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Thermal Pollution Essay

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Thermal Pollution

Recently we've allowed our planet to begin overheating. With the introduction of CFC's and Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere we've managed to raise the temperature of this vast resource. Even more ignorant is our failure to learn from our mistakes. Now, through thermal pollution (the introducton of waste heat into water), we've began destroying the womb of all life-the earth's vast water network.

The Causes:

There are three major causes of thermal pollution.

the use of water as a cooling agent deforestation of shorelines soil erosion

The foremost cause being the use of water as a cooling agent in nuclear power plants and other industrial facilities. After the water has absorbed the …show more content…

The pile up of dead plants leads to an increase of bacteria, bacteria that consume oxygen along with dead plants.
Therein lies the problem. There is now less oxygen and a greater demand for it. The warmer water also increases the metabolic rate of fish, which leads to a sharp decrease in the life expectancy of aquatic insects. The fish have an increasing the need for oxygen due to a rise in their metabolism and population. With the lack of aquatic insects animals other than fish face a shortage of food. Also affected by thermal pollution is an animal's sensitivity to toxic waste, parasites, and other diseases.

Water pollution

Water pollution involves the release into lakes, streams, rivers, and oceans of substances that become dissolved or suspended in the water or deposited upon the bottom and accumulate to the extent that they interfere with the functioning of aquatic ecosystems. It may also include the release of energy in the form of radioactivity or heat, as in the case of thermal pollution. Any body of water has the capacity to absorb, break down, or recycle introduced materials. Under normal circumstances, inorganic substances are widely dispersed and have little or no effect on life within the bodies of water into which they are released; organic materials are broken down by bacteria or other organisms and converted into a form in which they are useful to aquatic life. But, if the

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