APES FRQ Practice – Aquatic & Terrestrial Pollution
Directions: The suggested time for answering this question is about 22 minutes. Where calculations are required, clearly show how you arrived at your answer. Where explanation or discussion is required, support your answers with relevant information and/or specific examples.
FRQ #1 - Eutrophication and Landfill Gas
Human and other animal waste can result in water and air pollution.
(a) Eutrophication of waterways is a potential environmental problem that can result from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
i. Describe how eutrophication negatively affects waterways.
ii. Propose a realistic solution to prevent eutrophication of waterways near CAFOs.
iii. Justify the solution you described in (a)(ii) with an additional environmental benefit.
(b) Organic materials (such as food scraps and yard waste) in landfills can decompose and produce landfill gas (LFG) over time. About 50% of LFG is methane, a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 25 times higher than that of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. LFG can be collected and burned to produce electricity.
i. Explain a process during which LFG is burned to produce electricity.
ii. The Puente Hills Landfill in California contains about 123 million tons of landfill waste and burns LFG to produce electricity. In a typical landfill, one million tons of landfill waste emits approximately 432,000 cubic feet of LFG per day. Calculate how much LFG is emitted at the Puente Hills Landfill per year.
iii. Burning LFG for electricity produces the additional benefit of preventing methane from entering the atmosphere. Calculate how much methane is prevented from entering the atmosphere by burning LFG to produce electricity at the Puente Hills Landfill over a 10-year period.
iv. All of the landfills in the United States that burn LFG to produce electricity produce a total of about 15 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year. The average house in the United States uses about 30.3 kWh of electricity per day. Calculate how many households can have their total electricity needs provided by these landfills.
FRQ #2 - Impact of Oil Spills
Oil spills can be devastating in scope and damage. Since 1900, there have been many oil spills around the world that have had significant ecological and economic impacts.
Using the data in the graph above, determine the maximum volume of oil estimated to have been spilled during the Deepwater Horizon (BP) incident.
Describe TWO environmental problems that can result from oil spills in coastal areas.
Identify one economic impact that results from oil spills in coastal areas.
Chemical dispersants have been used in cleanup efforts following major oil spills.
Discuss both one advantage and one disadvantage of the use of chemical dispersants for oil spill cleanup.
Identify either one biological or one physical method (other than chemical dispersal) used for oil spill cleanup in coastal waters or on beaches and describe how the method is used.
Catastrophic spills make up less than 20 percent of the oil that pollutes marine waters. Identify one other source of oil contamination and explain how the oil from this source enters marine waters.
Petroleum has many uses as a raw material for consumer goods. Identify one substitute for petroleum in a specific consumer product (other than fuel).
FRQ #3 - Municipal Solid Waste Graph
(a) Use the data provided in the graph above to respond to the following.
Explain one probable cause (other than increased composting) for the change in per capita waste generation from 2000 to 2012.
Calculate the percent increase in total MSW generation from 1980 to 2012.
(b) Two ways of managing MSW are incineration and disposal in landfills.
Identify one disadvantage of waste incineration.
Identify one disadvantage of waste disposal in landfills.
Trash incineration is one way to generate electricity from MSW. Electricity can also be generated from waste buried in landfills.
(c) Describe the specific steps of a process used to produce electricity from waste buried in a landfill.
(d) Many landfills do not accept used tires. As a result, the tires are often dumped in poorly regulated piles. Describe one human health problem associated with piles of discarded tires.
(e) Composting is one way to reduce the amount of waste that enters a landfill.
Other than reducing the volume of waste, identify one advantage of composting.
Identify one disadvantage of composting.