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Effects Of Water Pollution On The Environment And Human Health

Jerry A. Nathanson Professor of Engineering, Union County College, Cranford, New Jersey. Author of “Basic Environmental Technologies: Water Supply, Waste Disposal and Pollution Control.”

Common Water Pollutants And Their Effects On The Environment

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Water pollution is the release of substances into water bodies that make the water unsafe for human use and damage aquatic ecosystems. Water pollution can be caused by a number of different pollutants, including toxic waste, petroleum, and disease-causing microorganisms.

Human activities that generate domestic sewage and toxic waste can cause water pollution through contamination of water with pathogenic microorganisms and toxic substances. Oil spills are another source of water pollution, causing devastating effects on surrounding ecosystems.

Sewage can promote algae growth, eventually leading to eutrophic “dead zones” where aquatic life cannot survive due to lack of oxygen. Microplastics are commonly found in marine wildlife and may become concentrated in humans who consume seafood due to biomagnification. Oil spills, such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, cause many different marine species to become stranded and die.

Water Quality And Wastewater

While some studies point to human activity as a catalyst for red tides, scientists aren’t sure why. Red tide is the common term for harmful algal blooms, which often poison or kill wildlife and humans who eat contaminated seafood. Red tides can severely impact ecosystems and local economies.

Water pollution, the release of substances into underground groundwater or into lakes, streams, rivers, estuaries, and oceans to an extent that interferes with beneficial uses of water or the natural functioning of ecosystems. In addition to the release of substances such as chemicals, waste or microorganisms, water pollution may also include the release of energy into the water in the form of radioactivity or heat.

Learn how individuals can change their consumption and disposal habits of single-use products, especially plastics, to prevent litter from entering the ocean

Water bodies can be contaminated by a variety of substances, including pathogenic microorganisms, perishable organic waste, chemical fertilizers and plant nutrients, toxic chemicals, sediments, heat, petroleum, and radioactive materials. Several types of water contaminants are considered below. (For a discussion of the treatment of sewage and other forms of waste generated by human activities,

Water And Air Pollution

Water contaminants originate from point or dispersed sources. Point sources are pipes or channels, such as those used for discharges from industrial facilities or municipal wastewater systems. Disperse (or nonpoint) sources are very wide, unconfined areas from which various pollutants enter a body of water, such as runoff from agricultural areas. Point source water pollution is easier to control than diffuse sources because the contaminated water has been collected and transported to a point where it can be treated. Pollution from dispersed sources of pollution is difficult to control, and despite great progress in the construction of modern sewage treatment plants, dispersed sources of pollution are still a large part of the cause of water pollution problems.

Domestic sewage is a major source of pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms) and putrefactive organic matter. Since pathogens are excreted through feces, all sewage in cities and towns is likely to contain some type of pathogen, potentially posing a direct threat to public health. Putrescible organic matter poses another threat to water quality. As organic matter in sewage is naturally decomposed by bacteria and other microorganisms, the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water is depleted. This threatens the quality of lakes and streams, where fish and other aquatic life require high levels of oxygen to survive. Wastewater treatment processes can reduce the levels of pathogens and organic matter in wastewater, but they cannot completely eliminate them (

Domestic sewage is also a major source of plant nutrients, mainly nitrates and phosphates. Excess nitrates and phosphates in the water can promote the growth of algae, sometimes leading to unusually dense and rapid growth called an algal bloom. When algae die, there is less dissolved oxygen in the water because microorganisms use oxygen to digest the algae during the decomposition process (

Biochemical oxygen demand). Anaerobic organisms (organisms that do not require oxygen to survive) then metabolize the organic waste, releasing gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide that are harmful to aerobic (oxygen-requiring) life. The process by which a lake changes from a clean, clear state with relatively low dissolved nutrient concentrations and balanced aquatic communities to a nutrient-rich, algae-rich state to an oxygen-poor, waste-rich state is called eutrophication. Eutrophication is a naturally occurring, slow and inevitable process. However, when human activities and water pollution (a phenomenon called cultural eutrophication) accelerate, it can lead to premature aging and death of water bodies.

Water Pollution Malaysia: Its Dire Effects And Cause For Solutions

Improper disposal of solid waste is an important source of water pollution. Solid waste includes domestic waste, garbage, e-waste, household waste, and construction and demolition waste, all of which are generated by personal, residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial activities. This problem is particularly acute in developing countries, as they may lack the infrastructure to properly dispose of solid waste or may not have sufficient resources or regulations to limit improper disposal. In some places, solid waste is deliberately dumped into water bodies. Land pollution can also turn into water pollution if trash or other debris is carried into water bodies by animals, wind or rainfall. Large amounts of solid waste pollution in inland waters may also end up in the ocean. Solid waste pollution is not only unsightly, it damages the health of aquatic ecosystems and can directly harm wildlife. Many solid wastes, such as plastics and electronic waste, break down and leach harmful chemicals into the water, making them a source of toxic or hazardous waste.

Waste is considered toxic, radioactive, explosive, carcinogenic (causing cancer), mutagenic (causing chromosomal damage), teratogenic (causing birth defects), or bioaccumulative (i.e. increasing concentrations higher up the food chain) is poisonous. ). Sources of toxic chemicals include improperly treated wastewater from factories and chemical processing facilities (lead, mercury, chromium) and surface runoff containing pesticides (chlordane, dieldrin, heptachlor) used in agricultural areas and suburban lawns. (For a more detailed treatment of toxic chemicals,

Sediments (such as silt) from soil erosion or construction activities can enter water bodies through surface runoff. Suspended sediments interfere with the penetration of sunlight and disrupt the ecological balance of water bodies. Additionally, it disrupts the reproductive cycles of fish and other life forms, and when it settles out of suspension, it suffocates benthic organisms.

Heat is considered a water pollutant because it reduces the water’s ability to hold dissolved oxygen in solution and increases the metabolic rate of fish. Valuable game fish, such as trout, cannot survive in water with extremely low dissolved oxygen levels. The main source of heat is the discharge of cooling water from power plants into rivers; the discharged water can be 15 °C (27 °F) hotter than naturally occurring water. Increased water temperatures due to global warming can also be considered a form of thermal pollution.

The Areas Most Impacted By Water Pollution

Oil pollution occurs when oil from roads and parking lots enters water bodies as surface runoff. Accidental oil spills are also a source of oil pollution, such as the Exxon Valdez oil tanker (which spilled more than 260,000 barrels of oil in Prince William Sound, Alaska in 1989) and the Deepwater Horizon oil rig (which spilled more than 260,000 barrels of oil). A devastating leak. Injected 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010). Oil slicks can eventually move toward the coast, harming aquatic life and damaging recreational areas.

Groundwater (water contained in underground geological formations called aquifers) is the source of drinking water for many people. For example, about half of the population in the United States relies on groundwater for domestic water supply. Although groundwater may appear crystal clear (due to the natural filtration that occurs as it slowly flows through layers of soil), it can still be contaminated by dissolved chemicals as well as bacteria and viruses. Sources of chemical contaminants include improperly designed or maintained underground sewage treatment systems (such as septic tanks), industrial wastes disposed of in improperly lined or unlined landfills or lagoons, and unlined municipal landfills. Leachate, mining and oil production and storage tanks beneath underground leaking gas stations. In coastal areas, continued pumping of groundwater (due to urbanization and industrialization) can lead to saltwater intrusion: as water tables drop, seawater is drawn into wells.

Although estuaries and oceans contain huge

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