The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 2010 Episode (Essay Sample)

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 2010 Episode
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The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 2010 Episode
Throughout human history, there have been major episodes that have had detrimental effects on animals both on land and in the sea. Some of the episodes are natural like the 1930 Muese valley intense fog that left many scores of people dead. The 1948 Donora song episode is also another natural disaster that has a hard impact on the environment. These episodes were natural and affected terrestrial animals only. Notably is the Bowels lake episode in the mid-1970s in North Carolina whereby there was contamination of water by selenium waste from coal fired power plant. Another such episode Minimata bay one, Mercury from dumped waste materials from a factory found themselves into the water in bonds that affected mankind and aquatic life. The Mercury was ingested by the fish and transferred to man when they ate the fish. The effects took up-to 50years before their effects could be felt. The Minimata episode took place in 1956 in Japan. The most recent major episode that had an impact on Marine life is the BP oil spillage in the Gulf coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.
Main pollutant that caused hazards to aquatic life
The BP oil spillage took place in 2010 for a period of five months. There was an explosion of undersea of a BP oil well. Eleven workers died immediately and scores of injuries were reported. Birds, fish, and shrump died also as a result of the oil spill. The main pollutant that was hazardous to aquatic life was the oil spill from the well. The oil that spill was approximately 3.2 million barrels. Some of the oil has evaporated and most of the oil has been cleaned by the company which happened to be the most expensive exercise. Up to now, some oil still remains in the ocean eight years down from the episode date (King, 2010).
How spilled oil adversely affected the health of aquatic life
There were oil-soaked birds on the shores of the ocean together with oiled turtles and fish alike. Though studies are underway to determine the full impact of the pollution, immediate impact on Marine life has been noted down by researchers. Double the number of bottlenose dolphin has been reported for the past five years. The spilled water had polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which contain carcinogens responsible for the reduction of oxygen levels in the water which leads to aquatic life suffocating and eventually dying (Beyer, et al, 2016).
The BP oil spill was deep into the ocean and cases of the ocean floor damage have been reported. This ocean floor damage has an effect on the pancale batfish whose ocean Floor is their main ecosystem. There have been also cases of cardiotoxicity have been reported on Tuna and Amberjack species. Cardiotoxicity is a heart muscle damage or electrophysiology dysfunction, a form of a heart attack. The aquatic life impact was not that adverse because the oil spill about 40 miles offshore and it was deep below the surface of the ocean and it was far away from where most aquatic life was. The Oil that leaked was also light crude oil form of the oil that is easily degraded by degrading bacteria and it also dissolves much more quickly than the heavy oil (Beyer, et al, 2016).
Measures to be taken to prevent such episodes in the future
Bp oil spillage episode has been reported to be caused by defective cement on the wall of the blowout preventer. This is because of the negligence of safety practices and ethics by the drilling company. The company made decisions on cutting the cost of running the company and that made it go for cheap materials and substandard work on its blowout preventer (King, 2010).
To prevent such occurrences in the future, drilling companies should establish procedures and install and implement control measures to prevent spillage from reaching water pathways. Because machines are not 100% efficient, there are instances ...