DirtySecrets-Group1

“Something is amiss in our global world water supply: Striped bass are succumbing to flesh-eating bacteria in Chesapeake Bay; seabird chicks are starving in Hawai‘i; coral reefs are weakening under a growing assault of invisible contaminants and an increasing variety of aquatic animals are showing signs of developmental disorders. Experts and citizens are racing to find clues to the causes—and the solutions. Find out how we all can make a difference.”
 * __Dirty Secrets (Pd 2)__**

· How has the Yucatán Peninsula changed in the last 3 decades? · What are two ways that tourists and developers threaten the coral reefs? · How are the coral reefs threatened by seeps? · What are the cenotes in Yucatán? · How are scientists mapping out the freshwater’s path to the ocean? · What do scientists ultimately want to accomplish through this mapping?
 * //Group 1: Buried Trouble//**

__Summay of Video: See Notes Below __ In the movie Dirty Secrets, we learned about disease of fish, plastics in birds and water, and careless human activity. Right now we have plastic floating in water going no where, causing birds to mistake it for food and consuming it. Their stomachs are full but they are still starved. As we take a closer look inside their stomachs it is completely filled with the plastics we use everyday. Plus we have fish with bacteria that spreads causing disease. So many fish have this disease all along their sides causing most of them to die. They have a fighting chance with help of course. All of this is because of careless human activity. That is just lazy on our part because it can't just be one person causing all of this. Many people who help contribute to this. We can help resolve this by recycling our plastics, so they don't end up in our oceans, and cutting back on the fertilizers we use at home. if everyone does these things then together we can make a difference one fish and bird at a time.

__Question #1:__ In the last 3 decades, the Yucatán Peninsula has expanded supplying tourists' every need and it won't stop growing.

__Question #2:__ Two ways that tourists and developers threaten the coral reefs are one, careless diving and two, sewage/pollution.

__Question #3:__ The coral reefs are threatened by seeps because sewage and freshwater are seeping into the ocean. Yet the people there don't know that they are doing this to their ocean. When the divers went down into the centoes they could see where it was coming from, since freshwater is less dense than saltwater. Basically coral reefs are threatened by change. They are not used to freshwater. __Question #4:__ Cenotes are underwater caverns, flooded caves, and pools of water. __Question #5:__ Scientists are mapping out the freshwater's path by physically going down into the centoes. They released a green dye that was harmless into the water to try and find out which way the water was flowing. They would release it and track it down by going through all the caves in the centoes. __Question #6:__ Scientists were ultimately trying to accomplish through this mapping which way the freshwater's path was going or which way it was headed.

You guys did not really summarize your part of the video. Here is a good summary from the Strange Days Website http://www.pbs.org/strangedays/episodes/dirtysecrets/experts/buriedtrouble.html "Water covers 70 percent of the planet, but only a mere 3 percent of it is freshwater. While much of this water flows from surface sources, seasonal glacial melt, lakes and rivers, 25 percent is held underground in vast limestone labyrinths known as [|karst systems]. When precipitation seeps through karst limestone, it creates small pathways that can eventually connect to great underground rivers. Such systems are found all over the world. In the United States, they hold nearly 40 percent of our nation’s freshwater. One of the world’s most impressive and extensive karst systems is located in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Here, nearly all the region’s freshwater flows through a vast subterranean maze with hundreds of miles of caves and rivers connected to the surface through pools called cenotes. The word [|cenote](pronounced seh-NO-tay) is derived from the Maya word dz’onot, which means well. The Maya viewed cenotes as sacred wells—windows to a mysterious, watery underworld. What many Mexicans don’t realize, however, is that their sacred wells are rapidly being poisoned by their own prosperity. In the last three decades, Mexican tourism has exploded into a billion-dollar industry. The tourist corridor in the Yucatán now stretches across 75 miles (120 km) of coastline that was once sparsely inhabited. As the population grows, so too does the generation of sewage and water-borne pollutants. Unfortunately, one of the most common means of wastewater disposal here involves simply pumping this sludge hundreds of feet belowground. Out of sight, out of mind? Not quite. Pollutants can, and do, find their way into the hidden limestone labyrinths and can resurface to pollute cenotes and drinking supplies. Hydrogeologists [|Mario Rebolledo] from the Center for Scientific Investigation in the Yucatán and [|Patricia Beddows] from McMaster University in Canada are trying to find out how and what pollutants and bacteria are infiltrating these waters. By bouncing electromagnetic sound waves through the ground, Rebolledo exposes areas of water versus soil and rock. He also samples for pollutants. Beddows uses nontoxic dye along with other techniques to track the course of water underground. Combined with the courageous efforts of cave diver and explorer [|Sam Meacham], the team is mapping this secret world and pinpointing regions at greatest risk of contamination."

63/75 points