1.9: The Destruction of Fresh Water Vegetation.

Ooman activities are damaging fresh water Vegetation in huge numbers of fresh water systems around the Earth.[1] This reduces, and sometimes even destroys, Photosynthesis. For the damage to Photosynthesis caused by eutrophication and the explosive growth of Algae see ‘Part Two’. For the damage caused by the build up of sedimentation resulting from the construction of dams and artificial reservoirs see, '1.7.1.4: The Ecological Damage Caused by Reservoirs.' The destruction of fresh water Vegetation is not permanent. Still water systems take longer to recover than running water systems, “In the 1960s lakes erie and ontario; the potomac, charles, thames, and chicago rivers; parts of puget sound; and other important water bodies were said to be on the verge of biological death.”[2] The following sections outline some of the causes of this destruction and the water systems affected.

1.9.1: Damage caused by Pollution Per Continent/Country.

Africa.

“Lake victoria in africa, upon which perhaps 30 million people depend for drinking water and fish, is near biological death.”[3]

Bolivia.

“Poisonous waste from a zinc mine owned by the president of bolivia, a brutish based multi-national corporation and the world bank is causing one of the worst environmental disasters ever to strike latin america .. The scientists say that the collapse of a dam at a mine high in the andes released up to 400,000 tonnes of sludge loaded with heavy metals, which has polluted 300 kilometres of river.”[4]

Brutland.

In the summer of 1978 a fire broke out in a .. "dump containing 15,000 tonnes of tyres at an old quarry near Beith in Ayrshire. Pyrolitic distillation of the rubber within the dump produced an estimated 90,000 litres of black oil much of which found its way into the Dusk Water killing all fish life and most of the bottom fauna for a distance of 10 kilometres. The Clyde River Purification Board's staff removed over 50,000 litres of oil from the river. Under starved air conditions pyrolitic distillation of the rubber produces a complex mixture of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. Analyses of the oil recovered in this case showed the presence of several hundred organic compounds, some of which were known to be toxic or carcinogenic and, through interaction, might intensify their effect. The potential seriousness of such a situation is well illustrated by a similar incident at Crown reservoir, Rochdale, in 1975 where, despite prompt action in isolating the reservoir trace amounts of phenolic substances gained access to the public water supply giving rise to strong taste problems after chlorination. The North West Water authority concluded at the time that the reservoir should not be brought back into supply in the forseeable future."[5]

China.

The Taizai River.

“Major chinese rivers such as the taizai cannot now support fish; they have become biologically dead.”[6]

The Huanpu River.

 .. “in shanghai, china, the huanpu river is now thought to be biologically dead as a result of the 3.4 million cu metres of industrial and domestic waste dumped in it each day.”[7]

Poland.

“A third of the rivers (in poland) are devoid of all life, the vistula is unfit even for industrial use over two-thirds of its length .. ”[8]

Russia.

“Lake baikal in southern siberia, the world’s oldest and deepest lake .. contains no less than one fifth of the world’s fresh water.”[9] One of the biggest lakes in the world is being used as a dumping ground for a wide range of pollutants. Its unique habitat is being ruined.

Ukraine.

“In the donbass region of the ukraine, steel and chemical factories have to obtain water via a canal from the dnepr river some 263 kilometres away because they have turned the siverskij donets river, which flows past them, into a dark stream of black gunge.”[10]

United States of America.

“For more than 50 years, increasing quantities of sulphur in the form of sulphuric or sulphurous acids rained down on the region, until the buffering capacity of the soil in the catchement area and of the lake itself (big moose lake, in upstate new york) was exhausted. The lake was eventually pushed past the point of no return, since when it has been virtually dead.”[11]

Western Papua New Guinea.

“The ok tedi open-pit copper and gold mine in the star mountains of western papua new guinea is the country’s second largest mine .. In 1991, the mine shipped 600,000 tons of copper concentrates to japanese smelters. By the time the mine closes, the 2,330 metre mountain will have been virtually levelled.”[12] The tailings from this mine are being dumped into the fly river polluting the river and damaging adjacent fields.

1.9.2: Mining in Streams and Rivers.

Just as terrestrial mining damages/destroys Vegetation, so to does aquatic mining. Gold diggers sifting for gold in streams use large quantities of mercury to extract the metal. The residual mercury is washed away poisoning Plant life (and Animals).

1.9.3: Over-extraction of Water.

Some lakes are receding as a result of excessive amounts of water being extracted for irrigation schemes. This reduces the Photosynthesis being carried out in the lakes. For the overextraction of what from inland seas see section '1.11: The Destruction of Phytomass in Inland Seas'.

Africa.

In 1966 satellite photographs showed that lake chad covered about 22,000 km². By the summer of 1985 it was down to 2500 km². .. "the lake failed to reach a level allowing water to restore large-scale irrigation schemes, such as the nigerian south chad irrigation project, a £200 million investment designed to be the centrepiece of regional development but predicated upon the lake levels of 20 years ago."[13]

1.9.4: Dessication.

Droughts dessicate lakes and rivers. Photosynthesis being carried out in these waters disappears and, generally, the drying out process prevents terrestrial plants from growing on the exposed waterbed. Wind erosion then blows the dust from the waterbed across the land reducing Photosynthesis taking place in surrounding areas.

1.9.5: Drainage.

China.

“In China's Hubei province, 'kingdom of a thousand lakes', around 80% of the lakes have been drained.”[14]

1.9.6: The Global Scale of the Destruction of Fresh Water Vegetation.

The scale of the reduction in fresh water Phytomass is not known. It has been argued that, “Unlike changes in forest ecosystems, it is difficult to indicate biological trends in freshwater ecosystems such as lakes, rivers and wetlands by measuring changes in area. Instead fig 10 shows changes in populations of selected freshwater species as a measure of the health of these ecosystems.”[15] Changes in populations are not an accurate gauge of the scale of Photosynthesis being carried out in aquatic habitats.

1.10: The Destruction of Swamps, Marshes, and Peat Bogs.

The destruction of inland, fresh water, wetlands such as Swamps, Marshes and Peatbogs, happens either as a result of drought, drainage or through various forms of pollution.

1.10.1: Introduction.

1.10.1.1: The Distinction between Wetlands and Coastal Ecologies.

It has been argued, “There is no single, univerally recognized definition (of wetlands) because they take a variety of forms and occur in a considerable range of conditions.”[16] However, this work distinguishes between inland, fresh water, wetlands and marine, coastal ecologies. The former includes Swamps, Marshes and Peatbogs whilst the latter includes Estuaries, Mangroves, Saltmarshes, Mudflats, Seagrass beds, and Coral reefs which are explored in the next section. Some commentators make different distinctions, “The world’s wetlands include swamps, marshes, wet prairies and tropical mangroves.”[17]; “Wetlands such as floodplains, mangroves, marshes, peatlands and estuaries .. .”[18]; “Wetlands - waterlogged areas of land including inland lakes, flooded river valleys, lagoon deltas, swamps and boggy plains ..”[19]; .. “wetlands including coral reefs, intertidal areas, mangroves, and salt marshes ..”[20]

1.10.1.2: The Range of Wetlands.

There are a wide range of wetlands with brackish water, “These include saltmarsh, with its hummocks of compact salt-tolerant herbs, and the dense stands of reedswamp, where the tall, feathery seed heads of reeds sway with the wind from the sea. Papyrus swamps, dominated by the tall papyrus reed, are characteristic of the edges of slow-flowing rivers and other marshy areas in central africa. Where land is permanently waterlogged and the water static, peat may build up, radically changing the nature of the habitat. Peat is a brown, usually acidic material, made up of the compressed remains of plants which have not decomposed. In wetlands, bacteria and fungi may have difficulty in breaking down plant remains, because the oxygen in the water is quickly used up, and without oxygen most decomposers cannot function.”[21]

1.10.1.3: The Global Scale of Wetlands.

The differing distinctions of wetlands inevitably produces differing estimates of the amount of wetlands around the world. Wetlands .. “account for about 6% of the Earth’s land surface. This is not much less than the proportion of land under tropical rainforest. They also account for as much as a quarter of the Earth’s total net primary production.”[22]; “Wetlands .. cover some 5% of the Earth’s land surface.”[23]; “Wetlands cover 6% of the world’s land surface.”[24]; “There are about 300 million hectares (741 million acres) of wetlands including coral reefs, intertidal areas, mangroves, and salt marshes, globally.”[25]; “Peatlands cover about 5 million square kilometres of the Earth’s surface, ranging from frozen tundra to tropical bogs.”[26]; "Peatlands cover about 5m square kilometres of the Earth .."[27]

1.10.1.4: The Photosynthetic Importance of Peat Bogs.

Peatbogs are one of the major types of inland Wetland, “Peat bogs are a giant natural store of Carbon, holding between 500 and 1000 gigatonnes of the element - more than the amount stored in the world’s Trees and similar to the 700 gigatonnes held in the atmosphere. Peatlands cover about 5 million square kilometres of the Earth’s surface, ranging from frozen tundra to tropical bogs. Large peat bogs in Sumatra and Borneo have accumulated peat to a depth of 20 metres over 8000 years, and hold up to 100 times more carbon per hectare than the surrounding tropical rainforest.”[28]; "Peatlands cover about 5m square kilometres of the Earth, ranging from the tropics up to the frozen tundra of Siberia, going down to a depth of 60 feet in places, holding up to 100 times as much carbon per hectare than tropical rainforests. Cooling encourages the growth of peat bogs. They extract carbon from the atmosphere and store it, so perpetuating the cooling ..."[29] According to lee klinger, Peatbogs carry out a high level of Photosynthesis, “Peatlands could have been an important part of the biological mechanisms that many believe have helped plunge the Planet into and out of glaciation. Alterations in the extent of Peatbogs would change the concentration of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by up to 20%.”[30]

The Photosynthetic capacity of inland Wetlands is being destroyed by a range of factors, "Wetlands are increasingly threatened by agriculture, pollution, engineering (such as dams), and urbanization."[31]

1.10.2: Drainage for Agriculture

An earlier section looked at the inundation of land caused by the construction of dams and water reservoirs. This section looks at the reverse process, the drainage of water-logged land or Wetlands to provide land for crops or pastureland. The installation of drainage systems is often accompanied by the construction of flood defence systems to prevent agricultural land from being flooded.

It was noted that when land is inundated by floods there can often be a reduction in Photosynthesis. However, given the high Photosynthetic capabilities of Peatbogs it is possible that the drainage of Peatbogs also brings about a reduction in Photosynthesis. In general, it is not known what happens to the scale of Photosynthesis when Wetlands are drained and replaced by crops or pastures.

1.10.3: Flood Defence Systems.

Conventional attempts to reduce flooding usually involves draining wetland areas to prevent water from being in the vicinity of flood plains. It is believed the presence of water in flood plains adds to the level of flooding and thus increases the damage caused by floods.

Paradoxically, although flood defence systems have reduced the frequency of flooding they have also increased their lethality. They make people feel safe about living in floodplains because they are designed to combat the majority of small floods. What they can't do, however, is combat much rarer events such as major floods. In the past, these were 'once a century' phenomena but, as global burning increases, are becoming much more frequent, “Over the past 60 years or so, $25 billion has been spent on dams and embankments nationally (but) there has been no reduction in deaths from flooding, and economic losses have doubled .. The main reason for this is that there has been increased development on floodplains. Over the last 200 years, around 475,000 square kilometres of wetlands have been drained. These wetlands traditionally formed a buffer between the rivers and other low-lying lands, and their loss has meant that floodwaters became concentrated further downstream causing the floods ...”[32]

1.10.4: Suffocation.

Many inland wetlands are drained to reclaim the land which is then used for development. It was pointed out in a previous section that it is not known whether there is an increase or decrease in Photosynthesis when land is reclaimed and used for agriculture. However, when Wetlands are drained and then buried beneath construction projects, Photosynthesis disappears entirely.

Miami.

“Some cities, like miami, are built on what was once swamp. Miami is really only just above the water level. The freshwater aquifer floats on the salt beneath and the foundations of the buildings stand on a crust which holds them just out of the water. A (sea level) rise of a few centimetres and miami will return to the swamp from which it came.”[33]

1.10.5: The Mining of Peat Bogs.

In brutland Peatbogs are mined as ruthlessly as any other fossil fuel resource, "A deal between peat extractors fisons and english nature, the government conservation body, to save 35% of the country's remaining bogs from continued mining was announced yesterday. David bellamy said, "This is the last 2% of ancient landscape which we are supposed to be protecting and we have done a deal to allow 2/3 of it to be dug up."[34]; .. “the biggest peat extraction companies led by fisons and ici are digging up 2.5 million cubic metres of peat each year.”[35]; "Fisons, the u.k.'s largest peat company, extracts 90% of its peat from sssis."[36];

1.10.6: Pollution.

Most of the damage inflicted on inland waterways happens as a result of drainage rather than through pollution. For the damage caused to Phytomass in inland waterways by Algal blooms see part three.

1.10.7: Logging.

“Loggers have torn through a `natural laboratory' the size of the Isle of Wight, wrecking the efforts of international researchers to monitor tropical peat-swamp forests. The broken forest is criss-crossed by ramshackle wooden railways and canals, installed by the loggers as they push ever deeper into the swamp. Welcome to Central Kalimantan, the most remote province in Indonesian Borneo. It's the size of England with a population less than that of Essex and the local phone book lists six times as many sawmills as taxi firms. Why should we on the other side of the world really care? The answer is the peat-swamps' role in slowing global warming. They are soaking up carbon dioxide - the gas that causes global warming - as effectively as they soak up water. They also hold masses of carbon that will swill right back into the atmosphere if they are destroyed. A square kilometre of swamp contains as much carbon as is emitted each year by pollution from a city of 100,000 people. The swamps may hold more carbon than the world's fossil fuel burning emits in four years. A loss of five centimetres a year from the peat layer will release more than 100 million tonnes of carbon a year into the atmosphere. Despite the ravages of forest fires 18 months ago, Central Kalimantan is still the most heavily forested part of Borneo. Many of the forests sit on top of the largest, oldest and deepest tropical peat-swamps in the world, covering an area a quarter the size of England. Once, this boggy terrain was ignored. But the nine months since the Indonesian economy went into free-fall have seen an orgy of illegal logging. `There appears to be a conspiracy in Central Kalimantan to extract all the saleable timber as quickly as possible,' says Rieley. Mafia-style organisations are shipping in thousands of unemployed men from neighbouring islands. `Groups of up to 200 men are living in small sections of the forest, felling trees,' says Rieley. The tropical peat-swamps are small compared with the great peat-swamp wastes of northern Canada or Siberia. But they are ecologically very different. Cold-land peat is made from moss; tropical peat is made from forest debris that cannot decompose in the stagnant swamp water and is thick with bits of ancient wood. At least half of the world's tropical peat-swamps are in Indonesia. And, with the eclipse of many of President Suharto's cronies who ran the old legal concessions, a new generation of mafia-style operators is in charge. The formation of tropical peat-swamps may have trapped enough carbon to help trigger ice ages. To release that carbon now, as the world struggles to counter global warming, seems folly indeed.”[37]

1.10.8: The Destruction of Wetlands.

1.10.8.1: The Destruction of Wetlands by Country.

Brutland.

.. “half our fens and mires have been drained and 90% of our ponds ..”[38]; “Similarly the decline of salmon stocks around the english coast may be partly due to the virtual eradication of the countries’ peat bogs. England has lost over 90% of its peatlands since 1945.”[39]; "50% of UK lowland fens and marshes have been drained”[40]

Russia.

“Each year during the 1980s an estimated 18 million barrels of oil devastated Western Siberia, destroying 55,000km² of fragile permafrost ecology.”[41]

United States of America.

“In the u.s. more than 870,000 square kilometres of wetland (more than half the wetlands that existed 500 years ago) have been lost, 87% of them converted to agriculture.”[42]; "In the united states, wetland areas have been steadily shrinking by an estimated 81,000 to 162,000 hectares (200,000 to 400,000 acres) per year. In the contiguous 48 states, of the more than 81 million hectares (220 million acres) of wetlands that originally existed, only 38 million hectares remain."[43]; .. “the usa alone has lost 54% of its original wetland area, primarily because of agricultural development.”[44]; “According to the national research council, perhaps 117 million acres of wetlands have been lost in the united states since 1780 ...”[45]; “Klinger points to several coastal fisheries that have collapsed since the destruction of neighbouring peatlands. The most significant is the sardine fishery at monterey bay in california, which was abandoned in 1952 after stocks pummeted.”[46]; “Once, there were more than 220 million acres of wetlands in continental USA alone: now over 50% have gone. The country has lost roughly an acre of wetland every minute since the American Revolution.”[47]

1.10.7.2: The Scale of the Global Destruction of Inland Wetlands.

The global destruction of Swamps, Marshes, and Peatbogs, is considerable. It has been estimated that, “Wetlands .. cover some 5% of the Earth’s land surface. Half have already been lost to human activities, mostly draining and peat cutting, in the past century.”[48]; “Although wetlands are the spawning grounds for most ocean fisheries, also filtering out pollutants, over half have been destroyed by draining, mangrove felling, chemical pollution, and sediment from construction sites.”[49]; “The current global loss of wetlands amounts to 3 million to 6 million hectares (7.4 - 14.8 million acres) annually. There are about 300 million hectares (741 million acres) of wetlands including coral reefs, intertidal areas, mangroves, and salt marshes, globally. They are being lost to human development as well as sea-level rise ...”[50]; “According to some sources, the world may have lost half of its wetlands since 1900 ...”[51]; “Worldwide, the tonnage of peat dug for fuel doubled in the 30 years between 1950 and 1980, some countries such as finland burning 90% of the peat cut.”[52]

1.11: The Destruction of Phytomass in Inland Seas.

The causes of Photosynthetic destruction in fresh water systems is similar to the destruction of Phytomass in inland seas.

1.11.1: Pollution.

Baltic Sea.

.. “offshore an area of 100,000 square kilometres of the baltic is biologically dead from the poisons brought down by the rivers.”[53]

Black Sea.

“The black sea is fast becoming a dead sea. Experts say it could be dead in 10-15 years time because of the tide of human, farm and industrial effluent pouring in from six countries surrounding it.”[54]; “The Black sea is dying. The total black sea annual catch is now about 100,000 tons, down from a peak of 800,000 in the 1980s. (The last few monk Seals are about to vanish followed by Dolphins and Porpoises). The black sea is now a cesspit for the six riparian states of turkey, russia, ukraine, georgia, romania and bulgaria. The rivers of 10 other countries also bear the effluent of 160 million people living and working in a catchment area that covers the poorest half of continental europe. By the time the ‘blue danube’ reaches the sea in romania, that great river alone discharges 60 tons of mercury, 1,000 tons of chromium, 4,500 tons of lead and 50,000 tons of oil every year. Rising salinity has condemned the sea of azov in the north-east. The level of lifeless, sunless water has now risen up to 120 metres below the surface, suffocating the once fertile north-western coastal shelf. The sea grass fields in the north-western coastal shelf have shrunk to a 50 square kilometre patch, 5% of their former extent.”[55]

1.11.2: Over-Extraction of Water from Inland Seas.

Aral Sea.

Huge quantities of water have been extracted from tributaries flowing into the aral sea causing a dramatic contraction of the sea. The exposed soil is then blown onto the surrounding land. The soil contains a high degree of salt and has caused the salinization of the land over dozens of square miles. The aral sea has .. “shrunk to half the area it covered in 1960. It has become twice as saline. Now it is as salty as the oceans. Once it plumbed 69 metres at its deepest; now it is 54 metres. (The aral sea once covered an area of 25,300 square miles). The sea’s retreat has laid bare 14,000 square miles of useless land covered with unstable alkaline soil from which storms each year sweep up 100 million tons of toxic dust and salt and dump it on the surrounding countryside. The aral sea is fed by two rivers, the syr darya and the amur darya, and the flow from both has dwindled to a trickle.”[56]; “One early 1990s estimate puts the amount of material deposited annually at 150 millon tonnes. The material blown from the dry bed of the aral sea is highly saline. Scientists believe it is adversely affecting crops and natural ecosystems around the sea because salts are toxic to plants.”[57]

Caspian Sea.

A disastrous miscalculation about the construction of a dam on an inlet to the Caspian sea has caused a colossal degree of ecological damage.[58]

1.11.3: General.

Aral, Caspian, & Black, Seas.

“A combination of pollution and overharvesting is killing many inland seas and coastal estuaries. The aral sea, once yielded 44,000 tons of fish per year .. All 24 species of Fish that were once fished there commercially are believed to be extinct. In the caspian sea, the famous Sturgeon harvest has been reduced to perhaps 1% of the level of 50 years ago .. The black sea ... Of the nearly 30 species that once supported commercial fisheries only 5 remain.”[59]

1.11.4: The Destruction of Phytomass in Inland Seas.

The scale of the destruction is not known.