Causes Effects Of Water Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay

A recent newspaper candidate that: Resource degradation and depletion, biodiversity decline, climate change increasingly complex and incredible. It is an overview about current situation of the environment. Every year, 14 billion pounds of sewage, sludge, and garbage are dumped into the world oceans, 19 trillion gallons of waste also enter the water annually. In addition to the acute problems of water pollution in developing countries, developed countries continue to struggle with pollution problems as well. In the most recent national report on water quality in the United State, 45 percent of assessed and estuarine square miles were classified as polluted. Thus, we must have good solution to solve this problem because it is not only useful in one person, but also in human race. Therefore, this paper with the purpose of helping us knowledge about water pollution will discuss the importance things of this problem and give out good ideas to improve environment.

B. DISCUSS OF FINDINGS

I. The situation of water pollution in our daily life, especially in development countries.

Nowadays, water pollution is polluted more and more seriously. It is an increasingly alarming problem, running not only our drinking supplies, but training our food supplies as well. Water pollution can be defined in several ways. It occurs when energy and other materials are released, degrading the quality of the water for other users. It includes all of the waste materials that cannot be naturally broken down by water. In other words, anything that is added to the water, above and beyond it capacity to break it down, is pollution. Pollution, in certain circumstances, can be caused by native itself, such as when water flows through soils with high activities. But more often that not, human actions are responsible for the pollutants that enter the water. The percentage of water polluted is increasing sharply. For example. In Hanoi ( Vietnam) “only 5-7 percent of waste water treated before discharging to the environment, while about 500.000 cubic meters of waste water discharge directly to the rivers without any treatment”. Another fact we can clearly seen that “30 percent of Ireland’s river are polluted with sewage or fertilizer” or “the King River is Australia’s most polluted rivers, suffering from a severe acidic condition related to mining operations 1.000.000 marine mammals. 1 million sea birds and other aquatic live are killed due to plastic waste in water and coastal area”. This is the proof proving for actions of people in the world. We are destroying our life without having aware of this problem. If we do not prevent, we will face to dangerous.

II. Causes and effects of water pollution.

II.1 Causes of water pollution.

Sources of pollution maybe subdivided into point sources and non-point sources. Point sources are sources from which pollutants are released at one readily identifiable spot: a sewer outlet, a steel mill, a septic tank, and forth. Non-point sources are more diffuse, examples would include fertilizer runoff from farm land, acid drainage from an abandoned strip mine, or runoff of sodium or calcium chloride from road salts.

On a worldwide basis, agriculture probably contributes more to water pollution than does any other single activity. In the United State, agriculture is estimated to be responsible for about two-thirds of stream pollution. Agriculture runoff carries three main types of pollutants: fertilizer, brocades and animal waste. Scientists have estimated that as many as one-third of the medium and large-size lakes in the United State have been affected by accelerated eutrophication. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United State reports that eutrophication has left 90 percent of the Black Sea with critically low oxygen levels, causing a precipitous decline in the total fish catch. The Baltic sea, too, has slow increasing symptoms of the eutrophication in the last 20 years, the global blooms are thought to be at least partially responsible for declining fish catches. The herbicides and pesticides used in agriculture are an other sources of the chemical pollution of water bodies. Runoff from farms where such biocides have been applied contaminates both ground and surface waters. Biocide contamination of groundwater exist in at least 34 states. Surveys in Minnesota and Iowa, for example, indicate that 30-60 percent of private wells may be tainted by runoff from farm herbicides and pesticides. A final agriculture source of chemical pollution is animal wastes, especially in countries where animals are raised intensively. It is estimated that animal wastes in the United State total about 15 billion tons per year, with feedlots generating about haft of the total. If not treated properly, the manure pollutes both soil and water with infectious agents and excess nutrients.

Agriculture is only one of the human activities that contribute to water pollution. Others sources are industry, mining, municipalities and residences. For many years, chemical were dumped into bodies of water without concern. It makes water be more opaque and dirty. Thus, our life also become uncomfortable and inconvenient.

II.2. Effects of water pollution

The effects of water pollution are varied and depend on what chemicals are dumped and in what location. The main problem caused by water pollution is that it kills life that inhabits water based on ecosystems. Dead fish, dolphin, birds and many other animals often wind up on beaches, killed by pollution in their habitat.

In India, water pollution due to industrial wastes and sewage has been assuming menacing proportion. Large lakes and large stretches of most of the river in India have water which is unsafe for drinking purposes. Surveys of industrialized zones show that even ground water has become unfit for drinking due to high concentration of toxic metals and chemicals along with bacteriological contamination. Sewage is also another good example of how pollution can affect us all. Sewage discharged into coastal water can wash up on beaches and cause a health hazard. People who bathe or swim in water can fall ill if they swallow polluted water. Sewage can have other harmful effects too. It can poison shellfish (such as cookies and mussels) that grow near the shore. People who eat poisoned shellfish risk sufferings from an acute and sometimes fatal illness.

Pollution matter because it harms the environment on which people depend. The environment is not something distant and separate from our lives. It is not a pretty shoreline hundreds of miles from out home or a wilderness landscape that we see on TV. The environment is everything that surrounds us that gives us life and health. Destroying the environment ultimately reduces the quality of our own lives and that, most selfishly is why pollution should matter to all of us.

II.3 The solution for water pollution in over the world.

Dealing with water solution is something that everyone (including governments and local councils) need to get involved with. Making people aware of the problem is the first step to solving it. In the early 1990s, when suffers in Britain grew tired of catching illness from water pollution with sewage, they formed a group called Surfers Against Sewage to force government and water companies to clean up their activity. Besides, we must have clearly rules to prevent group or personal from discharging waste rubbish into the rivers, lakes, ponds, seas,… By carrying out these advices with a good attitude, we can take world away from polluting and we will have a better life.

C. Conclusion

From all the findings above, it is clear that water pollution is still a really huge problem. It has developed greatly over the year. There are many factors leading to this situation. However, we can do some works to help our environment, which was polluted seriously. We can do some works to help our environment, which was polluted seriously. We can take individual action like using environmentally friendly detergents, not pouring oil down drains, reducing pesticides, and so on. We can take community action, too, by helping out on beach cleans or litter picks to keep our rivers and seas that little bit cleaner. And we can take action as countries and continents to pass laws that will make pollution harder and the world less polluted. Working together, we can make pollution less of a problem, and the world will be a better place.