Key Facts
- "Water supplies are falling while the demand is dramatically growing at an unsustainable rate [, and] over the next 20 years, the average supply of water worldwide per person is expected to drop by a third. Over 1.5 billion people lack ready access to drinking water and, if current consumption patterns continue, at least 3.5 billion people — nearly half the world’s projected population — will live in water-stressed river basins in just 20 years.”( Water Facts 1).
- "Asian rivers are the most polluted in the world, with three times as many bacteria from human waste as the global average. These rivers have 20 times more lead than those of industrialized countries"( Water Facts 1).
- "Water is becoming scarce due to higher pollution levels and habitat degradation. Contamination denies as many as 3.3 billion people access to clean water supplies. In developing countries, an estimated 90% of wastewater is discharged directly into rivers and streams without treatment. Each year there are about 250 million cases of water-related diseases, with roughly 5 to 10 million deaths"(Water Facts 1).
- “One liter of wastewater pollutes about eight liters of freshwater. An estimated 12,000 km3 of polluted water worldwide, which is more than the total amount contained in the world’s ten largest river basins at any given moment. Therefore, if pollution keeps pace with population growth, the world will effectively lose 18,000 km3 of freshwater by 2050 – almost nine times the total amount countries currently use each year for irrigation, which is by far the largest consumer of the resource” (Water Facts 1).
What is Water Pollution?
Water pollution contributes to the addition of pollutants or foreign substances to the water resources on earth. These contaminants have a detrimental effect on water quality as well as the harmful effects it can have on aquatic life and all living things.
Pollution can be introduced to water from both point sources and diffuse sources. Point source pollution reaches a waterway at a localized area like a pipe discharge of man-made industrial waste and domestic sewage, while diffuse pollution takes place when impure and even natural substances seep into groundwater and surface water because of rainfall, runoff, soil erosion and soil infiltration. Point source pollution is a type of pollution that we are more directly capable of preventing, unlike diffuse pollution which we indirectly introduce into our environment. Our blatant ignorance and lack of concern is what keeps point source pollution from subsiding.
There are many different types of water pollution and all have different damaging effects on the environment. Though ethically it does not matter how the organisms die it just matters that they are dying and it is a direct result of human action. Heavy metals from industrial processes and other industrial waste can accumulate in nearby waterways.
The toxins are stored in the fatty tissue of marine life such as fish and shellfish, and are then transferred to the rest of the food chain. Some of these toxins can also have detrimental repercussions on or completely hinder the reproductive success of marine life. Microbial pollutants from our sewage can introduce many infectious diseases that spread throughout the aquatic life and earthbound creatures by water. They can be responsible for an increase in the death toll of many species within the environment. Likewise, acid rain introduces sulfate particles into the water that can lower the pH causing it to be more acidic causing increase in the mortality rate.
Organic matter and other nutrients cause an influx of algae that depletes the amount of oxygen within the water column. This phenomenon is eutrophication and can suffocate all oxygen-relying aquatic life. Finally, particles suspended within the water column can disrupt the photosynthetic process of many plants and other similar organisms by decreasing the amount of sunlight filtering through the water.
0 comments: