Water Pollution : The Slow Demise Of A Community

In 1960, Lake Erie was very polluted A lot of the cities such as Toledo, Sandusky, and Port Clinton’s waste was dumped into Lake Erie. Many of the factories that were surrounding the lake erie would dump their waste into the river, which was the cause of a lot of the pollution. Pesticides and chemicals from nearby farms washed off into the river whenever it rained, so the chemicals started to pollute the river. The cities that surround the near by river or lake paid a huge amount of money to get new sewer systems to help keep the water clean. This major source of freshwater is critical to the survival of the entire ecosystem and must be protected at all costs.

First a background on the problem with water pollution must be given. Both oceans and freshwater

More than 24 billion gallons of untreated sewage waste and storm water are pumped into the lakes annually. Pollution is increasing as well, due to the cottage development, where people enjoy spending their summers relaxing. For many years, the lake habitats have been affected by pollution and habitat destruction. The market for fish is tremendous; so much so, that we have depleted our fishing resources, and have had to market on invasive species.

Many contaminants settle out of the atmosphere, such as acid rain, the pollutants and nutrients will transport from distant places by air depositing into the lake as the form of rain. The first pollutants as atmospheric deposition on the Great Lakes were phosphorus. It is found that about 20 percent phosphorus entering Lake Michigan comes from the atmosphere by determination of rain, snow and dust. Since phosphorus pollution generated by this approach cannot be controlled, so it is more urgent to reduce the phosphorus content of detergent, sewer and effluent fertilizers. People found fish in a lake of Lake Superior in a remote island containing PCBs and toxaphene, and this place isolated with no direct way to pollution. This determines the long-range transport of pollutants through the atmosphere and settlement in the lake. In fact the processes of material transport through atmospheric was very complex. For instance PCBs was insoluble in water, so as to re-enter the atmosphere during evaporation or connected together into small particles. A lot of PCBs volatilize from the lake, meanwhile, PCBs coming from various parts of the air mass experience the sedimentation on the lake. Other than that the contaminated sediment is another way to cause pollution of the lake. This is problems of the most urban industrial areas. Even if there is likely to remove severely contaminated sediments in

The Great Lakes have been under threat for the last two centuries, but the situation is the far worse today. It use to be believed that dumping sewage or chemicals into rivers and lakes was a great way to dilute and disperse it. As it turns out, it's not a good idea since those are the very rivers and lakes that we get our drinking water from. In recent decades, a lot has been done to stop that practice, but the sources and amount of pollution keeps skyrocketing each year. This pollution in the lakes must be stop at once or else bad consequences will be appond us because of it

Although the amount of pollutants from a single town or construction site may seem insignificant, the combined concentrations of contaminants threaten our lakes, streams and wetlands. When things such as: human and animal waste, decaying plants and animals, discarded litter, or food waste enter surface waters, either dissolved or suspended in stormwater runoff, they can deplete the supply of dissolved oxygen in the water. When dissolved oxygen is reduced below a certain critical level, it can impair or kill aquatic plants and animals (CNYRPDB, 2011).

Have you ever thought when you litter you could be polluting a whole lake! In 1972 Congress passed a law tightening regulations about factories and pollution. Forty-five years later we still are having problems with pollution. Lake Erie was so polluted that “Lake Erie Is Dead” started to appear in headlines of newspapers in 1960. Lake Erie’s name was replaced by “Dead Lake” due to the condition of the lake. In 1972 Lake Erie’s mess inspired the Congress to pass the Clean Water Act. Now in 2017 conditions of Lake Erie has not improved.

Water pollution has become a major problem in our water sources. People think that when they litter or dump in our waters that their little contribution will not hurt anything, but everyone’s little contributions add up to some major problems. Our water ecosystems and the species that reside in them are being destroyed and we need to take the steps necessary to stop this. Why would anyone use the source of most of the world’s food as a dumping ground for garbage? People need to start realizing what it is they are doing when they do not take the proper steps to dispose of their garbage and the problems they are making for the future.

Just a few miles away, our Great Lakes are being ravaged by plastic particles being released throughout. Issues around the world regarding water have always been prevalent. Dehydration kills about 2.2 million children every year. We can not stand idle by as a possible solution degrades daily right next to us. Lake Erie is known as the most polluted of the Great Lakes however, Lake Michigan is close behind. Due to the boom in industry in the Milwaukee and Chicago areas during the Industrial Revolution, and the disregard of the environmental impact, Michigan has already absorbed a large amount of pollutants. Only one percent of the water in the Great Lakes leave the

TRASH! TRASH! TRASH! Regardless of environmental laws that protect the quality of streams and lakes, garbage often ends up in our waters. Most of the trash comes from people who fish or participate in other forms of water-related recreation. Regardless of the source, trash is a form of water pollution. The most important issue facing us is the preserving of our waterways for future generations to enjoy. There are several things which can be done to make a difference regarding this issue so we will have a lifetime to enjoy our beautiful rivers and lakes.

While reading this assignment pollution is a major problem in our water supply. However, I believe there are some solutions out there that could cut down on the number of waste that enters our water source. Having our waters being polluted is no small matter, but I think a bigger problem is the consumption of water and the staggering amount of water we waste.

Don’t you want he plants and animals living in the lake to have a healthy environment so they do not die off? With pollution it causes algae blooms to form. When algae blooms form, they can release toxins that can sicken and kill animals that live in the water. Fish die from having so much pollution. Would you want your environment to be polluted so much that you die? Just because fish are animals does not mean that they get less respect.

Lake Winnipeg has been a neglected problem in its wide international, provincial watersheds for several decades. Due to its immense size and severity of the problem, short and long term goals should be set. The ultimate goal should be to return the nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the lake to its pre-1970’s values. This will ensure that the communities in the watershed have safe drinking water, secure water supplies and a healthy aquatic ecosystem. There is no magic solution to the neglected pollution in the lake. In order to meet these goals, diverse parts of the watershed will need to collaborate together and fix one part at a time, so that someday, Lake Winnipeg will be back to its healthy state.

When we talk about how water is being polluted we just justify ourselves saying that there is a lot of water in this world and that a little bit of it getting damaged doesn’t matter at all. To understand the consequences of water pollution we first have to know what water pollution is and how it happens. Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies like lakes, rivers and oceans. This form of environmental degradation occurs “when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds” (“Wikipedia”). Chemical waste from factories is sometimes dumped into rivers and lakes. These chemical

The quality of water in the Great Lakes not only effects the different species living in the lakes, but human health, all over Canada as well. “The five lakes occupy an area greater than half a billion square kilometers, have a shoreline of 17,000 kilometers, and are surrounded by a population of over 33 million.” (Sproule-Jones, Mark., 2002.) With the lakes being so massive there are plenty of different species living in them and people surrounding the lakes, living off the water. These factors make poor water quality an even bigger issue. Pollution can be seen in many forms; such as fecal contamination, toxic contamination from metals, nitrates and pesticides,