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The Effect Of Human Activity On The Abundance Of Freshwater Organisms Essay

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The Effect of Human Activity on the Abundance of Freshwater Microorganisms

Fatima Cubillas Flores

Biology Honors Period 5
Dr. Frank
21 November 2016

It is an undoubted fact that humans can impact the quality of water, and there has also been an immense increase in the need for water for survival in today’s society. Water is used for many purposes such as in manufactured goods, for the growth of food, for mere drinking, and for the production and use of energy (Gleick). The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S.A. suggests that humans get an average of one-and-a-half milliliters of water per calorie of food.. Bathing is suggested to need an average of 70 litres of water for every human being a day. 11.5 liters of water is on average used for food preparation a day; from this it becomes clear that freshwater sources are very important to the survival of the human race (Gleick). Water is so important to the survival of all organisms that as human activity increases in sources of freshwater, it calls to attention: How does human activity affect the abundance of microorganisms and water quality of the water?
The presence and variety of microorganisms in water accounts for most of the indicators of water quality. The presence of Coliform is a big indicator of fecal contamination in freshwater sources. Coliform bacteria is an organism that is naturally present in the human digestive tract; these tend to be rare and

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