Environmental Effects Of Water Pollution

When you think of problems in the world today, water pollution isn’t one that would normally come up. In fact it is one of the worst problems in the world today. Water pollution, by definition, is the contamination of streams, lakes, underground water, bays, or oceans by any substances harmful to living things. All living things contain water and most need water to survive, so water pollution is a big problem. If severe, the pollution can kill off birds, fish, and any animals that use the water source. In some cases even killing an entire species.

In order to have a thriving and healthy society a clean water supply is a very simple but necessary resource. Dating back to the beginning of civilizations the need for clean water was an essential need. The Clean Water Act dates to Franklin D Roosevelt’s administration. In 1972 Congress amended and passed what is now known as the Clean Water Act to protect our precious resource of water. The clean water Act prevented the dumping of pollutants into navigable waters without a permit. Many municipalities and commercial entities had previously dumped sewage and unregulated waste in to our rivers and streams contaminating a great percentage of our drinking water. This wreck less contamination of our waterways not only affected humans but also affected our wildlife including fish and animal’s life that depended on these waters. Any municipality or company that could affect our waters would need to apply for a permit to do so. While the Clean Water Act was a landmark legislation that was supported by both Democrats and Republicans alike over the years has seen expansion of the EPA’s interpretation of the law and has created a controversy in Administrative Law that has many challenges up to the Unites States Supreme Court. (Television, n.d.)

Water is probably the most important resource we as people have. Humans can survive without food for several weeks, but without water we would die in less than a week. On a slightly less dramatic note, millions of liters of water are needed every day worldwide for washing, irrigating crops, and cooling industrial processes, not to mention leisure industries such as swimming pools and water-sports centers. Despite our dependence on water, we use it as a dumping ground for all sorts of waste, and do very little to protect the water supplies we have.

It is easy person to point their finger at big industrial and chemical plants and blame them for the cause of so much pollution in our water. When taking a closer look, those same people pointing the finger are equally contributing to the pollution of our water supply and are also to blame. This person could be a friend, family member, classmate, or even you. Even if people do not think that they have a part in this, most do. A variety of data has shown traces of pharmaceuticals used by every day humans in our water. As well as pharmaceuticals there is a presence of chemical contaminants, mainly pesticides that are causing harm to our environment and wildlife. Even humans can be affected by such contamination in the water supply, and

The exponential growth of human population, caused an unprecedented problem for the global ecosystem. (Carolina EcoKits, 2012) The increase in pollution brought upon great fear and concern about what types of contaminants were in the foods and water supply for citizens. In 1977, the Clean Water Act was passed, the act ensured that any release of pollutants at toxic levels into any water source was forbidden. (Carolina EcoKits, 2012) It allowed for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set guidelines and standards for how pollutants were emptied in navigable waters. (Carolina EcoKits, 2012)

Water pollution is when, “one or more substances have built up in the water to such an extent that they cause problems for animals and people” (Woodford). Water pollution is also bad for humans and animal’s health. Sewage, chemicals, radioactive waste, oil pollution, and plastic, are some causes for water pollution (Explain That Stuff). When water from rain runs off roofs and roads into rivers it carries away trash, toxic chemicals, dirt, and harmful organisms (NRDC Water). Some solutions to these are to throw things into the correct bin, use water wisely, and not throw chemicals, oil, paints, and medicine down the sink, drain, or toilet. Also plant lots of trees and have cities develop a sewage treatment plant to minimize pollution (eSchool Today). It’s important to protect our

The one thing humans need on this planet to survive is water. If we need water to survive, then why are polluting it? Most of our nation’s waterways are in terrible condition because of the pollution in the water. Water pollution not only can cause illnesses, but also deaths for humans. Humans aren’t the only thing that water pollution causes harm to. It is also hurting our ecosystem. Humans are the leading cause of most water pollution. We keep throwing wastes into the water making the water unsafe for humans to drink. Scientists are coming up with ways for humans to decrease the amount of wastes they are putting in the water. We need to stop polluting the one thing that keeps us alive.

When we talk about how water is being polluted we just justify ourselves saying that there is a lot of water in this world and that a little bit of it getting damaged doesn’t matter at all. To understand the consequences of water pollution we first have to know what water pollution is and how it happens. Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies like lakes, rivers and oceans. This form of environmental degradation occurs “when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds” (“Wikipedia”). Chemical waste from factories is sometimes dumped into rivers and lakes. These chemical

Water pollution and pollution in general is a problem that people don’t like to deal with. Water pollution can cause so much damage to people and to the animals that live in that body of water. The laws that we have are doing what they need to but we need to monitor the water more closely because if we don’t catch the pollution when it happens it could have a disastrous impact on the environment. It could kill all of the plant and animal life that lives in the water. Some of the pollutions that occur are very hard to clean up and the Eco-system may never fully recover. To clean something up it takes a lot of hours and a lot of man power to get this mess taken care of. Water pollution could be the cause of some animals being endangered.

Pollution comes in many forms. In the ocean we dump a variety of substances, including human wastes, chemicals from fertilizers, oil, and trash such as plastic which all contribute to the growing issue of our ocean pollution. In addition to, our usable waters are finite. More than 97.5 percent of the water on this planet is undrinkable salt water; the remaining 2.5 percent has two-thirds of the usable fresh water locked up in glaciers, snow, and permafrost. Of the one-third of freshwater that is available for human use, 20 percent is used for industrial use. (“Water Pollution”) “In effect, water pollution reduces the volume of water available

Water pollution has been an issue for decades here on Earth. Wildlife that lives in or near the ocean are being harmed because of all the trash and waste in the water. For Example: 70% of industrial waste are being dumped into water. Because of all this industrial water, 64% of lakes are not clean because of water pollution, 44% of streams are not clean because of pollution, and 30% of bays are not clean because of water pollution. In 1978, the Amoco Cadiz oil platform spilled over 220,000 tons of oil off the coast of France. This resulted in the death of many species of wildlife around the world. When humans make big mistakes causing natural disasters, the wildlife are the ones that usually pay the price. The people of the United States can reduce water pollution by picking up other people’s trash that is left on the ground, stopping people from draining oil from their vehicles into sources of water, and getting rid of the use of pesticides and other fertilizers.

People have been polluting the ocean for many years. Since bottled water has become popular throughout the U.S, the rates of plastic in our ocean have been increasing. The amount of times our animals have been killed because of plastic is unbelievable. If we want our Earth to be clean we need to stop putting plastic in landfills, stop polluting our ocean with plastic, and stop letting animals eat plastic.

Water pollution is the contamination of water by untreated sewage as well as human waste, often to the point when water becomes undrinkable or usable. According to Woodford C, around one-half of all ocean contamination is caused by sewage and waste. “Each year, the world generates perhaps 5–10 billion tons of industrial waste, much of which is pumped untreated into rivers, oceans, and other waterways.” (“Woodford C.” 19). “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 and illegally dumped by manufacturing industries, health center, schools and market places.” (“ESchooltoday” page 4, (3)). As a result of all this pollution in water, a lot of people are dying. Furthermore, Britain tried to force the government to take some kind of action to purify the water so that people can get no illnesses with safe drinking water in 1990’s. “In the early 1990s, when surfers in Britain grew tired of catching illnesses from

70 % of our Earth surface is covered by water and almost 60% of the human body contain water for nutrient transportation. The unique characteristic of water is water molecule is the only substance in this Earth that exist in all three physical states of matter which are solid, liquid and gas. All human beings need water to survive. The national development over the years cause the rate of water pollution increased. According to Gebre & Rooijen (2009) water pollution can be considered as a sign that derives from economic growth and is a common phenomenon in urbanized cities in developing countries. In general, there are three main issues that related to water pollution which are the causes, effects and the way to decrease this problem.

waterways. Because water can float and be carried by the wind, it can cause harm