What is Water pollution and its causes, effects, types & prevention methods

Pollution and contamination everywhere… We have seen what is pollution and the different types of pollution. Thus we had made a promise to you all that we will detail what each kind of pollution is. Water is one of the most essential elements for living things to survive. That water being polluted is not going to do any good for us. Let’s look into what is water pollution, how it is caused, the different types of water pollution with its effects.

Have you gone to the beach with hopes of enjoying the sound of the waves and feeling the cool breeze on your face?  Reaching there with the high hopes, have you found the beach littered with plastic bottles and packaging materials and beach sand blackened? Visiting your local lake for a picnic have you been assaulted by the stench rising from it? Daily advertisements for Water purifiers regale us that our tap water must be purified even further. Swimming in the local swimming pools saturated with Chlorine, one is always invariably worried about acquiring some kind of skin infection.

Water the elixir of life, the major part of our earth and of every living organism.  Shouldn’t humans be more vigilant to preserve the purity of it?

Water Pollution is the consequence of adding which harmful substances to water bodies making them unsuitable for aquatic life to thrive in, thereby upsetting the fragile ecosystem. It also makes the water source unfit for domestic and industrial purposes.

Natural life cycles in the aquatic ecosystem usually ensure that water bodies are self-cleansing. Certain amounts of toxic wastes that fall into them are broken down by aerobic bacteria using the oxygen in the water. The end products, nitrates and phosphates are then used as nutrition for the algae and green plants that live in it. As the food cycle goes these are then consumed in turn by the plankton, small fish, large fish and so on sometimes up to even humans.

It is when the quantity of waste products entering into the water system exceeds its ability to clean itself, this is when water pollution starts.

How does water get polluted

Causes of water contamination

Industrial wastes

Agricultural wastes

Sediments

Human and Domestic sewage

Fall out of Air Pollution

Oil spilling

Radioactive wastes

Thermal pollution

Eutrophication


Types of water pollution

  1. Point source pollution

When contamination occurs from one source such as an oil spill or local farms, this is called point source contamination.

  1. Non-Point Source Pollution

Contamination occurs from many different sources or sources far away from where the pollution is occurring, this is non-point source pollution. For eg the rivers and seas besides which cities and towns grow, radioactive wastes polluting water bodies faraway from themselves.

  1. Ground water pollution

Mainly occurring due to percolation or sinking of chemicals deep into the ground. For example fertilizers, plastic residue, radioactive wastes etc.

Effects of water pollution

Prevention of water pollution

Health problems are a byword now. There are very few who are not affected. The right of every person to live a thriving and fruitful life can be hampered by our own complacency.

But a major factor as mentioned earlier is the great loss to our planet when many species of plants and animals which help to make it varied and beautiful are cut off by human selfishness and unwillingness to correct mistakes. It is important and good when everyone gets together to stand for the environment, for the quiet sufferers. This will be ultimately beneficial to us.

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