Water Pollution: Causes, Effects, and Prevention

Water Pollution: Causes, Effects, and Prevention

What would you say the most valuable thing on earth is? Many people would quickly answer that something with monetary value, like oil or gold, would be the most valuable thing on earth. However, humans are able to live, and have lived, without utilizing these things for many years. There is a thing that every living being, creature, and plant on earth could not survive without. It is one of our most basic needs, and yet we take it for granted so often. You probably encounter it once or more every day, perhaps without a single thought of its value. Some humans go so far as to unwittingly, or even sometimes knowingly, contaminate our sources of this precious necessity, often doing unfixable damage to our already limited supply. The most important thing to us, or at least, what should be the most important thing to us, is water.

All life on earth depends on water- meaning that without water, there is no life. Although our planet is covered with this liquid, only a small percentage of it is actually drinkable. According to USGS.gov, only 1% of earth’s water is usable by humans, 99% of that water being ground water, and only 1% coming from lakes and rivers. The 99% of earth’s water that we cannot use is either saline, or ocean water, or frozen in ice caps and glaciers. Since we have such a small portion of usable water, you would think that our priority would be to keep our water as safe as possible. However, this does not seem to be the case for all people. Every day, our only source of water, a source we would die without, is being contaminated. This contamination is often done without complete realization, but sadly it is also done with full knowledge of its consequences. This contamination, better known as pollution, is defined as, according to water-technology.net, the addition of foreign substances (pollutants) to a water source that have a harmful effect on living organisms. Obviously, polluting our only source of water will only result in problems for us, as it already has. Before we can even think of solving our pollution issues, we must first understand what causes water pollution and the effects it has on our environment and our lives.

First, we will start at the beginning of the process of water pollution- the causes of it. Pollution can come from two types of sources, point sources and non-point sources. A point source of pollution is a single, identifiable source of pollution which is localized. Examples of point sources are drain pipes, ditches, and sewer lines. Non-point source pollution, in contrast with a point source, comes from many diffuse sources, such as runoff from urban areas, fields, or live stock lots. Leading causes of water pollution are agriculture (which produces fertilizers and pesticides and eroded sediments) and industry and mining (which produce a number of toxic chemicals and substances).

Along with different causes of water pollution, there are different types of pollution itself. The first type, which affects the human population the most, is fresh water pollution. Areas with a regular flow of water, like rivers, are usually fairly well diluted, and pollution can be gotten rid of relatively fast, however, rivers near populated areas are often heavily polluted since they are contaminated regularly. Freshwater lakes have less flow than rivers, and are therefore harder to dilute. Other causes of pollution in freshwater lakes are human-introduced plants, which drain oxygen from the water, grow, and block out sunlight. This lack of oxygen and sunlight in lakes can cause the death of some aquatic species. The last type of freshwater pollution is the pollution of ground water. Since ground water has little to no flow, it makes it extremely hard to get rid of pollutants. Even biodegradable waste would take hundreds of years to clean. Since we don’t know much about ground water, it is hard to understand the extent of ground water pollution. Often, sewage will leak into our ground water, and finding the leak alone is quite costly. Some countries unknowingly drink ground water which is naturally polluted with arsenic, causing the population to become diseased. The last major type of water pollution is the pollution of the oceans. Since our oceans are a vast body of water, they can easily churn up and disperse large amounts of biodegradable pollutants. The areas most in danger of pollution are coastal waters near heavily populated areas, such as wetlands, coral reefs, swamps, and estuaries. Here, developing countries will often dump sewage and other waste directly into the ocean. Not only do the toxins from this pollution affect the waters, but also the algae that feed off the waste. Like freshwater plants, the reproducing algae will take in oxygen from the water, making it uninhabitable for other creatures. Most ocean pollution, however, comes from on land, like incorrect disposal of substances like oil from automobiles, wells, pipe leaks, or washed out tankers. Although most effects of oil pollution are removed after several years, only a small percentage of the oil spilled can actually be cleaned up.

Since there are different causes and types of water pollution, there are also different effects of water pollution. One obvious effect is caused by the direct consumption of polluted water. Consuming polluted water can easily result in sickness, disease, or even death. A more indirect effect of pollution is through the food chain. Creatures lower on the food chain who ingest pollution are then eaten by a creature higher up the food chain, then that creature is eaten by a another creature, and so on and so forth, until eventually the entire food chain is affected by the pollutant. If one species is caused more damage than another, the cycle of the food chain could also be in danger, causing an outbreak of certain species. Water pollution can also be caused by a change in temperature of the water. When factories dump hot or warm water into natural water, algae are encouraged to reproduce. This again leads to oxygen depletion and death to other aquatic species. Another effect of water pollution also harms the environment. Polluted water can become acid raid, which contains sulfate particles, and can harm fish and plant life in lakes and rivers. After each rain of this polluted water, the environment becomes less and less inhabitable for life. One specific effect of water pollution is that of oil spills. Even a little spilled oil is dangerous in water, since it does not mix with the water, but spreads out on top of it in a slick or sheen. This especially puts creatures that access surface water, like water fowl and mammals, in danger. The animals not only ingest the oil, but can become covered in it, hindering their movement and breathing, putting them in danger of suffocating.

Before we can even think about a solution for water pollution, we must stop polluting. The process is rather like being in a leaky boat. You can continually scoop out water that comes rushing in, or you can first stop and fix the leaks in the boat. Instead of coming up with a quick fix for pollution, we need to take a defensive stance, and prevent pollution from happening. Only after that can we start to get rid of existing pollution. We can start with preventative actions like disposing of chemicals properly. Since it is illegal to throw away or dump motor oil anyway, you should take it to a recycling center. Also, limiting how much fertilizer and pesticides we use on our plants will cut down on pollution as well. Another way to save our water is to be mindful of how much water we use in everyday activities. Instead of taking a bath, take a short shower, and turn off the sink when you brush your teeth. Only run your dishwasher when it’s full, and fix leaky faucets or hoses. Water your plants only when it is necessary, and keep a pitcher of drinking water in the fridge. Another important step is education of current and future generations on water pollution. If we don’t pass on our knowledge to them, they will have to learn the hard way and endanger our planet. Some think that if we can create a process that can quickly change ocean water into usable fresh water, our pollution issues will be over, but this is not so. If we don’t find a way to clean our water, we will eventually pollute all of it, and then none of it will be usable.

The simple fact is that we have to change our ways of water usage, by not only monitoring and restricting how much water we use, but also how much of it we pollute. Once we are able to stop polluting our waters, we can work on ways to reverse the damage we have caused. Without change, we will continue down our path of destruction, and in the end we will be the ones to suffer. Without water we cannot survive: this is pretty easy to understand, and yet somehow we can’t completely grasp the effects our actions have, and what the final consequence will be if we don’t stop. The most vital essence of life- and we continue to destroy it.