Riparian Zones Can Negatively Affect Water Quality

Water, is a very valuable and necessary resource that, must be managed more carefully. Quantity-wise it is endless; all around the world there are many bodies of water. Ground sources, such as aquifers, as well as surface water, including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, ponds, and streams. Because of its endlessness it becomes more difficult to manage it all. Clean water that is readily available, for developed and devolving nations alike, is a challenge. There are many factors that play into what can access water sources, and pollute it. Pollution of water is a worldwide problem that occurs too frequently. There are various contributors to water pollution including agriculture, industry, waste management, as well as naturally occurring

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.

Not only is pollution the cause of the death of many organisms essential to ecological balance, but human drinking water has also been affected.

The polluted water supply that results can become harmful to humans. Aquatic life quickly suffers the effects of watershed pollution.

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

Land transformation as a result of anthropogenic effects continues to be one of the biggest threats to the ecological integrity of headwater streams today. Land transformation induced by human alterations to the landscape, have been shown to have negative impacts on habitat, water quality, and the biota of natural waterways (Allan 2004). For instance, in 2004 Gage found that macro invertebrates were negatively impacted by anthropogenic mediated land use, which often lead to declines and even eliminations of sensitive taxa from the stream (Gage et. al. 2004). Urbanization is considered to be one of the driving forces behind land transformation and is mainly responsible for increases in impervious surface area. Increases in impervious surface area have led to the rapid conveyance of storm waters, resulting in the increased presence of oils, metals, and road salts within surface waters (Moore et. al. 2005). The increased presence of these solutes are leading to variations in ionic concentrations that deviate from natural concentrations, thus altering the conductivity within the water systems.

Measuring the water quality is important because water quality is absolutely vital for the river to be a healthy environment for the organisms around it. Water quality, if good, will support native fish, various microorganisms, various species of plants, and bird populations. The quality of a river’s water is commonly decided by its physical, chemical, biological and aesthetic traits. A healthy environment is one in which the water quality supports a healthy ecosystem; many of our own personal uses depend on the quality of the water that will be used drinking, fishing, recreation, and many other important uses. [2]

A natural solution to increase water quality in an area is a “No Mow Zone” also known as a Riparian Zone. A “No Mow Zone” is the area between the aquatic environment and the developed land (roads, building, etc.) (Chagrin River Watershed Partners, 2010). This area is meant to be grown out with little to none human influence. The size of this area should be about three times the width of the river or stream (Chagrin River Watershed Partners, 2010). When the plants and shrubs

After taking samples, and running tests on the water of the U-Creek, the conclusion was made that the water quality of the U-Creek is excellent. Water quality is not excellent in all cases, but keeping good water quality is very important for life of the organisms in the water. One way that humans could change the water quality, or pollute the water is through runoff. Rivers are a very convenient place for the companies or farms to get rid of waste. For example, farmers put pesticides and fertilizers on their crops to protect them from bugs, or to help them grow better. Fertilizers contain nitrates and phosphates, if large amounts of these two things end up in the water it will lead to an overgrowth of plant life, and algae growth. Over time as the algae starts to rapidly grow, the algae will start to use up all of the dissolved oxygen in the water. Dissolved oxygen is very important to organism life so if it is all gone then organisms will start to die. Another way that humans pollute water is through chemical water deposits. Chemical waste is discharged from industrial processes, that can end up in rivers or streams. An example of a

Water pollution impacts how humans and other living organisms live their life. Most common way humans are effected by water pollution is through diseases while drinking the water. Scientists have found over “five hundred different types of diseases” that can affect humans. (Book). These diseases get into the water streams by human and animal wastes. The diseases in the water can often lead to death for humans. Recent research has shown that that each year

Riparian areas are locations of many communities that not many acknowledge as a primary needs or impactful regions. Growing up along a riverbed opened my eyes to the importance of a healthy riparian area and what happens to the surrounding habitat if the area is not maintained. Without necessary support, a riverbed collapses over time and creates a layer of sediment on the riverbed, this results in a loss of riverside habitat and the loss of niche to many water creatures. I witnessed this as a need along Wolf Creek in Lacombe and decided that someone must take the initiative, I was that person. To raise funds and awareness of my project I entered the Caring For Our Watersheds competition, I qualified in the top ten and placed sixth, earning $600 for the

The water quality of the U-High creek was excellent, but not all bodies of water have excellent water quality. Humans can pollute water by farmers putting pesticides and fertilizers on their crops. Putting fertilizers on the crops pollutes water, because when it rains the pesticides and fertilizers get washed off and carried into the water, and this adds nitrates and phosphates to the water which is called eutrophication, and it increases the amount of algae in the water. When there is an excess amount of algae in water, there is an excess amount of bacteria the uses up most of the oxygen which kills plants and animals. (River Quality and Pollution,2016) The second way humans pollute water is when it rains there is runoff, and all of the pollution on the ground get carried into the water. Runoff is when it rains the soil and other things get carried to other places. An example of runoff is when there is a heavy rain, the soil sitting on the sides of a hill loosen and slide down the hill toward the bottom causing a buildup at the bottom of the hill.

The quality of water in the U-High creek was excellent. In other water areas the water quality might not be the same. There are different ways humans can pollute the water. Runoff is a good way to pollute the waterways. When you litter on the ground rainfall will pick up the trash and take it to the water. This then makes the water quality go down.(Howard Perlman, May 2, 2016) Another way humans can pollute is with pesticides from farmers. They spray these pesticides on the plants and then rainfall takes the pesticides from the plants and brings it to the water. This then makes the nitrogen and phosphate levels go up and bring the amount of algae in the water. Thus bringing the amount of oxygen in the water down.(Arthur S. Brooks, 2016) Next

Which focusses on both the physical geography of freshwater and human impacts on water quality.

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 biological communities.