Give An Essay On Water Pollution
Pompilio Intindola
Sources of water pollution are either point sources or non-point sources. Point sources have one identifiable cause, such as a storm drain, a wastewater treatment plant or an oil spill. Non-point sources are more diffuse, such as agricultural runoff.[4] Pollution is the result of the cumulative effect over time. Pollution may take the form of toxic substances (e.g., oil, metals, plastics, pesticides, persistent organic pollutants, industrial waste products), stressful conditions (e.g., changes of pH, hypoxia or anoxia, increased temperatures, excessive turbidity, changes of salinity), or the introduction of pathogenic organisms. Contaminants may include organic and inorganic substances. A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers.
Control of water pollution requires appropriate infrastructure and management plans as well as legislation. Technology solutions can include improving sanitation, sewage treatment, industrial wastewater treatment, agricultural wastewater treatment, erosion control, sediment control and control of urban runoff (including stormwater management).
Microplastics persist in the environment at high levels, particularly in aquatic and marine ecosystems, where they cause water pollution.[31] 35% of all ocean microplastics come from textiles/clothing, primarily due to the erosion of polyester, acrylic, or nylon-based clothing, often during the washing process.[32]
Surface water pollution includes pollution of rivers, lakes and oceans. A subset of surface water pollution is marine pollution which affects the oceans. Nutrient pollution refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients.
Globally, about 4.5 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation as of 2017, according to an estimate by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation.[35] Lack of access to sanitation is concerning and often leads to water pollution, e.g. via the practice of open defecation: during rain events or floods, the human feces are moved from the ground where they were deposited into surface waters. Simple pit latrines may also get flooded during rain events.
In many areas of the world, groundwater pollution poses a hazard to the wellbeing of people and ecosystems. One-quarter of the world's population depends on groundwater for drinking, yet concentrated recharging is known to carry short-lived contaminants into carbonate aquifers and jeopardize the purity of those waters.[49]
Point source water pollution refers to contaminants that enter a waterway from a single, identifiable source, such as a pipe or ditch. Examples of sources in this category include discharges from a sewage treatment plant, a factory, or a city storm drain.
The U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA) defines point source for regulatory enforcement purposes (see United States regulation of point source water pollution).[50] The CWA definition of point source was amended in 1987 to include municipal storm sewer systems, as well as industrial storm water, such as from construction sites.[51]
Sewage typically consists of 99.9% water and 0.1% solids.[52] Sewage contributes many classes of nutrients that lead to eutrophication. It is a major source of phosphate for example.[53] Sewage is often contaminated with diverse compounds found in personal hygiene, cosmetics, pharmaceutical drugs (see also drug pollution), and their metabolites[54][30] Water pollution due to environmental persistent pharmaceutical pollutants can have wide-ranging consequences. When sewers overflow during storm events this can lead to water pollution from untreated sewage. Such events are called sanitary sewer overflows or combined sewer overflows.
Agriculture is a major contributor to water pollution from nonpoint sources. The use of fertilizers as well as surface runoff from farm fields, pastures and feedlots leads to nutrient pollution.[62] In addition to plant-focused agriculture, fish-farming is also a source of pollution. Additionally, agricultural runoff often contains high levels of pesticides.[2]
Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have increased since the 1850s due anthropogenic influences (emissions of greenhouse gases).[68] This leads to ocean acidification and is another form of water pollution from atmospheric contributions.[69]
Water pollution may be analyzed through several broad categories of methods: physical, chemical and biological. Some methods may be conducted in situ, without sampling, such as temperature. Others involve collection of samples, followed by specialized analytical tests in the laboratory. Standardized, validated analytical test methods, for water and wastewater samples have been published.[70]
Ocean acidification is another impact of water pollution. Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH value of the Earth's oceans, caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.[68]
Control of water pollution requires appropriate infrastructure and management plans. The infrastructure may include wastewater treatment plants, for example sewage treatment plants and industrial wastewater treatment plants. Agricultural wastewater treatment for farms, and erosion control at construction sites can also help prevent water pollution. Effective control of urban runoff includes reducing speed and quantity of flow.
Effective control of urban runoff involves reducing the velocity and flow of stormwater, as well as reducing pollutant discharges. Local governments use a variety of stormwater management techniques to reduce the effects of urban runoff. These techniques, called best management practices for water pollution (BMPs) in some countries, may focus on water quantity control, while others focus on improving water quality, and some perform both functions.[102]
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Water is one of the most important elements on Earth when it comesto sustaining life. Unfortunately, it is also extremely susceptible topollution. This is largely because water is a universal solvent that candissolve many substances. While this is a wonderful quality that we takeadvantage of for everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning and takingmedication, it is also the exact quality that causes water to become pollutedso easily.
Industries and industrial sites across the world are a majorcontributor to water pollution. Many industrial sites produce waste in the formof toxic chemicals and pollutants, and though regulated, some still do not haveproper waste management systems in place. In those rare cases, industrial wasteis dumped into nearby freshwater systems. When industrial waste is not treatedproperly (or worse, not treated at all), it can very easily pollute thefreshwater systems that it comes into contact with.
In order to protect their crops from bacteria and insects, farmersoften use chemicals and pesticides. When these substances seep into thegroundwater, they can harm animals, plants and humans. Additionally, whenit rains, the chemicals mix with rainwater, which then flows into rivers andstreams that filter into the ocean, causing further water pollution.
Rising temperatures due to global warming are a major concern interms of water pollution. Global warming causes water temperatures to rise,which can kill water-dwelling animals. When large die-offs occur, it furtherpollutes the water supply, exacerbating the issue.
Environmental pollution has many facets, and the resultant health risks include diseases in almost all organ systems. Thus, a chapter on air and water pollution control links with chapters on, for instance, diarrheal diseases (chapter 19), respiratory diseases in children and adults (chapters 25 and 35), cancers (chapter 29), neurological disorders (chapter 32), and cardiovascular disease (chapter 33), as well as with a number of chapters dealing with health care issues.
Each pollutant has its own health risk profile, which makes summarizing all relevant information into a short chapter difficult. Nevertheless, public health practitioners and decision makers in developing countries need to be aware of the potential health risks caused by air and water pollution and to know where to find the more detailed information required to handle a specific situation. This chapter will not repeat the discussion about indoor air pollution caused by biomass burning (chapter 42) and water pollution caused by poor sanitation at the household level (chapter 41), but it will focus on the problems caused by air and water pollution at the community, country, and global levels.
Estimates indicate that the proportion of the global burden of disease associated with environmental pollution hazards ranges from 23 percent (WHO-1997) to 30 percent (Smith, Corvalan, and Kjellstrom 1999). These estimates include infectious diseases related to drinking water, sanitation, and food hygiene; respiratory diseases related to severe indoor air pollution from biomass burning; and vectorborne diseases with a major environmental component, such as malaria. These three types of diseases each contribute approximately 6 percent to the updated estimate of the global burden of disease (WHO 2002).
As the World Health Organization (WHO) points out, outdoor air pollution contributes as much as 0.6 to 1.4 percent of the burden of disease in developing regions, and other pollution, such as lead in water, air, and soil, may contribute 0.9 percent (WHO 2002). These numbers may look small, but the contribution from most risk factors other than the "top 10" is within the 0.5 to 1.0 percent range (WHO 2002).
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