by the diversity and variability of biological systems and their sensitivity to oil pollution.
Biologically, the oil spill coats the surface of the water so that when mammals like whales & dolphins come up for air, they get coated in oil. This stops them from being able to breathe properly and also can make it hard for them to swim. Sea birds get coated in oil as they dive for food. The oil covers their feathers and they can't fly. Oil kills ocean plant-life and eventually when it comes ashore, coats coastal areas, causing damage to coastal dwelling animals, insects & birds.
The impact of oil on shorelines may be particularly great where large areas of rocks, sand and mud are uncovered at low tide. The amenity value of beaches and rocky shores may require the use of rapid and effective clean-up techniques, which may not be compatible with the survival of plants and animals.
Birds which congregate in large numbers on the sea or shorelines to breed, feed or moult are particularly vulnerable to oil pollution. Although oil ingested by birds during preening may be lethal, the most common cause of death is from drowning, starvation and loss of body heat following damage to the plumage by oil.
Industries that rely on a clean supply of seawater for their normal operations can be adversely affected by oil spills. Hotel and restaurant owners and others who gain their livelihood from the tourist trade can also be affected.
Since the public may be unwilling to purchase marine products from the region irrespective of whether the seafood is actually tainted lead to an increasing or decreasing of prices in different ways as follow:
i) SUPPLY EFFECTS: Lower supply causes increase in prices.
ii) DEMAND EFFECTS: Supply disruptions cause loss of markets with concerns about tainted fish cause lower demand and lower price.
What we can do? Most importantly, we have to find ways to avoid using oil in the first place: for example, we can bicycle, walk, or take the bus rather than taking a car to some places we need to go. Lower oil usage will be reducing needs to be transported, and there's a lower risk of future oil spills. We should understand that it is because we rely on oil that we run the risk of oil spills. That means that all of us share both the responsibility for creating the problem of oil spills and the responsibility for finding ways to solve the problem.
The Mississippi is the primary source of drinking water for the region, and workers have deployed booms around intakes for local water systems, said Paul Book, the head of the cleanup effort for barge owners American Commercial Lines.
Water intakes in the oil spill area -- those for Algiers, Gretna, St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish -- were closed to prevent contamination, though residents there still could get water through their taps because of reserve supplies, the Times-Picayune reported.
The cleanup has to be faster, said Gary LaGrange, so the hundreds of waiting ships can get to port to load and unload goods.
"Somebody's gotta move a little quicker," he said as workers spent hours doing labor intensive work to decontaminate each vessel in the area.
The spill initially covered about 90 percent of the surface of the river after a barge collided with a tanker Wednesday.
A swifter-than-normal current quickly drew the slick downstream. The Coast Guard initially closed 29 miles of the river but expanded that to 98 miles by Wednesday evening, the service said.
The heavy, sticky oil left a "real strong" smell hanging over much of downtown New Orleans, said Carl Bauder, who runs a barber shop near the foot of Canal Street.
As we know, oil spill creates a huge oil cover or layer over the water surface which spreads over millions of miles. This oil cover prevents or blocks the interaction between air and water, due to which the oxygen level inside the water very rapidly decreases creating problems in breathing for marine animals like fishes etc. and plants. Ultimately they start dying and oceans become the fish graveyards, destroying the marine life.
Oil spills simultaneously can have a serious economic impact on coastal activities and on those who exploit the resources of the sea. In most cases such damage is temporary and is caused primarily by the physical properties of oil creating nuisance and hazardous conditions. The impact on marine life is compounded by toxicity and tainting effects resulting from the chemical composition of oil, as well as by the diversity and variability of biological systems and their sensitivity to oil pollution.
Biologically, the oil spill coats the surface of the water so that when mammals like whales & dolphins come up for air, they get coated in oil. This stops them from being able to breathe properly and also can make it hard for them to swim. Sea birds get coated in oil as they dive for food. The oil covers their feathers and they can't fly. Oil kills ocean plant-life and eventually when it comes ashore, coats coastal areas, causing damage to coastal dwelling animals, insects & birds.
The impact of oil on shorelines may be particularly great where large areas of rocks, sand and mud are uncovered at low tide. The amenity value of beaches and rocky shores may require the use of rapid and effective clean-up techniques, which may not be compatible with the survival of plants and animals.
Birds which congregate in large numbers on the sea or shorelines to breed, feed or moult are particularly vulnerable to oil pollution. Although oil ingested by birds during preening may be lethal, the most common cause of death is from drowning, starvation and loss of body heat following damage to the plumage by oil.
Industries that rely on a clean supply of seawater for their normal operations can be adversely affected by oil spills. Hotel and restaurant owners and others who gain their livelihood from the tourist trade can also be affected.
Since the public may be unwilling to purchase marine products from the region irrespective of whether the seafood is actually tainted lead to an increasing or decreasing of prices in different ways as follow:
i) SUPPLY EFFECTS: Lower supply causes increase in prices.
ii) DEMAND EFFECTS: Supply disruptions cause loss of markets with concerns about tainted fish cause lower demand and lower price.
What we can do? Most importantly, we have to find ways to avoid using oil in the first place: for example, we can bicycle, walk, or take the bus rather than taking a car to some places we need to go. Lower oil usage will be reducing needs to be transported, and there's a lower risk of future oil spills. We should understand that it is because we rely on oil that we run the risk of oil spills. That means that all of us share both the responsibility for creating the problem of oil spills and the responsibility for finding ways to solve the problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment