Introduction to Water Pollution
Beginning with the basics, water pollution is well-defined as a form of water that is “adversely affected due to the addition of large amounts of materials.” It means that when a form of water is insufficient for its original intended purpose, it is thought of as “polluted.” There are several methods for the contamination of water. One case is a direct type of contamination, for example, the spilling of oil. When the Exxon Valdez Company spilled tens of thousands of barrels of oil into the ocean, it destroyed the living organisms in that place, in addition to killing numerous species of native marine wildlife. A further direct method of water pollution is littering. This is a very noticeable and avoidable problem that could clog waterways and obstruct the lives of animals and plants. In extremely populated places, for example, metropolises, drain backups could cause major harm to federal budgets, city growth, and human health. Overflowing sewage pipes could be triggered by more rain falling or poor sanitation systems, but the most detrimental reason is the violation of sewage laws by humans. This paper will highlight the main causes of water pollution and suggest some advice to minimize water pollution.
Scale of Water Pollution in the United States
In the previous three years, nearly 9,400 out of 25,000 manure structures have reported traces of untreated human waste, compounds, and other harmful materials in rivers, lakes, and additional watercourses, which could cause serious damage to the environment and the health of adjacent communities. However, not all places experience similar issues. Different areas of the U.S. are affected by many water problems. The West Coast is presently investigating the best uses of the limited amount of water resources, although the East Coast is examining stormwater management and overflow (Association et al.).
Industrial and Household Sources of Pollution
Water pollution is a big problem, and it is emerging rapidly in the US and other parts of the world. Industries are discarding their poisonous wastes into lakes and rivers all over the United States. Even individuals in their homes contribute to the rising problem in ways they might not be aware of. It is not just the world’s marine waters that are being contaminated, but areas such as the Ohio River and the Great Lakes are also being contaminated every day. The water pollution problem could be resolved in easier ways, such as examining what a person does in their home that might affect waterways. The compounds that are being used can be poisonous, and people need to know how to dispose of them correctly. Likewise, we might assist with the problem by visiting and cleaning previously severely contaminated waterways and lakes in our states. There are numerous other solutions to this problem, but no matter what, we could assist in stopping the destruction of our watercourses if we just take simple steps to care for the water. Water pollution and its containment are problems that affect everybody on Earth, not only in the U.S. Several people are not as affected as those living adjacent to watercourses, but cleaning the United States’ rivers and lakes must be a top priority for everybody. We all need water to live, and contaminating or polluting the waters with our garbage and insecticides is just making it harder for us to access this vital resource that we need. The answers that I have linked above are what we all are required to ensure if we need to save our water systems throughout the United States (Novotny).
Importance and Scarcity of Water
Water is a critical resource that is used in numerous places to maintain our ways of life. The use of water varies from elementary domestic needs to the generation of power. All over the world, water is becoming ever scarcer, and water availability is becoming more polluted by different contaminants that are causing death and sickness. Many nations are facing droughts that disturb the water sources required to sustain irrigation, thermoelectric electricity, and public supplies. Water pollution occurs when so many ingredients are present that the water becomes unhealthy for its intended purpose, which might be consumption, bathing or other home-based use, manufacturing procedures, or recreational purposes such as fishing, swimming, or boating. On the whole, not only does it affect homes, but it also affects nearby places. Water pollution is one of the biggest threats to human development and must be a worldwide issue addressed by most nations. Initially, water pollution has a huge effect on several families. Households all over the world use water for cooking, washing, cleaning, and in various areas to cultivate crops. The issue here is whether the water being used is safe from contamination or not. There are several ways in which water becomes contaminated. Several pollutants essentially come from household sewage that is discharged into rivers, lakes, and streams. A method of categorizing these wastes that are discovered in water is by determining whether natural methods contaminate them. Streams, lakes, and rivers contaminated with household sewage can be cleansed with the use of oxygen present in the water. In certain circumstances, the water is not completely refined from contaminants or degradable waste, leaving contaminants to move back into houses. This polluted water is then used for bathing purposes or even for drinking (Trivedy and Goel).
Global Water Challenges
Water is life. Increasing pressure on water resources from population and financial development, climate change, contamination, and other challenges has major effects on our social, financial, and ecological well-being. Several of our most significant aquifers are being overdrawn, triggering extensive declines in groundwater levels. Major rivers include the Colorado River in the western U.S. and the Yellow River in China. They no longer reach the ocean in many years. The drought in California is worsening the large and rising gap between water use by the states and the availability of the water supply. More than half of the Earth’s wetlands have vanished due to development. The Earth’s water is progressively becoming degraded in quality, threatening the health of individuals and ecosystems and increasing the cost of treatment. Around 780 million people across the globe still lack access to pure and clean water, and thousands die every day because of its absence (Sartor et al.).
The water problems of the world stem from our failure to meet simple human requirements, unsuccessful or inappropriate organizations and management, and our inability to balance human desires with the requirements of the natural world. These problems are entrenched in extravagant water use, characterized by weak management systems, improper financial incentives, underinvestment, failure to apply current skills, and an old-fashioned attitude focused nearly solely on developing new supplies to the exclusion of “soft-path” preservation and efficiency measures (Association).
The Flint Water Crisis
Flint, Michigan’s water crisis is a nationwide crisis of corrosive proportions. For around two years, residents were continuously exposed to the ill effects of toxic water stemming from a recent change in source. Until around April 2014, Flint had been completely dependent on water from Lake Huron purchased through Detroit (Foley). Because of the significance of water and food security, strategies were made to create a new local water system that could bring tap water from Lake Huron. A water collection system that could carry it to Flint at an improved value was then started. Although the purposes were well-meaning, the plan’s two-year postponement triggered a significantly unforeseen turn of events when the provisional alternative water source, the Flint River, was found to be extremely polluted (Hanna-Attisha et al.).
The unacceptable nature of the water was understood quickly once it was drawn from the river. The list of grievances included that the water felt metallic, tasted like metal, and appeared strange. Inhabitants of Flint drew from their taps not the spotless and fresh water that is common throughout much of the United States, but huge containers of brownish and foul liquid that might even be questionable to swim in. Local resident Bethany Hazard states that when she filled up her water from the spout, it came out not only brown but smelling like a drain (Ganim and Tran).
The river itself has been a source of substantial contamination, with a dead body found in the waterway as well as an abandoned vehicle, in addition to unusually high levels of copper and trihalomethane. The major point, though, is that these findings were only unintentionally revealed, underscoring an absence of concern for the care of Flint’s inhabitants. The first tests on the water determined that indeed, something was quite wrong. The Environmental Protection Agency, the agency responsible for imposing environmental plans in the United States, for example, stated in a memorandum that quantities of E. coli bacteria were detected in the water, a serious health threat for persons of all ages (Foley). Another unfortunate dimension of the Flint, Michigan, water disaster was the financial one (Commission).
The water catastrophe in Flint, Michigan, was widespread in extent. At the end of 2015, the state started realizing how dire the situation was. Tests were conducted on the affected inhabitants and showed that many people had unfavorably high lead levels in their blood, which would probably result in permanent and long-lasting health difficulties, particularly in children who are more vulnerable to poisons and toxins. The list of illnesses from the polluted water resource is shocking and alarming. Hair loss, rashes, and several other health illnesses provide a most unwanted explanation of the price not only of environmental destruction but also of deprivation.
Major Causes of Water Pollution
There are many causes of water pollution. A few are listed below:
- The increase in fertilizers to produce more food. This results in an increase in nutrients (phosphates and nitrates) in the water, which causes increased plant growth. When this plant matter dies and decays, bacteria use oxygen from the water. This drop in the oxygen level results in the death of other aquatic life that requires oxygen to live, for example, fish and other aquatic life. This process is known as eutrophication. Litter also causes disease and has an undesirable visual effect (Heath).
- Clearing the land for farming and city development mostly results in water pollution. When the soil is stripped of its protective vegetation, it becomes prone to soil erosion. This leads to an increase in the turbidity of the water, which could further cause the following:
- It could block fish gills.
- Bottom-dwelling shrubs and plants could not perform photosynthesis because the rays of the sun could not reach them.
- There is an increase in the spread of disease as microorganisms and viruses use soil particles as a mode of transport.
- Blocking rivers could have an influence on the water in the following ways:
- Water flowing out from dams
- has reduced suspended substances because a huge quantity settles to the bottom of dams, is depleted of nutrients, and is mostly more saline, with harmful effects on downstream fisheries and agriculture.
- Increased eutrophication might result because water remains for a longer time in the dam.
- There is also more evaporation in dams, particularly those that have a larger surface area, for example, the Vaal Dam.
- Increased soil erosion occurs because of physical disturbance of the soil and vegetation due to ploughing, logging, overgrazing, and road construction.
- This affects the turbidity and the quantity of minerals and salts in water.
- An increase in nutrients because of fertilizers and excreta contributes harmful quantities of phosphates and nitrates to water supplies (this could cause eutrophication).
- Excessive use of pesticides.
- As the human population increases, more power is required for human activities such as lighting and cooking. Most of the energy in the United States originates from burning coal in power plants and results in significantly increased releases of nitrogen oxides and sulfur into the environment. These gases are key sources of acid rain, which has an undesirable influence on the natural environment and human health (Schwarzenbach et al.).
- Unintentional water contamination could arise from numerous sources (for example, burst pipelines and containers, significant leaks, fires, and oil spills) and could cause variable degrees of injury; it depends on the amount, toxicity, and persistence of the contaminant, and the extent and resilience of the water body.
- The materials that cause water pollution could be divided into two key groups—chemicals and germs. Germs are minor organisms that cause diseases such as bilharzia, malaria, and cholera, and compounds are toxins that are mostly created by industries.
- Natural compounds are found everywhere in the environment. Unfortunately, several of the compounds that are made by industries are not found naturally in the environment or are found only in very small quantities. Several industrial processes make many kinds of goods and waste products. Unfortunately, several industries discharge their waste by-products directly into rivers or allow them to leak into groundwater. These compounds are toxic or poisonous to people, animals, and plants (Kampa and Castanas).
Life is ultimately about choices, and so is contamination. We could live with manure scattered on coasts, dead rivers, and fish that are too toxic to eat. Or we could make efforts together to make the environment livable and clean so that the animals, plants, and people who depend on it continue to be healthy. We could take individual actions to help lessen water pollution, for instance, by using environmentally friendly cleaners, not pouring oil into drains, oceans, or rivers, reducing insecticides and pesticides, and the like. We could take some community-based actions also, by helping with beach cleaning or garbage picking to preserve our oceans and rivers and make them slightly cleaner. And we could take several actions as nations and continents to make different rules and regulations that would make water pollution much harder and make the world less polluted. By making efforts together, we could make water pollution less of a problem and make the world a much better place to live for every living organism.
Works Cited
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Commission, Michigan Civil Rights. “The Flint Water Crisis: Systemic Racism through the Lens of Flint.” Retrieved February, vol. 20, 2017, p. 2017.
Ganim, Sara, and Linh Tran. “How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan.” Retrieved From, 2016.
Hanna-Attisha, Mona, et al. “Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Children Associated with the Flint Drinking Water Crisis: A Spatial Analysis of Risk and Public Health Response.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 106, no. 2, 2016, pp. 283–90.
Heath, Alan G. Water Pollution and Fish Physiology. CRC Press, 1995.
Kampa, Marilena, and Elias Castanas. “Human Health Effects of Air Pollution.” Environmental Pollution, vol. 151, no. 2, 2008, pp. 362–67.
Novotny, Vladimir. Water Quality: Prevention, Identification, and Management of Diffuse Pollution. Van Nostrand-Reinhold Publishers, 1994.
Sartor, James D., et al. “Water Pollution Aspects of Street Surface Contaminants.” Journal (Water Pollution Control Federation), 1974, pp. 458–67.
Schwarzenbach, René P., et al. “Global Water Pollution and Human Health.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources, vol. 35, 2010, pp. 109–36.
Trivedy, R. K., and P. K. Goel. Chemical and Biological Methods for Water Pollution Studies. Environmental publications, 1984.
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