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Introduction To Water Pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water sources that makes water unusable. Pollutants include chemicals, trash, bacteria, and parasites from sources like industry, agriculture, livestock, and sewage. This causes health issues like diarrhea and diseases that kill over 500,000 people annually. Preventing water pollution through reducing emissions, chemical use, and plastic waste can help ensure access to clean water and a healthy environment.

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380 views5 pages

Introduction To Water Pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water sources that makes water unusable. Pollutants include chemicals, trash, bacteria, and parasites from sources like industry, agriculture, livestock, and sewage. This causes health issues like diarrhea and diseases that kill over 500,000 people annually. Preventing water pollution through reducing emissions, chemical use, and plastic waste can help ensure access to clean water and a healthy environment.

Uploaded by

Yashvi Rai
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to water pollution

What is water pollution?

Water pollution is the contamination of water sources by substances that 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 the water.
Air pollution settles onto lakes and oceans. Land pollution can seep into an underground stream, then
into a river, and finally into the ocean.
Thus, waste dumped in a vacant lot can eventually pollute a water supply.

CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION

  Global warming

  Deforestation

 Industry, agriculture, and livestock farming

  Rubbish and faecal water dumping

  Maritime traffic
 Fuel spillages

Effects of water pollution


1. death of aquatic animals
2. rivers are changed into the dustbin
3. shortage of drinking water
4. increase in the bod

PREVENTION OF WATER POLLUTION

Half of the world's inhabitants will live in water-scarce areas by 2025, so every drop of
polluted water today is an irreparable loss for tomorrow. That's why we must prevent
water pollution with measures like the following:

 Reduce CO2 emissions to prevent global warming and acidification of the oceans.

 Reduce the use of chemical pesticides and nutrients on crops.

 Reduce and safely treat wastewater so that, as well as not polluting, it can be reused for
irrigation and energy production.

 Restrict the use of single-use plastics that end up floating in rivers, lakes and oceans, many
as microplastics.

 Encourage sustainable fishing to ensure the survival of species and avoid depletion of the
seas.
Content:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that polluted water is water whose composition
has been changed to the extent that it is unusable. 

In other words, it is toxic water that cannot be drunk or used for essential purposes like
agriculture, and which also causes diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid that
kill more than 500,000 people worldwide every year.

The main water pollutants include bacteria, viruses, parasites, fertilisers, pesticides,
pharmaceutical products, nitrates, phosphates, plastics, faecal waste and even radioactive
substances. 

These substances do not always change the colour of the water, meaning that they are often
invisible pollutants. That's why small amounts of water and aquatic organisms are tested to
determine water quality.

Causes of water pollution


It is sometimes caused by nature, such as when mercury filters from the Earth's crust, polluting
oceans, rivers, lakes, canals and reservoirs. However, the most common cause of poor quality water
is human activity and its consequences,

Global warming

Rising global temperatures caused by CO2 emissions heat the water, reducing its oxygen


content.

Deforestation

Felling forests can exhaust water resources and generate organic residue which becomes a


breeding ground for harmful bacteria.

Industry, agriculture and livestock farming

Chemical dumping from these sectors is one of the main causes of eutrophication of water.

Rubbish and faecal water dumping


The UN says that more than 80% of the world's sewage finds its way into seas and rivers
untreated.

Maritime traffic

Much of the plastic pollution in the ocean comes from fishing boats, tankers and cargo
shipping.

Fuel spillages

The transportation and storage of oil and its derivatives is subject to leakage that pollutes our
water resources.

EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION

Deteriorating water quality is damaging the environment, health conditions and the global
economy. The president of the World Bank, David Malpass, warns of the economic impact:
"Deteriorating water quality is stalling economic growth and exacerbating poverty in many
countries". The explanation is that, when biological oxygen demand — the indicator that
measures the organic pollution found in water — exceeds a certain threshold, the growth in
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the regions within the associated water basins falls by
a third. 

 Destruction of biodiversity. Water pollution depletes aquatic ecosystems and


triggers unbridled proliferation of phytoplankton in lakes — eutrophication —.

 Contamination of the food chain. Fishing in polluted waters and the use of waste
water for livestock farming and agriculture can introduce toxins into foods which are
harmful to our health when eaten.

 Lack of potable water. The UN says that billions of people around the world have no
access to clean water to drink or sanitation, particularly in rural areas.

 Disease. The WHO estimates that about 2 billion people have no option but to drink
water contaminated by excrement, exposing them to diseases such as cholera,
hepatitis A and dysentery.
 Infant mortality. According to the UN, diarrhoeal diseases linked to lack of hygiene
cause the death of about 1,000 children a day worldwide.

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