Water Pollution: Water covers more than 70% of the surface of the Earth. Water a vital resource for the environment and the people. Pollution has negative effects on rivers, drinking water, lakes, and oceans around the world.
As a result, it is harmful to human health and the natural environment. Here you will find more information about water pollution and what you can do to prevent it.
We know that pollution is a human issue because it is a relatively recent development of the history of the planet. Before the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century, people lived more and more according to their immediate environment.
With industrialization spreading all over the world, the problem of pollution has spread. When the Earth’s population was very low, no one thought pollution was a serious problem.
It was once believed that the seas were too big to pollute. Today, with about 7 billion people on this planet, it’s becoming clear that there are limits. Pollution is one of the signs that humans have exceeded these limits.
How serious is the problem? As per the Environmental Campaign Organization: “Toxic chemicals are bad for the survival of life on this planet. From the tropics to the polar regions, the entire Indian Ocean and all continents are polluted.”
What is Water Pollution?
Water pollution can be estimated in several ways. This usually means the accumulation of one or more substances in the water, which causes problems for animals or people. Sea, lakes, rivers and other inland waters can safely disperse a certain amount of pollution by dispersing them safely.
If you put a cup of black ink in the river, a large amount of clean water in the ink stream will quickly dissipate. The ink was still present in the stream, but with a concentration so low that it could not see it.
At this low level, the chemicals in the ink are unlikely to cause any real problems. However, if you put a gallon of ink into the stream every few seconds through a hose, the river will quickly become dark.
Chemical ink can have a very rapid impact on water quality. As a result, it can affect the health of all plants, animals, and people whose lives depend on the river.
Therefore, water pollution is related to quantities. The amount of pollution and the amount of water discharge. A small amount of a toxic chemical can have minimal effect if released into the sea by ships.
But pumping the same amount of chemicals into a lake or stream can have a much greater impact, as there is little clean water for splashing. Water pollution always means damaging the sea, river, lake, or another water source.
A 1969 UN report describes marine pollution as follows:
“The introduction of materials or energy into human marine environments, direct or indirect that cause damage to biological resources, risks to human health and barriers to marine activities, such as fishing.
It has harmful effects such as discontinuation of the use of seawater. The deterioration of its services and quality.
How do you know when Water is Contaminated?
Some forms of water pollution are quite clear. Water pollution is generally less visible and difficult to detect. But how do you measure water pollution when you can’t see it? How do we know it is there?
There are two important ways to measure water quality.
The first is to take water samples and measure the concentration of different chemicals in them. If the chemicals are dangerous or the concentration is too high, the water may be considered polluted. These measures are known as chemical indicators of water quality.
Another way to measure water quality is fish, insects, and other microbes that will support the water. If many different types of creatures can live in the river, the quality is probably very good. If the river does not support fish life, then the quality is clearly much worse. These measures are called biological indicators of water quality.
Types of Water Pollution
1. Underground Water Pollution
When rainwater reaches and penetrates deep into the ground, it creates water cracks, crevices, etc.
About 40% of Americans depend on groundwater. They pump groundwater for drinking water. For some people in rural areas, this is their only source of fresh water.
Groundwater pollution occurs when pesticides enter the water. Waste from pesticides and fertilizers enter into groundwater and sewage tanks, making them unsafe for human consumption.
Cleaning up groundwater from pollutants is difficult, if not impossible, and costly. Once water is contaminated, the water can be unusable for decades, even for thousands of years. Groundwater can also spread away from its original source of pollution as it infiltrates rivers, lakes, and oceans.
2. Water Level
Surface water covers about 70% of the Earth’s surface, and it is the water that fills all these blue pieces in our oceans, lakes, rivers, and world maps. The surface water of freshwater sources (i.e. non-sea sources) accounts for more than 60% of the water that reaches American homes.
But having too much water is a threat. According to a recent national EPA water quality survey, more than half of our rivers and more than a third of our lakes are polluted and unsafe for swimming, hunting, and drinking.
Food contamination, including nitrates and phosphates, is an important type of contamination in these freshwater sources. Although plants and animals need these nutrients to grow, they have become quite polluted due to the outflow of agricultural waste and fertilizers.
Municipal waste and industrial waste also constitute a fair share of toxic substances. There is also all the random garbage that industry and people throw directly into waterways.
3. Sea Water Pollution
80% of sea pollution (also known as sea pollution) comes from the coast or from the interior. Pollution such as chemicals, nutrients, and heavy metals is transported from farms, factories, and cities to rivers and streams across rivers and streams.
From there they head to the sea. During this time, marine debris, especially plastic, is blown into the air or washed with plugs and storm sewers. Sometimes our oceans are also affected by oil and spills, large and small, and permanently absorb carbon pollution from the air. The sea absorbs up to a quarter of man-made carbon.
4. Point Source
When pollution comes from one source, we talk about point pollution. Examples include wastewater (also known as liquid waste) left legally or illegally with the manufacturer, oil filter, or wastewater treatment facility, as well as leakage of septic tanks and oil and chemical waste and illegal emissions are included.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates pollution from a point source by restricting the point where the facility can live directly in a water body. Although point pollution comes from a specific site, it can affect kilometers of waterways and the sea.
4. Unstable Source
Non-source pollution is pollution from widespread sources. It could be agricultural flows, rain, or debris from land to rivers. Non-pollution is the main cause of pollution in American waters, but it is difficult to control it because no one is a criminal.
5. Across the Border
Needless to say, water pollution cannot be tracked on the map. Precious border pollution is the result of polluted water flowing from one country to another. Pollution can be the result of a disaster, such as the spread of oil, or the ingestion and flow of industrial, agricultural, or municipal discharges.
Sources of Pollution
1. Radioactive waste
People see radioactive waste with great stimulus and with good reason. In a lot, it can kill. At low concentration, it can cause cancer and other diseases. The main sources of radiation pollution in Europe are two refueling stations for spent nuclear power plants: Seinfeld on the northwest coast of the United Kingdom and Cape The Hague on the northern coast of France.
They both release radioactive waste into the ocean, after which the seafloor reaches the world. Countries like Norway, based in the United Kingdom, receive large doses of radioactive contamination from the Seville field.
The Norwegian government has repeatedly complained that Seinfeld increased radiation levels by 6 to 10 times on the coastline. The Irish and Norwegian governments continue to press to close factories.
2. Plastic
If you’ve ever visited a clean community coast, you’ll find that plastics are by far the most common substance that melts in waves. There are three reasons: Plastic is one of the most common materials used in making almost every type of finished product, from clothing to auto parts.
Plastic is lightweight and floats easily, so it can travel long distances through the ocean. Most plastics are not biodegradable (they do not naturally float in the atmosphere), which means that things like plastic sheeting can live in the marine environment for a long time. (A plastic bottle can last up to 450 years at sea, and a plastic fishing line can last up to 600 years.)
Although plastics are not as toxic as toxic chemicals, they pose a major threat to marine animals, fish, and other marine creatures. For example, plastic lines and other debris may suffocate fish. (Sometimes called devil hunting.) About half of all marine animals in the world eat plastic waste.
In a study of 450 puffs in the North Pacific, more than 80% of bird stomachs contained plastic debris. In the early 1990s, sea scientist Tim Benton collected debris from a 1.5 km (2 km) beach on the remote island of Pitcairn in the South Pacific. Their studies recorded 268 pieces of plastic, 71 plastic bottles, and nearly a thousand pieces of waste, including two heads of dolls.
Today, media attention is centered on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a marine tomb floating three times the size of France in plastic garbage, discovered by Charles Charles Moore in 1997. But you know well that if you ever participate in clean communal beaches and permanent plastic debris, they throw All oceans on the planet: about 8 million tons of new plastic waste at sea every year.
3. Sewage
Some stats illustrate the problem that wastewater can cause (sewage and chemicals released by the factory). About half of the ocean’s pollution is caused by sewage. Every year, around 5-5-10 billion tons of industrial garbage is produced in the world, and most of it is pumped untreated into rivers, oceans, and other waterways.
In the United States alone, 400,000 plants get clean water from rivers, many of which pump polluted water for them. However, wastewater treatment has improved significantly in recent times.
Since 1970, in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has invested about $ 70 billion in water treatment plant improvements that in 2015 accounted for about 88% of the U.S. population (in 1972). Versus only 69%). However, the system still needs $ 271 billion to upgrade.
Factories are an important source of water pollution, but much of the water is polluted by the general public. In this way, ordinary water is converted into wastewater in the first place. Almost all of them throw chemicals in some sewers or bathrooms.
Even the detergents used in washing machines and dishwashers end in our rivers and oceans. The same applies to pesticides that we use in our gardens. Most toxic pollution also enters the wastewater flowing down the road.
Roads are usually covered in a mixture of toxic chemicals, which range from dirty fuel and brake fluid to used tires (made from chemical additives) and exhaust emissions. When it rains, these chemicals are scattered in streams and rivers.
It is not uncommon for thermal storms to throw toxic chemicals into rivers because they kill large numbers of fish at night. It is estimated that within a year, the flow of a road from a major city releases oil into our water environment just like the outbreak of typical tankers. Part of the road flows into the gutter. Others can pollute groundwater or accumulate dirt on the side of the road, making it increasingly toxic over the years.
4. Oil Pollution
When we think about sea pollution, the huge black oil mixture comes to mind, but these amazing accidents represent only a small portion of all the pollution that enters our oceans. Even after looking at the oil itself, the oil spill is not as big as it sounds: only 12% of the oil that enters the ocean is from tanker accidents.
Over 70% of the oil pollution at sea comes from the usual dishes and oils that people throw at the waterfront. However, what makes oil emissions so catastrophic is that they are emitted at the same time. In other words, the concentration of the oil it produces is in a very local part of the marine environment.
The biggest oil spill was in recent years (and the largest ever spill in American waters) when the tanker Axon Valdez exploded in Prince William William’s voice in Alaska in 1989, reaching nearly 12 million gallons (44 million liters).
Oil-liberated desert – 800 times enough to fill your room! Weapon injury estimates range from about 1,000 seabirds and 34,000 birds to 2,800 seabirds and 250,000 sea animals. It is believed that several billion salmon and herring eggs have been destroyed.
5. Alien Species
Most people think that pollution involves things like wastewater, toxic metals, or oils, but pollution can be biological and chemical. Alien species (sometimes called invasive species) belong to the region of animals or plants that have entered other ecosystems that do not belong to them.
Outside their usual environment, they have no natural predators, so they quickly move into the woods, and they remove the usual fruit or animals that grow there. Common examples of alien species include zebra pants in the Great Lakes of the United States, which were transported from Europe via ballast water (seawater extraction).
The conquest of the Mediterranean by the Mediterranean has conquered Calamba. In the Black Sea, strange jellyfish called Miniemopsis Lady reduced fish reserves by 90% after reaching gutters. In San Francisco Bay, the Asian oyster called Potacumbola Amorens, which also incorporated ballast water, has radically changed the ecosystem.
In 1999, David Pimentel of Cornell University estimated that such foreign invaders would cost the US economy $ 123 billion annually. In 2014, the European Commission estimated the cost to Europe at 12 billion euros annually and “rising steadily”.
What are the Effects of Water Pollution?
1. On Human Health
According to research published in The Lancet, water pollution killed 1.8 million people in 2015. Unprotected water affects about one billion people every year. Low-income groups face disproportionate risks because their homes are often close to polluting industries.
Waterborne pathogens are a major cause of disease due to clean drinking water, in the form of pathogenic bacteria and viruses from human and animal waste. Unsafe water-borne diseases include cholera, gardenia, and typhoid fever.
Thousands of people get sick every year in the United States from legionary disease (water sources such as cooling towers and saltwater to severe forms of pneumonia), and cases range from Disneyland to California to East Manhattan.
Meanwhile, Michigan residents, where the Glossy Smelter mode originated, provide stunning insights into the dangers of chemicals. In our water and other industrial pollution. The problem goes beyond and enters our reserves as a wide range of chemical pollutants, from heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury to pesticides and nitrous fertilizers, which contain more than lead.
Once coughed, this poison can cause many health problems, from changing brain functions to cancer to hormonal disorders.
Even swimming can be dangerous. According to EPA estimates, 35 million Americans each year suffer from hepatitis in health-related issues such as burns, eyes, respiratory infections, and coastal waters laden with sewage.
2. In the Environment
A healthy growing ecosystem relies on a complex web of animals, plants, bacteria, and cookies, all of which interact directly or indirectly with each other. Damage to any of these organisms can have a chain effect, putting the entire aquatic environment at risk.
When water contamination causes algae to grow in lakes or marine environments, the newly introduced nutrients stimulate the growth of plants and algae, resulting in low levels of oxygen in the water.
This lack of oxygen, called eutrophication, slows down plants and animals and can create “dead zones” where water is free from life. In some cases, they can cause neurotoxins, from harmful algal blooms to sea turtles, which affect wildlife.
Chemicals and heavy metals from industrial and municipal wastewater are polluted by rivers. Contaminated water is toxic to aquatic life, often reducing the biological and reproductive potential of any organism, and moving the food chain forward while a predator eats its prey. In this way, tuna and other large fish accumulate toxins like mercury.
The marine ecosystem is also vulnerable to marine debris, which can suffocate and expel exhalation and starve animals. This solid waste, like plastic bags, soda cans, drains and storm drains, and ultimately into the ocean, which turns our oceans into piles of garbage and sometimes forms floating hard floors.
Discontinued fishing gear and other types of debris are responsible for damaging more than 200 different marine species.
Meanwhile, sea acidity is an obstacle to the survival of fish and coral reefs. Although it absorbs a quarter of fossil fuels from carbon pollution generated every year, the oceans are becoming more acidic.
This process makes oysters and other species more difficult to shellfish and can affect the nervous system of sharks, clownfish and other marine life.
How to Prevent Water Pollution?
1. What can you do to Prevent Water Pollution?
It’s easy to blame an oil company, but today we are somewhat responsible for the pollution problem. Fortunately, there are easy ways to prevent water pollution or at least limit your contribution to:
- Reduce your consumption of plastic and reuse or recycle plastic whenever possible.
- Care to dispose of chemicals, oils and non-dissolving materials properly to prevent them from entering the drains.
- Keep your car free from oil, freezing or coolant leaks.
- If you have a backyard, think of landscapes that reduce runoff and avoid exposure to pesticides and herbs.
2. Education
Educating people is the first step to this solution. In the early 1990s, when UK surfers were fed up with catching diseases from polluted water, they launched a campaign called Surfers Agnes to force governments and water companies to clean up their jobs.
The group was created. People who are tired of walking on polluted beaches of the world often gather to organize community beach cleaning sessions. Fishermen who do not make much fish have imposed a strict ban on pollution factories in our rivers. More and more public awareness can make a positive difference.
3. Economy
Most environmentalists agree that pollution is best dealt with through the so-called principle of driving pollution. This means that any pollution-causing pollution must be paid in one way or another. Pollutants can work in several ways. This could mean oil tanker owners, for example, buying insurance to cover the costs of removing oil emissions.
It may also mean that buyers have to pay for plastic bags to encourage recycling and reduce waste. Or it might mean that factories that usually use rivers must drain their water supply under their outlets.
As a result, if they cause pollution, they themselves are the first ones to suffer. Do you. After all, the pollution principle is designed to prevent people from pollution by making disposal in an environmentally responsible manner cheaper.
4. Law
The biggest problem with water pollution is its intermittent nature. Many rivers cross the country, while the sea spreads across continents. Factory pollution in a country with bad environmental standards can cause problems in neighboring countries, even when they have strict rules and regulations.
Environmental laws can make pollution more difficult for people, but to be truly effective, they must operate across national and international borders. That is why we have international laws governing the oceans, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982 (signed by more than 120 countries), the London Convention of 1972 (inundation), and the 1978 MARPOL International Convention of the OSPAR Convention of 1998 on the Prevention of Marine Pollution and Environmental Protection Marine Northeast Atlantic.
The European Union has water protection laws (also known as guidelines) that apply to all its member states. These include the 1976 Shower Water Guide (2006 update), which aims to ensure quality water used for recreation.
