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Water Pollution: Everything You Need to Know

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British poet W. H. Auden once noted, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” Yet while we all know water is crucial for life, we trash it anyway. Some 80 percent of the world’s wastewater is dumped—largely untreated—back into the environment, polluting rivers, lakes, and oceans.

This widespread problem of water pollution is jeopardizing our health. Unsafe water kills more people each year than war and all other forms of violence combined. Meanwhile, our drinkable water sources are finite: Less than 1 percent of the earth’s freshwater is actually accessible to us. Without action, the challenges will only increase by 2050, when global demand for freshwater is expected to be one-third greater than it is now.

Still, we’re not hopeless against the threat to clean water. To better understand the problem and what we can do about it, here’s an overview of what water pollution is, what causes it, and how we can protect ourselves.

What Is Water Pollution?

Water pollution occurs when harmful substances—often chemicals or microorganisms—contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment.

What Are the Causes of Water Pollution?

Water is uniquely vulnerable to pollution. Known as a “universal solvent,” water is able to dissolve more substances than any other liquid on earth. It’s the reason we have Kool-Aid and brilliant blue waterfalls. It’s also why water is so easily polluted. Toxic substances from farms, towns, and factories readily dissolve into and mix with it, causing water pollution.

Types of Water Pollution

Groundwater

When rain falls and seeps deep into the earth, filling the cracks, crevices, and porous spaces of an aquifer (basically an underground storehouse of water), it becomes groundwater—one of our least visible but most important natural resources. Nearly 40 percent of Americans rely on groundwater, pumped to the earth’s surface, for drinking water. For some folks in rural areas, it’s their only freshwater source. Groundwater gets polluted when contaminants—from pesticides and fertilizers to waste leached from landfills and septic systems—make their way into an aquifer, rendering it unsafe for human use. Ridding groundwater of contaminants can be difficult to impossible, as well as costly. Once polluted, an aquifer may be unusable for decades, or even thousands of years. Groundwater can also spread contamination far from the original polluting source as it seeps into streams, lakes, and oceans.

Surface water

Covering about 70 percent of the earth, surface water is what fills our oceans, lakes, rivers, and all those other blue bits on the world map. Surface water from freshwater sources (that is, from sources other than the ocean) accounts for more than 60 percent of the water delivered to American homes. But a significant pool of that water is in peril. According to the most recent surveys on national water quality from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, nearly half of our rivers and streams and more than one-third of our lakes are polluted and unfit for swimming, fishing, and drinking. Nutrient pollution, which includes nitrates and phosphates, is the leading type of contamination in these freshwater sources. While plants and animals need these nutrients to grow, they have become a major pollutant due to farm waste and fertilizer runoff. Municipal and industrial waste discharges contribute their fair share of toxins as well. There’s also all the random junk that industry and individuals dump directly into waterways.

Ocean water

Eighty percent of ocean pollution (also called marine pollution) originates on land—whether along the coast or far inland. Contaminants such as chemicals, nutrients, and heavy metals are carried from farms, factories, and cities by streams and rivers into our bays and estuaries; from there they travel out to sea. Meanwhile, marine debris—particularly plastic—is blown in by the wind or washed in via storm drains and sewers. Our seas are also sometimes spoiled by oil spills and leaks—big and small—and are consistently soaking up carbon pollution from the air. The ocean absorbs as much as a quarter of man-made carbon emissions.

Point source

When contamination originates from a single source, it’s called point source pollution. Examples include wastewater (also called effluent) discharged legally or illegally by a manufacturer, oil refinery, or wastewater treatment facility, as well as contamination from leaking septic systems, chemical and oil spills, and illegal dumping. The EPA regulates point source pollution by establishing limits on what can be discharged by a facility directly into a body of water. While point source pollution originates from a specific place, it can affect miles of waterways and ocean.

Nonpoint source

Nonpoint source pollution is contamination derived from diffuse sources. These may include agricultural or stormwater runoff or debris blown into waterways from land. Nonpoint source pollution is the leading cause of water pollution in U.S. waters, but it’s difficult to regulate, since there’s no single, identifiable culprit.

Transboundary

It goes without saying that water pollution can’t be contained by a line on a map. Transboundary pollution is the result of contaminated water from one country spilling into the waters of another. Contamination can result from a disaster—like an oil spill—or the slow, downriver creep of industrial, agricultural, or municipal discharge.

The Most Common Types of Water Contamination

Agricultural

Not only is the agricultural sector the biggest consumer of global freshwater resources, with farming and livestock production using about 70 percent of the earth’s surface water supplies, but it’s also a serious water polluter. Around the world, agriculture is the leading cause of water degradation. In the United States, agricultural pollution is the top source of contamination in rivers and streams, the second-biggest source in wetlands, and the third main source in lakes. It’s also a major contributor of contamination to estuaries and groundwater. Every time it rains, fertilizers, pesticides, and animal waste from farms and livestock operations wash nutrients and pathogens—such bacteria and viruses—into our waterways. Nutrient pollution, caused by excess nitrogen and phosphorus in water or air, is the number-one threat to water quality worldwide and can cause algal blooms, a toxic soup of blue-green algae that can be harmful to people and wildlife.

Sewage and wastewater

Used water is wastewater. It comes from our sinks, showers, and toilets (think sewage) and from commercial, industrial, and agricultural activities (think metals, solvents, and toxic sludge). The term also includes stormwater runoff, which occurs when rainfall carries road salts, oil, grease, chemicals, and debris from impermeable surfaces into our waterways

More than 80 percent of the world’s wastewater flows back into the environment without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations; in some least-developed countries, the figure tops 95 percent. In the United States, wastewater treatment facilities process about 34 billion gallons of wastewater per day. These facilities reduce the amount of pollutants such as pathogens, phosphorus, and nitrogen in sewage, as well as heavy metals and toxic chemicals in industrial waste, before discharging the treated waters back into waterways. That’s when all goes well. But according to EPA estimates, our nation’s aging and easily overwhelmed sewage treatment systems also release more than 850 billion gallons of untreated wastewater each year.

Oil pollution

Big spills may dominate headlines, but consumers account for the vast majority of oil pollution in our seas, including oil and gasoline that drips from millions of cars and trucks every day. Moreover, nearly half of the estimated 1 million tons of oil that makes its way into marine environments each year comes not from tanker spills but from land-based sources such as factories, farms, and cities. At sea, tanker spills account for about 10 percent of the oil in waters around the world, while regular operations of the shipping industry—through both legal and illegal discharges—contribute about one-third. Oil is also naturally released from under the ocean floor through fractures known as seeps.

Radioactive substances

What Are the Effects of Water Pollution?

On human health

To put it bluntly: Water pollution kills. In fact, it caused 1.8 million deaths in 2015, according to a study published in The Lancet. Contaminated water can also make you ill. Every year, unsafe water sickens about 1 billion people. And low-income communities are disproportionately at risk because their homes are often closest to the most polluting industries.

Waterborne pathogens, in the form of disease-causing bacteria and viruses from human and animal waste, are a major cause of illness from contaminated drinking water. Diseases spread by unsafe water include cholera, giardia, and typhoid. Even in wealthy nations, accidental or illegal releases from sewage treatment facilities, as well as runoff from farms and urban areas, contribute harmful pathogens to waterways. Thousands of people across the United States are sickened every year by Legionnaires’ disease (a severe form of pneumonia contracted from water sources like cooling towers and piped water), with cases cropping up from California’s Disneyland to Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Todd McInturf/The Detroit News/AP

Meanwhile, the plight of residents in Flint, Michigan—where cost-cutting measures and aging water infrastructure created a lead contamination crisis—offers a stark look at how dangerous chemical and other industrial pollutants in our water can be. The problem goes far beyond Flint and involves much more than lead, as a wide range of chemical pollutants—from heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury to pesticides and nitrate fertilizers—are getting into our water supplies. Once they’re ingested, these toxins can cause a host of health issues, from cancer to hormone disruption to altered brain function. Children and pregnant women are particularly at risk.

Even swimming can pose a risk. Every year, 3.5 million Americans contract health issues such as skin rashes, pinkeye, respiratory infections, and hepatitis from sewage-laden coastal waters, according to EPA estimates.

On the environment

In order to thrive, healthy ecosystems rely on a complex web of animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi—all of which interact, directly or indirectly, with each other. Harm to any of these organisms can create a chain effect, imperiling entire aquatic environments.

When water pollution causes an algal bloom in a lake or marine environment, the proliferation of newly introduced nutrients stimulates plant and algae growth, which in turn reduces oxygen levels in the water. This dearth of oxygen, known as eutrophication, suffocates plants and animals and can create “dead zones,” where waters are essentially devoid of life. In certain cases, these harmful algal blooms can also produce neurotoxins that affect wildlife, from whales to sea turtles.

Chemicals and heavy metals from industrial and municipal wastewater contaminate waterways as well. These contaminants are toxic to aquatic life—most often reducing an organism’s life span and ability to reproduce—and make their way up the food chain as predator eats prey. That’s how tuna and other big fish accumulate high quantities of toxins, such as mercury.

Marine ecosystems are also threatened by marine debris, which can strangle, suffocate, and starve animals. Much of this solid debris, such as plastic bags and soda cans, gets swept into sewers and storm drains and eventually out to sea, turning our oceans into trash soup and sometimes consolidating to form floating garbage patches. Discarded fishing gear and other types of debris are responsible for harming more than 200 different species of marine life.

Meanwhile, ocean acidification is making it tougher for shellfish and coral to survive. Though they absorb about a quarter of the carbon pollution created each year by burning fossil fuels, oceans are becoming more acidic. This process makes it harder for shellfish and other species to build shells and may impact the nervous systems of sharks, clownfish, and other marine life.

What Can You Do to Prevent Water Pollution?

With your actions

We’re all accountable to some degree for today’s water pollution problem. Fortunately, there are some simple ways you can prevent water contamination or at least limit your contribution to it:

With your voice

One of the most effective ways to stand up for our waters is to speak out in support of the Clean Water Act, which has helped hold polluters accountable for five decades—despite attempts by destructive industries to gut its authority. But we also need regulations that keep pace with modern-day challenges, including microplastics, PFAS, pharmaceuticals, and other contaminants our wastewater treatment plants weren’t built to handle, not to mention polluted water that’s dumped untreated.

Tell the federal government, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and your local elected officials that you support water protections and investments in infrastructure, like wastewater treatment, lead-pipe removal programs, and stormwater-abating green infrastructure. Also, learn how you and those around you can get involved in the policymaking process. Our public waterways serve every one of us. We should all have a say in how they’re protected.

This story was originally published on May 14, 2018, and has been updated with new information and links.

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Water pollution

Water pollution is a problem of great importance. The presence of H2O is one of the main prerequisites for the existence of life on Earth. It is an important part of all ecospheres. World’s supplies are about 1386 million cubic kilometres which are unevenly partitioned onto the separate continents.

They include liquid (fresh and salt), solid (fresh) in the form of ice, and gas in the form of steam. The global ocean takes up about 97,5%. The fresh aqua, which has a salinity of up to 1%, is 2,5% of the world’s supplies.

About 70% of it is located in the ice sheets and the polar zones of the mountain glaciers. In the upper part of the lithosphere, there are significant supplies of it. Around 1/10 of them are easily accessible and in many countries they provide the supplies and irrigation for the inhabited places.

Why it is important

People need a fairly small amount of drinking water, but still it is vital to their existence. Around the world about 70% of the used water is utilized in agriculture. About 25% of the total usage in the world goes to the industry. Apart from everyday life, health care, agriculture, and industry, It is also used for other purposes, for example as solvent, cooler, for cleaning and laundry, as an element in the production of chemicals, drinks and food.

It is a habitat of many different plants and animals which are needed to feed the population. The natural pools combined with the building of floating canals make an important means of transportation to inaccessible areas. The power of it is used for the production of electricity in hydro electrical power plants. It moves from seas and oceans to the atmosphere, then to land and back to the oceans by changing one state with another – liquid, gas, and solid. The processes that make this happen create the movement on the planet. This movement is constant and is done in cycles, which is why it is called a water cycle. This cycle provides balance on the planet, i.e. the amount that goes out of the ocean and then goes back in it.

Causes of water pollution

The shortage of fresh water is constantly growing. The reasons for this are the following:

This leads to the following socio-economic and ecological consequences:

There are two ways of using resources:

Water pollution of the sources

It refers to the decrease of their biological functions and their ecological significance, which is due to the toxic substances that are poured into them. The polluters are classified into three main categories:

Types of water pollution

The inorganic water pollution is associated with the entering of mineral substances, chemical compounds, and toxic waste. The biggest inorganic polluters are factories that produce metal, build machines, mine ores and coals; the factories that produce acids, building materials, and mineral fertilizers; logging companies, transport, etc.

Physical water pollution is associated with the presence of the radioactive waste, heat, and others. The presence of radionuclide is the most dangerous even in very small amounts. They cause radioactive water pollution.

The radioactive waste is thrown out by nuclear power plants, hospitals, factories working with radioactive materials, the armed forces, and so on. Heat as a polluter heats up the industrial ones which later become waste. This is the so-called thermal оне. The other way it happens is by the contact between tham. It can also have natural origins /heat waves/ and unnatural origins /from the industry when electricity is produced – hydroelectric power plants/.

Biological is associated with the appearance of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, a few types of fungus, parasitic worms, and other. The microorganisms and viruses that spread diseases can be found in the badly purified or non-purified of the population and the animal farms. When they enter the drinking water, the pathogenic microbes and viruses cause different epidemics. They are distributed on large areas by the fresh and communal domestic ones. For the biological decomposition of the organic substances to take place, the ration between the biological necessity of oxygen and the chemical necessity of oxygen should equal or be above 50%.

Treatment and conservation

Part of it in nature manage to clean them. Self-cleaning is an aggregation of all natural processes, which aim to restore their original consistency and features. It depends on factors such as solar radiation, the activity of microorganisms and plants.

However, self-cleaning is not sufficient to deal with the anthropogenic factors. The contamination of ecosystems itself poses a threat to all organisms and human beings. Their stability is weakened by the activity of the polluters in the ecosystems because of breaches in the food pyramid and broken biogenetic connections, microbiological, eutrophication, and other unfavourable processes.

A source of thermal water pollution are the heated industrial waste and those of hydroelectric power plants. When the temperature rises, changes in the gas and chemical composition take place. This leads to increased reproduction of anaerobic bacteria and to emitting toxic gases.

In direct contact of humans with bacterial infections or when there are different types of parasites, it can penetrate the skin and cause serious illnesses. This is typical for tropical and subtropical areas.

There are three main ways for rational use:

When choosing a system and a scheme for sluicing out from industrial companies, the following factors should be considered:

Various means for cleaning exist mechanical, physico-chemical, biological and others. They are selected in accordance with the features and degree of harmfulness. Sometimes, a few cleaning methods have to be used at the same time.

During the mechanical cleaning from industrial waste through permeation, precipitation, and filtration of the admixture, up to 90% of the insoluble mechanical admixture is exuded, and up to 60% from domestic water pollution.

For that to happen are used grids, different types of catchers, and filters. Neutralization and oxidation refer to the main chemical methods. Neutralization is used for the processing of industrial waste in many fields of industry that contain acids and foundation.

The following methods are used in the physico-chemical cleaning:

In conclusion, we can say that water is a symbol of life. It is the part of the environment in which all biological reactions take place and without which life on Earth will be impossible. If mankind really wants to preserve the variety of living creatures on Earth and save the planet from disasters and catastrophes, it should put more effort in protecting and purging its resources.

Water pollution: an introduction

We know that pollution is a human problem because it is a relatively recent development in the planet’s history: before the 19th century Industrial Revolution, people lived more in harmony with their immediate environment. As industrialization has spread around the globe, so the problem of pollution has spread with it. When Earth’s population was much smaller, no one believed pollution would ever present a serious problem. It was once popularly believed that the oceans were far too big to pollute. Today, with around 7 billion people on the planet, it has become apparent that there are limits. Pollution is one of the signs that humans have exceeded those limits.

How serious is the problem? According to the environmental campaign organization WWF: «Pollution from toxic chemicals threatens life on this planet. Every ocean and every continent, from the tropics to the once-pristine polar regions, is contaminated.»

Photo: Stormwater pollution entering a river from a drain. Photo by Peter C Van Metre courtesy of US Geological Survey.

Contents

What is water pollution?

Water pollution can be defined in many ways. Usually, it means one or more substances have built up in water to such an extent that they cause problems for animals or people. Oceans, lakes, rivers, and other inland waters can naturally clean up a certain amount of pollution by dispersing it harmlessly. If you poured a cup of black ink into a river, the ink would quickly disappear into the river’s much larger volume of clean water. The ink would still be there in the river, but in such a low concentration that you would not be able to see it. At such low levels, the chemicals in the ink probably would not present any real problem. However, if you poured gallons of ink into a river every few seconds through a pipe, the river would quickly turn black. The chemicals in the ink could very quickly have an effect on the quality of the water. This, in turn, could affect the health of all the plants, animals, and humans whose lives depend on the river.

Photo: Pollution means adding substances to the environment that don’t belong there—like the air pollution from this smokestack. Pollution is not always as obvious as this, however.

Thus, water pollution is all about quantities : how much of a polluting substance is released and how big a volume of water it is released into. A small quantity of a toxic chemical may have little impact if it is spilled into the ocean from a ship. But the same amount of the same chemical can have a much bigger impact pumped into a lake or river, where there is less clean water to disperse it.

Water pollution almost always means that some damage has been done to an ocean, river, lake, or other water source. A 1969 United Nations report defined ocean pollution as:

«The introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy into the marine environment (including estuaries) resulting in such deleterious effects as harm to living resources, hazards to human health, hindrance to marine activities, including fishing, impairment of quality for use of sea water and reduction of amenities.» [1]

Fortunately, Earth is forgiving and damage from water pollution is often reversible.

What are the main types of water pollution?

Photo: Detergent pollution entering a river—an example of surface water pollution. Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service Photo Library.

Photo: Above: Point-source pollution comes from a single, well-defined place such as this pipe. Below: Nonpoint-source pollution comes from many sources. All the industrial plants alongside a river and the ships that service them may be polluting the river collectively. Both photos courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service Photo Library.

When point-source pollution enters the environment, the place most affected is usually the area immediately around the source. For example, when a tanker accident occurs, the oil slick is concentrated around the tanker itself and, in the right ocean conditions, the pollution disperses the further away from the tanker you go. This is less likely to happen with nonpoint source pollution which, by definition, enters the environment from many different places at once.

How do we know when water is polluted?

Some forms of water pollution are very obvious: everyone has seen TV news footage of oil slicks filmed from helicopters flying overhead. Water pollution is usually less obvious and much harder to detect than this. But how can we measure water pollution when we cannot see it? How do we even know it’s there?

There are two main ways of measuring the quality of water. One is to take samples of the water and measure the concentrations of different chemicals that it contains. If the chemicals are dangerous or the concentrations are too great, we can regard the water as polluted. Measurements like this are known as chemical indicators of water quality. Another way to measure water quality involves examining the fish, insects, and other invertebrates that the water will support. If many different types of creatures can live in a river, the quality is likely to be very good; if the river supports no fish life at all, the quality is obviously much poorer. Measurements like this are called biological indicators of water quality.

What are the causes of water pollution?

Sewage

With billions of people on the planet, disposing of sewage waste is a major problem. According to 2017 figures from the World Health Organization, some 2 billion people (about a quarter of the world’s population) don’t have access to safe drinking water or the most basic sanitation, 3.4 billion (60 people of the population) lack «safely managed» sanitation (unshared, with waste properly treated). Although there have been great improvements in securing access to clean water, relatively little, genuine progress has been made on improving global sanitation in the last decade. [20] Sewage disposal affects people’s immediate environments and leads to water-related illnesses such as diarrhea that kills 525,000 children under five each year. [3] (Back in 2002, the World Health Organization estimated that water-related diseases could kill as many as 135 million people by 2020; in 2019, the WHO was still estimating the annual death toll from poor water and sanitation at over 800,000 people a year.) In developed countries, most people have flush toilets that take sewage waste quickly and hygienically away from their homes.

Yet the problem of sewage disposal does not end there. When you flush the toilet, the waste has to go somewhere and, even after it leaves the sewage treatment works, there is still waste to dispose of. Sometimes sewage waste is pumped untreated into the sea. Until the early 1990s, around 5 million tons of sewage was dumped by barge from New York City each year. [4] According to 2002 figures from the UK government’s Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the sewers of Britain collect around 11 billion liters of waste water every day; there are still 31,000 sewage overflow pipes through which, in certain circumstances, such as heavy storms, raw sewage is pumped untreated into the sea. [5] The New River that crosses the border from Mexico into California once carried with it 20–25 million gallons (76–95 million liters) of raw sewage each day; a new waste water plant on the US-Mexico border, completed in 2007, substantially solved that problem. [6] Unfortunately, even in some of the richest nations, the practice of dumping sewage into the sea continues. In early 2012, it was reported that the tiny island of Guernsey (between Britain and France) has decided to continue dumping 16,000 tons of raw sewage into the sea each day.

In theory, sewage is a completely natural substance that should be broken down harmlessly in the environment: 90 percent of sewage is water. [7] In practice, sewage contains all kinds of other chemicals, from the pharmaceutical drugs people take to the paper, plastic, and other wastes they flush down their toilets. When people are sick with viruses, the sewage they produce carries those viruses into the environment. It is possible to catch illnesses such as hepatitis, typhoid, and cholera from river and sea water.

Nutrients

Photo: During crop-spraying, some chemicals will drain into the soil. Eventually, they seep into rivers and other watercourses. Photo courtesy of US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

Waste water

Chemical waste

The best known example of heavy metal pollution in the oceans took place in 1938 when a Japanese factory discharged a significant amount of mercury metal into Minamata Bay, contaminating the fish stocks there. It took a decade for the problem to come to light. By that time, many local people had eaten the fish and around 2000 were poisoned. Hundreds of people were left dead or disabled. [10]

Radioactive waste

People view radioactive waste with great alarm—and for good reason. At high enough concentrations it can kill; in lower concentrations it can cause cancers and other illnesses. The biggest sources of radioactive pollution in Europe are two factories that reprocess waste fuel from nuclear power plants: Sellafield on the north-west coast of Britain and Cap La Hague on the north coast of France. Both discharge radioactive waste water into the sea, which ocean currents then carry around the world. Countries such as Norway, which lie downstream from Britain, receive significant doses of radioactive pollution from Sellafield. [19] The Norwegian government has repeatedly complained that Sellafield has increased radiation levels along its coast by 6–10 times. Both the Irish and Norwegian governments continue to press for the plant’s closure. [11]

Oil pollution

Photo: Oil-tanker spills are the most spectacular forms of pollution and the ones that catch public attention, but only a fraction of all water pollution happens this way. Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service Photo Library.

When we think of ocean pollution, huge black oil slicks often spring to mind, yet these spectacular accidents represent only a tiny fraction of all the pollution entering our oceans. Even considering oil by itself, tanker spills are not as significant as they might seem: only 12 percent of the oil that enters the oceans comes from tanker accidents; over 70 percent of oil pollution at sea comes from routine shipping and from the oil people pour down drains on land. [12] However, what makes tanker spills so destructive is the sheer quantity of oil they release at once — in other words, the concentration of oil they produce in one very localized part of the marine environment. The biggest oil spill in recent years (and the biggest ever spill in US waters) occurred when the tanker Exxon Valdez broke up in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989. Around 12 million gallons (44 million liters) of oil were released into the pristine wilderness—enough to fill your living room 800 times over! Estimates of the marine animals killed in the spill vary from approximately 1000 sea otters and 34,000 birds to as many as 2800 sea otters and 250,000 sea birds. Several billion salmon and herring eggs are also believed to have been destroyed. [13]

Plastics

If you’ve ever taken part in a community beach clean, you’ll know that plastic is far and away the most common substance that washes up with the waves. There are three reasons for this: plastic is one of the most common materials, used for making virtually every kind of manufactured object from clothing to automobile parts; plastic is light and floats easily so it can travel enormous distances across the oceans; most plastics are not biodegradable (they do not break down naturally in the environment), which means that things like plastic bottle tops can survive in the marine environment for a long time. (A plastic bottle can survive an estimated 450 years in the ocean and plastic fishing line can last up to 600 years.)

Today, much media attention focuses on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating, oceanic graveyard of plastic junk roughly three times the size of France, discovered by sailor Charles J. Moore in 1997. But, as you’ll know well enough if you’ve ever taken part in a community beach clean, persistent plastic litters every ocean on the planet: some 8 million tons of new plastic are dumped in the sea every single year. [17]

Alien species

Photo: Invasive species: Above: Water hyacinth crowding out a waterway around an old fence post. Photo by Steve Hillebrand. Below: Non-native zebra mussels clumped on a native mussel. Both photos courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service Photo Library.

Other forms of pollution

These are the most common forms of pollution—but by no means the only ones. Heat or thermal pollution from factories and power plants also causes problems in rivers. By raising the temperature, it reduces the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water, thus also reducing the level of aquatic life that the river can support.

Another type of pollution involves the disruption of sediments (fine-grained powders) that flow from rivers into the sea. Dams built for hydroelectric power or water reservoirs can reduce the sediment flow. This reduces the formation of beaches, increases coastal erosion (the natural destruction of cliffs by the sea), and reduces the flow of nutrients from rivers into seas (potentially reducing coastal fish stocks). Increased sediments can also present a problem. During construction work, soil, rock, and other fine powders sometimes enters nearby rivers in large quantities, causing it to become turbid (muddy or silted). The extra sediment can block the gills of fish, effectively suffocating them. Construction firms often now take precautions to prevent this kind of pollution from happening.

What are the effects of water pollution?

Some people believe pollution is an inescapable result of human activity: they argue that if we want to have factories, cities, ships, cars, oil, and coastal resorts, some degree of pollution is almost certain to result. In other words, pollution is a necessary evil that people must put up with if they want to make progress. Fortunately, not everyone agrees with this view. One reason people have woken up to the problem of pollution is that it brings costs of its own that undermine any economic benefits that come about by polluting.

Take oil spills, for example. They can happen if tankers are too poorly built to survive accidents at sea. But the economic benefit of compromising on tanker quality brings an economic cost when an oil spill occurs. The oil can wash up on nearby beaches, devastate the ecosystem, and severely affect tourism. The main problem is that the people who bear the cost of the spill (typically a small coastal community) are not the people who caused the problem in the first place (the people who operate the tanker). Yet, arguably, everyone who puts gasoline (petrol) into their car—or uses almost any kind of petroleum-fueled transport—contributes to the problem in some way. So oil spills are a problem for everyone, not just people who live by the coast and tanker operates.

Sewage is another good example of how pollution can affect us all. Sewage discharged into coastal waters can wash up on beaches and cause a health hazard. People who bathe or surf in the water can fall ill if they swallow polluted water—yet sewage can have other harmful effects too: it can poison shellfish (such as cockles and mussels) that grow near the shore. People who eat poisoned shellfish risk suffering from an acute—and sometimes fatal—illness called paralytic shellfish poisoning. Shellfish is no longer caught along many shores because it is simply too polluted with sewage or toxic chemical wastes that have discharged from the land nearby.

Pollution matters because it harms the environment on which people depend. The environment is not something distant and separate from our lives. It’s not a pretty shoreline hundreds of miles from our homes or a wilderness landscape that we see only 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.

How can we stop water pollution?

There is no easy way to solve water pollution; if there were, it wouldn’t be so much of a problem. Broadly speaking, there are three different things that can help to tackle the problem—education, laws, and economics—and they work together as a team.

Education

Making people aware of the problem is the first step to solving it. In the early 1990s, when surfers in Britain grew tired of catching illnesses from water polluted with sewage, they formed a group called Surfers Against Sewage to force governments and water companies to clean up their act. People who’ve grown tired of walking the world’s polluted beaches often band together to organize community beach-cleaning sessions. Anglers who no longer catch so many fish have campaigned for tougher penalties against factories that pour pollution into our rivers. Greater public awareness can make a positive difference.

One of the biggest problems with water pollution is its transboundary nature. Many rivers cross countries, while seas span whole continents. Pollution discharged by factories in one country with poor environmental standards can cause problems in neighboring nations, even when they have tougher laws and higher standards. Environmental laws can make it tougher for people to pollute, but to be really effective they have to operate across national and international borders. This is why we have international laws governing the oceans, such as the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (signed by over 120 nations), the 1972 London (Dumping) Convention, the 1978 MARPOL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, and the 1998 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic. The European Union has water-protection laws (known as directives) that apply to all of its member states. They include the 1976 Bathing Water Directive (updated 2006), which seeks to ensure the quality of the waters that people use for recreation. Most countries also have their own water pollution laws. In the United States, for example, there is the 1972 Clean Water Act and the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act.

Economics

Our clean future

Life is ultimately about choices—and so is pollution. We can live with sewage-strewn beaches, dead rivers, and fish that are too poisonous to eat. Or we can work together to keep the environment clean so the plants, animals, and people who depend on it remain healthy. We can take individual action to help reduce water pollution, for example, by 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 a better place.

Find out more

On this site

Books

For older readers

For younger readers

Selected news articles

Water pollution videos

Websites

Notes and references

Wherever possible, I’ve referenced my sources with links; the following notes (indicated by bracketed numbers in the text) are mostly references to books, journals, and other «offline» reports that can’t be linked the same way.

Please do NOT copy our articles onto blogs and other websites

Articles from this website are registered at the US Copyright Office. Copying or otherwise using registered works without permission, removing this or other copyright notices, and/or infringing related rights could make you liable to severe civil or criminal penalties.

Text copyright © Chris Woodford 2006, 2022. All rights reserved. Full copyright notice and terms of use.

This article was originally written for the UK Rivers Network and first published on their website in April 2006. It is revised and updated every year.

35 Causes, Effects & Solutions For Water Pollution

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.”

Water Pollution: Causes, Effects & Solutions

Water pollution is the contamination of water environments like oceans, rivers, lakes or groundwater.

Contaminants are introduced into the natural environmental system which is often caused by human behavior.

Water pollution is a big environmental problem since it not only affects animals and plants, but also our daily lives in the form of polluted lakes and rivers which in turn can lead to contaminated drinking water.

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Types of Water Pollution

Pollution of rivers

Rivers are usually polluted through three major factors, namely industry, domestic and agriculture.

This is due to the fact that each of them is usually located quite near rivers for historical reasons.

This causes problems since farmers put their fertilizers on their fields.

Due to heavy rainfalls, this fertilizer may be washed through the soil and eventually end up in rivers.

This can cause a dramatic increase in phosphate and nitrate concentration.

In turn, this leads to an increase in algae.

At the end of the lifespan of an alga, it is decomposed by bacteria which grow exponentially and use up quite a lot of oxygen.

At one point, there is too much algae contamination and thus due to a lack of oxygen, fishes and other animals die.

Another source of polluted rivers is the chemical industry.

Waste products from chemical processes are often accidentally or even intentionally disposed into rivers, including toxic substances like cyanide, lead or mercury.

This contamination through chemical substances is also a huge source of river contamination and destroys many river environments.

Pollution of lakes

Analogous to the pollution of rivers, the main sources for lake pollution are the excessive use of fertilizers and metals from industrial waste disposal.

Moreover, lakes are also polluted through natural sediments like silt and clay which in large amounts can become a vast pollution problem.

Marine pollution

Since rivers end in lakes and oceans, they carry their contaminants in these environments.

Oceans pollution thus is caused by the previous pollution of rivers and lakes and has similar pollution sources.

Groundwater contamination

Groundwater pollution occurs from man-made products such as oil, gasoline, chemicals road salts and other human-made substances get eventually through the soil into the groundwater.

These substances include, among others, motor oil, substances from mining activities, toxic chemicals and untreated waste.

How can Water Pollution be measured?

Water contamination can be measured through an analysis of water samples.

Chemical, biological and physical examinations can be performed.

To ensure good water quality, there has to be a profound control mechanism which requires appropriate infrastructure, including sewage, wastewater, industrial and agricultural wastewater treatment plants to protect water bodies from contaminated wastewater.

Nature-based measures may be another approach to mitigate water contamination.

Which Countries struggle with Water Pollution?

There are many countries in the world with bad drinking water conditions.

The worst conditions can be found in Mexico, Congo, Pakistan, Bhutan, Ghana, Nepal, Cambodia, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Uganda.

As of 2017, almost 40% of people in Uganda need to travel more than 30 minutes to access safe drinking water.

How many People die from Water Pollution?

According to an estimate of the world health organization, approximately 3.6 million people die from water-related diseases a year.

Development of Water Pollution over Time

With the advent of the industrial revolution, water pollution increased dramatically.

This is mainly due to the fact that factories released pollutants directly in rivers.

Even today, in developing countries, 70% of industrial waste is still just dumped untreated into lakes and rivers.

Causes of Water Pollution

Water pollution caused by natural phenomena

But there are also natural causes of water pollution.

Natural sources of water pollution can be volcanoes, storms or earthquakes, which can have a dramatic impact on the ecological status of water.

Water pollution caused by human behavior

There are many sources of water pollution caused by humans, including the disposal of industrial waste and sewage, littering, using harmful and/or excessive fertilizers or dumping industrial waste into rivers and lakes.

Moreover, the improper disposal of batteries, personal care products and household chemicals contribute to water contamination.

Sewage

Wastewater and sewage are a by-product of daily life and thus produced by each household.

It is produced through various activities in our daily lives, like using dishwashers, toilets soaps and detergents.

Wastewater contains chemicals and bacteria which are harmful to human and environmental health.

Germs in the sewage can cause severe health problems, which in the worst case even cause death.

Moreover, when these germs make their way into rivers or lakes, animals also may get infected.

They can act as carriers for the potentially deadly diseases and thus spread them back to humans through wildlife interactions or even only from consuming animals like infected deer.

Industrial waste

Industries located near rivers and lakes are a huge problem for water quality.

Since they want to get rid of their industrial by-products, chemicals like mercury, asbestos, sulfur, nitrates and many others are often dumped into nearby water.

Since rivers often end in oceans, this problem impacts the whole worldwide water system.

Due to this contamination, there can be a serious adverse impact on water animals and in turn even on us consuming fish or other seafood.

This is a problem that is most prevalent in developing countries.

Developed countries usually have strict environmental standards to prevent this kind of environmental pollution.

Private Waste

Industrial waste is a much bigger factor when it comes to water pollution than private waste.

However, if households do not dispose of their garbage properly, pollutants can get into the groundwater.

Thus, it is necessary even for private persons to pay attention to how to dispose of different forms of garbage properly.

Mining

When miners extract gold, diamonds, coal or other elements, they have to take great care not to pollute the groundwater.

Many of the raw minerals are containing chemicals that are harmful to the environment. If not disposed of properly, these by-products can cause severe contaminations of rivers and lakes as well as of the groundwater.

Moreover, in some countries, the use of toxic substances to extract metals is a big danger to the people operating with them and also for the groundwater.

For example, there are people in Africa extracting gold with the help of mercury, not even wearing gloves.

Apart from the deadly consequences for the workers, if the mercury is not disposed of properly, it would have an enormous severe impact on the water cycle.

Oil leakages

Accidental oil leakages are a huge problem for marine water conditions.

If due to an accident, a ship that is carrying large amounts of oil starts to leak, this impacts almost every sea creature in a severe adverse way.

The bad part about oil is that it doesn’t dissolve in water, so it basically will last forever and cause health problems for fish and other animals.

Dumping

A part of our daily garbage is not burned but is carried to other countries which then dispose of this garbage into the sea.

This process is devastating to the whole ecological system since items like plastic and rubber take more than a century to decompose.

If this process is not stopped soon, this will have dramatic consequences for ocean animals and thus in turn for us consuming fish and other seafood.

Fossil fuels

The burning of fossil fuels leads to acid rain, which in turn spills into rivers, lakes, oceans and the groundwater.

By no longer using fossil fuels and transit to renewable energies, water contamination could be vastly mitigated.

Increasing meat consumption

Our worldwide increasing appetite for meat is indirectly causing water pollution.

Since our farm animals have to be fed, higher consumption of meat means a higher demand for animal feed which means a higher level of used fertilizer in order to be able to meet this demand which indirectly translates into a higher concentration of nitrate and phosphate in our groundwater.

Chemical fertilizers

For farmers, using chemical fertilizers in order to increase crop yields is considered the worldwide standard today.

However, the chemicals contained in the fertilizer can sink in the groundwater and cause severe damage to water conditions.

Pesticides

Similar to chemical fertilizers, the use of pesticides increases the yield of farmers since it protects the crops of plants from animals.

However, these pesticides often contain harmful substances that will get in the ecosystem sooner or later and thus foster water pollution.

Leaking sewer lines

A leak in or even a broken sewer line can pollute the groundwater to a significant degree.

Leakages in the sewer line may often not be detected for a while and can contaminate the groundwater for this timespan until the leakages are fixed.

Radioactive garbage

Radioactive waste is a by-product in the production of nuclear energy.

It takes a high level of caution to store nuclear waste in a safe manner.

The disposal of nuclear waste is quite difficult and takes enormous effort.

Thus, it is quite expensive to safely dispose of the nuclear garbage.

Mistakes in the disposal process of nuclear waste can result in severe damage to the ecosystem through the nuclear contamination of the groundwater.

Leakage of landfills

Leakages of landfills can result in the pollution of water in a severe manner.

There are many toxic substances that can flow through the leakages and thus contaminate the groundwater.

Urban development

In our daily lives, our standards and entitlement continually grow.

We need the hippest clothes, trendy food and other amenities.

The downside to this is that we dispose of things that are still working but are not trendy anymore quite faster than decades ago.

This leads to a huge waste of resources, since the production of material things causes huge water and resource demand.

Thus, more fertilizer and other chemicals have to be used in order to meet the demand for resources which in turn leads to increased contamination of our water supply.

Population growth

Similar to the urban development issue, the growth in population leads to an increase in demand for food and other things for daily life.

Thus, an increase in population is likely to cause an increase in water pollution if we do not adapt properly and develop an overall strategy that on the one hand meets the demand for material goods and on the other hand is in line with sustainable ecological behavior.

Animal waste

Animal waste is a natural product.

However, when it rains, it reaches rivers and can under some circumstances to diseases that may impact humans in the form of Cholera or Diarrhea.

Underground storage leaks

Oil and other substances are often carried through pipelines.

If this pipelines leak, oil and other harmful substances can get in the groundwater and cause an adverse impact on the water quality.

Airplane fuel drops

Prior to the landing, airplanes usually drop their fuel if there is still too much of it in the plane’s tank.

This drop of fuel causes air pollution which in turn can harm water quality through contaminated rain.

Effects of Water Pollution

Effects on humans

Water pollution poses severe threats to humanity.

Since water is crucial for all life on earth, a lack of pure drinking water could result in a decrease in population numbers.

Moreover, if water becomes a scarce resource, people are likely to fight for their share and this may even lead to serious conflicts.

This problem will be especially severe in countries that are heavily affected by the global warming problem.

In these countries, the water shortage will be a quite severe problem.

If we continue to pollute our rivers, lakes and oceans, the time will come when water will be an extremely precious resource and prices for water will increase dramatically.

Effects on animals

Animals are also severely affected by water pollution.

In contrast to humans, animals are not able to recycle or treat water but they still need it to survive.

Thus, they have to consume the contaminated water and risk to get sick.

If the water is too polluted, local animals may either move to other places or if they are not able to move will eventually die from the contaminated water and its adverse health effects.

Effects on plants

Plants can also be affected by water pollution.

Since the water system is connected, pollution in rivers can transfer into the pollution of lakes and the groundwater.

Plants that grow in a contaminated area may use this polluted water and die off.

Moreover, if farmers use the contaminated water for their fields, the plants will suffer and therefore crop yields may decrease.

Effects on water animals and plants

There are also significant adverse effects on water animals and plants from water pollution.

Rivers, lakes or oceans are the natural living habitat for countless animals and plants.

These animals and plants are usually quite sensitive to their living conditions.

If their living environment gets polluted, they may not be able to adapt properly and eventually die due to the contaminants.

Disruption of the food chain

Moreover, water pollution can also have adverse effects on the food chain.

Since we consume fish and other water animals, we also indirectly consume the pollutants which these fish have consumed.

Thus, we could also be contaminated by eating contaminated fish.

Diseases

The consumption of polluted water can cause many serious health conditions.

Among others, it can lead to cholera, hepatitis or typhoid fever.

Thus, water pollution poses a serious threat to the health of humans as well as to the health of animals.

Eutrophication

Water pollution can also lead to the eutrophication of lakes or oceans, meaning that the growth of algae will be supported.

Since algae need certain chemicals and nutrients to grow, water contaminated with those nutrients will give algae the opportunity to spread.

Destruction of whole ecosystems

Ecosystems are quite sensitive to changes in their natural conditions.

Even small changes can lead to big effects.

If the level of water pollution increases, some animals and plants may die off which in turn could cause chain reactions regarding predator and prey animals and therefore harm the ecosystem in a significant way.

Solutions to the Water Pollution Problem

Responsible use of fertilizer and pesticides

Through the reduction in the use of fertilizers and pesticides, the contamination of the groundwater through nitrates and phosphates can be significantly reduced.

Thus, we have to make sure that farmers are aware that their efforts can be a big contribution in order to mitigate water pollution.

Discourage firms from disposing of their trash in rivers, lakes or oceans

We have to make sure that firms do not dispose of their industrial by-products in rivers or other water environments.

There are already strict regulations in developed countries, but this principle should also be standard in developing countries in order to solve our water pollution problem.

Replace fossil fuels by renewable energies

Private people and firms are getting more and more aware that fossil fuels have to be replaced by renewable energies.

This is the right approach in order to reduce water pollution from acid rain.

Minimize stormwater runoff

Water pollution from stormwater runoff and the resulting sediment pollution can be avoided by private persons as well as by big firms.

Sediment pollution may not seem to be a big problem for you, but it has a significant ecological impact.

Sediment in an aquatic environment can change the water temperature, screens out sunlight, disrupts the food chain, inhibits photosynthesis and eventually can lead to a decline of species in the water ecosystem.

You can mitigate sediment pollution through seeding or installing a silt fence to control and contain a potential erosion.

Reduce meat consumption

Consuming lots of meat is quite common in our society today.

However, this has an adverse effect on water pollution since in order to produce more meat, the intensity of fertilizer usage is likely to increase and thus the pollution of the groundwater increases.

Reducing the consumption of meat can thus contribute to a reduction in water pollution.

Support other countries to improve their technologies

We have to hand developing countries the knowledge and awareness of how our actions affect water pollution and how to fix this issue.

Moreover, we have to stop shipping our trash to other countries and instead deal with our trash at home.

This will increase the incentive for each country to reduce trash production significantly.

Convince people

The ultimate weapon to fight water pollution is to convince people to change their behavior.

This includes convincing farmers to use fewer fertilizers and pesticides but also refers to the behavior of private persons in their daily life.

People have to become aware of the fact that reducing trash can be a major contribution to the reduction in water pollution.

Moreover, disposing of different kinds of trash appropriately makes a big difference.

Conclusion

In order to solve the water pollution problem, it takes huge efforts, time and money to set up a sustainable process and execute it.

We need to put the focus on renewable energies but at the same time have to make sure that we can provide basic things for the growing population.

It is also essential to increase awareness of this big problem. We should put more attention in our daily lives on our consumption needs.

Is it really necessary to always have the newest stuff and dump older but still working things?

The need for material things is killing the planet since for the production of more things, the water will be polluted even more through the factors mentioned above.

If we really want to make an impact, we need to put awareness on our consumption behavior and decrease our need for material things.

Sources

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.

As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.

After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.

Wanna make a contribution to save our environment? Share it!

Water Pollution Effects: Consequences of Water Pollution

Water pollution is an increasing issue everywhere. Our Earth keeps hinting at the importance of water with extreme droughts and making us understand its necessity.

When water is crucial for the survival of the lives on our planet, why are we not taking it more seriously?

Due to the contamination of water resources, many water sources are being destroyed and made unfit to consume.

In this blog, let’s look at the top water pollution causes and its resultant effects.

Water Pollution Causes

1. Chemical Dumping

Many manufacturing units are dumping the residues into the nearby water bodies. As a result, many ponds, lakes and rivers are totally contaminated, making them undrinkable.

During the rainy season, these water from the local water bodies mix, thereby, contaminating the pure water sources too.

2. Usage of Harmful Fertilizers

To keep the insects, worms and other animals out, many use harmful pesticides and fertilizers for agriculture. These fertilizers contaminate the soil and seep further down into the groundwater.

And when this groundwater mixes with the water bodies, it contaminates most drinkable water sources near the agricultural land.

3. Sewage Dumping

Did you know that 80% of all wastewater is discharged into the world’s waterways?

All this untreated and harmful wastewater is contaminating our environment as well as the water we drink. With such a huge amount of wastewater discharging into the water bodies all over the world, we can imagine how little pure water is left.

4. Plastic Pollution

Our everyday lives cannot happen without the involvement of plastic. Most of these single-use plastics, when disposed of, find their way into the rivers and oceans.

These plastics remain intact for hundreds and hundreds of years at the surface level of water bodies and prevent the sunlight from seeping inside. This leads to the formation of harmful algae and bacteria that poses a severe threat when consumed.

5. Fuel Spillages

Many cargo ships transport oil tankers from one location to another. Due to issues during the travel, there can be oil spills that pollute the water. The oil settles on the top of the water, just like most single-use plastics, and creates long-term harm to humans and animals.

6. Deforestation

Trees are one of the top reasons why many small water bodies don’t get depleted. And these small water bodies move around and get collected in the form of rivers and lakes.

However, due to deforestation, many such water bodies are depleted. That’s not all. The organic residue from cutting down the trees mixes with the water and becomes a breeding ground for harmful bacteria.

Water Pollution Effects

1. Drinking Water Issues

For lives to sustain on earth, we need pure water to drink. But with the pollution of water in multiple ways, it’s becoming more challenging to find pure sources of water to drink.

Even with the hi-tech water purification systems, we are in threat of getting unclean water to drink. With our population increasing every day, water sources decreasing constantly and water pollution at its peak, we are going to reach a severe issue of drinking water supplies when unchecked.

2. Threat to the Aquatic Lives

Due to water pollution, aquatic lives are in danger. We are already noticing the extinction of many species of aquatic plants and animals. We are hearing the news of whales, sharks and many other aquatic creatures found with tonnes of plastics in their stomach.

Due to the increasing oil spillage and plastic pollution, the aquatic ecosystem’s balance is getting imbalanced, leading to a chain of adverse reactions.

3. Pollution Up the Food Chain

The microplastics that tiny organisms consume move up the chain. These organisms are consumed by small fishes, which are then eaten by large fishes. When we consume these large fishes, we accumulate these microplastics in our body, leading to severe health issues.

4. Issues in Agriculture

Water for irrigation is often obtained from the local water bodies. But when toxic chemicals contaminate these water bodies, it can damage the nutritional yield of the crops and prove harmful to the humans who consume these crops.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the consequences of water pollution. There are more such water pollution effects that are harmful to every life on Earth directly or indirectly. The only way to check this increasing water pollution is to make changes in our approach, right now.

About Plastic Collectors: Plastic Collectors is working towards curbing the issue of plastic pollution that is contaminating our water, food and even air. By partnering with localities and creating an employment opportunity for the poor, Plastic Collectors aim to put an end to plastic pollution, once and for all. Reach out to us to become a part of our cause.