Everything about Water Pollution totally explained
Water pollution is the contamination of
water bodies such as
lakes,
rivers,
oceans, and
groundwater caused by human activities, which can be harmful to organisms and plants which live in these water bodies.
Although natural phenomena such as
volcanoes,
algae blooms,
storms, and
earthquakes also cause major changes in
water quality and the ecological status of water, water is typically referred to as polluted when it impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and either doesn't support a human use (like serving as drinking water) or undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities. Water pollution has many causes and characteristics. The primary sources of water pollution are generally grouped into two categories based on their point of origin. Point-source pollution refers to contaminants that enter a waterway through a discrete "point source". Examples of this category include discharges from a wastewater treatment plant, outfalls from a factory, leaking underground tanks, etc. The second primary category, non-point source pollution, refers to contamination that, as its name suggests, doesn't originate from a single discrete source. Non-point source pollution is often a cumulative affect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a large area. Nutrient runoff in stormwater from sheet flow over an agricultural field, or metals and hydrocarbons from an area with high impervious surfaces and vehicular traffic are examples of non-point source pollution. The primary focus of legislation and efforts to curb water pollution for the past several decades was first aimed at point sources. As point sources have been effectively regulated, greater attention has come to be placed on non-point source contributions, especially in rapidly urbanizing/suburbanizing or developing areas.
The specific contaminants leading to pollution in water include a wide spectrum of
chemicals,
pathogens, and physical or sensory changes. While many of the chemicals and substances that are regulated may be naturally occurring (iron, manganese, etc) the concentration is often the key in determining what is a natural component of water, and what is a contaminant. Many of the chemical substances are
toxic. Pathogens can produce
waterborne diseases in either human or animal hosts. Alteration of water's physical chemistry include acidity,
electrical conductivity, temperature, and eutrophication.
Eutrophication is the
fertilisation of
surface water by
nutrients that were previously
scarce. Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it's the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily.
In 2004, the
United States Environmental Protection Agency tested drinking water quality on commercial airline's aircraft and found that 15 percent of tested aircraft tested positive for total coliform bacteria, according to a press release issued on Friday March 28, 2008.
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