CEP Water Quality & Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal regulation established the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program?
- Safe Drinking Water Act
- Clean Water Act (Correct answer)
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
- Comprehensive Environmental Response Act
Correct answer: Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act of 1972 established the NPDES permit program to control point source discharges of pollutants into waters of the United States.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) calculation?
- Setting drinking water treatment standards
- Determining the maximum pollutant load a water body can receive while meeting water quality standards (Correct answer)
- Calculating stormwater runoff volumes
- Establishing groundwater extraction limits
Correct answer: Determining the maximum pollutant load a water body can receive while meeting water quality standards
A TMDL specifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive from all sources and still meet water quality standards.
Question 3: Which process removes nitrogen from wastewater by converting nitrates to nitrogen gas?
- Nitrification
- Denitrification (Correct answer)
- Eutrophication
- Sedimentation
Correct answer: Denitrification
Denitrification is the biological process where bacteria convert nitrates and nitrites to nitrogen gas, removing nitrogen from wastewater.
Question 4: Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which agency sets Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for public water supplies?
- Army Corps of Engineers
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Correct answer)
- Bureau of Reclamation
Correct answer: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. EPA establishes MCLs for contaminants in public drinking water systems under authority granted by the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Question 5: What type of water pollution originates from diffuse, non-specific locations such as agricultural runoff?
- Point source pollution
- Nonpoint source pollution (Correct answer)
- Industrial effluent
- Combined sewer overflow
Correct answer: Nonpoint source pollution
Nonpoint source pollution comes from diffuse sources like agricultural lands, urban runoff, and atmospheric deposition rather than a single identifiable discharge point.
Question 6: Which indicator bacteria is most commonly used to assess fecal contamination in recreational waters?
- Legionella pneumophila
- Cryptosporidium parvum
- Escherichia coli (Correct answer)
- Giardia lamblia
Correct answer: Escherichia coli
E. coli is the primary fecal indicator bacteria used to assess recreational water quality because it is specific to warm-blooded animal feces.
Question 7: What does the term 'eutrophication' describe in water quality management?
- Saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers
- Excessive nutrient enrichment leading to algae blooms and oxygen depletion (Correct answer)
- Acidification of water bodies due to acid rain
- Turbidity increase from sediment loading
Correct answer: Excessive nutrient enrichment leading to algae blooms and oxygen depletion
Eutrophication is the process by which excess nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, stimulate algal growth, eventually depleting dissolved oxygen when algae decompose.
CEP Water Quality & Management 2
Which federal regulation established the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program?