Water

Pollution

W ater Pollution
Water pollution is the contamination of
water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans
and groundwater). Water pollution occurs
when pollutants are discharged directly or
indirectly into water bodies without
adequate treatment to remove harmful
compounds.
Water pollution affects plants and
organisms living in these bodies of water;
and, in almost all cases the effect is
damaging not only to individual species
and populations, but also to the natural

Types of Water
Pollution

Toxic Substance -- A toxic substance is a

chemical pollutant that is not a naturally occurring
substance in aquatic ecosystems. The greatest
contributors to toxic pollution are herbicides,
Organic Substance
-- Organic
pollution occurs
pesticides
and industrial
compounds
when an excess of organic matter, such as manure
or sewage, enters the water. When organic matter
increases in a pond, the number of decomposers
will increase. These decomposers grow rapidly and
use a great deal of oxygen during their growth. This
leads to a depletion of oxygen as the
decomposition process occurs. A lack of oxygen can
kill aquatic organisms. As the aquatic organisms
die, they are broken down by decomposers which
leads to further depletion of the oxygen levels.

A type of organic pollution can occur when

inorganic pollutants such as nitrogen and
phosphates accumulate in aquatic ecosystems.
High levels of these nutrients cause an overgrowth
of plants and algae. As the plants and algae die,
they become organic material in the water. The
enormous decay of this plant matter, in turn,
lowers the oxygen level. The process of rapid plant
growth followed by increased activity by
decomposers
and a depletion
of the oxygen
level is
Thermal Pollution
-- Thermal
pollution
called eutrophication.
can occur when water is used as a coolant near a
power or industrial plant and then is returned to
the aquatic environment at a higher temperature
than it was originally. Thermal pollution can lead
to a decrease in the dissolved oxygen level in the
water while also increasing the biological demand
of aquatic organisms for oxygen.

pollution takes place when chemical

pollution, organic pollution or thermal
pollution are caused by nature rather than
by human activity. An example of
ecological pollution would be an increased
rate of siltation of a waterway after a
landslide which would increase the
amount of sediments in runoff water.
Another example would be when a large
animal, such as a deer, drowns in a flood
and a large amount of organic material is
added to the water as a result. Major
geological events such as a volcano
eruption might also be sources of

POINT AND NONPOINT SOURCES

Point sources of pollution occur when harmful

substances are emitted directly into a body of water.
The Exxon Valdez oil spill best illustrates a point
source water pollution.

A nonpoint source delivers pollutants indirectly

through environmental changes. An example of
this type of water pollution is when fertilizer from
a field is carried into a stream by rain, in the form
of run-off

SPECIFIC
SOURCE OF
WATER
POLLUTION

Farming:
Farms often use large amounts of
herbicides and pesticides, both of which
are toxic pollutants. These substances are
particularly dangerous to life in rivers,
streams and lakes, where toxic substances
can build up over a period of time.
Farms also frequently use large amounts
of chemical fertilizers that are washed into
the waterways and damage the water
supply and the life within it. Fertilizers can
increase the amounts of nitrates and
phosphates in the water, which can lead to
the process of eutrophication.

Allowing livestock to graze near water

sources often results in organic waste
products being washed into the waterways.
This sudden introduction of organic material
increases the amount of nitrogen in the
water, and can also lead to eutrophication.
Four hundred million tons of soil are carried
by the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico
each year. A great deal of this siltation is due
to runoff from the exposed soil of agricultural
fields. Excessive amounts of sediment in
waterways can block sunlight, preventing
aquatic plants from photosynthesizing, and
can suffocate fish by clogging their gills.

Business:
Clearing of land can lead to erosion of soil
into the river.
Waste and sewage generated by industry
can get into the water supply, introducing
large organic pollutants into the ecosystem.
Many industrial and power plants use rivers,
streams and lakes to dispose of waste heat.
The resulting hot water can cause thermal
pollution. Thermal pollution can have a
disastrous effect on life in an aquatic
ecosystem as temperature increases
decrease the amount of oxygen in the water,
thereby reducing the number of animals that

Water can become contaminated with toxic or

radioactive materials from industry, mine sites
and abandoned hazardous waste sites.
Acid precipitation is caused when the burning of
fossil fuels emits sulfur dioxide into the
atmosphere. The sulfur dioxide reacts with the
water in the atmosphere, creating rainfall which
contains sulfuric acid. As acid precipitation falls
into lakes, streams and ponds it can lower the
overall pH of the waterway, killing vital plant life,
thereby affecting the whole food chain. It can also
leach heavy metals from the soil into the water,
killing fish and other aquatic organisms. Because
of this, air pollution is potentially one of the most
threatening forms of pollution to aquatic
ecosystems.

How do we know when water is polluted?

Some forms of water pollution are very obvious: everyone has
seen TV news footage of oil slicks filmed from helicopters flying
overhead. Water pollution is usually less obvious and much
harder to detect than this. But how can we measure water
pollution when we cannot see it? How do we even know it's
there?
There are two main ways of measuring the quality of water.
One is to take samples of the water and measure the
concentrations of different chemicals that it contains. If the
chemicals are dangerous or the concentrations are too great,
we can regard the water as polluted. Measurements like this
are known as chemical indicators of water quality. Another way
to measure water quality involves examining the fish, insects,
and other invertebrates that the water will support. If many
different types of creatures can live in a river, the quality is
likely to be very good; if the river supports no fish life at all, the
quality is obviously much poorer. Measurements like this are
called biological indicators of water quality.

Practices
of people
and their
effects

People throw their garbage into lakes and rivers.

When this garbage decays, oxygen which is needed
by fishes and aquatic plants will be used up. As a
result ,these fishes and aquatic plants will die soon.

Factories throw their chemical wastes into the bodies

of water. These harmful chemicals such as lead,
mercury, and arsenic acids pollute the water of the
rivers. Fish, mussels (tahong) , and other aquatic
animals growing in it could eat these chemicals. The
people who eat these aquatic animals could get
poisoned.

Washing clothes and dishes in the

rivers and lakes is also not a good
practice. The detergents used by the
people for washing could poison the
fish and the other aquatic animals
and plants living in them.

Fertilizers sprayed by people on their plants could also pollute the

bodies of water. When it rains , these chemicals will find their
way into the rivers and seas. With the abundance of nutrients
and organic matter in the water, many algae and other plants will
then reduce the oxygen content of the river and the other bodies
of water. The result is the death of fish and other aquatic animals.

The crude oil that spills from boats and ships pollutes the seas and
oceans, too. When they cover the surface of water , the oxygen from
the air cannot dissolve in it . Aquatic animals that rely on oxygen to live
will not be able to breathe. They will soon die.

When people continuously do these practices,

many
microscopic
organisms
called
dinoflagellates will grow in bodies of water.
These
organism
produce
poisonous
substances which give a reddish color to the
water. This is known as the Red Tide. When
Red tide is present , many of our fishes ,
mussels , and other shells foods are affected .
It can even cause their death.

How can we stop water

pollution?
There is no easy way to solve water pollution; if there were, it
wouldn't be so much of a problem. Broadly speaking, there are
three different things that can help to tackle the problem
education, laws, and economicsand they work together as a
team.

Education
Making people aware of the problem is the first step to solving it.
In the early 1990s, when surfers in Britain grew tired of catching
illnesses from water polluted with sewage, they formed a group
called Surfers Against Sewage to force governments and water
companies to clean up their act. People who've grown tired of
walking the world's polluted beaches often band together to
organize community beach-cleaning sessions. Anglers who no
longer catch so many fish have campaigned for tougher
penalties against factories that pour pollution into our rivers.
Greater public awareness can make a positive difference.

Laws
One of the biggest problems with water pollution is its
transboundary nature. Many rivers cross countries, while seas
span whole continents. Pollution discharged by factories in one
country with poor environmental standards can cause problems
in neighboring nations, even when they have tougher laws and
higher standards. Environmental laws can make it tougher for
people to pollute, but to be really effective they have to
operate across national and international borders. This is why
we have international laws governing the oceans, such as the
1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (signed by over 120
nations), the 1972 London Dumping Convention, the 1978
MARPOL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution
from Ships, and the 1998 OSPAR Convention for the Protection
of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic. The
European Union has water-protection laws (known as directives)
that apply to all of its member states. They include the 1976
Bathing Water Directive, which seeks to ensure the quality of
the waters that people use for recreation. Most countries also
have their own water pollution laws. In the United States, for

Economics
Most environmental experts agree that the best way to tackle
pollution is through something called the polluter pays
principle. This means that whoever causes pollution should
have to pay to clean it up, one way or another. Polluter pays
can operate in all kinds of ways. It could mean that tanker
owners should have to take out insurance that covers the
cost of oil spill cleanups, for example. It could also mean that
shoppers should have to pay for their plastic grocery bags, as
is now common in Ireland, to encourage recycling and
minimize waste. Or it could mean that factories that use
rivers must have their water inlet pipes downstream of their
effluent outflow pipes, so if they cause pollution they
themselves are the first people to suffer. Ultimately, the
polluter pays principle is designed to deter people from
polluting by making it less expensive for them to behave in
an environmentally responsible way.

Our clean future

Life is ultimately about choicesand so is pollution.
We can live with sewage-strewn beaches, dead rivers,
and fish that are too poisonous to eat. Or we can work
together to keep the environment clean so the plants,
animals, and people who depend on it remain healthy.
We can take individual action to help reduce water
pollution, for example, by using environmentally
friendly detergents, not pouring oil down drains,
reducing pesticides, and so on. We can take
community action too, by helping out on beach cleans
or litter picks to keep our rivers and seas that little bit
cleaner. And we can take action as countries and
continents to pass laws that will make pollution
harder and the world less polluted. Working together,
we can make pollution less of a problemand the

Created by
Dariz Mae

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