Petroleum Engineering Department

Principles of Chemistry Coursework #1

Water Pollution

Name: Oktay Kazimli

Date of Submission: 21 December 2020

Supervisor: Rena Abbasova

Table of Content

Introduction 3

Main Body 3

Conclusion 5

References 6
Introduction
As it is obvious from the newspapers and latest news, environmental
pollution is the biggest actual and global problem nowadays. Scientists and governments of
each country try to draw our attention to the most serious issue which can lead to some
unavoidable results. However, besides the human factor, pollution can also occur naturally
which is hardly controllable. There are several types of pollution which put Earth’s future at
risk. One of the most important and dangerous problems of the environment is water
pollution. Water pollution is the effect of damaging substances like chemicals,
microorganisms and wastes on lakes, oceans, rivers, streams and other water containing
parts of the world. These substances are often toxic to living beings and ecosystems. In
addition to this, bearing in mind that our clean water supply is limited, this matter should be
taken by people more seriously.

Main Body
As mentioned above, polluted water is not drinkable and cannot be used in necessary fields
as in agriculture , since it causes numerous diseases which kill over 500,000 people every
year. The major pollutants are considered to be plastics, phosphates, nitrates and even
radioactive material that are most of the time invisible and do not change the colour of the
water. All these are believed to be human activity and the main reason for the poor quality of
water. Besides that, there are many other factors causing water pollution. Global warming is
known as the most actual and dangerous phenomenon. It makes air temperature rise which
leads to increase in water temperature in lakes,reservoirs, and streams. Higher
temperatures of water are associated with decreased levels of dissolved oxygen in bodies of
water and it is clear that lower oxygen levels create huge problems and risks for the life of
the marine animals: fish, crustaceans and insects as they need oxygen to survive. In
addition, deforestation, industry, agriculture and livestock farming also pollute water. Despite
an increase in runoff because of loss of forest cover, the enlarged runoff can speed up soil
erosion and raise the sediment load and turbidity of water sources, thus reducing the water
quality. Moreover, another global issue which plays a significant role in pollution of water is
rubbish and faecal water dumping. For instance, human waste fuses with pharmacyeticals,
personal hygiene products and other chemicals and ends up in sewers flowing into rivers
and headwaters. Plastics and other types of garbage are also known to be thrown to water.
Since these products take quite a long time to degrade they can be catched by marine
animals and may lead to their death. Likewise, oceans are loaded
with oil spills, that comes from not only oil entering the water but also
from travel, shipping etc. Considering that oil cannot be solved in water, it creates mud in the
water, which is basically a disastrous problem for marine animals, birds and also for aquatic
plants. It gets caughts by birds, prevents them from flying and blocks light for water plants.

Picture 1. Rubbish dumping

The results of damaging the quality of water can be unmanageable for humanity. Lack of
potable water is one of them. As it is obvious, water is the most necessary natural resource
for people’s lives. Governments and various organizations are fighting for solving this issue
in order to guarantee the future of the Earth. Unfortunately, besides the lack of potable
water, the quality and pureness of water are getting lower and lower nowadays. As a result,
it leads to several diseases. Moreover, destruction of biodiversity is also one of the causes of
water pollution. The WHO reports that more than 2 billion people have no option but drink
dirty water which causes diseases such as cholera, hepatitis A and dysentery1. The result of
these illnesses can end up with infant mortality which is mostly common for African lands. In
order to prevent water pollution,several steps have to be taken. First of all, reducing C O 2
emissions can prevent global warming and acidification of the water. In addition, people
have to get rid of the single-use plastics, which is already prevented in some european
countries. At the same time, several organizations are fighting water pollution for the brighter
future of our lands. These organizations are following:

● WWF (Water Wildlife Fund)

● Earth Day Canada
● ActionAid Bangladesh

1 Corporativa, Iberdrola. Water Pollution: How to Protect Our Source of Life

 ● Turtle Island Restoration Network
● PRETOMA
● Ocean Wise
● Sierra Club Canada
● Oceana and so on2.

Thanks to the efforts of these organizations, there is still a hope for positive predictions. If
they succeed in their work, it may be possible to save the world from water pollution and
provide people with cleaner and water with better quality.

Conclusion
Notwithstanding the fact that quite a few circumstances can be denoted as culprit of the
deterioration of the environment and ecosystem, due to the aforementioned facets water
pollution has been considered as one of the most detrimental aspects of the environmental
issues. By giving consideration to the extensively acknowledged fact, which basically
indicates that water covers approximately more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface, it
cannot be neglected that water contamination may lead to hazardous ramifications in terms
of the health of humans by generating certain fatal diseases, including cardiovascular and
blood ailments; however, mercury in the contaminated water bodies is manifested to
influence mainly peripheral nervous systems, since this chemical compound may affect
neurons with damaging and creating nervous diseases3. Although several culprits (global
warming, desertification and erosion) has been remarked on the main body section of the
report, trends such as mining activities and fossil fuel combustions should also be provided
as causes since during the process of extracting various raw chemicals from the
underground, due to rock crushing, may get mixed with water bodies all over the world
breeding health issues, whereas throughout the burning of oils and coal consequential
quantity of toxic compound may mix with water vapor on the atmosphere4. Owing to the
water cycle, the toxic elements and substances may react with ocean, river, and lake waters
by dint of precipitation and acid rains. Overall, with all of those preeminent aspects taken into
consideration, the report demonstrates succinct and critical information in the context of
water pollution.

2 “Water Organizations.” The Water Brothers, thewaterbrothers.ca/education/water-organizations/.

3 Columbia University, (6th edition, 2012). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.
4 Department of Water Chemistry and Biology, Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, (1993). Chemistry of water
and water pollution. Warsaw, Poland. pp 363.
References
1. May 14, 2018 Melissa Denchak. Water Pollution: Everything
You Need to Know. 5 Nov. 2020
2. Corporativa, Iberdrola. Water Pollution: How to Protect Our Source of Life.
3. Columbia University, (6th edition, 2012). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.
4. Department of Water Chemistry and Biology, Institute of Meteorology and Water
Management, (1993). Chemistry of water and water pollution. Warsaw, Poland. pp
363.
5. EurekAlert. “Deforestation and Drinking Water Quality.” EurekAlert!
6. News, Acclimatise. “The Impact of Global Warming on Water: Acclimatise – Building
Climate Resilience.” Acclimatise, 2 Oct. 2019.
7. “Marine Dumping & Water Pollution.” Water Pollution, 7 Jan. 2020.
8. “Oil Pollution in Water.” Water Pollution, 7 Jan. 2020.
9. “Water Organizations.” The Water Brothers.