WATER POLLUTION

Introduction

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater). Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds.

Causes

Water pollution causes are generally categorized into two types:

• Point source• Non–point source

Point sources:

• Sewage

• Waste water Domestic wastewater

Industrial wastewater

Agricultural wastewater

• Chemical waste

• Radioactive waste

• Thermal pollution

• Mining activities

• Urban run off

Non-point sources• Oil effluents

• Nutrients

• Disruption of sediments

• Solid waste

• Global warming

MechanismThere are many ways of how water can be polluted.

• Runoff As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters.

• Metals get into freshwater

Metals are introduced in aquatic systems as a result of the weathering of soils and rocks, from volcanic eruptions, and from a variety of human activities involving the mining, processing, or use of metals and/or substances that contain metal pollutants.

Effects

• Waterborne infectious disease Pathogens originating from excreta contaminates the

water.

• Disparity in the ecosystemPollution generates disparity in the ecosystem creating

Imbalance. It causes changes in food - webs and food chains and shifts biodiversity of animals and plants in ecosystem.

• SiltationSuspended soil clouds the water to such a degree that

millions of algae, an important base for aquatic food chains, die because they do not receive enough light for photosynthesis.

• EutrophicationIs the ecosystem response to the addition of artificial or

natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates.

Eutrophic lake

• Red tideHuman activities that affect nutrient concentrations in

seawater may be having an important influence on the increasingly more frequent occurrences of red tides in some areas.

Effects due to thermal pollution:

• Reduction in dissolve oxygen• Interference with reproduction• Increase in vulnerability to disease• Direct mortality• Invasion of destructive Organism• Destruction of organisms in cooling water

Impact

• Environmental Impactwater pollution has the ability to destroy many animal

habitats, and cause irreparable damage to many ecosystems.

• Aquatic life Extreme acidity can kill adult fish and invertebrate life

directly and can also damage developing juvenile fish.

• Human IllnessAs pollutant levels increase, human exposure to toxins

will also increase.

• ExtinctionPollution has an adverse impact on wildlife and will

continue to do so well into the future.

• Economic EffectsPollution, due to its ability to cause illness in humans, can

have a significant impact on the world's economy.

Mitigation

• Education• Laws

Republic Act 9275: The Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004

• Economicspolluter pays principle

• Government Programs• Pollution Fines and Environmental Taxes• Bioremediation• Natural Attenuation

Conclusion and recommendationWater is the most precious resource on our planet and

the most vital means for survival. Thus all living things cannot live without water most especially human beings. However, water pollution is caused by human activities

We can take individual action to help reduce water pollution, for example, by using environmentally friendly detergents, reducing pesticides, not pouring paints, solvents, oil, antifreeze, or other products containing harmful chemicals down the drain or onto the ground and so on. Most effective way to attain the goal of having clean water is to value self- discipline in each individual in disposing all kinds of waste.

We can take community action too, by helping out in coastal clean-ups and by helping out to maintain our rivers clean. Working together, we can make pollution less of a problem—and the world a better place.