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.
“Without water, life would not exist.” This is a quote taken from Water.org. However, it needs a little clarification, Without clean water, life will not exist for long. There are many countries today that do not have access to clean water. This necessity we the people of the United States of America take for granted is not a normal occurrence in every country. With this paper we will look at five different countries with the most polluted water in the world. We will see what is being done to help reduce the water pollution and how the water pollution is effecting the economy is these countries.
Water pollution from combined sewer overflow (CSO) into rivers and other waterways has become an increasing problem in the United States. An estimated 850 billion gallons of untreated storm and sewage water are released into our waterways each year. Given that our grey water infrastructures are unable to handle the volume of water entering their systems, a sustainable, eco-friendly solution is needed. A constructed wetland is a type of green infrastructure that can help to solve this problem of CSO. The cost of constructing this green infrastructure is less than that of traditional grey infrastructure. Advantages of the constructed wetland goes beyond improved water quality, to include lower operational costs, an added recreational area, increased habitat which could lead to greater diversity of wildlife. Educating local officials and community members about the benefits and sustainability of the green infrastructure will be vital in initiating the process of creating a wetland.
Water is one of our most important sources of life on earth, without water there would be no such thing as life. However, it seems that humans have not realized how important water is to the survival of all living things. Water pollution is one of the world 's worst forms of pollution. For example, take a look at a glass of water. “It may appear clear, but there are really millions of microscopic pollutants floating in it” (water Pollution). Approximately over half of the earth 's surface are covered by water; water is a very dynamic system, any change to its normal content could affect local, regional, and eventually worldwide drinking water. “Water pollution is the contamination of lakes, streams, bays, underground well water, or oceans by substances harmful to living things” (Smith). If the water pollution continues to grow the humans, plants, and animals that all require water will start dying, because the pollution in the water will get so bad that it will be unsafe to drink.
) This occurs because of industrial waste dumped into rivers and other water bodies cause an imbalance in the water leading to severe contamination and death of aquatic species.(Pollution: Causes and Effects) Another form of water pollution is spraying insecticides, pesticides on plants pollutes the groundwater system and oil spills in the oceans have caused irreparable damage to the water bodies.(Pollution: Causes and Effects) Eutrophication, is caused by the daily activities that people do like washing clothes, utensils near lakes, ponds or rivers; this forces detergents to go into bodies of water which block sunlight from penetrating the surface of the water and this reduces the oxygen that animals can get and makes it uninhabitable for aquatic species.(Pollution: Causes and Effects) Water pollution does not only harms aquatic life but it can also contaminate the entire food chain and cause diseases like cholera, diarrhoea if water pollution continues.(Pollution: Causes and Effects) Water pollution can cause ecosystems to severely change or be destroyed.(Effects of Water Pollution) Nutrient pollution from upstreams often flow downhill and even travel miles into other larger water bodies and can affect the types of algae that grows, and this can affect fish and other aquatic animals by absorbing sunlight.(Effects of Water Pollution) “Naturally, the order of ecosystems in that water are affected negatively, as the destruction or introduction of any foreign organism alter
Common pollution depicts the separating of the indigenous living space through the exhaustion of focal points, the pulverizing of natural systems and the decimation of plant and creature species. It is caused by brisk or circumlocutory human movement, and has reached out on an exceptionally essential level since the Industrial Revolution. The United Nations has recorded ecological defilement in its essential ten once-finished of strange state dangers looked by the planet to date. Organic corruption is caused in a gathering of courses, transcendently by human activities, however standard occasions can correspondingly understand the weakening of a situation. Seismic tremors, volcanoes and remarkable precipitation occasions would all have the ability to affect the earth in negative ways. Despite the way that these occasions can cause characteristic corruption they are a trademark event, and consequently different natural systems have changed as per their advantages. The traverse of these unsettling impacts is likewise unobtrusive when showed up distinctively in connection to the measure of harm the earth has kept up in light of human activities. The extraction of general assets and the creation of waste and various poisonous substances have extraordinarily ruined a noteworthy bundle of the planet's natural gatherings. Mining, deforestation, non-feasible power source consuming and contamination are only a piece of the human exercises that have incite the ecological debasement.
Climate change has an effect on water quality as a function of aridity on erosion, fire variables, and flood intensity. The conjunction of these factors lead to increased sediment in water sources for Greeley, Colorado. This research is an attempt to establish baseline and flood discharge rates in the context of climate change and events influenced by climate change on local water quality.
Water is essential to all life. Water makes up 71% of the earth, with only .5% of that available for use (not salt water). And that limited amount is facing an ever growing threat of becoming polluted by human means. Through the hydrologic cycle, water is in every part of the earth; underground, in the air, and surface waters. This alone means that there are many ways for pollutants to enter the system. Humans are the biggest polluters to water, putting industrial and domestic waste into the water cycle everyday. Some of the most frequent pollutants are fertilizers, pesticides, and litter.
Most people take their water supply for granted and what is needed to ensure they are drinking clean water, that will be healthy for their consumption as well as the environment. Therefore, as a plant manager of a growing urban area, my job is to ensure the community is provided with clean and abundant water. However, local water supply has becoming polluted and water is in short supply, and I am facing a grave issue. Due to residue and substances run off from Industrial waste, road salts, construction sites, heavy metals, fuel, gas, coal, firewood, bacteria from fertilizer usage, pet wastes, leaves, grass clippings, and faulty septic tanks. The residues and substances as damage animal habitats, causing many animals to lose their homes or die. Plants are damaged or killed and some plants have exploded rapidly over areas. In addition, citizen’s ability to enjoy local areas such as parks, ponds, lake, and rivers, as become toxic with bacteria, parasites, and chemical toxins. According to Help Save Nature (2017), this causes a change in the temperature of the water and it harms the life forms and affects the balance between various organisms in the water bodies.
Well basically the NRDC forces the government to protect the water. NRDC pressures the federal government to protect all U.S. waters under the Clean Water Act. They also fight for policies and practices that ensure a safe and sufficient water supply through efficiency, pollution controls, better management, and infrastructure improvements. NRDC urged the federal government to clear up legal uncertainties that undermined the Clean Water Act and exposed important headwaters, streams, and wetlands to dangerous pollution.
A duck wakes up in the morning looking for her missing baby in the river. All of the babies are present except the youngest one. After a few minutes, a weak scream comes from distance and the mother finds her baby in an empty bean can. California is facing the issue of contamination in drinking water because people are lacking knowledge about what might be the results of drinking this water. One study shows that some of the particles in water specifically can cause asthma, cardiovascular problems and cancer (Katz n.p.). According to this fact many people are risking their health by drinking toxic water. As the population of California increases, the contamination in water increases as well. Some of many areas which have polluted drinking water are located where the low-income families live (Katz n.p.). These low-income communities have a tendency to be most affected by these hazards since they are mostly unemployed and they cannot speak out their issues. Contaminated drinking water is a crucial, often unnoticed problem in California that disproportionately affects low-income communities.
FAO (1992) noted that the adulteration of water supplies from both natural and anthropogenic sources has impacted on the health and economic status of populations. Human activities contribute to pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides and herbicides into aquatic ecosystems. These anthropogenic activities continuously increase the amounts in the environment. According to Malik et al. (2010), heavy metal pollution is burgeoning at an frightening rate and has become an important worldwide problem Increase in population, urbanization, industrialization and agricultural practices as well as lack of environmental regulations have further aggravated the situation (Gupta et al., 2009).
Pollution can become a serious situation when the lives of humans and wildlife are threatened, therefore, it is researchers and scientists jobs to keep pollution controlled at the least through water regulations. There have been many stories of water pollution within the last decade pertaining to the discovery of dangerous metals. For example. The Flint Michigan water crisis in 2016 was due a water supply change that ended up containing lead and causing extreme illness to the population and a decrease as well according to researcher Victoria Morckel.1 Even researchers of the American Public Health Association discussed copper contamination in the water as well.2 Consequently, testing the water supply of the many different cities and
Annually, 90 million people add to the current population of 6.5 billion. At this rate the global population will reach approximately 8.5 billion by 2025 (http://dieoff.org/page120.htm). As the global population grows exponentially, so does the demand for natural resources. Of all these natural resources, water, is the most vital for survival and expansion. Human's dependency on water will never go away, making it a key part to any civilizations future. It is used daily for purposes such as: drinking, washing, bathing, sustaining agriculture, acquiring energy, and transporting goods. All of which help sustain a society's stability. In Jared Diamond's book, Collapse, he reveals similarities and
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.