water pollution causes and effects essay

Water Pollution Causes, Effects and Solutions

Introduction, causes of water pollution, effects of water pollution, solutions to water pollution, reference list.

Rivers are common sources of water in the world. Water is useful in various ways both domestically and in industries. It is imperative that such water remains clean and safe and free from any pollution. Unfortunately, water pollution takes place in various water bodies all over the world. This essay seeks to examine the concept of water pollution, its causes, effects, and solutions to water pollution.

Water pollution refers to dirtying of water resulting in a chemical, physical or biological alteration in the condition of water making such water harmful to anyone who utilizes it. In other words, pollution makes water unfit for consumption (Go Green Academy, 2013). There are various causes of water pollution. Disposing solid waste in water sources is the main cause of water pollution (Go Green Academy, 2013). Most of these wastes are made of plastic, which by nature, is non-biodegradable. Plastics take over four hundred years to decompose in water and as such, they move in different places before they finally decompose.

Effluence from industries and factories cause water pollution (Go Green Academy, 2013). Coffee factories use fresh water to transport waste to rivers. Effluence from industrial plants adds pollutants like lead and mercury into rivers. Oil spills from ships on transit also cause water pollution. Oil is indissoluble in water and consequently forms thick patches on the water surface making it hard for organisms in such a water body to survive. Overall, such contaminated water destroys an ecosystem (Go Green Academy, 2013).

Sewerage disposal from households and commercial houses cause water pollution. In some places, sewage can be treated or recycled but in most places, such waste finds a way into rivers. Due to chemical substances used in maintaining hygiene in washrooms, effluence from such places is destructive to water sources into which it flows (Go Green Academy, 2013). Cauterizing of fossil fuels leads to building up of acidic particles in the air, which in turn leads to acidic rains falling on water bodies (Go Green Academy, 2013).

Groundwater polluted through the use of chemicals in farming causes destruction to plants, which in turn affect human beings and animals that feed on them (Go Green Academy, 2013). Secondly, polluted water causes skin rashes and even cancer to swimmers. In addition, such water can cause reproductive difficulties and typhoid fever, which if untreated, leads to death. Water pollution leads to flooding when solid wastes accumulate to very high levels (Go Green Academy, 2013).

Global warming leads to increased water temperatures and this leads to the destruction of aquatic plants. Coral reefs, for instance, suffer destruction because warm water has a discoloring effect on them. In addition, plastic materials can easily entangle organisms such as fish leading to their suffocation and death hence reduction in available organisms for human consumption. Water polluted by oil spills also leads to the death of aquatic animals (Go Green Academy, 2013).

Several measures are necessary to tackle water pollution. Relevant authorities should enforce existing regulations concerning water pollution and come up with an even stricter penalty for those who pollute water (Hearn, 2013). Secondly, people should use less plastic and avoid littering by using designated dumping sites. Farmers, as well as householders, should minimize the use of chemicals such as fertilizers and adopt the use of environmental friendly fertility boosters like animal wastes. Since cars emit particles that lead to acidic rains, people should drive less and where possible use public transport to minimize emissions into the atmosphere (Hearn, 2013)

Go Green Academy. 2013, Causes and effects of water pollution . Web.

Hearn, M. 2013, Solutions to water pollution . Web.

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Water Pollution: Everything You Need to Know

Our rivers, reservoirs, lakes, and seas are drowning in chemicals, waste, plastic, and other pollutants. Here’s why—and what you can do to help.

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What is water pollution?

What are the causes of water pollution, categories of water pollution, what are the effects of water pollution, what can you do to prevent water pollution.

Water pollution occurs when harmful substances—often chemicals or microorganisms—contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment.

This widespread problem of water pollution is jeopardizing our health. Unsafe water kills more people each year than war and all other forms of violence combined. Meanwhile, our drinkable water sources are finite: Less than 1 percent of the earth’s freshwater is actually accessible to us. Without action, the challenges will only increase by 2050, when global demand for freshwater is expected to be one-third greater than it is now.

Water is uniquely vulnerable to pollution. Known as a “universal solvent,” water is able to dissolve more substances than any other liquid on earth. It’s the reason we have Kool-Aid and brilliant blue waterfalls. It’s also why water is so easily polluted. Toxic substances from farms, towns, and factories readily dissolve into and mix with it, causing water pollution.

Here are some of the major sources of water pollution worldwide:

Agricultural

Toxic green algae in Copco Reservoir, northern California

Aurora Photos/Alamy

Not only is the agricultural sector the biggest consumer of global freshwater resources, with farming and livestock production using about 70 percent of the earth’s surface water supplies , but it’s also a serious water polluter. Around the world, agriculture is the leading cause of water degradation. In the United States, agricultural pollution is the top source of contamination in rivers and streams, the second-biggest source in wetlands, and the third main source in lakes. It’s also a major contributor of contamination to estuaries and groundwater. Every time it rains, fertilizers, pesticides, and animal waste from farms and livestock operations wash nutrients and pathogens—such bacteria and viruses—into our waterways. Nutrient pollution , caused by excess nitrogen and phosphorus in water or air, is the number-one threat to water quality worldwide and can cause algal blooms , a toxic soup of blue-green algae that can be harmful to people and wildlife.

Sewage and wastewater

Used water is wastewater. It comes from our sinks, showers, and toilets (think sewage) and from commercial, industrial, and agricultural activities (think metals, solvents, and toxic sludge). The term also includes stormwater runoff , which occurs when rainfall carries road salts, oil, grease, chemicals, and debris from impermeable surfaces into our waterways

More than 80 percent of the world’s wastewater flows back into the environment without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations; in some least-developed countries, the figure tops 95 percent. In the United States, wastewater treatment facilities process about 34 billion gallons of wastewater per day . These facilities reduce the amount of pollutants such as pathogens, phosphorus, and nitrogen in sewage, as well as heavy metals and toxic chemicals in industrial waste, before discharging the treated waters back into waterways. That’s when all goes well. But according to EPA estimates, our nation’s aging and easily overwhelmed sewage treatment systems also release more than 850 billion gallons of untreated wastewater each year.

Oil pollution

Big spills may dominate headlines, but consumers account for the vast majority of oil pollution in our seas, including oil and gasoline that drips from millions of cars and trucks every day. Moreover, nearly half of the estimated 1 million tons of oil that makes its way into marine environments each year comes not from tanker spills but from land-based sources such as factories, farms, and cities. At sea, tanker spills account for about 10 percent of the oil in waters around the world, while regular operations of the shipping industry—through both legal and illegal discharges—contribute about one-third. Oil is also naturally released from under the ocean floor through fractures known as seeps.

Radioactive substances

Radioactive waste is any pollution that emits radiation beyond what is naturally released by the environment. It’s generated by uranium mining, nuclear power plants, and the production and testing of military weapons, as well as by universities and hospitals that use radioactive materials for research and medicine. Radioactive waste can persist in the environment for thousands of years, making disposal a major challenge. Consider the decommissioned Hanford nuclear weapons production site in Washington, where the cleanup of 56 million gallons of radioactive waste is expected to cost more than $100 billion and last through 2060. Accidentally released or improperly disposed of contaminants threaten groundwater, surface water, and marine resources.

To address pollution and protect water we need to understand where the pollution is coming from (point source or nonpoint source) and the type of water body its impacting (groundwater, surface water, or ocean water).

Where is the pollution coming from?

Point source pollution.

When contamination originates from a single source, it’s called point source pollution. Examples include wastewater (also called effluent) discharged legally or illegally by a manufacturer, oil refinery, or wastewater treatment facility, as well as contamination from leaking septic systems, chemical and oil spills, and illegal dumping. The EPA regulates point source pollution by establishing limits on what can be discharged by a facility directly into a body of water. While point source pollution originates from a specific place, it can affect miles of waterways and ocean.

Nonpoint source

Nonpoint source pollution is contamination derived from diffuse sources. These may include agricultural or stormwater runoff or debris blown into waterways from land. Nonpoint source pollution is the leading cause of water pollution in U.S. waters, but it’s difficult to regulate, since there’s no single, identifiable culprit.

Transboundary

It goes without saying that water pollution can’t be contained by a line on a map. Transboundary pollution is the result of contaminated water from one country spilling into the waters of another. Contamination can result from a disaster—like an oil spill—or the slow, downriver creep of industrial, agricultural, or municipal discharge.

What type of water is being impacted?

Groundwater pollution.

When rain falls and seeps deep into the earth, filling the cracks, crevices, and porous spaces of an aquifer (basically an underground storehouse of water), it becomes groundwater—one of our least visible but most important natural resources. Nearly 40 percent of Americans rely on groundwater, pumped to the earth’s surface, for drinking water. For some folks in rural areas, it’s their only freshwater source. Groundwater gets polluted when contaminants—from pesticides and fertilizers to waste leached from landfills and septic systems—make their way into an aquifer, rendering it unsafe for human use. Ridding groundwater of contaminants can be difficult to impossible, as well as costly. Once polluted, an aquifer may be unusable for decades, or even thousands of years. Groundwater can also spread contamination far from the original polluting source as it seeps into streams, lakes, and oceans.

Surface water pollution

Covering about 70 percent of the earth, surface water is what fills our oceans, lakes, rivers, and all those other blue bits on the world map. Surface water from freshwater sources (that is, from sources other than the ocean) accounts for more than 60 percent of the water delivered to American homes. But a significant pool of that water is in peril. According to the most recent surveys on national water quality from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, nearly half of our rivers and streams and more than one-third of our lakes are polluted and unfit for swimming, fishing, and drinking. Nutrient pollution, which includes nitrates and phosphates, is the leading type of contamination in these freshwater sources. While plants and animals need these nutrients to grow, they have become a major pollutant due to farm waste and fertilizer runoff. Municipal and industrial waste discharges contribute their fair share of toxins as well. There’s also all the random junk that industry and individuals dump directly into waterways.

Ocean water pollution

Eighty percent of ocean pollution (also called marine pollution) originates on land—whether along the coast or far inland. Contaminants such as chemicals, nutrients, and heavy metals are carried from farms, factories, and cities by streams and rivers into our bays and estuaries; from there they travel out to sea. Meanwhile, marine debris— particularly plastic —is blown in by the wind or washed in via storm drains and sewers. Our seas are also sometimes spoiled by oil spills and leaks—big and small—and are consistently soaking up carbon pollution from the air. The ocean absorbs as much as a quarter of man-made carbon emissions .

On human health

To put it bluntly: Water pollution kills. In fact, it caused 1.8 million deaths in 2015, according to a study published in The Lancet . Contaminated water can also make you ill. Every year, unsafe water sickens about 1 billion people. And low-income communities are disproportionately at risk because their homes are often closest to the most polluting industries.

Waterborne pathogens, in the form of disease-causing bacteria and viruses from human and animal waste, are a major cause of illness from contaminated drinking water . Diseases spread by unsafe water include cholera, giardia, and typhoid. Even in wealthy nations, accidental or illegal releases from sewage treatment facilities, as well as runoff from farms and urban areas, contribute harmful pathogens to waterways. Thousands of people across the United States are sickened every year by Legionnaires’ disease (a severe form of pneumonia contracted from water sources like cooling towers and piped water), with cases cropping up from California’s Disneyland to Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

A woman using bottled water to wash her three-week-old son at their home in Flint, Michigan

Todd McInturf/The Detroit News/AP

Meanwhile, the plight of residents in Flint, Michigan —where cost-cutting measures and aging water infrastructure created a lead contamination crisis—offers a stark look at how dangerous chemical and other industrial pollutants in our water can be. The problem goes far beyond Flint and involves much more than lead, as a wide range of chemical pollutants—from heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury to pesticides and nitrate fertilizers —are getting into our water supplies. Once they’re ingested, these toxins can cause a host of health issues, from cancer to hormone disruption to altered brain function. Children and pregnant women are particularly at risk.

Even swimming can pose a risk. Every year, 3.5 million Americans contract health issues such as skin rashes, pinkeye, respiratory infections, and hepatitis from sewage-laden coastal waters, according to EPA estimates.

On the environment

In order to thrive, healthy ecosystems rely on a complex web of animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi—all of which interact, directly or indirectly, with each other. Harm to any of these organisms can create a chain effect, imperiling entire aquatic environments.

When water pollution causes an algal bloom in a lake or marine environment, the proliferation of newly introduced nutrients stimulates plant and algae growth, which in turn reduces oxygen levels in the water. This dearth of oxygen, known as eutrophication , suffocates plants and animals and can create “dead zones,” where waters are essentially devoid of life. In certain cases, these harmful algal blooms can also produce neurotoxins that affect wildlife, from whales to sea turtles.

Chemicals and heavy metals from industrial and municipal wastewater contaminate waterways as well. These contaminants are toxic to aquatic life—most often reducing an organism’s life span and ability to reproduce—and make their way up the food chain as predator eats prey. That’s how tuna and other big fish accumulate high quantities of toxins, such as mercury.

Marine ecosystems are also threatened by marine debris , which can strangle, suffocate, and starve animals. Much of this solid debris, such as plastic bags and soda cans, gets swept into sewers and storm drains and eventually out to sea, turning our oceans into trash soup and sometimes consolidating to form floating garbage patches. Discarded fishing gear and other types of debris are responsible for harming more than 200 different species of marine life.

Meanwhile, ocean acidification is making it tougher for shellfish and coral to survive. Though they absorb about a quarter of the carbon pollution created each year by burning fossil fuels, oceans are becoming more acidic. This process makes it harder for shellfish and other species to build shells and may impact the nervous systems of sharks, clownfish, and other marine life.

With your actions

We’re all accountable to some degree for today’s water pollution problem. Fortunately, there are some simple ways you can prevent water contamination or at least limit your contribution to it:

• Learn about the unique qualities of water where you live . Where does your water come from? Is the wastewater from your home treated? Where does stormwater flow to? Is your area in a drought? Start building a picture of the situation so you can discover where your actions will have the most impact—and see if your neighbors would be interested in joining in!
• Reduce your plastic consumption and reuse or recycle plastic when you can.
• Properly dispose of chemical cleaners, oils, and nonbiodegradable items to keep them from going down the drain.
• Maintain your car so it doesn’t leak oil, antifreeze, or coolant.
• If you have a yard, consider landscaping that reduces runoff and avoid applying pesticides and herbicides .
• Don’t flush your old medications! Dispose of them in the trash to prevent them from entering local waterways.
• Be mindful of anything you pour into storm sewers, since that waste often won’t be treated before being released into local waterways. If you notice a storm sewer blocked by litter, clean it up to keep that trash out of the water. (You’ll also help prevent troublesome street floods in a heavy storm.)
• If you have a pup, be sure to pick up its poop .

With your voice

One of the most effective ways to stand up for our waters is to speak out in support of the Clean Water Act, which has helped hold polluters accountable for five decades—despite attempts by destructive industries to gut its authority. But we also need regulations that keep pace with modern-day challenges, including microplastics, PFAS , pharmaceuticals, and other contaminants our wastewater treatment plants weren’t built to handle, not to mention polluted water that’s dumped untreated.

Tell the federal government, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and your local elected officials that you support water protections and investments in infrastructure, like wastewater treatment, lead-pipe removal programs, and stormwater-abating green infrastructure. Also, learn how you and those around you can get involved in the policymaking process . Our public waterways serve every one of us. We should all have a say in how they’re protected.

This story was originally published on May 14, 2018, and has been updated with new information and links.

This NRDC.org story is available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: The writer(s) must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by NRDC.org and link to the original; the story cannot be edited (beyond simple things such as grammar); you can’t resell the story in any form or grant republishing rights to other outlets; you can’t republish our material wholesale or automatically—you need to select stories individually; you can’t republish the photos or graphics on our site without specific permission; you should drop us a note to let us know when you’ve used one of our stories.

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What Causes Water Pollution and How Do We Solve it?

Water pollution is putting our health at risk. Unsafe water kills more people each year than war and all other forms of violence combined. Meanwhile, less than 1% of the Earth’s freshwater is actually accessible to us and it’s in our best interest to protect what we have, especially considering that by 2050, global demand for freshwater is expected to be one-third greater than it is now. Here are six causes of water pollution, as well as what we can do to reduce it.

Water is uniquely vulnerable to pollution because it’s able to dissolve more substances than any other liquid on Earth. Toxic substances from farms, towns, and factories readily dissolve into and mix with it, which causes water pollution as a result.

6 Most Common Causes of Water Pollution

1. sewage and wastewater .

According to the UN , more than 80% of the world’s wastewater flows back into the environment without being treated or reused; in some least-developed countries, this figure tops 95%. Harmful chemicals and bacteria can be found in sewage and wastewater even after it’s been treated. Households release sewage and wastewater, which makes its way to the ocean, mixing with freshwater and affecting the water quality and marine life. Also, the bacteria and pathogens found in wastewater breed disease, and cause health-related issues in humans and animals. 

2. Oil Spills

Large oil spills and leaks are some of most significant causes of water pollution. These are often caused by oil drilling operations in the ocean, but nearly half of the estimated 1 million tons of oil that makes its way into marine environments each year come not from oil tankers, but from land-based sources like factories, farms and cities. In England and Wales, there are about 3,000 pollution incidents involving oil and fuel each year. Oil makes drinking water unsafe and a substantial amount of oil released into oceans or become river water pollution, will destroy marine life and the ecosystems that support them. What’s more, oil reduces the oxygen supply within the water environment.  Oil is also naturally released from under the ocean floor through fractures known as seeps.

You Might Also Like: How Do Oil Spills Affect the Environment?

3. Industrial Waste

Industrial waste is one of the biggest sources of water contamination. Many industrial sites produce waste in the form of toxic chemicals and pollutants, and some don’t have proper waste management systems in place. Sometimes, industrial waste is dumped into nearby freshwater systems. The toxic chemicals leached from this waste can make the water unsafe for human consumption, and they can also cause the temperature in freshwater systems to change, making them dangerous for marine life. Finally, industrial waste can cause “ dead zones ,” which are areas of water that contain so little oxygen that marine life cannot survive in them.

4. Agricultural Runoff

To protect crops from pests, farmers use pesticides, however when these substances seep into the groundwater, they can harm animals, plants and humans. Additionally, when it rains, the chemicals mix with rainwater, which flows into waterways and creates further pollution. Other agricultural processes such as uncontrolled spreading of slurries and manures, tillage and ploughing the land can also cause water pollution.

5. Marine Dumping and Plastic Pollution in the Sea

Most items collected and dumped into oceans by many countries can take anywhere from two to 200 years to decompose completely! Other sources of waste at sea include plastic and other materials blown or washed from land. Currently, about 11 million metric tons of plastic make their way into the oceans each year. Research has found that should this rate of pollution continues, the amount of ocean plastics will grow to 29 million metric tons per year by 2040. The damage to wildlife habitats and to life on land is incalculable. 

You Might Also Like: 8 Shocking Plastic Pollution Statistics to Know About

6. Radioactive Waste

Radioactive waste can persist in the environment for thousands of years , making disposal a major challenge and one of the most harmful water contaminants. Radioactive waste released from facilities that create nuclear energy can be extremely harmful to the environment and must be disposed of properly; uranium, the element used in the creation of nuclear energy, is a highly toxic chemical. Accidents occur at these facilities from time to time, and toxic waste is released into the environment.

In April 2021, Japan discharged contaminated water containing radioactive materials from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. Though the Japanese government claims potential health risks and damage to marine life to be minimal as the waste water have been treated, close monitoring is required to ensue there are no environment effects from the water pollution. 

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How Can You Reduce Water Pollution?

• Reduce your plastic consumption and reuse or recycle plastic when you can. 
• Properly dispose of chemical cleaners, oils and non-biodegradable items.
• Use phosphate-free detergents – phosphates lead to algae blooms and kill fish and other aquatic animals by reducing the oxygen in the water. 
• Dispose of medical waste properly.
• Eat more organic food, which is produced without the use of pesticides.
• Cut down on your meat consumption – raising animals for meat takes lots of water for the grains and other feed they need. Furthermore, the antibiotics and solid waste are both likely to end up in groundwater and rivers.

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Water pollution: an introduction

by Chris Woodford . Last updated: October 1, 2023.

O ver two thirds of Earth's surface is covered by water ; less than a third is taken up by land. As Earth's population continues to grow, people are putting ever-increasing pressure on the planet's water resources. In a sense, our oceans, rivers , and other inland waters are being "squeezed" by human activities—not so they take up less room, but so their quality is reduced. Poorer water quality means water pollution .

We know that pollution is a human problem because it is a relatively recent development in the planet's history: before the 19th century Industrial Revolution, people lived more in harmony with their immediate environment. As industrialization has spread around the globe, so the problem of pollution has spread with it. When Earth's population was much smaller, no one believed pollution would ever present a serious problem. It was once popularly believed that the oceans were far too big to pollute. Today, with around 7 billion people on the planet, it has become apparent that there are limits. Pollution is one of the signs that humans have exceeded those limits.

Photo: Stormwater pollution entering a river from a drain. Photo by Peter C Van Metre courtesy of US Geological Survey .

What is water pollution?

Water pollution can be defined in many ways. Usually, it means one or more substances have built up in water to such an extent that they cause problems for animals or people. Oceans, lakes, rivers, and other inland waters can naturally clean up a certain amount of pollution by dispersing it harmlessly. If you poured a cup of black ink into a river, the ink would quickly disappear into the river's much larger volume of clean water. The ink would still be there in the river, but in such a low concentration that you would not be able to see it. At such low levels, the chemicals in the ink probably would not present any real problem. However, if you poured gallons of ink into a river every few seconds through a pipe, the river would quickly turn black. The chemicals in the ink could very quickly have an effect on the quality of the water. This, in turn, could affect the health of all the plants, animals, and humans whose lives depend on the river.

Photo: Pollution means adding substances to the environment that don't belong there—like the air pollution from this smokestack. Pollution is not always as obvious as this, however.

Thus, water pollution is all about quantities : how much of a polluting substance is released and how big a volume of water it is released into. A small quantity of a toxic chemical may have little impact if it is spilled into the ocean from a ship. But the same amount of the same chemical can have a much bigger impact pumped into a lake or river, where there is less clean water to disperse it.

"The introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy into the marine environment (including estuaries) resulting in such deleterious effects as harm to living resources, hazards to human health, hindrance to marine activities, including fishing, impairment of quality for use of sea water and reduction of amenities." [1]

What are the main types of water pollution?

When we think of Earth's water resources, we think of huge oceans, lakes, and rivers. Water resources like these are called surface waters . The most obvious type of water pollution affects surface waters. For example, a spill from an oil tanker creates an oil slick that can affect a vast area of the ocean.

Photo: Detergent pollution entering a river—an example of surface water pollution. Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service Photo Library.

Not all of Earth's water sits on its surface, however. A great deal of water is held in underground rock structures known as aquifers, which we cannot see and seldom think about. Water stored underground in aquifers is known as groundwater . Aquifers feed our rivers and supply much of our drinking water. They too can become polluted, for example, when weed killers used in people's gardens drain into the ground. Groundwater pollution is much less obvious than surface-water pollution, but is no less of a problem. In 1996, a study in Iowa in the United States found that over half the state's groundwater wells were contaminated with weed killers. You might think things would have improved since then, but, two decades on, all that's really changed is the name of the chemicals we're using. Today, numerous scientific studies are still finding weed killers in groundwater in worrying quantities: a 2012 study discovered glyphosate in 41 percent of 140 groundwater samples from Catalonia, Spain; scientific opinion differs on whether this is safe or not. [2]

Surface waters and groundwater are the two types of water resources that pollution affects. There are also two different ways in which pollution can occur. If pollution comes from a single location, such as a discharge pipe attached to a factory, it is known as point-source pollution . Other examples of point source pollution include an oil spill from a tanker, a discharge from a smoke stack (factory chimney), or someone pouring oil from their car down a drain. A great deal of water pollution happens not from one single source but from many different scattered sources. This is called nonpoint-source pollution .

When point-source pollution enters the environment, the place most affected is usually the area immediately around the source. For example, when a tanker accident occurs, the oil slick is concentrated around the tanker itself and, in the right ocean conditions, the pollution disperses the further away from the tanker you go. This is less likely to happen with nonpoint source pollution which, by definition, enters the environment from many different places at once.

Sometimes pollution that enters the environment in one place has an effect hundreds or even thousands of miles away. This is known as transboundary pollution . One example is the way radioactive waste travels through the oceans from nuclear reprocessing plants in England and France to nearby countries such as Ireland and Norway.

How do we know when water is polluted?

Some forms of water pollution are very obvious: everyone has seen TV news footage of oil slicks filmed from helicopters flying overhead. Water pollution is usually less obvious and much harder to detect than this. But how can we measure water pollution when we cannot see it? How do we even know it's there?

There are two main ways of measuring the quality of water. One is to take samples of the water and measure the concentrations of different chemicals that it contains. If the chemicals are dangerous or the concentrations are too great, we can regard the water as polluted. Measurements like this are known as chemical indicators of water quality. Another way to measure water quality involves examining the fish, insects, and other invertebrates that the water will support. If many different types of creatures can live in a river, the quality is likely to be very good; if the river supports no fish life at all, the quality is obviously much poorer. Measurements like this are called biological indicators of water quality.

What are the causes of water pollution?

Most water pollution doesn't begin in the water itself. Take the oceans: around 80 percent of ocean pollution enters our seas from the land. [16] Virtually any human activity can have an effect on the quality of our water environment. When farmers fertilize the fields, the chemicals they use are gradually washed by rain into the groundwater or surface waters nearby. Sometimes the causes of water pollution are quite surprising. Chemicals released by smokestacks (chimneys) can enter the atmosphere and then fall back to earth as rain, entering seas, rivers, and lakes and causing water pollution. That's called atmospheric deposition . Water pollution has many different causes and this is one of the reasons why it is such a difficult problem to solve.

With billions of people on the planet, disposing of sewage waste is a major problem. According to 2017 figures from the World Health Organization, some 2 billion people (about a quarter of the world's population) don't have access to safe drinking water or the most basic sanitation, 3.4 billion (60 people of the population) lack "safely managed" sanitation (unshared, with waste properly treated). Although there have been great improvements in securing access to clean water, relatively little, genuine progress has been made on improving global sanitation in the last decade. [20] Sewage disposal affects people's immediate environments and leads to water-related illnesses such as diarrhea that kills 525,000 children under five each year. [3] (Back in 2002, the World Health Organization estimated that water-related diseases could kill as many as 135 million people by 2020; in 2019, the WHO was still estimating the annual death toll from poor water and sanitation at over 800,000 people a year.) In developed countries, most people have flush toilets that take sewage waste quickly and hygienically away from their homes.

Yet the problem of sewage disposal does not end there. When you flush the toilet, the waste has to go somewhere and, even after it leaves the sewage treatment works, there is still waste to dispose of. Sometimes sewage waste is pumped untreated into the sea. Until the early 1990s, around 5 million tons of sewage was dumped by barge from New York City each year. [4] According to 2002 figures from the UK government's Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the sewers of Britain collect around 11 billion liters of waste water every day; there are still 31,000 sewage overflow pipes through which, in certain circumstances, such as heavy storms, raw sewage is pumped untreated into the sea. [5] The New River that crosses the border from Mexico into California once carried with it 20–25 million gallons (76–95 million liters) of raw sewage each day; a new waste water plant on the US-Mexico border, completed in 2007, substantially solved that problem. [6] Unfortunately, even in some of the richest nations, the practice of dumping sewage into the sea continues. In early 2012, it was reported that the tiny island of Guernsey (between Britain and France) has decided to continue dumping 16,000 tons of raw sewage into the sea each day.

In theory, sewage is a completely natural substance that should be broken down harmlessly in the environment: 90 percent of sewage is water. [7] In practice, sewage contains all kinds of other chemicals, from the pharmaceutical drugs people take to the paper , plastic , and other wastes they flush down their toilets. When people are sick with viruses, the sewage they produce carries those viruses into the environment. It is possible to catch illnesses such as hepatitis, typhoid, and cholera from river and sea water.

Photo: Nutrients make crops grow, but cause pollution when they seep into rivers and other watercourses. Photo courtesy of US Department of Agriculture (Flickr) .

Suitably treated and used in moderate quantities, sewage can be a fertilizer: it returns important nutrients to the environment, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which plants and animals need for growth. The trouble is, sewage is often released in much greater quantities than the natural environment can cope with. Chemical fertilizers used by farmers also add nutrients to the soil, which drain into rivers and seas and add to the fertilizing effect of the sewage. Together, sewage and fertilizers can cause a massive increase in the growth of algae or plankton that overwhelms huge areas of oceans, lakes, or rivers. This is known as a harmful algal bloom (also known as an HAB or red tide, because it can turn the water red). It is harmful because it removes oxygen from the water that kills other forms of life, leading to what is known as a dead zone . The Gulf of Mexico has one of the world's most spectacular dead zones. Each summer, according to studies by the NOAA , it typically grows to an area of around 5500–6500 square miles (14,000–16,800 square kilometers), which is about the same size as the state of Connecticut. [21]

Waste water

A few statistics illustrate the scale of the problem that waste water (chemicals washed down drains and discharged from factories) can cause. Around half of all ocean pollution is caused by sewage and waste water. Each year, the world generates perhaps 5–10 billion tons of industrial waste, much of which is pumped untreated into rivers, oceans, and other waterways. [8] In the United States alone, around 400,000 factories take clean water from rivers, and many pump polluted waters back in their place. However, there have been major improvements in waste water treatment recently. Since 1970, in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has invested about $70 billion in improving water treatment plants that, as of 2021, serve around 90 percent of the US population (compared to just 69 percent in 1972). However, another $271 billion is still needed to update and upgrade the system. [15]

Factories are point sources of water pollution, but quite a lot of water is polluted by ordinary people from nonpoint sources; this is how ordinary water becomes waste water in the first place. Virtually everyone pours chemicals of one sort or another down their drains or toilets. Even detergents used in washing machines and dishwashers eventually end up in our rivers and oceans. So do the pesticides we use on our gardens. A lot of toxic pollution also enters waste water from highway runoff . Highways are typically covered with a cocktail of toxic chemicals—everything from spilled fuel and brake fluids to bits of worn tires (themselves made from chemical additives) and exhaust emissions. When it rains, these chemicals wash into drains and rivers. It is not unusual for heavy summer rainstorms to wash toxic chemicals into rivers in such concentrations that they kill large numbers of fish overnight. It has been estimated that, in one year, the highway runoff from a single large city leaks as much oil into our water environment as a typical tanker spill. Some highway runoff runs away into drains; others can pollute groundwater or accumulate in the land next to a road, making it increasingly toxic as the years go by.

Chemical waste

Detergents are relatively mild substances. At the opposite end of the spectrum are highly toxic chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) . They were once widely used to manufacture electronic circuit boards , but their harmful effects have now been recognized and their use is highly restricted in many countries. Nevertheless, an estimated half million tons of PCBs were discharged into the environment during the 20th century. [9] In a classic example of transboundary pollution, traces of PCBs have even been found in birds and fish in the Arctic. They were carried there through the oceans, thousands of miles from where they originally entered the environment. Although PCBs are widely banned, their effects will be felt for many decades because they last a long time in the environment without breaking down.

Another kind of toxic pollution comes from heavy metals , such as lead, cadmium, and mercury. Lead was once commonly used in gasoline (petrol), though its use is now restricted in some countries. Mercury and cadmium are still used in batteries (though some brands now use other metals instead). Until recently, a highly toxic chemical called tributyltin (TBT) was used in paints to protect boats from the ravaging effects of the oceans. Ironically, however, TBT was gradually recognized as a pollutant: boats painted with it were doing as much damage to the oceans as the oceans were doing to the boats.

The best known example of heavy metal pollution in the oceans took place in 1938 when a Japanese factory discharged a significant amount of mercury metal into Minamata Bay, contaminating the fish stocks there. It took a decade for the problem to come to light. By that time, many local people had eaten the fish and around 2000 were poisoned. Hundreds of people were left dead or disabled. [10]

Radioactive waste

People view radioactive waste with great alarm—and for good reason. At high enough concentrations it can kill; in lower concentrations it can cause cancers and other illnesses. The biggest sources of radioactive pollution in Europe are two factories that reprocess waste fuel from nuclear power plants : Sellafield on the north-west coast of Britain and Cap La Hague on the north coast of France. Both discharge radioactive waste water into the sea, which ocean currents then carry around the world. Countries such as Norway, which lie downstream from Britain, receive significant doses of radioactive pollution from Sellafield. [19] The Norwegian government has repeatedly complained that Sellafield has increased radiation levels along its coast by 6–10 times. Both the Irish and Norwegian governments continue to press for the plant's closure. [11]

Oil pollution

Photo: Oil-tanker spills are the most spectacular forms of pollution and the ones that catch public attention, but only a fraction of all water pollution happens this way. Photo by Lamar Gore courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service Photo Library and US National Archive .

When we think of ocean pollution, huge black oil slicks often spring to mind, yet these spectacular accidents represent only a tiny fraction of all the pollution entering our oceans. Even considering oil by itself, tanker spills are not as significant as they might seem: only 12 percent of the oil that enters the oceans comes from tanker accidents; over 70 percent of oil pollution at sea comes from routine shipping and from the oil people pour down drains on land. [12] However, what makes tanker spills so destructive is the sheer quantity of oil they release at once — in other words, the concentration of oil they produce in one very localized part of the marine environment. The biggest oil spill in recent years (and the biggest ever spill in US waters) occurred when the tanker Exxon Valdez broke up in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989. Around 12 million gallons (44 million liters) of oil were released into the pristine wilderness—enough to fill your living room 800 times over! Estimates of the marine animals killed in the spill vary from approximately 1000 sea otters and 34,000 birds to as many as 2800 sea otters and 250,000 sea birds. Several billion salmon and herring eggs are also believed to have been destroyed. [13]

If you've ever taken part in a community beach clean, you'll know that plastic is far and away the most common substance that washes up with the waves. There are three reasons for this: plastic is one of the most common materials, used for making virtually every kind of manufactured object from clothing to automobile parts; plastic is light and floats easily so it can travel enormous distances across the oceans; most plastics are not biodegradable (they do not break down naturally in the environment), which means that things like plastic bottle tops can survive in the marine environment for a long time. (A plastic bottle can survive an estimated 450 years in the ocean and plastic fishing line can last up to 600 years.)

While plastics are not toxic in quite the same way as poisonous chemicals, they nevertheless present a major hazard to seabirds, fish, and other marine creatures. For example, plastic fishing lines and other debris can strangle or choke fish. (This is sometimes called ghost fishing .) About half of all the world's seabird species are known to have eaten plastic residues. In one study of 450 shearwaters in the North Pacific, over 80 percent of the birds were found to contain plastic residues in their stomachs. In the early 1990s, marine scientist Tim Benton collected debris from a 2km (1.5 mile) length of beach in the remote Pitcairn islands in the South Pacific. His study recorded approximately a thousand pieces of garbage including 268 pieces of plastic, 71 plastic bottles, and two dolls heads. [14]

Alien species

Most people's idea of water pollution involves things like sewage, toxic metals, or oil slicks, but pollution can be biological as well as chemical. In some parts of the world, alien species are a major problem. Alien species (sometimes known as invasive species ) are animals or plants from one region that have been introduced into a different ecosystem where they do not belong. Outside their normal environment, they have no natural predators, so they rapidly run wild, crowding out the usual animals or plants that thrive there. Common examples of alien species include zebra mussels in the Great Lakes of the USA, which were carried there from Europe by ballast water (waste water flushed from ships ). The Mediterranean Sea has been invaded by a kind of alien algae called Caulerpa taxifolia . In the Black Sea, an alien jellyfish called Mnemiopsis leidyi reduced fish stocks by 90 percent after arriving in ballast water. In San Francisco Bay, Asian clams called Potamocorbula amurensis, also introduced by ballast water, have dramatically altered the ecosystem. In 1999, Cornell University's David Pimentel estimated that alien invaders like this cost the US economy $123 billion a year; in 2014, the European Commission put the cost to Europe at €12 billion a year and "growing all the time. [18]

Other forms of pollution

These are the most common forms of pollution—but by no means the only ones. Heat or thermal pollution from factories and power plants also causes problems in rivers. By raising the temperature, it reduces the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water, thus also reducing the level of aquatic life that the river can support. Another type of pollution involves the disruption of sediments (fine-grained powders) that flow from rivers into the sea. Dams built for hydroelectric power or water reservoirs can reduce the sediment flow. This reduces the formation of beaches, increases coastal erosion (the natural destruction of cliffs by the sea), and reduces the flow of nutrients from rivers into seas (potentially reducing coastal fish stocks). Increased sediments can also present a problem. During construction work, soil, rock, and other fine powders sometimes enters nearby rivers in large quantities, causing it to become turbid (muddy or silted). The extra sediment can block the gills of fish, effectively suffocating them. Construction firms often now take precautions to prevent this kind of pollution from happening.

What are the effects of water pollution?

Some people believe pollution is an inescapable result of human activity: they argue that if we want to have factories, cities, ships, cars, oil, and coastal resorts, some degree of pollution is almost certain to result. In other words, pollution is a necessary evil that people must put up with if they want to make progress. Fortunately, not everyone agrees with this view. One reason people have woken up to the problem of pollution is that it brings costs of its own that undermine any economic benefits that come about by polluting.

Take oil spills, for example. They can happen if tankers are too poorly built to survive accidents at sea. But the economic benefit of compromising on tanker quality brings an economic cost when an oil spill occurs. The oil can wash up on nearby beaches, devastate the ecosystem, and severely affect tourism. The main problem is that the people who bear the cost of the spill (typically a small coastal community) are not the people who caused the problem in the first place (the people who operate the tanker). Yet, arguably, everyone who puts gasoline (petrol) into their car—or uses almost any kind of petroleum-fueled transport—contributes to the problem in some way. So oil spills are a problem for everyone, not just people who live by the coast and tanker operates.

Sewage is another good example of how pollution can affect us all. Sewage discharged into coastal waters can wash up on beaches and cause a health hazard. People who bathe or surf in the water can fall ill if they swallow polluted water—yet sewage can have other harmful effects too: it can poison shellfish (such as cockles and mussels) that grow near the shore. People who eat poisoned shellfish risk suffering from an acute—and sometimes fatal—illness called paralytic shellfish poisoning. Shellfish is no longer caught along many shores because it is simply too polluted with sewage or toxic chemical wastes that have discharged from the land nearby.

Pollution matters because it harms the environment on which people depend. The environment is not something distant and separate from our lives. It's not a pretty shoreline hundreds of miles from our homes or a wilderness landscape that we see only on TV. The environment is everything that surrounds us that gives us life and health. Destroying the environment ultimately reduces the quality of our own lives—and that, most selfishly, is why pollution should matter to all of us.

How can we stop water pollution?

There is no easy way to solve water pollution; if there were, it wouldn't be so much of a problem. Broadly speaking, there are three different things that can help to tackle the problem—education, laws, and economics—and they work together as a team.

Making people aware of the problem is the first step to solving it. In the early 1990s, when surfers in Britain grew tired of catching illnesses from water polluted with sewage, they formed a group called Surfers Against Sewage to force governments and water companies to clean up their act. People who've grown tired of walking the world's polluted beaches often band together to organize community beach-cleaning sessions. Anglers who no longer catch so many fish have campaigned for tougher penalties against factories that pour pollution into our rivers. Greater public awareness can make a positive difference.

One of the biggest problems with water pollution is its transboundary nature. Many rivers cross countries, while seas span whole continents. Pollution discharged by factories in one country with poor environmental standards can cause problems in neighboring nations, even when they have tougher laws and higher standards. Environmental laws can make it tougher for people to pollute, but to be really effective they have to operate across national and international borders. This is why we have international laws governing the oceans, such as the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (signed by over 120 nations), the 1972 London (Dumping) Convention , the 1978 MARPOL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships , and the 1998 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic . The European Union has water-protection laws (known as directives) that apply to all of its member states. They include the 1976 Bathing Water Directive (updated 2006), which seeks to ensure the quality of the waters that people use for recreation. Most countries also have their own water pollution laws. In the United States, for example, there is the 1972 Clean Water Act and the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act .

Most environmental experts agree that the best way to tackle pollution is through something called the polluter pays principle . This means that whoever causes pollution should have to pay to clean it up, one way or another. Polluter pays can operate in all kinds of ways. It could mean that tanker owners should have to take out insurance that covers the cost of oil spill cleanups, for example. It could also mean that shoppers should have to pay for their plastic grocery bags, as is now common in Ireland, to encourage recycling and minimize waste. Or it could mean that factories that use rivers must have their water inlet pipes downstream of their effluent outflow pipes, so if they cause pollution they themselves are the first people to suffer. Ultimately, the polluter pays principle is designed to deter people from polluting by making it less expensive for them to behave in an environmentally responsible way.

Our clean future

Life is ultimately about choices—and so is pollution. We can live with sewage-strewn beaches, dead rivers, and fish that are too poisonous to eat. Or we can work together to keep the environment clean so the plants, animals, and people who depend on it remain healthy. We can take individual action to help reduce water pollution, for example, by using environmentally friendly detergents , not pouring oil down drains, reducing pesticides, and so on. We can take community action too, by helping out on beach cleans or litter picks to keep our rivers and seas that little bit cleaner. And we can take action as countries and continents to pass laws that will make pollution harder and the world less polluted. Working together, we can make pollution less of a problem—and the world a better place.

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Discharge from a Chinese fertilizer factory winds its way toward the Yellow River. Like many of the world's rivers, pollution remains an ongoing problem.

Water pollution is a rising global crisis. Here’s what you need to know.

The world's freshwater sources receive contaminants from a wide range of sectors, threatening human and wildlife health.

From big pieces of garbage to invisible chemicals, a wide range of pollutants ends up in our planet's lakes, rivers, streams, groundwater, and eventually the oceans. Water pollution—along with drought, inefficiency, and an exploding population—has contributed to a freshwater crisis , threatening the sources we rely on for drinking water and other critical needs.

Research has revealed that one pollutant in particular is more common in our tap water than anyone had previously thought: PFAS, short for poly and perfluoroalkyl substances. PFAS is used to make everyday items resistant to moisture, heat, and stains; some of these chemicals have such long half-lives that they are known as "the forever chemical."

Safeguarding water supplies is important because even though nearly 70 percent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh. And just one percent of freshwater is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in remote glaciers and snowfields.

Water pollution causes

Water pollution can come from a variety of sources. Pollution can enter water directly, through both legal and illegal discharges from factories, for example, or imperfect water treatment plants. Spills and leaks from oil pipelines or hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations can degrade water supplies. Wind, storms, and littering—especially of plastic waste —can also send debris into waterways.

Thanks largely to decades of regulation and legal action against big polluters, the main cause of U.S. water quality problems is now " nonpoint source pollution ," when pollutants are carried across or through the ground by rain or melted snow. Such runoff can contain fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides from farms and homes; oil and toxic chemicals from roads and industry; sediment; bacteria from livestock; pet waste; and other pollutants .

Finally, drinking water pollution can happen via the pipes themselves if the water is not properly treated, as happened in the case of lead contamination in Flint, Michigan , and other towns. Another drinking water contaminant, arsenic , can come from naturally occurring deposits but also from industrial waste.

Freshwater pollution effects

Water pollution can result in human health problems, poisoned wildlife, and long-term ecosystem damage. When agricultural and industrial runoff floods waterways with excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, these nutrients often fuel algae blooms that then create dead zones , or low-oxygen areas where fish and other aquatic life can no longer thrive.

Algae blooms can create health and economic effects for humans, causing rashes and other ailments, while eroding tourism revenue for popular lake destinations thanks to their unpleasant looks and odors. High levels of nitrates in water from nutrient pollution can also be particularly harmful to infants , interfering with their ability to deliver oxygen to tissues and potentially causing " blue baby syndrome ." The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 38 percent of the European Union's water bodies are under pressure from agricultural pollution.

Globally, unsanitary water supplies also exact a health toll in the form of disease. At least 2 billion people drink water from sources contaminated by feces, according to the World Health Organization , and that water may transmit dangerous diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

Freshwater pollution solutions

In many countries, regulations have restricted industry and agricultural operations from pouring pollutants into lakes, streams, and rivers, while treatment plants make our drinking water safe to consume. Researchers are working on a variety of other ways to prevent and clean up pollution. National Geographic grantee Africa Flores , for example, has created an artificial intelligence algorithm to better predict when algae blooms will happen. A number of scientists are looking at ways to reduce and cleanup plastic pollution .

There have been setbacks, however. Regulation of pollutants is subject to changing political winds, as has been the case in the United States with the loosening of environmental protections that prevented landowners from polluting the country’s waterways.

Anyone can help protect watersheds by disposing of motor oil, paints, and other toxic products properly , keeping them off pavement and out of the drain. Be careful about what you flush or pour down the sink, as it may find its way into the water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends using phosphate-free detergents and washing your car at a commercial car wash, which is required to properly dispose of wastewater. Green roofs and rain gardens can be another way for people in built environments to help restore some of the natural filtering that forests and plants usually provide.

For Hungry Minds

Related topics.

• WATER POLLUTION
• ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION
• FRESH WATER
• GROUNDWATER
• WATER QUALITY
• WATER RESOURCES

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Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Water Pollution — Causes And Effects Of Water Pollution

Causes and Effects of Water Pollution

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Deforestation, agriculture, industrialization.

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Water pollution poses a dire threat to ecosystems, human health, and economies. Essays could explore the myriad sources of water pollution, such as industrial discharges, agricultural runoff, and improper waste disposal. The discourse might extend to the examination of the impacts of water pollution on aquatic life, human health, and the broader environment. Discussions could also delve into the various measures and technologies available to prevent and mitigate water pollution, such as wastewater treatment, pollution control regulations, and community-led initiatives. Furthermore, essays might focus on case studies showcasing the challenges and successes in addressing water pollution in different regions. The interlinkages between water pollution and broader environmental issues like climate change, along with the examination of international efforts to promote clean water and sanitation, could provide a comprehensive exploration of the challenges and potential solutions surrounding water pollution. A substantial compilation of free essay instances related to Water Pollution you can find in Papersowl database. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

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Pollution is caused by some sort of toxic waste that is thrown into the atmosphere or land nearby. There are many types of pollution, the main are air pollution, plastic pollution, and water pollution, all three are very dangerous to the ecosystem. Pollution is the contamination of the environment in which we live in and it harms nature and living things around it. It is the biggest global killer affecting over 100 million people. That’s more than global diseases like […]

Plastic Pollution in the Philippines

The top countries that dispose of the most plastic are all in Asia the Philippines is the third. What is the problem, the Philippines are using too many plastic objects. Who has the pollution affected humans, food sources including, land animals, crops, and wildlife? Solutions what can the Philippines do to help the water pollution and save their and our world. What is the problem? “The Philippines generates 2.7 million tonnes of plastic waste annually and 20 percent – or […]

Beach Clean-Up Study Shows Global Scope of Plastic Pollution

Have you ever been to the beach and seen trash laying there? Most people who see trash on the beach pick it up and throw it away. But, there are some people who see it and think “It’s just a little bit of trash, I’m sure it’s fine”. If you're one of those people I suggest you stop. There is so much waste in the ocean that destroys the life of marine animals. Not only does it hurt them and […]

Kinds of Pollution: the Future of Environment

Can you stay without light in your life?! Our environment is our light. God created the surroundings in their most beautiful form, but when a shadow got here over this light, our surroundings grew to become darkish and this shadow is us. The environment includes the living and non-living things that an organism interacts with or has an impact on it. Living elements that an organism interacts with are known as biotic elements: animals, plants, etc., abiotic elements are non-living […]

Should the Government Regulate Ocean Pollution?

The government should regulate ocean pollution due to the fact they are one of the contributing factors to ocean pollution. Ocean pollution affects more than just the waterways. Marine life is decreasing day by day due to the amount of trash that builds up in our oceans. Agricultural fertilizer and climate change have also been afflicted in negative ways by the inconsiderate attitude towards our environment namely the ocean. From nuclear bomb testing to creating the Great Pacific garbage patch. […]

Plastic Pollution of Earth’s Oceans

Introduction Approximately 300 million tons of plastic is produced every year (Cressey 2016). It's disposable, yet long-lasting nature makes it critical to pose the question “where does all this plastic end up?” A large quantity of the plastic produced eventually ends up floating on the surface of the ocean- some even reach the seafood humans eat (Rochman, 2016). Plastic is a cheap, versatile, disposable material that does not degrade easily, making it a perfect candidate for a variety of uses […]

Catastrophic Effect of the Pollution in the World

Pollution has a catastrophic effect in the world today and our future. Its caused by the process of making new land, water , air or other parts of the environment that are unsanitary and not able to be used. Simple abiotic factors such as light, sound, and temperature can be considered as a pollutants once they are initiated artificially into an environment. There are three different types of pollution today land, air and water. A pollutant that is most common […]

Long-Term Affects of Wastewater in Disposal Sites from Fracking

Overview This article discusses a study done at Penn state into the long-term affects of wastewater in disposal sites from fracking. In 2011, water and sediment downstream of fracking disposal sites was discovered to still contain unsafe levels of some chemicals, despite the water being treated, and had become radioactive. This had contaminated drinking water and aquatic life in the river, causing die-off of some present species. Due to this discovery, fracking wastewater was no longer treated and released back […]

Marine Pollution Due to Waste Water Discharge in Kuwait

The first part of this report summarizes the article named “Marine pollution due to waste water discharge in Kuwait” by (Jassim A, Shatti & Tamama A. Abdallah) Published on 1999. This scientific article discussed the sea pollution and contamination of beach resulted from discharging the untreated waste water into the sea. As per (Pomare, 1988), the sea is considered the natural sink of all the wastes resulted from land activities such as waste water, industrial waste and agricultural waste. All […]

India’s Air Pollution and Climate Change

The World Health Organization states that around 7 million people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air that penetrate deep into the lungs and cardiovascular systems (Secretariat 2018). Pollution is a worldwide problem. It is defined as the introduction of harmful materials into the environment (National Geographic 1). Materials are a variety of substances known as pollutants and can even be natural. Some of the substances are carbon dioxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO), and carbon monoxide […]

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Essay About Water Pollution Water is basic to life requirements and more than 70% of the earth’s surface is cover by water. W.H.Auden said that “thousands have lived without love, not one without water”. Water is one of our most valuable and important resources because all living organisms require water to survive their life. The human body consists of more than 50% of water, so it proves that humans can survive without food but cannot survive if without water. Fish and other living organisms need water which forms lakes, rivers and oceans as their shelter. Water pollution caused by when humans started discarding sewage and toxic chemical into the ocean, effluents from industries, manufacturing and agro-based industries, dumping, oil pollution, acid rain and so on. Sewage that causes water pollution is one of the most important problem in the earth today. Rivers contaminated by sewerage contain high levels of organic pollutants, and they become breeding grounds for harmful bacteria and viruses that may cause fish and other aquatic organisms impossible to survive and become extinct. Sewage also causes many diseases such as cholera and typhoid that will detrimental to humans. For a few more times, water has been infected with sewage and human cannot enjoy clean water. Recently, the Amazon rainforest had some of the highest deforestations in the world, which has hugely affected the access to and quality of water. This causes the area of the earth to lose a lot of freshwater due to this problem. This is heartbreaking and terrifying to think that the Amazon is the largest rainforest on the planet which creates 20% of the earth’s oxygen, basically is the “lungs of the world”. People are literally destroying the miracle of home and waste a lot of water to put out the fire. Through deforestation, trees are being removed, naturally, there is a loss of support on the soil and leads to more loss of soil. Thereby causing higher rates of soil erosion that seeps into the nearby lakes, affecting the water quality of the lake. It also makes it impossible for sea creatures to survive because of the lack of clean water and the collapsed soil that fills the river’s space, the creatures cannot multiply. In Malaysia, the environmental problem that becoming more serious from time to time is water pollution. This pollution occurs when pollutants are not treated properly to remove harmful compounds are discharged into water bodies. So it is very important to prevent polluting of water bodies and remove existing contaminants or reducing the concentration of these contaminants and use it as desired. Dealing with water pollution is something that everyone including the government and local people need to get involved with. The ways of treating polluted water are industrial wastewater treatment which the raw sewage is needed to be treated carefully and correctly in a water treatment plant before it can be released into the environment. Therefore, all manufacturing industries should assure they have a well-designed treatment facility that can prevent water pollution. Besides, we should never throw rubbish away anyhow. If the rubbish bin is none around, we can take the rubbish home and put it in the rubbish bin. These include places like beaches, riverside and water bodies. We must use water wisely and do not keep the water pipe running when not in use. It can significantly prevent water shortages and reduce the amount of dirty water that needs treatment plants. Anti-pollution laws and regulations must be applied to everyone because it always played an important role to ensure water pollution are kept to the minimum. Anti-pollution laws can as well establish measures that put restrictions for water pollution. These laws are usually directed to industries, hospitals, schools and market areas on how to dispose of, treat and manage sewage.  

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Essay on Water Pollution for Students and Children

500+ words essay on water pollution.

Water is the most important resource for survival on a planet. It is the essence of life on our planet – Earth. Yet if you ever see a river or lake around your city, it would be evident to you that we are facing a very serious problem of Water pollution. Let us educate ourselves about water and water pollution . Two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by water , seventy-six perfect of your body is made up of water.

Water and Water Cycle

As you already know water is everywhere and all around.  However, we have a fixed amount of water on earth. It just changes its states and goes through a cyclic order, known as the Water Cycle. The water cycle is a natural process that is continuous in nature. It is the pattern in which the water from oceans, seas, lakes, etc gets evaporated and turns to vapor. After which it goes through the process of condensation, and finally precipitation when it falls back to earth as rain or snow.

What is Water Pollution?

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (like oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, aquifers, and groundwater) usually caused due to human activities. Water pollution is any change, minor or major in the physical, chemical or biological properties of water that eventually leads to a detrimental consequence of any living organism . Drinking water, called Potable Water, is considered safe enough for human and animal consumption.

Sources of Water Pollution

• Domestic Waste
• Industrial effluents
• Insecticides and pesticides
• Detergents and Fertilizers

Some of the water pollutions are caused by direct Sources, such as factories, waste management facilities, refineries, etc, that directly releases waste and dangerous by-products into the nearest water source without treating them. Indirect sources include pollutants that infuse in the water bodies via groundwater or soil or via the atmosphere through acidic rain.

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Effects of Pollution of Water

The effects of Water Pollution are:

Diseases: In humans, drinking or consuming polluted water in any way has many disastrous effects on our health. It causes typhoid, cholera, hepatitis and various other diseases.

Eradication of Ecosystem: Ecosystem is extremely dynamic and responds to even small changes in the environment. Increasing water pollution can cause an entire ecosystem to collapse if left unchecked.

Eutrophication: Chemicals accumulation and infusion in a water body, encourages the growth of algae. The algae form a layer on top of the pond or lake. Bacteria feed on this algae and this event decreases the amount of oxygen in the water body, severely affecting the aquatic life there

Effects of the food chain: Turmoil in food chain happens when the aquatic animals (fish, prawns, seahorse, etc) consume the toxins and pollutants in the water,  and then the humans consume them.

Prevention of Water Pollution

The best way to prevent large-scale water pollution is to try and reduce its harmful effects. There are numerous small changes we can make to protect ourselves from a future where water is scarce.

Conserve Water: Conserving water should be our first aim. Water wastage is a major problem globally and we are only now waking up to the issue. Simple small changes made domestically will make a huge difference.

Treatment of sewage: Treating waste products before disposing of it in water bodies helps reduce water pollution on a large scale. Agriculture or other industries can reuse this wastewater by reducing its toxic contents.

Use of environment-friendly products: By using soluble products that do not go on to become pollutants, we can reduce the amount of water pollution caused by a household.

Life is ultimately about choices and so is water pollution. We cannot live with sewage-strewn beaches, contaminated rivers , and fish that are poisonous to drink and eat. To avoid these scenarios,  we can work together to keep the environment clean so the water bodies, plants, animals, and people who depend on it remain healthy. We can take individual or teamed action to help reduce water pollution. As an example, by using environmentally friendly detergents, not pouring oil down the drains, reducing the usage of pesticides, and so on. We can take community action too to keep our rivers and seas cleaner. And we can take action as countries and continents to pass laws against water pollution. Working together, we can make water pollution less of a problem—and the world a better place.

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WATER Latest WATER Information News

How water pollution affects humans: causes, effects, and solutions, 🌊 introduction.

Water pollution is a growing problem around the world, affecting not only aquatic life but humans as well. The contamination of water resources puts human health at risk and causes serious damage to the environment. Understanding the causes, effects, and solutions to water pollution is important for individuals, industries, and governments to take action and prevent further damage. In this article, we will explore the impact of water pollution on human health and the environment.

🌍 Causes of Water Pollution

Water pollution can be caused by a variety of factors, including natural and human-made sources. Some of the most common causes include:

These sources contaminate water resources in various ways, making them unsuitable for human consumption and use.

🚱 Effects of Water Pollution on Human Health

The effects of water pollution on human health can be severe and long-lasting, depending on the level of contamination and exposure. Some of the most common effects include:

💧 Infectious Diseases

Contaminated water can carry harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites that cause a wide range of infectious diseases, such as cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, and hepatitis A. These diseases affect millions of people worldwide, with children being the most vulnerable.

💧 Chemical Poisoning

Water pollution caused by toxic chemicals can lead to chemical poisoning, which can cause serious health problems such as cancer, birth defects, and organ damage. These chemicals can accumulate in the body over time and cause long-term health issues.

💧 Skin and Respiratory Problems

Swimming or bathing in polluted water can cause skin irritation, rashes, and respiratory problems. Inhaling toxic fumes from contaminated water can also cause respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis.

💧 Developmental and Reproductive Issues

Exposure to contaminated water can cause developmental and reproductive issues, particularly in pregnant women and children. These issues can result in low birth weight, premature birth, and developmental delays.

In severe cases, water pollution can lead to death, particularly in areas without access to clean water. Contaminated water can cause widespread illness and death in communities that rely on it for drinking, cooking, and bathing.

👍 Advantages and Disadvantages of Water Pollution

While there are no real advantages to water pollution, some industries and individuals may see short-term benefits from their actions. However, the disadvantages far outweigh the benefits, and the long-term consequences of water pollution can be devastating.

👍 Short-Term Benefits

Industries that release pollutants into water resources may see short-term benefits, such as increased profits and production. Individuals who use chemical fertilizers and pesticides on their crops may see a short-term boost in crop yields. However, these benefits are short-lived and can cause long-term damage to human health and the environment.

👎 Disadvantages

Water pollution has numerous disadvantages, including:

👎 Environmental Damage

Water pollution damages the environment, including aquatic life, plants, and soil. It can disrupt entire ecosystems and cause irreversible damage to biodiversity.

👎 Economic Costs

The economic costs of water pollution are staggering, including the loss of tourism revenue, decreased property values, and the costs of cleaning up polluted water sources.

👎 Health Risks

Water pollution poses serious health risks to humans, including infectious diseases, chemical poisoning, and developmental and reproductive issues. These health risks can have long-term consequences that can last a lifetime.

👎 Social Impacts

Water pollution can also have social impacts, particularly in developing countries. Lack of access to clean water can limit education, work opportunities, and social mobility.

🧐 FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

🔍 what are the different types of water pollution.

There are various types of water pollution, including chemical pollution, biological pollution, sediment pollution, and thermal pollution. Each type has different causes and impacts on the environment and human health.

🔍 How does water pollution affect animals?

Water pollution affects animals in various ways, including disrupting their habitats, contaminating their food sources, and causing health problems. Pollution can also lead to decreased biodiversity and even extinction.

🔍 What are the main sources of water pollution?

The main sources of water pollution include industrial waste, agricultural runoff, sewage and wastewater, oil spills, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

🔍 How does water pollution affect agriculture?

Water pollution can have serious impacts on agriculture, including decreased crop yields, contamination of soil and groundwater, and health risks to farm animals and humans who consume contaminated food and water sources.

🔍 How can individuals help prevent water pollution?

Individuals can help prevent water pollution by reducing their use of hazardous chemicals, properly disposing of waste, reducing water usage, and supporting environmentally responsible practices.

🔍 How can industries help prevent water pollution?

Industries can help prevent water pollution by implementing environmentally responsible practices, reducing waste and emissions, and investing in clean technologies and infrastructure.

🔍 What are the benefits of clean water?

Access to clean water has numerous benefits, including improved health outcomes, increased economic productivity, and improved social mobility and education.

🔍 How can governments address water pollution?

Governments can address water pollution through policies, regulations, and investments in infrastructure and clean technologies. They can also work with industries and communities to reduce their impact on water resources.

🔍 What are some examples of successful water pollution prevention initiatives?

Successful water pollution prevention initiatives include the Clean Water Act in the United States, the European Union Water Framework Directive, and the River Basin Management plans in South Africa.

🔍 What are the long-term effects of water pollution?

The long-term effects of water pollution can be severe and include increased health risks, economic costs, and environmental damage. Some effects may not be seen for years or even decades after the initial pollution occurs.

🔍 Why is it important to address water pollution?

It is important to address water pollution to protect human health, preserve the environment, and ensure sustainable economic growth. Failure to address water pollution can have severe consequences for individuals, industries, and communities around the world.

🔍 What are some examples of sustainable water management practices?

Sustainable water management practices include conservation, recycling, rainwater harvesting, and investing in clean technologies and infrastructure. These practices help to reduce water usage, prevent pollution, and ensure sustainable access to clean water resources.

🔍 How can we improve access to clean water in developing countries?

Improving access to clean water in developing countries requires a multi-faceted approach, including investments in infrastructure, education and awareness programs, and support for sustainable water management practices. It also requires addressing underlying socioeconomic factors that contribute to water insecurity.

👉 Take Action Today to Protect Clean Water Resources

The impact of water pollution on human health and the environment is a growing problem that requires immediate action. By taking simple steps to reduce your impact on water resources, supporting environmentally responsible practices, and advocating for clean water policies, you can make a difference. Together, we can protect clean water resources for future generations.

👋 Closing or Disclaimer

Water pollution is a complex issue that requires ongoing attention and action. The information provided in this article is intended to raise awareness about the causes, effects, and solutions to water pollution and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. We encourage you to take action to protect clean water resources in your community and support efforts to address this critical issue.

Watch Video:How Water Pollution Affects Humans: Causes, Effects, and Solutions

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Essay on Water Pollution : Causes, Effects & Solutions

February 2, 2021 by Study Mentor Leave a Comment

Water is one of the most important factors essential for sustaining life. Every organism, no matter how big or small, requires water to live.

You must’ve noticed that water quality has undergone a sea change over the years. The water has gotten harder and harder.

The color of water in rivers and lakes has significantly changed. The crystal clear surface on water bodies was a thing of the past and we no longer get to see a picturesque image of a clean and perfect water body anymore.

The tap water we receive can no longer be used for drinking, and we are forced to buy separate drinking water, install water purifying devices in our homes.

Have you wondered why we are forced to go in for such applications at our homes. There is no answer for water scarcity in big cities today and people are forced to live with the bitter truth.

Table of Contents

What is water pollution?

Water pollution is nothing but contamination of water bodies with chemicals, toxins and effluents let out from industrial establishments and factories.

These toxins contain harmful concentrations of lead, Sulphur, heavy metals and detergents in them.

Not just that, water bodies are mixed with sewage water and one can imagine the extent of dirt and filth that is contained in the waters of river bodies, thus making them highly polluted.

Pollution is tainting or forcefully mixing harmful and toxic substances into environment. These substances that endanger the consistency and integrity of the environment are called Pollutants.

Pollutants have been ever rampant since man entered the industrial ages.

The environment has been enduring the abuse we afflicted on it since ages. Industries, factories, etc. contribute to pollution on a large scale.

The daily activities that we perform, also pollute the earth due to inefficiency of the methods we use. Alarming quantities of pollutants are being produced and released.

Causes of water pollution

Speaking about water, most of the industries and factories have leftover chemical effluents. They release these residual products into primary water sources like rivers streams, lakes, fresh water tanks etc.

These residues may be a mixture of a myriad of chemically toxic substances.

The microbes present in the natural sources of water have the ability to purify the water to some extent. But the problem arises when we dump more Pollutants before the current batch of water is purified.

Purified, in this context, means oxidizing the water.

Microbes present in water have the natural ability to oxidize it. But constant human intended interference has almost nullified that ability.

In short, pollutants just overtake the good microbial activity and instead cause damage to water sources by inducing them  with filth and dirt.

The activities of the microbes in cleaning up the water reduce to a low minimum or may not take place at all. Waste water from domestic sources is also often dumped into rivers. This pollutes the entire source.

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Effects of water pollution

Water pollution affects us on a daily basis. The cases of water borne disease are on the rise. Since water is one of the building blocks of life, we have but no choice to consume the same water in adequacy.

The dangers of polluted water increases when people unknowingly use polluted water for daily purposes.

This mostly occurs in rural areas, where rivers are a prime source of water.

Factories set up near river bodies may be releasing effluents and people downstream maybe using the same water for drinking purposes and for other daily activities.

It is common knowledge that 70 percent of the earth is covered by water. But not all of this water can be used for drinking and household purposes.

Only a small percentage is fresh water, and most of the other share in the percentage finds itself frozen at the Poles.

The advent of pollution has further reduced the potable water resources. Water available today is way more polluted than it was ages ago.

Our quality of life is greatly affected by this. Use of polluted water causes diseases and ailments. It can be directly linked to the receding length of our lifespan.

Solutions for water pollution

Humans have realized that they have greatly affected the environment in a bad way. Everywhere, efforts are being made to conserve water.

Water treatment plants are setup everywhere. Every waste disposal station has a water treatment department, so that all the chemical and other harmful substances can be removed from water before it is let into the main source.

This has been pivotal in controlling pollution of water. Rules and regulations have been made stringent for factories and industries, regarding their effluent emission, both through the air and through water.

Domestic waste disposal techniques have been improved and proper steps taken in the right direction.

It is entirely up to us, what we decide to do, with our water sources. Global warming is becoming an ever gaping issue and a worldwide concern. There’s always fear of the rains being more infrequent and unseasonal.

What on earth do we do without adequate water. The hardships we’d have to face to obtain enough water for sustaining looks so terrible if we were to quest for a suitable answer.

The everyday tasks that we do would become incredibly difficult. We need to take measures ourselves, to save water and keep it from being polluted.

We must start conserving water in our homes. Only then will the next generation have even the slightest hope for a well-rounded future.

Water pollution is actually a two-fold issue raising global concerns today.

The first issue, the most common one as we know is of the contamination of water by toxins and measures to reduce the contamination and improve the quality of water.

The second one is more serious and pertains to the availability of potable water on earth after some years, putting a question mark on the survival of life on earth itself.

We talk about beautifying our lakes, restoring the cleanliness of our water bodies, removing their contaminants and making them toxic free.

Yes, this is definitely required at the moment and there have been measures taken in the right direction to make our rivers clean and clear.

Specific installations of dust collector and dirt remover equipment’s in river basins have been employed to collect waste material from river surfaces.

This is primarily to remove hard traces of waste or what we can call as visible wastes. This also takes removes unnecessary growth of phytoplankton in rivers, thus letting the river waters breathe at ease.

Regarding toxin removal from river waters, purification using reverse osmosis methods, chemical filtration methods and other treatments using distillation methods are employed to make them free from chemical residues.

Much other advancement have been achieved and successfully employed in the river basins of our country to restore the natural beauty of lakes and rivers.

The best example of river water cleaning in our country is the cleanliness drive carried out at river Ganga in the holy city of Varanasi.

The government of India took it up as a big challenge to clean the river waters at the region and was successful in achieving its mission.

It is only with citizen co-operation and participation that any reformative measures taken by the governments will prove fruitful and worthy of action.

We blame successive governments for not cleaning up our river beds, for not providing us clean drinking water, for not beautifying our lakes etc.

In the melee, we forget our own responsibilities of acting with care and concern.

If we visit rural areas and spot women washing their clothes, utensils and cattle in river waters, it is our duty to educate them and spread awareness about their wrong acts.

We ought to tell them that they aren’t supposed to pollute the river water.

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Water Pollution And Its Control

Water is one of the most vital natural resources on earth and has been around for a long time. In fact, the same water which we drink has been around in one form or the other since the time of the dinosaurs.

The earth has more than two-thirds of its surface covered with water. This translates to just over 1 octillion litres (1,260,000,000,000,000,000,000 litres) of water distributed in the oceans, rivers, lakes and streams.

That is a lot of water, however, less than 0.3% is accessible for human consumption. As commercialization and industrialization have progressed, that number continues to dwindle down. Furthermore, inefficient and outdated practices, lack of awareness and a plethora of other circumstances have led to water pollution.

Also Read: How Can We Conserve Water?

• Water pollution
• Modern Epidemic

Minamata Incident

• Ganges River

What is Water Pollution?

Water pollution can be defined as the contamination of water bodies. Water pollution is caused when water bodies such as rivers, lakes, oceans, groundwater and aquifers get contaminated with industrial and agricultural effluents.

When water gets polluted, it adversely affects all lifeforms that directly or indirectly depend on this source. The effects of water contamination can be felt for years to come.

Also Refer:  Types of Pollution

Sources Of Water Pollution

The key causative of water pollution in India are:

• Urbanization.
• Deforestation.
• Industrial effluents.
• Social and Religious Practices.
• Use of Detergents and Fertilizers.
• Agricultural run-offs- Use of insecticides and pesticides.

Water Pollution – A Modern Epidemic

One of the primary causes of water pollution is the contamination of water bodies by toxic chemicals. As seen in the example mentioned above, the dumped plastic bottles, tins, water cans and other wastes pollute the water bodies. These result in water pollution, which harms not just humans, but the whole ecosystem. Toxins drained from these pollutants, travel up to the food chain and eventually affect humans. In most cases, the outcome is destructive to only the local population and species, but it can have an impact on a global scale too.

Nearly 6 billion kilograms of garbage is dumped every year in the oceans. Apart from industrial effluents and untreated sewage, other forms of unwanted materials are dumped into various water bodies. These can range from nuclear waste to oil spills – the latter of which can render vast areas uninhabitable.

Effects Of Water Pollution

The effect of water pollution depends upon the type of pollutants and their concentration. Also, the location of water bodies is an important factor to determine the levels of pollution.

• Water bodies in the vicinity of urban areas are extremely polluted. This is the result of dumping garbage and toxic chemicals by industrial and commercial establishments.
• Water pollution drastically affects aquatic life. It affects their metabolism, and behaviour, and causes illness and eventual death. Dioxin is a chemical that causes a lot of problems from reproduction to uncontrolled cell growth or cancer. This chemical is bioaccumulated in fish, chicken and meat. Chemicals such as this travel up the food chain before entering the human body.
• The effect of water pollution can have a huge impact on the food chain. It disrupts the food chain. Cadmium and lead are some toxic substances, these pollutants upon entering the food chain through animals (fish when consumed by animals, humans) can continue to disrupt at higher levels.
• Humans are affected by pollution and can contract diseases such as hepatitis through faecal matter in water sources. Poor drinking water treatment and unfit water can always cause an outbreak of infectious diseases such as cholera, etc.
• The ecosystem can be critically affected, modified and destructured because of water pollution.

The Minamata Incident marked one of the worst cases of water pollution

In 1932, a factory in Minamata City, Japan began dumping its industrial effluent – Methylmercury, into the surrounding bay and the sea. Methylmercury is incredibly toxic to humans and animals alike, causing a wide range of neurological disorders.

Its ill effects were not immediately noticeable. However, this all changed as methylmercury started to bioaccumulate inside shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay. These affected organisms were then caught and consumed by the local population. Soon, the ill effects of methylmercury were becoming apparent.

Initially, animals such as cats and dogs were affected by this. The city’s cats would often convulse and make strange noises before dying – hence, the term “dancing cat disease” was coined. Soon, the same symptoms were observed in people, though the cause was not apparent at the time.

Other affected people showed symptoms of acute mercury poisoning such as ataxia, muscle weakness, loss of motor coordination, damage to speech and hearing etc. In severe cases, paralysis occurred, which was followed by coma and death.  These diseases and deaths continued for almost 36 years before they could be officially acknowledged by the government and the organisation.

Since then, various control measures for water pollution have been adopted by the government of Japan to curb such environmental disasters in the future.

Pollution of the Ganges

Some rivers, lakes, and groundwater are rendered unfit for usage. In India, the River Ganges is the sixth most polluted river in the world. This is unsurprising as hundreds of industries nearby release their effluents into the river. Furthermore, religious activities such as burials and cremations near the shore contribute to pollution. Apart from the ecological implications, this river poses a serious health risks as it can cause diseases like typhoid and cholera.

Pollution of the Ganges is also driving some of the distinct fauna to extinction. The Ganges River shark is a critically endangered species that belong to the order Carcharhiniformes. The Ganges River dolphin is another  endangered species of dolphin that is found in the tributaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers.

As per a survey, by the end of 2026, around 4 billion people will face a shortage of water. Presently, around 1.2 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean, potable water and proper sanitation. It is also projected that nearly 1000 children die every year in India due to water-related issues. Groundwater is an important source of water, but unfortunately, even that is susceptible to pollution. Hence, water pollution is quite an important social issue that needs to be addressed promptly.

Control Measures of Water Pollution

Water pollution, to a larger extent, can be controlled by a variety of methods. Rather than releasing sewage waste into water bodies, it is better to treat them before discharge. Practising this can reduce the initial toxicity and the remaining substances can be degraded and rendered harmless by the water body itself. If the secondary treatment of water has been carried out, then this can be reused in sanitary systems and agricultural fields.

A very special plant, the Water Hyacinth can absorb dissolved toxic chemicals such as cadmium and other such elements. Establishing these in regions prone to such kinds of pollutants will reduce the adverse effects to a large extent.

Some chemical methods that help in the control of water pollution are precipitation, the ion exchange process, reverse osmosis , and coagulation. As an individual, reusing, reducing, and recycling wherever possible will advance a long way in overcoming the effects of water pollution.

Further Reading:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is sewage treatment.

Wastewater treatment or sewage treatment generally refers to the process of cleaning or removing all pollutants, treating wastewater and making it safe and suitable for drinking before releasing it into the environment.

What are the main steps in sewage treatment?

There are four main stages of the wastewater treatment process, namely:

• Stage 1: Screening
• Stage 2: Primary treatment
• Stage 3: Secondary treatment
• Stage 4: Final treatment

What are the main causes of water pollution?

The main causes of water pollution are attributed to

• Industrial activities
• Urbanization
• Religious and social practices
• Agricultural runoff
• Accidents (such as oil spills, nuclear fallouts etc)

What are the effects of water pollution?

Water pollution can have disastrous consequences on the ecosystem. Furthermore, toxic chemicals can travel through the food chain and get into our bodies, causing diseases and death.

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Essay on Water Pollution: Types, Causes, Effects & Prevention

March 10, 2021 by Sandeep

Water Pollution Essay: When water gets contaminated by pollutants making it unhealthy and unfit to consume, we call it water pollution. The pollution of water bodies like oceans, rivers, lakes, and underground sources has drastically affected life forms. Domestic and industrial wastes, pesticides and effluents mainly pollute water.

Essay on Water Pollution 500 Words in English

Below we have provided Water Pollution Essay in English, suitable for class 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10. This essay is drafted in simple and easy words.

Water is undoubtedly one of the essential resources on our planet. It is vital for the survival of all living organisms. Water takes over two-thirds of the Earth’s surface. It is a priceless commodity that has been contaminated and depleted to a critical level with time. The addition of harmful foreign substances into water bodies is known as water pollution. These water bodies can be in the form of aquifers, rivers, lakes, ponds, seas, groundwater, streams, waterfalls, and oceans. Human activities are the prime reason for the adulteration of water bodies.

Types of Water Pollution

Water pollution can be of three kinds – groundwater pollution’s, surface water pollution, and marine pollution.

The contamination of groundwater is known as groundwater pollution. Industrial effluents, dirty water from drains and sewage, which flow on the land surface, seep down the soil and mix with the groundwater. Surface water pollution includes contamination of open water bodies (like rivers, lakes, and oceans) present on Earth’s surface. Lack of proper sanitation and uncontrollable discharge are the major contributors.

Marine pollution involves large water bodies. Wastewater discharges in the river make their way to the seas and oceans, thus causing pollution. Aquatic species become exposed to hazardous chemicals. Food chains get disrupted. Oxygen content in the water bodies is reduced. Marine life is adversely affected as a result. These polluted water bodies become the hub for microbes and spread epidemics like cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, and diarrhoea.

Causes of Water Pollution

Water tends to dissolve almost everything. It is known as the universal solvent. This feature enables it to dissolve toxic substances. These toxicities arise from factories, refineries, waste disposal sites, acid rains, detergents, domestic waste, etc. Some of the major causes of water pollution are:

• Sewage: Every day, tons of waste matter generated from farmlands, commercial sites and households are dumped into the lakes and rivers. These wastes which remain untreated contain harmful chemicals that can be poisonous to plants, animals, and humans.
• Industrial Effluents: Industrial waste largely contributes to the adulteration of water bodies. Direct disposal of these wastes has disastrous effects on the ecosystem. Chemical effluents from tanning industries contain poisonous compounds, volatile matter, and heavy metals. This water then mixes with the river and contaminates the underground water table.
• Eutrophication: It is the process that occurs when large amounts of nutrients in the water bodies result in the formation and growth of algae on the surface of the water. Bacteria feed on these algae. Hence, aquatic organisms like fishes and plants get depleted of oxygen. Their habitat is destroyed, and the quality of water is critically reduced.
• Oil Spills: Leakages from ships and tankers result in oil spills. This is one of the most dangerous modes of water pollution. When the oil gets spilt, it forms a layer over the water surface. This layer prevents the penetration of oxygen, which is essential for the survival of marine plants and animals.
• Affected River Banks: Lack of sanitation measures in the villages has resulted in defecation in open areas (especially near river banks). Washing clothes and cattle in the lakes is a common practice. Solid waste accumulation is not a rare sight. Litters composed of plastics, glasses, Styrofoam, etc., do not decompose well and stay in the water for years.
• Indirect Sources: These are the pollutants that indirectly lead to water pollution. They can be chemical dumps, septic tanks, pesticides, hazardous wastes, radioactive substances, etc. Radioactive wastes generated from atomic power plants and other medical procedures are dangerous.

Prevention of Water Pollution

Besides predominantly affecting our health, water pollution can have disastrous effects on our ecosystem. Toxicant pass through the affected aquatic species to us humans. The food chain is badly influenced by it. Prevention of water pollution is essential. Conservation of water must be the first step. Preventive measures include sewage water treatment, using environment-friendly products, reduction in plastic consumption, proper disposal of chemical liquids, solid waste management, and less use of pesticides.

Apart from that, drains must be cleaned more often. The implementation of proper sanitary measures by the government in the villages is a great step. Mass awareness through media and entertainment can help sensitize people about the issue. Educating people, especially in rural areas, can ensure a positive outcome. Enforcement of appropriate laws for Industries and other production sectors can prove beneficial. Natural reserves of water must be safeguarded, and a balance must be maintained in our diversified environment.

Related Essays

Water Shortage’ Major Causes and Implication Cause and Effect Essay

Introduction.

It’s no doubt that the world is facing a topic of water crisis which has gone out of control and therefore raising a lot of concerns from the leaders and international organization who are trying to come up with ideas of solving this problem (Oxfam.org.uk, 2011).

However, the root cause of this problem is upon the human race that is entirely to blame for the ever increasing water crisis due poor and undeveloped policies governing protection of such water one of the most precious natural resource. In this regard the following discussion will elaborate on the major causes and implication of water shortage in the planet today.

First, both industrial and domestic water pollution is one of the major causes of water shortage because as more water is polluted the more water is wasted (Oxfam.org.uk, 2011).

Due to lack of proper technology available for recycling and purifying such polluted water in many countries across the world, issues of water pollution have become so prevalent and therefore contributing to high percentage of water wastage.

Secondly, water shortage has also been attributed to the high population growth causing a serious competition for this resource (Jones, 2010). The world population is increasing at an alarming rate and consequently straining the supply of this natural resource and hence resulting to severe scarcity of such water due to it’s over use.

Additionally, poor management of the water catchment areas is also another cause of water shortage (Oxfam.org.uk, 2011).

Majorly, when water catchment areas are destroyed through deforestation among many other ways, water is also likely to decrease due to destruction rocks and water table hence resulting to low water generation from the surface of earth (Oxfam.org.uk, 2011).

On the other hand, due to the fact that water has become a scarce resource, consequently this has possible implications to the humanity and animal kingdom as well.

To the humanity, one of the major implications is that, water scarcity may possibly cause a disagreement of ideas in the planet due to conflict of interest among different countries who would want to have the natural resource for them selves.

Additionally, issues of water shortage may also probably cause division of classes when people will want to own water privately and this will create a class of water have and have-nots (Jones, 2010).

Summary of the article

This article is a discussion regarding one major problem that is an issue of concern in the 21 st century which according to the author, the world is currently facing a major crisis- the scarcity of water one of the most useful natural resource.

The argument is that, in the 20 th century the world was having a crisis in dealing with issues such as political ideologies among others, but now the current crisis is much worse and it might be one the major causes of conflict in the planet today (Jones, 2010).

The author describes the intensity to how much water as natural resource has become so scarce especially the fresh water which is essential for domestic consumption, in fact, the most shocking news is that, according to author’s report, fresh water currently contributes only about “2.5 percent of the planet’s entire water supply” and therefore, such supply of water can not meet the actual demand for water worldwide since the world’s population is also increasing at an alarming rate and consequently causing an increasing in water demand at least by double the original water necessity (Jones, 2010).

For this reason, then it is reasonably clear that the current trends of this particular natural resource can not sustain the world population; meaning that those sectors that fully depend on water such as agriculture and manufacturing industries may also not be able to function fully (Jones, 2010).

As a result of all these issues, then the ever rising water shortage crisis might be a cause of conflict in the world due to the competition for the natural resource that will also rise.

For this particular concern, there is a clear warning to the humanity that, this is a “real danger” because people will clash to own any drop of fresh water and then there will be “water have and water have not” categories of people (Jones, 2010).

Additionally, the article describes water shortage as a “genuine problem” that the world leaders need to address in order to establish a long lasting solution to safeguard the future (Jones, 2010).

The opinion is that, the leaders should put laws which are necessary in governing proper and at the same time, people should try to reduce cases of water pollution in order to facilitate recycling process.

Clear examples and factors arising due to fear of water scarcity

Water crisis is a global issue although it is more pronounced in some countries than others. For instance, a good example is river Nile which is one of the biggest rivers and a major source of water for various uses in North Africa region.

However, river Nile is also a source of worry to the current international relations due to the rising water competition amongst three African countries namely; Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia (Egypt. com, 2007).

There is a crisis in this part of the world where there is a lot of politics on which country should rightfully tap out water (Egypt. com, 2007).

Egypt being a country with powerful military power is more likely to initiate military action in order to ensure she has control over the use of this water for its domestic use and for agricultural production as well, besides, Sudan and Ethiopia also claims that, they have the exclusive rights to use this water which Egypt argues that, the use of water by these other two countries might starve them (Egypt. com, 2007).

Besides, Lake Victoria in East Africa is also another geographical region where conflict over water is an issue already raising concern.

Due to the fact that, the lake lies along the boarder lines of three countries, namely; Kenya, Ugunda and Tanzania, this is enough reason to have a water crisis in this region (Kamugisha, 2007).

For instance, the many activities takes place at this lake including economical activities such as fishing among others is the major cause of catastrophe over the volume of water which is reportedly decreasing with each day.

There is a conflict over ownership of the lake due to the economical benefits which the three countries are generating from this lake causing some of the countries to extend their boundaries in order to have a bigger share of the lake which has already triggered a major conflict (Kamugisha, 2007).

It is no doubt that, these two cases reflect a rising conflict in Africa which happens to be one of the most affected regions in the world. The conflicts are on the rise as a result of competition for the natural resource which is becoming a scarce every day.

The world is currently facing much worse crisis in the 21 st century than previously when the world leaders were only having crisis over political ideologies and so on (Jones, 2010).

Currently, this is an issue that should be addressed with a lot of concern putting into consideration that, this particular issue of water scarcity might be the next cause of major conflict in the planet especially also considering that this particular natural resource is diminishing at a frightening rate.

In this regard, the humanity has a duty to safeguard their future in order to ensure it’s survival which can not be achieved without a drop of fresh water.

World leader, scientific researchers , international organization among many others, all have a major rule in enlightening the society about the need to protect and take care of this precious commodity in order to ensure sustainability for many years to come because water is an essential component that the whole animal kingdom rely on for life sustenance (Sipes, 2010).

Therefore appropriate and necessary actions should be implemented to curb the issue of water scarcity. Such measures would include; proper management of water catchment areas, reduce cases of water pollution, plant more tree around the globe, and establish policies such as water act which has already been implemented in US to reduce water wastage (Sipes, 2010).

Among many other measures, the solution to water scarcity is achievable if we fully get committed to the set polices in order to provide a long lasting solution one for all.

Egypt (2007). Egypt News – Water crisis hits Egypt “Country of Nile River” . Web.

Jones, D. (2010). Water: The cause of the next global conflict? Web.

Kamugisha, D. (2007). Lake Victoria Extinction and Human Vulnerability in Uganda . Web.

Oxfam (2011). Water for all . Web.

Sipes, J. (2010). Sustainable Solutions for Water Resources . New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons Press.

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Bibliography

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Water Pollution and its Control – Definition, Types, Causes, Effects

Water Pollution is considered one of the most dangerous forms of pollution as water is the basis of all the forms of life on earth. Most of the deadly forms of water contamination are caused by man-made activities that result in death and diseases of many organisms.

It is very important to understand how water is polluted and then devise strategies for water pollution control. In this article, we will read about water pollution and its control, effects, and diseases due to water pollution.

Table of Content

What is Water Pollution?

Sources of water pollution, types of water pollution, groundwater pollution, surface water pollution, chemical pollution, microbial pollution, nutrient pollution, oxygen depletion pollution, suspended matter water pollution, point and non-point source contaminants, effects of water pollution, diseases of water pollution, control measures of water pollution, water treatments methods, minimize the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, utilization of less water, keeping water checks for lead contamination, avoid polluting open-air water sources, use environmentally friendly products, chemical methods, new technologies to prevent water pollution, bioremediation, phytoremediation, riparian buffers, effective strategies for controlling water pollution, introduction to water pollution control, industrial wastewater treatment, agricultural runoff management, urban runoff reduction, enhancing water legislation and policies, public education and community involvement, essential health tips for environmental protection, stay hydrated, maintain indoor air quality, choose anti-pollution skincare, exercise indoors on high pollution days, follow a diet rich in antioxidants, use protective gear, regular medical check-ups.

Water pollution is defined as the contamination of water bodies by water pollutants. This makes the water unfit for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing, and other essential activities. Water pollutants or contaminants include chemicals, microorganisms, plastic, parasites, etc. All types of pollution in the environment gradually take their route to water in one way or another causing water pollution.

Water contamination is responsible for the devastating effects on aquatic life as well as terrestrial life and can contain harmful disease-causing elements such as bacteria and viruses. Toxic waste dumped into water bodies increase water pollution level, gradually kill animals and plant life, destroy biodiversity , and decrease the quality of oxygen in the water, leading to the death of living organisms.

Human activities and their wastage account for the major cause of water pollution. Some of the sources of water pollutants are as follows: 

• Industrial Activities: Industries discharge huge amounts of harmful chemicals like lead, mercury, and petroleum products.
• Sewage Disposal: Sewage discharged into the water bodies causes water contamination as well increase in loads of disease-causing microorganisms .
• Mining: Mining releases dust and different forms of chemical contaminants that can cause significant lake and stream contamination
• Marine waste: Waste produced by communities living in coastal areas along with ships that sail in seas, and oceans contributes to the pollution of marine bodies.
• Horticultural Activities: The fertilizers and pesticides runoff into the water bodies causing eutrophication and degradation of water bodies in a very short amount of time.
• Radioactive Wastes: All the radioactive materials that are utilized for nuclear tests or as an energy source are generally dumped into water bodies or into glaciers that will promptly mix in with water bodies when the temperature elevates.

Different types of water pollution are:

When it rains, some amount of water seeps through the pores of the earth and fills the crevices, cracks, and pores and become groundwater. This groundwater is the main source of freshwater for the majority of the population. But when water pollutants from industrial activities, agricultural activities, sewage discharge, urban runoff, landfills, etc seeps through the soil to contaminate the water body, it makes the water polluted and unsafe for utilization.

Removal of contamination from groundwater becomes very hard, challenging, and expensive making the process slow and the water source unusable for many years. Polluted water contaminate other sources of water like streams, lakes, and oceans.

This type of pollution occurs above ground in water bodies such as oceans, lakes and rivers. Excessive use of fertilizer that adds nitrates and phosphates, is one of the main sources of surface water pollution in these freshwater bodies along with industrial, and rural wastes. It is estimated that currently almost 50% of river systems and 33% of lakes have become unsuitable for any form of use.

Chemical contamination of water occurs when harmful substances, like pesticide run-offs, oil spills, and heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, etc., contaminate water sources. When these pollutants get into the water, they can harm aquatic life by disrupting ecosystems and affecting the health of plants and animals. Control measures to reduce chemical pollution of water involves minimizing the use of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and proper waste disposal.

Microbial pollution of water is usually a natural form of water pollution which is caused by microorganisms. Different types of microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and protozoa live in water and cause health problems in fish, animals and humans. Microbes can enter water bodies through various sources, including untreated sewage, animal waste, and runoff from agricultural areas. When water becomes contaminated with these microorganisms, it can lead to the spread of waterborne diseases.

It is a type of water contamination that arises when too many nutrients, mainly nitrogen and phosphorus , enter water bodies. They act as fertilizer, causing excessive growth of algae or algal bloom. The source of many nutrients are man-made including – fertilizers, wastewater, automobile exhaust, and animal waste. The algal bloom block out sunlight and inhibit the growth of other microorganisms.

It is a decrease in concentration of dissolved oxygen in a waterbody due to increased uptake of oxygen by bacteria, fungi, and algae. The sewage disposal is rich in organic matter that encourages growth of microbes. They consume oxygen thereby reducing the content for other aerobic species, resulting in their death.

Waste such as plastics, rubber that are improperly disposed of and cannot be broken down easily, reach water bodies and settle there for a long time. Since they are difficult to dissolve water molecules, they float around on the surface blocking the sunlight and oxygen from penetrating below. Major source of primary particles are industrial processes, power plants, domestic burning (wood, coal etc.), and construction dust.

A point source is when the contaminants of water pollution originate from a single source like wastewater from factories, oil refineries, chemical spills, oil spills, septic system, urban dumping points, etc. Non-point source is when the contaminants of water pollution originate from multiple sources like agricultural runoff, rainwater runoff, wastes blown into water bodies from land areas.

Some of the most common effects of water pollution are;

• Water pollution causes disruption of food chain . Heavy metals like Cadmium and lead are toxic and upon entering food chain through animals, continue travelling higher levels causing severe illness or death.
• Eutrophication of water bodies degrades the quality of water for aquatic organisms as well as other organisms that use that source of water for survival.
• Human health is affected by the degraded quality of water. It causes many diseases mainly diarrhoea, skin diseases, typhoid, cholera.
• The water cycle that maintains the environmental conditions of the planet gets disturbed.
• The major contributor to global warming .
• Effect on groundwater system causing a shortage of drinking and other essential purposes of water.
• Spread of many types of transmissible and non-transmissible diseases like hepatitis, typhoid , arsenic poisoning, cancer, etc.
• Biomagnification and accumulation of different types of chemical substances in the bodies of different organisms.
• Loss of many forms of life.

Water pollutants can cause infections or act as toxins. Microorganisms from untreated sewage disposal can easily enter the drinking water supplies and causes diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio . Harmful bacteria like Salmonella typhi, Shigella sp., hepatitis virus, etc. can survive within the chemicals in the water system, and when used for drinking, can make people sick, leading to harmful side effects.

Water contamination can be controlled in many ways and methods by taking proper actions and introducing new technologies.

We must avoid dumping waste into water bodies. Water treatment plants should be used for sewage water and effluent removal plants for effluent removal. Industrial wastes should have a different dumping site or they should be properly treated before releasing into water bodies.

Chemical fertilizers and pesticides must be banned and instead organic or eco-friendly fertilizers should be used. The better option is to switch to organic farming methods and use animal-based manure . These will keep the harmful chemicals away from water bodies.

We must save water as much as possible as only about 1% of the earth’s total water is available for the use of most aquatic and terrestrial organisms. It can be easily achieved by installing water-saving equipment like sinks, toilets, and showers. In our daily lives, we can help save water by taking short baths, and not keeping the tap running during brushing, shaving, etc.

When water pipelines made of lead or containing lead bring water into homes can cause lead poisoning resulting in severe health problems. So, it is required to do regular checks to determine if any lead is present in the water, and if found then either the pipeline can be changed or a lead filter should be installed.

Littering of water bodies and their surroundings, oil spills, chemical disposal, dumping of fertilizers, pesticides, etc. should be avoided. So, it is required to stop littering wastes near the water sources or around them to avoid seeping the wastes into the water sources.

Water contamination can be reduced by using more and more organic, natural, and environmentally friendly products domestically as well as commercially. The fundamentals of reduction, reuse, and recycling will also go a long way to overcoming the impacts of water pollution.

Chemical processes such as precipitation, reverse osmosis , and coagulation, and ion exchange method will help to reduce the level of water pollution. Use chlorine for disinfection, add lime to adjust pH, and use bleaching powder and alum for arsenic removal.

With advancing technologies, scientists have found new technologies which can be used to prevent water pollution:

The utilization of microorganisms to debase the natural contamination into a less poisonous form is called bioremediation . Microorganisms can be explicitly intended for bioremediation utilizing genetic engineering technologies.

It is the utilization of plants to eliminate impurities from soil and water. Normal phytoremediation is completed by mangroves, estuarine vegetation, and other wetland vegetation.

A riparian buffer is a vegetated region, a buffer strip close to a stream, typically forested, which helps as shade and acts as a shield to the stream from the effect of neighboring area uses.

Water pollution poses significant risks to both environmental health and human well-being. Addressing this pressing issue requires comprehensive strategies involving advanced technology, community action, and stringent regulatory measures. Ensuring effective water pollution control enhances water quality and ecosystem health.

Industries are major contributors to water pollution. Implementing advanced industrial wastewater treatment solutions such as reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, and biological treatment can significantly reduce pollutants in wastewater before discharge into natural water bodies. This critical step helps in reducing industrial water pollution .

Pesticides and fertilizers from agricultural lands can severely affect water quality. By integrating sustainable farming practices such as precision farming, the use of organic fertilizers, and contour plowing, farmers can control agricultural runoff effectively. These sustainable farming practices help minimize runoff and its detrimental impacts on nearby water sources.

Urban areas contribute to water pollution through runoff that carries pollutants from roads, roofs, and other surfaces. Implementing green infrastructure solutions like rain gardens, permeable pavements, and green roofs can effectively absorb and filter runoff, preventing it from polluting water bodies. These measures are crucial in urban runoff management and promoting green infrastructure for stormwater control.

Robust legal frameworks and consistent enforcement of water pollution laws are essential for sustainable water management. Governments can enhance water pollution laws by setting stringent water quality standards and ensuring compliance through regular monitoring and penalties for violations. This firm legal foundation supports the enforcement of water quality standards .

Educating the public about the sources and effects of water pollution and promoting community involvement in water conservation efforts can lead to significant improvements in local water quality. Initiatives like community clean-up days and educational campaigns raise awareness and encourage proactive protection of water resources, crucial for public education on water pollution and fostering community water conservation .

Drinking plenty of water is crucial, especially in areas with high pollution levels. Staying hydrated helps your body naturally flush out toxins. Aim for at least 8-10 glasses of water a day to support detoxification processes, ensuring you reap the benefits of staying hydrated .

Ensure that your living space has clean air, which is vital for good health. Use home air purifiers , especially those with HEPA filters, to remove pollutants from indoor air. Regularly ventilating your home by opening windows and using exhaust fans also helps improve indoor air quality .

Protect your skin from the damaging effects of pollution with anti-pollution skincare products . These products can provide a barrier against environmental pollutants and free radicals that contribute to skin aging and irritation, effectively protecting skin from pollution .

When the air quality is poor, opt for indoor workouts to avoid exposure to harmful pollutants. Indoor exercise benefits include preventing the inhalation of pollutants that can exacerbate respiratory issues or lead to other health problems, making it a safer option during high pollution days .

Consuming foods high in antioxidants can help counteract the effects of pollution on your body. Include plenty of fruits and vegetables like berries, nuts, and greens in your diet. These foods help strengthen your immune system against the oxidative stress caused by pollutants, fulfilling a diet that’s rich in antioxidants and ideal for fighting pollution .

Wear masks, especially N95 respirators, when you’re outdoors on days with high pollution levels. These masks can filter out most of the harmful particulates from the air you breathe, serving as essential protective gear for pollution .

Regular check-ups can help detect and mitigate the adverse effects of environmental pollutants. Monitoring your health can guide necessary adjustments to your lifestyle or treatments to address any issues early on, highlighting the importance of regular health check-ups .

Conclusion: Water Pollution

It is estimated that around 6 billion kilograms of waste materials are dumped in the water bodies every year, especially in oceans. Water bodies are mainly contaminated by toxic chemicals, industrial effluents, untreated sewage, domestic wastes, bottles, tin cans, plastic bags, etc. resulting in severe water pollution that affects not only human health but also other organisms and the whole ecosystem.

Also Read: Difference Between Air and Water Pollution Types of Pollution

Water Pollution – FAQs

What are the main causes of water pollution.

Water pollution primarily results from industrial discharge, agricultural runoff containing pesticides and fertilizers, untreated sewage, and pollutants from urban runoff. These sources introduce harmful substances into water bodies, adversely affecting water quality and ecosystem health.

What are the Major Effects of Water Pollution on the Environment?

Water pollution can lead to the destruction of aquatic ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, and the disruption of natural aquatic processes. Polluted water can harm aquatic life forms by depleting oxygen levels and introducing toxic substances that accumulate in the food chain.

How Can Water Pollution Be Controlled?

Controlling water pollution involves several strategies including treating industrial wastewater before discharge, managing agricultural runoff through sustainable practices, restoring wetlands to filter pollutants, and enforcing strict regulations on pollutant discharge into water bodies.

What are the Health Risks Associated with Water Pollution?

Water pollution poses significant health risks including waterborne diseases such as cholera and hepatitis, chemical poisoning from contaminated water, and long-term health issues like cancer from exposure to toxins. Ensuring water quality through regular monitoring and treatment is essential to mitigate these risks.

How Can Individuals Help Reduce Water Pollution?

Individuals can contribute to reducing water pollution by properly disposing of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, using environmentally friendly detergents and pesticides, conserving water to reduce wastewater generation, and participating in community clean-up events to keep local waterways clean.

What are the 5 Sources of Water Pollution?

The 5 main sources of water pollution are – sewage disposal (waste water), industrial waste, synthetic soaps and detergents, agricultural activities (fertilisers, pesticides), and oil spillage.

What are the most common Effects of Water Pollution?

The most common effects of water pollution are; increased rates of water borne diseases, increased risk of respiratory infections, increased rates of digestive tract problems, increased rates of heart diseases, increased incidence of lungs cancer, etc.

Water pollution can be defined as the contamination of water by addition of water pollutants and degradation of its quality making its less desirable and unsuitable for living system due to various reasons.

What are the 5 Ways to Stop Water Pollution.

Water pollution control can be done by effluent sewage treatment, minimizing the use of pesticide and fertilisers, reusing water, removal of non-biodegradable wastes, and use the minimum amount of detergent preferably phosphate free soaps and detergents.

What are the 7 Types of Water Pollution?

The 7 types of water pollution are – Chemical Pollution, Groundwater Pollution, Microbial Pollution, Nutrient Pollution, Oxygen-Depletion, Surface Water Pollution and Suspended Matter Pollution

Why Should we Control Water Pollution?

Water pollution should be controlled as water is the basis of all life forms present in earth. All living organisms including humans need continuous source of clean and usable form of water for their survival.

What is Sewage Treatment?

A type  of wastewater treatment that aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent  that is suitable to discharge to the waterbodies is called sewage treatment.

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