Exam Questions Ch14 Federal Water Pollution-Control Policy

Chapter 14

Federal Water Pollution-Control Policy

Multiple Choice Questions
 

1. Although there are many types of waterborne pollutants, policy tends to differentiate between or among
A. conventional and non-conventional pollutants.
B. conventional, nonconventional and toxic pollutants.
C. non-conventional pollutants and toxic pollutants.
D. toxic and non-toxic pollutants.

 
Difficulty: Easy

 

2. Municipal wastewater treatment plants often discharge wastewater from a single outfall. This type of water pollution is called _________________.
A. solitary
B. continuous
C. point source
D. non-point source

 Difficulty: Hard

 

 3. Urban storm water runoff is a type of water pollution that is called ___________________.
A. non-point source pollution
B. point source pollution
C. natural source pollution
D. built environmental pollution

 
Difficulty: Easy

4. When people are continuously exposed to a drinking water pollutant, we would call this type of pollution _______________________.
A. episodic emissions
B. continuous emissions
C. conventional source emissions
D. non-conventional source emissions

 
Difficulty: Easy

5. The accident release of oil into the Gulf of Mexico or the nuclear accidentrelease at Fukushima Japan are considered ___________________.
A. non-natural water pollution
B. conventional water pollution
C. continuous water pollution
D. episodic emissions

 
Difficulty: Easy

6. __________pollutants are pollutants that remain for a longer period of time, either because they are nondegradable or because the rate of degradation is very slow. 
A. Nonpersistant
B. Persistent
C. BOD
D. Toxic

 
Difficulty: Easy

7. High levels of _____________are associated with high-quality water, this water supports aquatic flora and fauna, domestic water supply, and quality recreational activities. 
A. conventional pollutants
B. biochemical oxygen demand
C. dissolved oxygen (DO)
D. degradable pollutants

 
Difficulty: Easy

8. In terms of human scale, radioactive waste is essentially ___________.
A. a persistent pollutant
B. a degradable pollutant
C. an episodic emission
D. none of the above

 
Difficulty: Easy

9. The 1899 refuse act was not an attempt to control water pollution but an attempt to ensure _________________.
A. limited water diversion
B. water navigation
C. control of land pollution
D. building rights of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

 
Difficulty: Easy

10. It wasn’t until the creation of _______________ that a direct Federal role was established for water pollution control.
A. the US Army Corp of Engineers
B. the Environmental Protection Agency
C. the Uniform Standard Emissions Act
D. the 1948 Water Quality Act

 
Difficulty: Easy

11. The 1965 Water Quality Act encouraged states to develop ambient standards for water quality. Ambient standards are
A. a never-exceed level of pollutant in a particular water sources.
B. a method that calls for zero tolerance of water pollutants in a particular source.
C. only effective for point source pollution.
D. only effective for non-point source pollution.

 
Difficulty: Easy

12. The 1972 Water Pollution Control Act Amendments changed the policy approach of water pollution control from one of ______________ to one of _______________.
A. federal control; state control
B. municipal control; state control
C. ambient quality; technology based effluent standards
D. technology based effluent standards; ambient quality

 
Difficulty: Easy

13. While technology-based effluent standards help reduce point source emissions, the 1987 Water Quality Act has sought to control non-point source emissions through 
A. goals of zero discharge.
B. best management practices (BMPs).
C. criminal legislation.
D. discharge permits.

 
Difficulty: Easy

14. Best management practices (BMPs) are federally approved, and often subsidized, practices or techniques that reduce
A. costs associated with water pollution remediation.
B. costs associated with administration of pollution control.
C. runoff of non-point source water pollution.
D. lack of compliance with point source technology based effluent standards.

 
Difficulty: Moderate

15. In Phase I of the Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, the EPA set emission standards based on _________________________.
A. BPTs, best practicable technology
B. BATs, best available technology
C. BCT, best conventional technology
D. TBES, technology based effluent standards

Difficulty: Easy

16. Best Available Technology (BAT) is generally considered _____________ than Best Practicable Technology (BPT) 
A. more economical
B. more stringent
C. less stringent
D. more precise

Difficulty: Moderate

17. The logic and application of the TBES (technology-based effluent standards) process and its application at the national level
A. ensures that there is a balance between damages and cost control.
B. ensures that all firms within an industry meet the equimarginal condition.
C. all of the above.
D. none of the above.

 
Difficulty: Moderate

18. The Clean Water Act, which has been primarily aimed at point source water pollution, has moved the United States ________ of the way toward zero-discharge levels for point sources.
A. 20-30%
B. 50-60%
C.  5-10%
D. 90-100%

 
Difficulty: Moderate

19. Although TBESs are emissions standards, because specific technology is used to determine the emission standard, firms are often
A. reluctant to take a risk and explore cheaper and alternative technologies.
B. unintentionally encouraged to use the technology that was used to set the standard.
C. discouraged from practicing pollution prevention.
D. all of the above.

 
Difficulty: Moderate

Figure 1:

20. Refer to the Figure above. TBESs focus on the process in __________________.
A. Figure 1
B. box (1)
C. box (2)
D. in the figure labeled ‘Emissions’

Difficulty: Moderate

21. Refer to the Figure above. When pollution control is criticized for focusing on the end-of –the pipe, it refers to technology based effluent standards that focus on _____________.
A. Figure 1
B. box (1)
C. box (2)
D. recycling

Difficulty: Easy

22. Wastewater treatment plants engage in different levels of treatment for municipal water. The different degrees of treatment are designated
A. primary, secondary, and tertiary.
B. BOD, activated sludge, and chemical processing.
C. no treatment, secondary treatment, and primary treatment.
D. physical, biological, and chemical.

Difficulty: Easy

23. Some of the difficulties of using design standards to control non-point source pollution include
A. administrative determination of the technology or techniques that are allowed for control.
B. the weakening of individual incentives to find new ways to reduce emissions.
C. the difficulty of measuring emissions accurately.
D. all of the above.

Difficulty: Easy

24. One way to control non-point source emissions is
A. determine the source of pollution and fine those who are emitting.
B. request that the sources self-identify and tax those who are emitting.
C. offer a reward for identifying those who are emitting.
D. tax the activities or materials that lead to the emissions, rather than the emissions themselves.

Difficulty: Easy

25. After the state has established a total maximum daily load for a body of water and after that load has been distributed among the sources of emissions, a system of ________ can be developed to encourage cost effectiveness.
A. state revolving funds
B. emissions trading
C. technology based effluent standards
D. best management practices

 
Difficulty: Moderate

26. Emissions trading for water pollutants may be more complex than emissions trading for air pollutants. Trading networks must be
A. limited to sources discharging into particular bodies of water.
B. limited according to the industry and the product that the firm produces.
C. unlimited geographically, but limited to domestic polluters.
D. best if they are completely unlimited.

Difficulty: Moderate

27. Controlling water pollution by establishing total maximum daily loads is a type of
A. technology based effluent standard.
B. ambient standard.
C. emissions trading system.
D. best management practice.

 
Difficulty: Moderate

28. Over the last several decades, the proportion of the U.S. population that is served by secondary or tertiary water treatment facilities has _________________.
A. decreased
B. increased
C. remained the same
D. remained unmeasured

 
Difficulty: Easy

29. The engineering focused approach of technology-based effluent standards
A. is likely to be cost in-effective, and not consistent with the equimarginal principle.
B. is subject to political interests while the EPA is required to make engineering decisions.
C. is substantially undermined by the requirements of monitoring and enforcement.
D. all of the above.

 
Difficulty: Moderate

30. Federal subsidies for water treatment plants have encouraged
A. municipalities to build plants with excess capacity.
B. state and local governments to reduce their contributions toward these public works.
C. more access to secondary and tertiary treated water for U.S. citizens.
D. all of the above.

 
Difficulty: Easy

31. Using permit markets to combat regional water pollution can be problematic because

A. permits are issued nationally, and water pollution is local.

B. the permit price is set via the Chicago Mercantile Exchange

C. taxes to pay for permits must be approved by voters

D. there are a relatively small number of traders

32. The National Network on Water Quality Trading guides programs for

A. agricultural run-off

B. watersheds

C. storm water

D. all of the above

33. “Leakages” in water pollution refer to

A. dripping faucets in homes

B. reduction in emissions in one location increases emissions in another location

C. emissions from one source occurs in two locations

D. funding for one EPA program benefits other EPA programs

34. The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) allows

A. private drinking water facilities to be built

B. joint private and government ventures for drinking water facilities

C. tribal drinking water facilities to operate independent of EPA rules

D. spending on wastewater but not on drinking water

35. Federal water pollution control policy began in

A. 1789

B. 1899

C. 1999

D. 2009