What is water

pollution?
Water pollution is the
contamination of water sources by
substances which make the water
unusable for drinking, cooking,
cleaning, swimming, and other
activities. Pollutants include chemicals,
trash, bacteria, and parasites. All
forms of pollution eventually make
their way to water. Air pollution settles
onto lakes and oceans. Land pollution
can seep into an underground stream,
then to a river, and finally to the ocean.
Thus, waste dumped in a vacant lot
can eventually pollute a water supply.

Water pollutants may cause disease or act as poisons.

Bacteria and parasites in poorly treated sewage may enter drinking
water supplies and cause digestive problems such as cholera and
diarrhea. Hazardous chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides from
industries, farms, homes, and golf courses can cause acute toxicity
and immediate death, or chronic toxicity that can lead to
neurological problems or cancers. Many water pollutants enter our
bodies when we use water for drinking and food preparation. The
pollutants enter the digestive tract. From there, they can reach other
organs in the body and cause various illnesses. Chemicals come in
contact with the skin from washing clothes, or from swimming in
polluted water and may lead to skin irritations. Hazardous chemicals
in water systems can also affect the animals and plants which live
there. Sometimes these organisms will survive with the chemicals in
their systems, only to be eaten by humans who may then become
mildly ill or develop stronger toxic symptoms. The animals and plants
themselves may die or not reproduce properly.
The Causes of Water
Pollution
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.

Some of the major sources of water pollution worldwide:

• 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.

• Agricultural
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.

Categories of Water Pollution

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.
• Non-point source
Non-point source pollution is contamination derived from
diffuse sources. These may include agricultural, or stormwater runoff
or debris blown into waterways from land.
• Transboundary
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.
The 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. 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
Surface water is any body of water
found on the Earth’s surface, including our
oceans, lakes, and rivers. Water is at risk
from pollution because it is a “universal
solvent”. This means that water can easily
dissolve substances more rapidly than any
other liquid on Earth. Also, surface waters
are more vulnerable to pollution
than groundwater because they are
exposed, therefore it is important to reduce global pollution both
locally and internationally. As surface water is found above the
ground, when we refer to surface water pollution, we are talking
about the type of pollution that occurs in the oceans, streams, lakes,
and rivers. Because of their geographical location, surface waters
easily become polluted, and some leading causes of water pollution
come from contaminated rainwater runoff.
 • Marine pollution
Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans,
such as industrial, agricultural, and residential waste, particles, noise,
excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and
cause harmful effects there. Since most inputs come from land,
either via the rivers, sewage, or the atmosphere, it means
that continental shelves are more vulnerable to pollution. Air
pollution is also a contributing factor
by carrying off iron, carbonic acid,
nitrogen, silicon, sulfur, pesticides, or
dust particles into the ocean. The
pollution often comes from non-point
sources such as agricultural runoff,
wind-blown debris, and dust.

The Effects of Water

Pollution
• 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.
 • On the environment
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.
How to Prevent Water
Pollution

If you want to help keep our waters clean, there are many things you
can do to help. You can prevent water pollution of nearby rivers and
lakes as well as groundwater and drinking water by following some
simple guidelines in your everyday life.

• Dispose of Toxic Chemicals Properly

Many household chemicals can be recycled. Your community
may have a recycling center that can take the old paint, used motor
oil, and other chemicals and recycle them. Community collection
centers and drop-off sites also exist in some areas. Your community
may even have a hazardous waste collection day where those toxic
old chemicals can be dropped off for safe disposal.
• Do Not Pour Fat and Grease Down the Drain
Grease, fat, and used cooking oil should be disposed of in the
trash or kept in a “fat jar” for disposal with other solid waste. Your
pipes might clog and cause sewer pipes to clog and back up into
yards and basements. The waste also contaminates local bodies of
water.
 • Check Your Sump Pump or Cellar Drain
Sometimes these devices drain into the town’s sanitary sewer
pipes. This connection dumps biological wastes, heavy metals,
cleaning chemicals and more into the system. If you have a sump
pump or cellar drain and aren’t sure where they drain to, you should
be able to find out by checking with the city’s pollution control
department.
• Dispose of Medical Waste Properly
Never flush medicines down the toilet, and never dump them in
the nearest pond or creek. The drugs tend to accumulate in the
water, and in fish and other wildlife. Hormones and other compounds
end up causing a variety of health problems in fish and birds and
contaminate drinking water that people and livestock use.
• Eat More Organic Food
While chemicals can be used on organic foods, they tend to be
produced with few synthetic chemicals. Eating organic reduces the
amount of chemical pollution that ends up in the water.
• Support Environmental Charities
No matter where you live in the country, there are going to be
charities working on watershed protection, water pollution cleanup,
and similar causes. Find an organization that’s active in your area
and make a donation every year. Your support may even lead to
expanded anti-pollution work.
• Help Clean Up Beaches and Rivers
Supporting charities
devoted to protecting the water
is important because they can
do work that is beyond the
power of the average
homeowner. If you choose not
to donate money, or really can’t
afford it, volunteer to help plant trees or clean up the local river or
help collect leftover chemicals from local residents. Some
environmental groups might have collection days where they need
volunteer labor.
 • Cut Down on Meat Consumption
Raising animals for meat takes lots of water for the grains and
other foods they need, as well as to keep them alive. Further, the
antibiotics and solid waste both tend to end up in groundwater and
rivers.
• Try to Avoid Plastic Containers
Plastic shopping bags and
plastic rings from six-packs of
beverages cause inordinate
problems in the nations lakes
and seas. Plastic bottles can last
for decades in the water. Buy
some reusable cloth or plastic
grocery bags instead. Use
reusable, insulated containers to
hold drinks and make your own
filtered water at home.
• Keep Your Vehicles from Leaking
Oil and other fluids leak from motor vehicles and end up in the
local water table or running off into creeks and streams. This runoff
problem is easy to treat; just be diligent about maintaining and
repairing your vehicles. Leaky seals, hoses, and gaskets tend to cause
expensive mechanical problems anyway, so replacing the worn parts
can save you money.
• Plant Some Trees
Trees reduce erosion that
washes pollution into the water
and reduces erosion. You can
also volunteer your time in a
local tree-planting effort. If you
own land along a river or pond,
plant trees, bushes, or grass
along the bank.
Conclusion
Since water forms a core of the existence of human and other
living things, its preservation and sustainable availability cannot be
overemphasized. The availability of clean water is greatly threatened
by various human activities and of interest is pollution which in turn
affects the ecosystem and causes various climatic changes. While
various wastewater treatment methods are being explored by
industries and various treatment plants, untreated wastewater is still
being discharged into the water bodies by some industries. Thus,
effective environmental protection policies compliance drive will be
of immense benefit to the environment and by extension to human.

Problems of polluted water or water pollution Most of them are

caused by human actions. Therefore, transferring knowledge to
children, youth, including parents and the general public to realize
the negative effects and to acknowledge the correct prevention of
polluted water problems is a way to solve water pollution problems
properly and with sustainable results.
reference
1. Water Pollution: Everything You Need to Know:
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/water-pollution-everything-you-need-know
2. Surface Water Pollution – A Complete Overview:
https://atlas-scientific.com/blog/surface-water-pollution/
3. Marine pollution:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_pollution
4. Water Pollution:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ehep/82-2/
5. 15 Proven Ways We Can Reduce Water Pollution:
https://blog.arcadia.com/15-proven-ways-can-reduce-water-pollution/