Thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature. A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers. When water used as a coolant is returned to the natural environment at a higher temperature, the sudden change in temperature decreases oxygen supply and affects ecosystem composition. Fish and other organisms adapted to particular temperature range can be killed by an abrupt change in water temperature (either a rapid increase or decrease) known as "thermal shock."
Urban runoff—stormwater discharged to surface waters from roads and parking lots—can also be a source of elevated water temperatures.
Warm water
Elevated temperature typically decreases the level of dissolved oxygen of water, as gases are less soluble in hotter liquids. This can harm aquatic animals such as fish, amphibians and other aquatic organisms. Thermal pollution may also increase the metabolic rate of aquatic animals, as enzyme activity, resulting in these organisms consuming more food in a shorter time than if their environment were not changed.:179 An increased metabolic rate may result in fewer resources; the more adapted organisms moving in may have an advantage over organisms that are not used to the warmer temperature. As a result, food chains of the old and new environments may be compromised. Some fish species will avoid stream segments or coastal areas adjacent to a thermal discharge. Biodiversity can be decreased as a result
High temperature limits oxygen dispersion into deeper waters, contributing to anaerobic conditions. This can lead to increased bacteria levels when there is ample food supply. Many aquatic species will fail to reproduce at elevated temperatures.
Primary producers (e.g. plants, cyanobacteria) are affected by warm water because higher water temperature increases plant growth rates, resulting in a shorter lifespan and species overpopulation. This can cause an algae bloom which reduces oxygen levels.
Temperature changes of even one to two degrees Celsius can cause significant changes in organism metabolism and other adverse cellular biology effects. Principal adverse changes can include rendering cell walls less permeable to necessary osmosis, coagulation of cell proteins, and alteration of enzyme metabolism. These cellular level effects can adversely affect mortality and reproduction.
A large increase in temperature can lead to the denaturing of life-supporting enzymes by breaking down hydrogen- and disulphide bonds within the quaternary structure of the enzymes. Decreased enzyme activity in aquatic organisms can cause problems such as the inability to break down lipids, which leads to malnutrition.
In limited cases, warm water has little deleterious effect and may even lead to improved function of the receiving aquatic ecosystem. This phenomenon is seen especially in seasonal waters and is known as thermal enrichment. An extreme case is derived from the aggregational habits of the manatee, which often uses power plant discharge sites during winter. Projections suggest that manatee populations would decline upon the removal of these discharges.
Cold water
Releases of unnaturally cold water from reservoirs can dramatically change the fish and macroinvertebrate fauna of rivers, and reduce river productivity. In Australia, where many rivers have warmer temperature regimes, native fish species have been eliminated, and macroinvertebrate fauna have been drastically altered. This may be mitigated by designing the dam to release warmer surface waters instead of the colder water at the bottom of the reservoir.
Thermal shock
When a power plant first opens or shuts down for repair or other causes, fish and other organisms adapted to particular temperature range can be killed by the abrupt change in water temperature, either an increase or decrease, known as "thermal shock".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_pollution
The problem of thermal pollution is an environmental problem that involves the high temperature of an area or a particular environmental system above its normal level. In these lines, we recognize the problem of thermal pollution and its solution. Thermal pollution Many of us do not know what is the impact on the environment and what are the causes of thermal pollution, which has become a big phenomenon and serious in the twenty-first century and many of us do not know that the human being the main and only role in thermal pollution through its harmful practices, These practices may cause damage. This type of pollution is considered one of the most dangerous types of pollution that affects the environment and threatens wildlife and humanity on the surface of the earth, killing all kinds of animals and plants, disrupting the ecosystem and working to reduce the large Because of its characteristics and because the issue of thermal pollution of the important topics in human life was and must be talked about.
Thermal pollution can be simply explained as the addition of surplus heat to water and ejecting it back to the water bodies. So how does it happen? Well, numerous industries take water from natural water resources for their industrial purposes. Maximum of this water is used as coolant as it is used to cool down the machines of any factory or plant.
Thermal pollution can harm aquatic animals population like fish because the warm water reduces the amount of oxygen in the water meaning the fish cannot take in oxygen but take in more carbon dioxide.
Early Work on Heat (Thermal) Pollution:
Reference site:
http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1995&context=ealr
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Dennis Mazur
Thermal pollution can be simply explained as the addition of surplus heat to water and ejecting it back to the water bodies. So how does it happen? Well, numerous industries take water from natural water resources for their industrial purposes. Maximum of this water is used as coolant as it is used to cool down the machines of any factory or plant.
In today’s world, thermal pollution is a huge threat and is mainly influenced by power plants and industrial manufacturers that use water as a coolant. Urban stormwater runoff from parking lots and roads also discharges water of elevated temperatures into adjacent water bodies. When water is either used as a coolant, discharged from stormwater runoff at elevated temperatures, or released from reservoirs with unnaturally cold temperatures, it changes the natural temperature of water bodies.
https://www.eartheclipse.com/pollution/primary-causes-of-thermal-pollution.html
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