This is according to reports from Sankat Mochan Foundation, an organisation struggling to restore the Ganges to its former glory. These levels mean that the sacred river has become synonymous with water pollution, a worldwide problem affecting one in every three people on the planet, according to the United Nations UN. The World Health Organisation WHO says that polluted water is water whose composition has been changed to the extent that it is unusable.
In other words, it is toxic water that cannot be drunk or used for essential purposes like agriculture, and which also causes diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and poliomyelitis that kill more than , people worldwide every year. The main water pollutants include bacteria, viruses, parasites, fertilisers, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, nitrates, phosphates, plastics , faecal waste and even radioactive substances.
These substances do not always change the colour of the water, meaning that they are often invisible pollutants. That's why small amounts of water and aquatic organisms are tested to determine water quality. It is sometimes caused by nature, such as when mercury filters from the Earth's crust, polluting oceans, rivers, lakes, canals and reservoirs. However, the most common cause of poor quality water is human activity and its consequences, which we will now go on to explain:.
Rising global temperatures caused by CO 2 emissions heat the water, reducing its oxygen content. Felling forests can exhaust water resources and generate organic residue which becomes a breeding ground for harmful bacteria. Chemical dumping from these sectors is one of the main causes of eutrophication of water.
Much of the plastic pollution in the ocean comes from fishing boats, tankers and cargo shipping. The transportation and storage of oil and its derivatives is subject to leakage that pollutes our water resources.
These are just a few ways to start the process of combatting water pollution, and they are contained to the actions you carry out in your home.
Changes to policy and advances in science can help tackle the larger issues contributing to water pollution, such as marine dumping and offshore oil spills. Water Resource Policy and Management trains students for leadership roles that make water policy decisions that impact various communities. Our program integrates knowledge from multiple disciplines to address the complex challenges of water resource decisions and to develop solutions that are socially acceptable, politically and economically viable and environmentally sustainable.
When discussing the issues that can arise due to water pollution, there are three major areas to consider: Health: According to the United Nations, every year there are more deaths caused by polluted water than all types of violence combined, including war. Waste from humans and animals that contaminates water carries bacteria and viruses that cause the spread of diseases such as typhoid, cholera and giardia.
Environment: All the species in an ecosystem rely on each other in order to survive. Outside substances, such as pollutants found in wastewater, can disrupt the complicated relationships between species that an ecosystem needs in order to thrive. Economy: Polluted water can have many negative effects on the economy. It directly impacts sectors such as commercial fishing, recreational businesses, tourism and even property values, all of which rely heavily on clean water. Polluted drinking water can also cause treatment costs to rise, which in turn makes the cost of drinking water rise as well.
But what are the causes of water pollution, and what can we do about them? The Causes of Water Pollution Water is one of the most important elements on Earth when it comes to sustaining life. Industrial Waste Industries and industrial sites across the world are a major contributor to water pollution.
Marine Dumping The process of marine dumping is exactly what it sounds like, dumping garbage into the waters of the ocean. Agriculture In order to protect their crops from bacteria and insects, farmers often use chemicals and pesticides. Watergen , for example, is an Israeli technological advancement that literally creates water from the air. Furthermore, there are 31 Israeli desalination plants across the country that utilize seawater to provide fresh and clean water to the country.
The desalination process removes salt and other impurities from the water, to create usable water. Despite the difficulty of solving this global issue, it is important that we do everything in our power to reduce water pollution. We must take care to protect our most vulnerable communities, environment, and aquatic life by taking measures to conserve and protect the clean water that we are fortunate to have and raising awareness of communities in need.
Make sure you are doing what you can to reduce the number of pollutants that enter our streams and rivers and help make safe drinking water accessible in impoverished communities around the world when possible. We can all take small steps to reduce the global issue of water pollution. One way is by supporting organizations that provide clean drinking water for those who need it most and encouraging others to do the same.
By Sydney Cohen The effects of water pollution are devastating. The Impact of Water Pollution on the Environment Aquatic life is often severely affected by water pollution. Air Pollution affects Water Pollution Furthermore, air pollution as a result of climate change has a drastic effect on the ocean. The Impact of Water Pollution on Human Health Drinking or using polluted water can result in health problems, such as digestive issues, toxicity and death, or chronic toxicity and neurological issues from more serious chemical pollution.
Skin Diseases Caused by Water Pollution Additionally, chemical pollutants in contaminated water come into contact with our skin from swimming in polluted water or washing clothes and can cause various skin irritations, ranging in severity. Communities Affected by Water Pollution While water contamination and its causes are a global issue, certain populations are much more vulnerable than others to illness and death from water pollution.
While point source pollution originates from a specific place, it can affect miles of waterways and ocean. Nonpoint source pollution is contamination derived from diffuse sources. These may include agricultural or stormwater runoff or debris blown into waterways from land.
Nonpoint source pollution is the leading cause of water pollution in U. Transboundary pollution is the result of contaminated water from one country spilling into the waters of another. Contamination can result from a disaster—like an oil spill—or the slow, downriver creep of industrial, agricultural, or municipal discharge. Around the world, agriculture is the leading cause of water degradation.
In the United States, agricultural pollution is the top source of contamination in rivers and streams, the second-biggest source in wetlands, and the third main source in lakes. Every time it rains, fertilizers, pesticides, and animal waste from farms and livestock operations wash nutrients and pathogens—such bacteria and viruses—into our waterways.
Nutrient pollution , caused by excess nitrogen and phosphorus in water or air, is the number-one threat to water quality worldwide and can cause algal blooms , a toxic soup of blue-green algae that can be harmful to people and wildlife. Used water is wastewater. It comes from our sinks, showers, and toilets think sewage and from commercial, industrial, and agricultural activities think metals, solvents, and toxic sludge.
The term also includes stormwater runoff , which occurs when rainfall carries road salts, oil, grease, chemicals, and debris from impermeable surfaces into our waterways. In the United States, wastewater treatment facilities process about 34 billion gallons of wastewater per day.
These facilities reduce the amount of pollutants such as pathogens, phosphorus, and nitrogen in sewage, as well as heavy metals and toxic chemicals in industrial waste, before discharging the treated waters back into waterways.
Big spills may dominate headlines, but consumers account for the vast majority of oil pollution in our seas, including oil and gasoline that drips from millions of cars and trucks every day. Moreover, nearly half of the estimated 1 million tons of oil that makes its way into marine environments each year comes not from tanker spills but from land-based sources such as factories, farms, and cities. At sea, tanker spills account for about 10 percent of the oil in waters around the world, while regular operations of the shipping industry—through both legal and illegal discharges—contribute about one-third.
Oil is also naturally released from under the ocean floor through fractures known as seeps. Radioactive waste is any pollution that emits radiation beyond what is naturally released by the environment. Radioactive waste can persist in the environment for thousands of years, making disposal a major challenge. Accidentally released or improperly disposed of contaminants threaten groundwater, surface water, and marine resources.
To put it bluntly: Water pollution kills. In fact, it caused 1. Contaminated water can also make you ill. Every year, unsafe water sickens about 1 billion people. And low-income communities are disproportionately at risk because their homes are often closest to the most polluting industries.
Waterborne pathogens, in the form of disease-causing bacteria and viruses from human and animal waste, are a major cause of illness from contaminated drinking water. Diseases spread by unsafe water include cholera, giardia, and typhoid.
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