I.

WATER POLLUTION

About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5
percent of all Earth's water. 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 activitiesnot so they take up less room, but so
their quality is reduced.

Poorer water quality means water pollution.

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies. This form of environmental degradation
occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate
treatment to remove harmful compounds.

A. CATEGORIES OF WATER POLLUTION

Non-point Source Pollution

Nonpoint source pollution refers to diffuse contamination that does not originate
from a single discrete source. NPS pollution is often the cumulative effect of small
amounts of contaminants gathered from a large area. A common example is the
leaching out of nitrogen compounds from fertilized agricultural lands. Contaminated
storm water washed off of parking lots, roads and highways, called urban runoff, is
sometimes included under the category of NPS pollution. However, because this runoff
is typically channeled into storm drain systems and discharged through pipes to local
surface waters, it becomes a point source.

Point Source Pollution

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines point source pollution
as any single identifiable source of pollution from which pollutants are discharged, such
as a pipe, ditch, ship or factory smokestack (Hill, 1997).

Factories and sewage treatment plants are two common types of point sources.
Factories, including oil refineries, pulp and paper mills, and chemical, electronics and
automobile manufacturers, typically discharge one or more pollutants in their discharged
waters (called effluents). Some factories discharge their effluents directly into a
waterbody. Others treat it themselves before it is released, and still others send their
wastes to sewage treatment plants for treatment. Sewage treatment plants treat human
wastes and send the treated effluent to a stream or river.
Thermal pollution

Thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes
ambient water temperature. A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as
a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers. When water used as a coolant is
returned to the natural environment at a higher temperature, the change in temperature
decreases oxygen supply and affects ecosystem composition. Fish and other organisms
adapted to particular temperature range can be killed by an abrupt change in water
temperature (either a rapid increase or decrease) known as "thermal shock."

B. CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION

Most water pollution doesn't begin in the water itself. 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. Chemicals released by 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.

Sewage

With billions of people on the planet, disposing of sewage waste is a major

problem. Sewage disposal affects people's immediate environments and leads to water-
related illnesses such as diarrhea that kills 760,000 children under five each year. In
developed countries, most people have flush toilets that take sewage waste quickly and
hygienically away from their homes.

Nutrients

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.

Waste water

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.
Chemical waste

Detergents are relatively mild substances. 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).

Eutrophication, is the enrichment of a water body with nutrients, usually with an excess
amount of nutrients. This process induces growth of plants and algae and due to the
biomass load, may result in oxygen depletion of the water body.

Oil pollution

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.

Plastics

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.

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.

C. EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION

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.

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 wateryet
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 acuteand sometimes fatalillness called paralytic shellfish poisoning.

Pollution matters because it harms the environment on which people depend.

The environment is everything that surrounds us that gives us life and health. Destroying
the environment ultimately reduces the quality of our own lives.

D. HOW TO CONTROL WATER POLLUTION?

Sewage treatment

Sewage treatment is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater,

primarily from household sewage. It includes physical, chemical, and biological
processes to remove these contaminants and produce environmentally safe treated
wastewater (or treated effluent). A by-product of sewage treatment is usually a semi-
solid waste or slurry, called sewage sludge, that has to undergo further treatment before
being suitable for disposal or land application.

Industrial wastewater treatment

Industrial wastewater treatment covers the mechanisms and processes used to

treat wastewater that is produced as a by-product of industrial or commercial activities.
After treatment, the treated industrial wastewater (or effluent) may be reused or released
to a sanitary sewer or to a surface water in the environment. Most industries produce
some wastewater although recent trends in the developed world have been to minimize
such production or recycle such wastewater within the production process. However,
many industries remain dependent on processes that produce wastewaters.

Agricultural wastewater treatment

Agricultural wastewater treatment is a farm management agenda for controlling

pollution from surface runoff that may be contaminated by chemicals in fertiliser,
pesticides, animal slurry, crop residues or irrigation water. A riparian buffer is a
vegetated area near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect
a stream from the impact of adjacent land uses. It plays a key role in increasing water
quality in associated streams, rivers, and lakes, thus providing environmental benefits.

Erosion and sediment control from construction sites

Sediment from construction sites is managed by installation of erosion controls,

such as mulching and hydroseeding, and sediment controls, such as sediment basins
and silt fences. Discharge of toxic chemicals such as motor fuels and concrete washout
is prevented by use of spill prevention and control plans, and specially designed
containers and structures such as overflow controls and diversion berms.
 Control of urban runoff

Effective control of urban runoff involves reducing the velocity and flow of storm
water, as well as reducing pollutant discharges. Local governments use a variety of
storm water management techniques to reduce the effects of urban runoff. Runoff
mitigation systems include infiltration basins, bioretention systems, constructed
wetlands, retention basins and similar devices.

Thermal pollution from runoff can be controlled by storm water management

facilities that absorb the runoff or direct it into groundwater, such as bioretention systems
and infiltration basins. A retention basin is used to manage stormwater runoff to prevent
flooding and downstream erosion, and improve water quality in an adjacent river,
stream, lake or bay. Sometimes called a wet pond or wet detention basin or stormwater
management pond, it is an artificial lake with vegetation around the perimeter, and
includes a permanent pool of water in its design.

How can we reduce water pollution?

Dont pour fat from cooking or any other type of fat, oil, or grease down the sink.
Keep a fat jar under the sink to collect the fat and discard in the solid waste
when full.
Dont dispose of household chemicals or cleaning agents down the sink or toilet.
Dont flush pills, liquid or powder medications or drugs down the toilet.
Avoid using the toilet as a wastebasket. Most tissues, wrappers, dust cloths, and
other paper goods should be properly discarded in a wastebasket. The fiber
reinforced cleaning products that have become popular should never be
discarded in the toilet.
Avoid using a garbage disposal. Keep solid wastes solid. Make a compost pile
from vegetable scraps.
Run the dishwasher or clothes washer only when you have a full load. This
conserves electricity and water.
Use the minimum amount of detergent and/or bleach when you are washing
clothes or dishes. Use only phosphate free soaps and detergents.
Minimize the use of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers. Dont dispose of these
chemicals, motor oil, or other automotive fluids into the sanitary sewer or storm
sewer systems. Both of them end at the river.

II. REFERENCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollution#cite_note-36

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/waterpollution.html

http://www.simsbury-ct.gov/water-pollution-control/pages/ten-things-you-can-do-to-reduce-
water-pollution

https://www.sepa.org.uk/media/120299/chemistry-of-water-pollution.pdf
III. QUESTIONNAIRE:

1. This process induces growth of plants and algae and due to the biomass load, may
result in oxygen depletion of the water body.
a. Water pollution
b. Oil spill
c. Eutrophication
d. Thermal effect

2. It is sometimes called a wet pond, it is an artificial lake with vegetation around the
perimeter, and includes a permanent pool of water in its design.
a. Retention basin
b. Silt basin
c. Silt pool
d. Detention pool

3. Commonly caused by the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial
manufacturers.
a. Urban runoff
b. Thermal pollution
c. Thermal effect
d. Erosion

4. It is a temporary sediment control device used on construction sites to protect water

quality in nearby bodies of water from stormwater runoff.
a. Riparian fence
b. Riparian buffer
c. Silt fence
d. Detention pool

5. It is the vegetated area near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially
protect a stream from the impact of adjacent land uses.
a. Veggie Strip
b. Green lanes
c. Silt buffer
d. Riparian buffer