Water pollution

Water pollution
• 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.
 Who is responsible?
• 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.
 How serious is the problem?

• According to the environmental campaign

organization WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)
"Pollution from toxic chemicals threatens life on
this planet. Every ocean and every continent,
from the tropics to the once-pristine polar
regions, is contaminated”.
 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.
• For Example:
 A cup of black ink
 Gallons of ink into a river every few seconds through a
pipe
• 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.
 Types of water pollution
• There are many different types of water pollution
and all have a different adverse effect on the
environment.
• The effects of water pollution are varied and
depend on what chemicals are dumped and in
which locations.
• Many water bodies near urban areas (cities and
towns) are highly polluted.
• This is the result of both garbage dumped by
individuals and dangerous chemicals legally or
illegally dumped by manufacturing industries,
health centers, schools and market places.
 Types of water pollution Cont.
• Heavy metals from industrial processes can
accumulate in nearby lakes and rivers. These are
toxic to marine life such as fish and shellfish, and
can affect the rest of the food chain.
• This means that entire animal communities can
be badly affected by this type of pollutant.
• Industrial waste often contains many toxic
compounds that damage the health of aquatic
animals and those who eat them.
• Some toxins affect the reproductive success of
marine life and can therefore disrupt the
community structure of an aquatic environment.
 Types of water pollution Cont.
• Microbial pollutants from sewage often result in
infectious diseases that infect aquatic life and
terrestrial life through drinking water.
• This often increases the number of mortalities
seen within an environment.
• Organic matter and nutrients cause an
increase in aerobic algae and depletes oxygen
from the water column. This is
called eutrophication and causes the suffocation
of fish and other aquatic organisms.
 Types of water pollution Cont.
• Sulfate particles from acid rain change the pH of
water making it more acidic, this damages the
health of marine life in the rivers and lakes it
contaminates, and often increases the number
of mortalities within an environment.
• Suspended particles can often reduce the
amount of sunlight penetrating the water,
disrupting the growth of photosynthetic plants
and micro-organisms. This has subsequent effects
on the rest of the aquatic community that
depend on these organisms to survive
 Effects of water pollution
• Death of aquatic (water) animals
• Disruption of food-chains
• Diseases
• Destruction of ecosystems
Thanks
 Environment
&
Sustainable Development
 Sustainable development
• Sustainable development is a process of for
meeting human development goals
while sustaining the ability of natural systems
to continue to provide the natural
resources and ecosystem services upon which
the economy and society depends.
• Sustainable development is the organizing
principle for sustaining finite resources
necessary to provide for the needs of future
generations of life on the planet.
• It is a process that predicts a desirable future
state for human societies in which living
conditions and resource-use continue to meet
human needs without undermining the
"integrity, stability and beauty" of
natural biotic systems.
Scheme of sustainable development
 Importance of SD
• In September 2015, the United Nations
General Assembly formally adopted the
"universal, integrated and
transformative" 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, a set of 17 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
• The goals are to be implemented and
achieved in every country from the year 2016
to 2030.
• The ecological stability of human settlements
is part of the relationship between humans
and their natural, social and built
environments.
• Fundamental human needs such as the
availability and quality of air, water, food and
shelter are also the ecological foundations for
sustainable development; addressing public
health risk through investments in ecosystem
services can be a powerful and transformative
force for sustainable development which, in
this sense, extends to all species.
 Built environment
• “The humanitarian-made space in which
people live, work, and recreate on a day-to-
day basis.“
• The "built environment encompasses places
and spaces created or modified by people
including buildings, parks, and transportation
systems."
• Environmental sustainability concerns
the natural environment and how it endures
and remains diverse and productive.
• Since natural resources are derived from the
environment, the state of air, water, and the
climate are of particular concern.
• Environmental sustainability requires society
to design activities to meet human needs
while preserving the life support systems of
the planet.
• This, for example, demands using water
sustainably, utilizing renewable energy, and
sustainable material supplies (e.g. harvesting
wood from forests at a rate that maintains the
biomass and biodiversity).
 RESOURCES CONSUMPTION
Consumption of
State of
non-renewable Sustainability
environment
resources
More than nature's ability
Environmental degradation Not sustainable
to replenish

Equal to nature's ability to

Environmental equilibrium Steady state economy
replenish

Less than nature's ability to Environmentally

Environmental renewal
replenish sustainable
THANKS