Algae blooms can create health and economic effects for humans, causing rashes and other ailments, while eroding tourism revenue for popular lake destinations thanks to their unpleasant looks and odors. High levels of nitrates in water from nutrient pollution can also be particularly harmful to infants , interfering with their ability to deliver oxygen to tissues and potentially causing " blue baby syndrome.
Globally, unsanitary water supplies also exact a health toll in the form of disease. At least 2 billion people drink water from sources contaminated by feces, according to the World Health Organization , and that water may transmit dangerous diseases such as cholera and typhoid. In many countries, regulations have restricted industry and agricultural operations from pouring pollutants into lakes, streams, and rivers, while treatment plants make our drinking water safe to consume.
Researchers are working on a variety of other ways to prevent and clean up pollution. National Geographic grantee Africa Flores , for example, has created an artificial intelligence algorithm to better predict when algae blooms will happen.
A number of scientists are looking at ways to reduce and cleanup plastic pollution. There have been setbacks, however. Anyone can help protect watersheds by disposing of motor oil, paints, and other toxic products properly , keeping them off pavement and out of the drain.
Be careful about what you flush or pour down the sink, as it may find its way into the water. The U. Environmental Protection Agency recommends using phosphate-free detergents and washing your car at a commercial car wash, which is required to properly dispose of wastewater.
Green roofs and rain gardens can be another way for people in built environments to help restore some of the natural filtering that forests and plants usually provide. All rights reserved. Water pollution causes Water pollution can come from a variety of sources. Freshwater pollution effects. Surface water from freshwater sources that is, from sources other than the ocean accounts for more than 60 percent of the water delivered to American homes.
But a significant pool of that water is in peril. According to the most recent surveys on national water quality from the U. Environmental Protection Agency, nearly half of our rivers and streams and more than one-third of our lakes are polluted and unfit for swimming, fishing, and drinking.
Nutrient pollution , which includes nitrates and phosphates, is the leading type of contamination in these freshwater sources. While plants and animals need these nutrients to grow, they have become a major pollutant due to farm waste and fertilizer runoff. Municipal and industrial waste discharges contribute their fair share of toxins as well. Eighty percent of ocean pollution also called marine pollution originates on land—whether along the coast or far inland. Contaminants such as chemicals, nutrients, and heavy metals are carried from farms, factories, and cities by streams and rivers into our bays and estuaries; from there they travel out to sea.
Meanwhile, marine debris— particularly plastic —is blown in by the wind or washed in via storm drains and sewers.
Our seas are also sometimes spoiled by oil spills and leaks— big and small —and are consistently soaking up carbon pollution from the air. The ocean absorbs as much as a quarter of man-made carbon emissions. Examples include wastewater also called effluent discharged legally or illegally by a manufacturer, oil refinery, or wastewater treatment facility, as well as contamination from leaking septic systems, chemical and oil spills, and illegal dumping.
The EPA regulates point source pollution by establishing limits on what can be discharged by a facility directly into a body of water. 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.
Additionally, water pollution may consist of chemicals introduced into the water bodies as a result of various human activities. Any amount of those chemicals pollutes the water, regardless of the harm they may pose to human health and the environment. Many of the chlorinated solvents commonly used in industry such as PCE, TCE, 1,1,1-TCA are examples of such chemicals polluting our waters exclusively due to human activities.
Regardless of their provenance, the chemicals or biological agents causing water pollution are generically referred to as water pollutants. The chemical and biological agents represent the main causes of water pollution and are generically referred to as water pollutants. Any kind of water can become polluted, regardless of its size or location.
This includes lakes from remote areas or huge water bodies and is due to the air transportation of pollutant particles and their transfer into precipitation water. The groundwater and surface water consist of swimming pools, ponds, lakes, creeks, rivers, seas, and oceans that may all become polluted at some point.
Due to the quick diffusion and dissipation of contamination and the faster natural degradation processes, the bigger the water body is, the shorter the time required for naturally cleansing the pollution and recovery. There are various types of water pollution based on the various causes of water pollution.
Various classifications can be made, based on various water pollution causes:. The type of the water pollutants — based on this classification criteria, water pollution can be:.
I Chemical — when various chemicals are the water pollution causes. Just remember to use it carefully. Do not waste or pollute this limited precious resource. Skip to content EHEP. Harvard T. EHEP Menu. Search for:. Vocabulary Concentration The amount of a substance in the water. Part per Million PPM means there is 1 drop of chemical mixed in with diluted in 1,, drops of water. This is the same as 1 drop in a bathtub of water.
Part per Billion PPB would be the same as 1 drop of chemical in a swimming pool full of water. Effluent Chemicals or other waste from factories which is dumped into the environment. Eutrophication Plants and very small animals in lakes and ponds grow so fast that they use up all the oxygen in the water, causing everything else to suffocate. It is caused by too many nutrients in the water. Filtration Removal of particles and tiny organisms by forcing the water through materials that have very small holes.
Nutrients Substances which plants and animals use for food, including fertilizers from farms and sewage. Too many nutrients in water can cause eutrophication. Sewage The wastewater from bathrooms and factories, usually containing biological contaminants.
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