Effects Of Water Pollution
Water is a huge part of our everyday lives. In fact, it covers almost 70 percent of the entire Earths surface and is required by all living organisms to survive. Unfortunately, we take water for granted too often. Despite repeated warnings, we still pollute our lakes, river sand oceans while killing many organisms in the process. We are also depriving ourselves of healthy and clean water supplies along the way.
Our utter disregard for the value of water has also affected the quality of our drinking water, leaving many of our water systems unfit to human use. Water pollution happens when a body of water is adversely affected owing to huge amounts of contaminants in the water.
There are two types of water pollutants – point source and non point source. Point sources of pollution happen when harmful substances are spilled directly into a body of water like the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In non point source, pollutants find their way to the water indirectly because of environmental changes. This may occur when fertilizer from a field is carried into a stream by rain. This is responsible for many contaminants in streams and lakes.
What are the negative consequences of water pollution? If drinking water contains toxic substances, it may appear to have a strange color or odor. It can make you very sick. Contaminants commonly found in water include:
1. Heavy metals from industrial use. These can enter and pollute nearby lakes and rivers and once they slowly accumulate, can cause birth defects and cancer. They also cause unpleasant odors and tastes to drinking water.
Microbial pollutants may cause infectious diseases like cholera and typhoid fever that are major problems of developing countries.
Suspended particles – reduce the quality of drinking water by causing discoloration and imparting a bad taste to drinking water.
These problems should give you enough reason to care enough to do your part to protect our water systems through proper water conservation.
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