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 …show more content…
Present in all bodies of water are self cleaning mechanisms that are suppose to be able to break down the chemicals into simpler compounds that don’t harm the environment such as carbon dioxide (Rana, 2006, p. 42). Since there so many pollutants that the world is putting into our sewage systems on top of the runoffs from crops, and waste from manufacturers, the mechanisms can’t keep up with the toxic build up and eventually the water is concentrated with chemicals. Therefore the amphibian population starts to become poisoned and deformed. People tend to look past such issues because of the misconception that water treatment plants will just filter all the chemicals out easily. Although the treatment systems for our water are highly advanced, they fail to remove all the chemical agents from harmful pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and hazardous waste. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) described the general treatment of wastewater and its two basic stages, primary and secondary. In the primary treatment most solids are caught in a screen, then the sewage goes to a grit chamber to settle small pieces of debris at the bottom, then through the sedimentation tank. Afterwards, secondary treatment removes a majority of the organic matter, eventually being chlorinated before reaching an effluent (EPA, 1998). Over the last thirty years or so the population of frogs has begun to decline across the world. Not only until
Not only is pollution the cause of the death of many organisms essential to ecological balance, but human drinking water has also been affected.
Chemicals harm the growth of plants and animals, chemicals can lead animals to death. Many of the water animals
Researchers are currently trying to gain knowledge on the extent of the problem; how the parasite works, what species can be infected, and once infected, what species experience the least amount of symptoms. They believe that by infecting native tree frogs with this parasite, they may be able to increase the amount of parasites while decreasing the amount of toads. L.Pizzatto and R. Shine (2011) had three assumptions. “(1) The parasite has no detrimental effect on the frogs; (2) the frogs are capable of maintaining a lungworm infection long term; and (3) infective larvae passed in the frog’s faeces are capable of infecting toads and reducing their viability.” (p.546)
The Northern Correboree Frogs were quite abundant and plentiful in the Fiery Range. Only one population, Ginni Flats ( a sub-alpine area), was monitored annually, and in these inspections, the scientists and people monitoring these sites found out the numbers of frogs had substantially dropped and has been low ever since. Despite these statistics, with my gathered information I assume that in the past 200 years till now, had a huge difference in population, meaning that the Northern Correboree Frogs are
To begin with, humans can become very sick due to chemicals in the water.As more farmland is being made, many people grow sugarcane. When they harvest the crop, the fertilizer chemicals can enter the water In the
A news study has found that ponds in suburban areas have almost twice the proportion of female frogs to male frogs than isolated, forest-bound ponds. The estrogen in suburban wastewater disrupts frogs' reproductive systems, causing them to spawn far more female frogs than male frogs, and in effect threatening the entire species and ecosystem.
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
We all know stories of frogs being tossed into boiling water - for example, a young couple being plunged into catastrophic debt by an
According Oraclethinkquest, "Water pollution has the potential to have a harmful effect on all living things including plants and animal species. Chemicals, radioactive waste, industrial waste in the water can affect species and their development. There is no
Everyday pesticides are dumped into our environment. Over time most of the pesticides make thier way to a source of water, whether it's groundwater or a body of water. According to Lewis Regenstein author of "America the Poisoned" two thirds of the nation's lakes have serious pollution problems. 80% of 3,700 urban lakes in the United States are destroyed. More than 94 million residents could use these lakes for recreational use or for a source of water (169). Cincinnati's drinking water contains about 700 chemicals. 90% of them did not exist 20 years ago. The main sources of most of these chemical pollutants are municipal sewage, industrial discharges, and runoffs from farming areas. There are also several other chemicals in America's drinking water. Although hazardous, there are approximately 60 chemicals that are mixed into water in the process of treating it. Unlike rivers or lakes, underground supplies are not processed at treatment plants before being used by humans. "More than one hundred million of our citizens depend in a whole or in part on underground as sources of drinking water (Beck qtd. in Regenstein 172). Once groundwater becomes contaminated, there is usually no way to clean it.
First, control over the discharge can take place at the point of generation within the plant itself. Second, the polluted water can be sent to water treatment plants before it is released into the surrounding water sources. Third, the waste water can be treated within the plant and recycled again, or treated in the plant and released.
Water pollutants introduce abnormal conditions (harmful chemicals, changes in water temperatures) into water bodies, disrupting existing ecosystems and can potentially contribute to reducing biodiversity in that affected area – one of the effects of water pollution. For example, the discharge of heated-up water from thermal and nuclear power plants into a river can cause problems for aquatic organisms, which are fairly used to specific temperatures. The increase in water temperatures could increase their metabolic rates and hence their need for food. This could eventually lead to the depletion of food sources in that water region and in turn cause a reduction in species population in that water region. Besides thermal pollution, water could also be polluted via the entry of acidic substances into the water bodies through rivers, seas and oceans. The effects of water pollution by this process, known as
One reason, frog’s habitat are being destroyed by humans. In text, it says, “Amphibians like these fishless habitats, but humans drain them in order to create land for housing, parking lots and shopping malls.” It shows that people don’t understand that they are hurting frogs by destroying many parts of the frog’s habitat.
Frogs, toads, caecilians, and salamanders are the members of the class Amphibian (amphi- meaning “on both sides” and bios- meaning “life”). These members always require water for reproduction. Most Amphibians undergo metamorphosis, which is a usually degenerative pathological change in the structure of a particular body tissue. And, in the case of Amphibians, it is the changing of a tadpole into
Primary treatment involves sedimentation, and is the process by which about 30 to 50 percent of the suspended solid materials in raw wastewater are removed. Sedimentation must precede all biological filtration operations. The organic matter that remains after primary treatment is extracted by biological secondary treatment process to meet effluent standards. Secondary treatment commonly is carried out using activated-sludge processes, trickling filters, or rotating biological contactors.