Water Pollution
Water is the most important resource for survival on a planet. It is the essence of life on Earth. Two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, seventy-six percent of our body is made up of water.
Water pollution can be said to mean the contamination of bodies of water largely due to human activities. Examples of water bodies include rivers, lakes, groundwater, aquifers, and oceans.
Water pollution is a worldwide problem that requires serious evaluation of various policies in water resources. Water pollution can be classified into marine pollution, surface water pollution, and also nutrient pollution. Water pollution sources can either be non-point sources or point sources.
Point source as the name indicates has just one cause of pollution that is identifiable such as wastewater treatment facility, storm drain, or stream. Non- point pollution sources are quite diffuse and an example is runoff from agriculture. Pollution is a result of a cumulative effect with respect to time.
We have a fixed amount of water on earth. It just changes its states and goes through a cyclic order. Which is known as the Water Cycle. It is the pattern in which the water from oceans, seas, lakes, etc. gets evaporated and turns to vapour. After which it goes through the process of condensation, and finally precipitation when it falls back to earth as rain or snow.
Water pollution is any change, minor or major in the physical, chemical, or biological properties of water that eventually leads to a detrimental consequence of any living organism. Drinking water is considered safe enough for human and animal consumption.
Some of the water pollutions is caused by direct Sources, such as factories, waste management facilities, refineries, etc. that directly releases waste and dangerous by-products into the nearest water source without treating them. Indirect sources include pollutants that infuse in the water bodies via groundwater or soil or via the atmosphere through acidic rain.
The effects of water pollution are many. Some of them are diseases, eradication of the ecosystem, eutrophication, effects of the food chain, etc.
The best way to prevent large-scale water pollution is to try and reduce its harmful effects. There are numerous small changes we can make to protect ourselves from a future where water is scarce.
Conserving water should be our first aim. Water wastage is a major problem globally and we are only now waking up to the issue. Simple small changes made domestically will make a huge difference. Treating waste products before disposing of them in water bodies helps reduce water pollution on a large scale. Agriculture or other industries can reuse this wastewater by reducing its toxic contents. By using soluble products that do not go on to become pollutants, we can reduce the amount of water pollution caused by a household.
Water is a very important resource for the survival of the human race. Water pollution harms this important resource by making it unfit for human use and invariably causes harm to human health and the environment if proper measures are not taken to battle water pollution.
To avoid these scenarios, we can work together to keep the environment clean so the water bodies, plants, animals, and people who depend on it remain healthy. We can take individual or teamed action to help reduce water pollution. We can take community action too to keep our rivers and seas cleaner. And we can take action as countries and continents to pass laws against water pollution. Working together, we can make water pollution less of a problem and the world a better place.