5 Things That Causes Water Pollution

Water is one of the basic needs of a human being. We use it to quench our thirst, give energy to our body, and wash our clothes, dishes, and other parts of our home. Without water, we will die.

As years passed, the population began to grow, and bodies of water become polluted. Water pollution occurs when huge bodies of water like the groundwater, oceans, rivers, and lakes are contaminated with harmful chemicals and bacteria. This is due to the waste product directly thrown into the water.

Indeed, water pollution is one of the major crisis that the world faces today, and it affects millions of people who don’t have access to clean drinking water. The government spends time and effort to focus on water pollution and its effects to protect the people.

We need water to survive and to do that, and we have to make several measures to save some of the resources that we have today.

Thus, in this article, we will discuss the causes and effects of water pollution and some of the doable solutions we can start immediately.

Causes of Water Pollution

1.Rapid Urban Development

Through the years, we have witnessed the exodus of people in towns and cities. People began to build houses, roads, and big industries. Thereafter, there is a physical disturbance of the land and factories began to dump their chemical wastes in the bodies of water.

Big factories flush down waste products in the water, and this is one of the major causes of ocean pollution.

On the other hand, ordinary people also cause water pollution and not just big factories. Everyone is guilty of pouring chemicals or detergents in their drains or toilets. This toxic pollution can enter the wastewater from highway runoff.

The highway runoff is usually covered with toxic chemicals such as spilled fuel, chemical additives, brake fluids, and exhaust emissions. When the rain pours, these chemicals are washed in the drains and into the rivers.

With this, the school of fishes can get killed overnight. According to studies, the highway runoff in one year is equivalent to an oil tanker spill. Some highway runoffs come into the drains, and it can pollute the groundwater or accumulate in the land near the road. Thus, it becomes increasingly toxic year by year.

2.Improper Sewage Disposal

Nowadays, the disposal of sewage waste is becoming a major issue due to the growing population of the world. Its improper disposal can lead to several water-related diseases that can kill adults and children.

Sewage disposal problem does not end easily. As soon as you flush the toilet, the waste has to go somewhere and even if it leaves the sewage treatment, there are still waste needed to dispose of. Thus, sewage waste is dumped into the oceans.

In theory, sewage contains a natural substance which can be broken down by the environment easily. In fact, 90% of sewage contains water. However, in practice, sewage contains all other types of chemicals such as paper, plastic, and pharmaceutical products that they flush in the toilet.

Also, when people are sick, they carry viruses with them. Thus, the sewage they produce carries those viruses and spread in the ocean. Nowadays, it is possible to catch typhoid, hepatitis, and cholera from the ocean and river.

3.Use of Toxic Chemicals for the Plants

Also, farmers have used harmful fertilizers to produce more and cope up with the demands of the growing population. This results in an algal bloom in the water. When the oxygen level of the water increases, it can also cause the extinction of underwater plants as well as the fishes.

Dumping of Chemical Wastes by Big Factories

Detergents are one of the chemicals dumped in the ocean. On the other hand, the Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) are highly toxic substances, and its traces are found to be discharged into the environment today.

Other toxic pollution that is found in the water is caused by chemicals such as mercury, cadmium, and lead.

Lead is used in gasoline or petrol, but it has been restricted in some counties. Meanwhile, cadmium and mercury are still used in batteries. Recently, a chemical named Tributyltin (TBT) was also found in the affected bodies of water.

In 1938, a Japanese factory discharged a huge amount of mercury metal in Minamata Bay. This heavy metal water pollution contaminated the fish stocks and it took almost ten years for the problem to come to the attention of the authorities.

By that time, locals have already consumed the fishes, and about 2,000 residents were poisoned. More than 100 people became disabled and got killed.

4.Discharge of Radioactive Wastes

High concentrations of radioactive waste can cause great alarm to the public. It can cause illness such as cancer which can ultimately cause the death of a person.

In Europe, the biggest source of radioactive pollution is Sellafield and Cap La Hague. These companies discharge radioactive waste in the ocean which the currents carry around the world.

Norway has been receiving significant doses of radioactive pollution from Sellafield, and the government has repeatedly been complaining about the company. Both the Norwegian and the Irish government has been continuously pushing for the closure of the plant for years.

Oil Spills

According to studies, 12% of the oil that enters the ocean is due to tanker accidents while 70% of it comes from people pouring down oil on the land and routine shipping.

However, tanker oil spills are destructive since it releases large amounts of oil at once. In the United States, one of the biggest oil spills is in 1989 when the tanker Exxon Valdez broke up in Prince William Sound in Alaska.

During this incident, around 12 million gallons of oil were dumped in the ocean. With this, about 1000 to 2,000 sea otters and 250,000 seabirds were affected. Also, billions of salmons and herring eggs are destroyed due to the oil spill.

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