S.NO CONTENTS PG.

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1 INTRODUCTION 3

2 DEFINITION OF WATER POLLUTION 3

3 CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION 3

4 EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION 9

5 SOLUTION TO WATER POLLUTION 17

6 CONTROLLING MEASURES 24

7 CONCLUSION 25

INTRODUCTION
  Water
Water is the resource that covers almost three-quarters of the planet,
and upon which all life depends. Throughout the history of the natural
world, water sources have been the centers of life, providing habitat
and sustenance for animals and plants alike.

Water Pollution
The simplest definition of water pollution is "the loss of any of the
actual or potential beneficial uses of water caused by any change in its
composition due to human activity". The beneficial uses of water are
varied and include its use for drinking and for domestic purposes, for
watering livestock and the irrigation of crops, for fisheries - both game
[salmonid] and coarse [cyprinid], for industry and for food production,
for bathing and for recreational and amenity use.

If water is rendered unsuitable for any of these purposes then it is

polluted to a greater or lesser degree depending on the extent of the
damage caused.

 Causes
There are many specific causes of water pollution, but before we list
the toppers, it's important to understand two broad categories of water
pollution .

 Point and Non point sources

• Point source : occurs when harmful substances are
emitted directly into a body of water.
• Non point sources : delivers pollutants indirectly
through transport or environmental change.

An example of a point source of water pollution is a pipe from an

industrial facility discharging effluent directly into a river. An example of a
nonpoint-source of water pollution is when fertilizer from a farm field is
carried into a stream by rain (i.e. run-off).

Point-source pollution is usually monitored and regulated, at least in

Western countries, though political factors may complicate how
successful efforts are at true pollution control. Nonpoint sources are
much more difficult to monitor and control, and today they account for
the majority of contaminants in streams and lakes.

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  Fertilizers

Many causes of pollution, including sewage, manure, and chemical

fertilizers, contain "nutrients" such as nitrates and phosphates.
Deposition of atmospheric nitrogen (from nitrogen oxides) also causes
nutrient-type water pollution.

In excess levels, nutrients over-stimulate the growth of aquatic plants

and algae. Excessive growth of these types of organisms clogs our
waterways and blocks light to deeper waters while the organisms are
alive; when the organisms die, they use up dissolved oxygen as they
decompose, causing oxygen-poor waters that support only diminished
amounts of marine life. Such areas are commonly called dead zones.

Nutrient pollution is a particular problem in estuaries and deltas, where

the runoff that was aggregated by watersheds is finally dumped at the
mouths of major rivers.

 Oil and gasoline

Oil spills like the Exxon Valdez spill off the coast of Alaska or the more
recent Prestige spill off the coast of Spain get lots of news coverage,
and indeed they do cause major water pollution and problems for local
wildlife, fishermen, and coastal businesses. But the problem of oil
polluting water goes far beyond catastrophic oil spills. Land-based
petroleum pollution is carried into waterways by rainwater runoff. This
includes drips of oil, fuel, and fluid from cars and trucks; dribbles of
gasoline spilled onto the ground at the filling station; and drips from
industrial machinery. These sources and more combine to provide a
continual feed of petroleum pollution to all of the world's waters,
imparting an amount of oil to the oceans every year that is more than
5 times greater than the Valdez spill.

Shipping is one of these non-spill sources of oil pollution in water:

Discharge of oily wastes and oil-contaminated ballast water and wash
water are all significant sources of marine pollution, and drips from
ship and boat motors add their share. Drilling and extraction
operations for oil and gas can also contaminate coastal waters and
groundwater.

 Mining

Mining causes water pollution in a number of ways:

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 • The mining process exposes heavy metals and sulfur compounds
that were previously locked away in the earth. Rainwater leaches
these compounds out of the exposed earth, resulting in "acid
mine drainage" and heavy metal pollution that can continue long
after the mining operations have ceased.
• Similarly, the action of rainwater on piles of mining waste
(tailings) transfers pollution to freshwater supplies.
• In the case of gold mining, cyanide is intentionally poured on
piles of mined rock (a leach heap) to chemically extract the gold
from the ore. Some of the cyanide ultimately finds its way into
nearby water.

• Huge pools of mining waste "slurry" are often stored behind

containment dams. If a dam leaks or bursts, water pollution is
guaranteed.

 Sediment

When forests are "clear cut," the root systems that previously held soil
in place die and sediment is free to run off into nearby streams, rivers,
and lakes. Thus, not only does clearcutting have serious effects on
plant and animal biodiversity in the forest, the increased amount of
sediment running off the land into nearby bodies of water seriously
affects fish and other aquatic life. Poor farming practices that leave soil
exposed to the elements also contribute to sediment pollution in water.

 Chemical and industrial processes

Almost all bodies of water in the world have some level of pollution
from chemicals and industrial waste.

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In the United States, 34 billion liters per year (60%) of the most
hazardous liquid waste—solvents, heavy metals, and radioactive
materials—is injected directly into deep groundwater via thousands of
"injection wells." Although the EPA requires that these effluents be
injected below the deepest source of drinking water, some pollutants
have already entered underground water supplies in Florida, Texas,
Ohio, and Oklahoma.

The US is not alone in careless treatment of its groundwater. In the late

1990s, India's Central Pollution Control Board found that groundwater
was unfit for drinking in all 22 major industrial zones it surveyed.

 Plastic

Plastics and other plastic-like substances (such as nylon from fishing

nets and lines) can entangle fish, sea turtles, and marine mammals,
causing pain, injury, and even death. Plastic that has broken down into
micro-particles is now being ingested by tiny marine organisms and is
moving up the marine food chain.

Sea creatures that are killed by plastic readily decompose. The plastic
does not—it remains in the ecosystem to kill again and again.

 Sewage

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In developing countries, an estimated 90% of wastewater is discharged
directly into rivers and streams without treatment. Even in modern
countries, untreated sewage, poorly treated sewage, or overflow from
under-capacity sewage treatment facilities can send disease-bearing
water into rivers and oceans. In the US, 850 billion gallons of raw
sewage are sent into US rivers, lakes, and bays every year by leaking
sewer systems and inadequate combined sewer/storm systems that
overflow during heavy rains. Leaking septic tanks and other sources of
sewage can cause groundwater and stream contamination.

Beaches also suffer the effects of water pollution from sewage. The
chart below shows the typical reasons that about 25% of the beaches
in the US are put under water pollution advisories or are closed each
year. It's clear that sewage is part of the problem, even in what is
supposedly the most advanced country in the world.

 Biological Oxygen Demand

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is one of the most common

measures of pollutant organic material in water. BOD indicates the
amount of putrescible organic matter present in water. Therefore, a
low BOD is an indicator of good quality water, while a high BOD
indicates polluted water. Dissolved oxygen (DO) is consumed by
bacteria when large amounts of organic matter from sewage or other
discharges are present in the water. DO is the actual amount of oxygen
available in dissolved form in the water. When the DO drops below a
certain level, the life forms in that water are unable to continue at a
normal rate. The decrease in the oxygen supply in the water has a

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negative effect on the fish and other aquatic life. Fish kills and an
invasion and growth of certain types of weeds can cause dramatic
changes in a stream or other body of water. Energy is derived from the
oxidation process. BOD specifies the strength of sewage. In sewage
treatment, to say that the BOD has been reduced from 500 to 50
indicates that there has been a 90 percent reduction.

 Chemical oxygen demand

chemical oxygen demand (COD) test is commonly used to indirectly

measure the amount of organic compounds in water. Most applications
of COD determine the amount of organic pollutants found in surface
water (e.g. lakes and rivers), making COD a useful measure of water
quality. It is expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/L), which indicates
the mass of oxygen consumed per liter of solution. Older references
may express the units as parts per million (ppm).

 Effects of water pollution

• Water borne infectious diseases

Human infectious diseases are among the most serious effects of

water pollution, especially in developing countries, where sanitation
may be inadequate or non-existent. Waterborne diseases occur when
parasites or other disease-causing microorganisms are transmitted via
contaminated water, particularly water contaminated by pathogens
originating from excreta. These include typhoid, intestinal parasites,
and most of the enteric and diarrheal diseases caused by bacteria,
parasites, and viruses. Among the most serious parasitic diseases are
amoebiasis, giardiasis, ascariasis, and hookworm.

• Nutrient pollution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution calls nutrient pollution the

most widespread, chronic environmental problem in the coastal ocean.
The discharges of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients come from
agriculture, waste disposal, coastal development, and fossil fuel use.
Once nutrient pollution reaches the coastal zone, it stimulates harmful
overgrowths of algae, which can have direct toxic effects and
ultimately result in low-oxygen conditions.

Certain types of algae are toxic. Overgrowths of these algae result in

"harmful algal blooms," which are more colloquially referred to as "red
tides" or "brown tides." Zooplankton eat the toxic algae and begin
passing the toxins up the food chain, affecting edibles like clams, and

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ultimately working their way up to seabirds, marine mammals, and
humans. The result can be illness and sometimes death.

Nutrient-pollution-driven blooms of non-toxic algae and seaweed can

also cause problems by reducing water clarity, making it hard for
marine animals to find food and blocking the sunlight needed by sea
grasses, which serve as nurseries for many important fish species.

Finally, nutrient pollution can trigger unusual outbreaks of fish

diseases. For instance, scientists have found that Pfiesteria, a tiny
marine pathogen, can thrive in nutrient-polluted waters. In 1991, one
million menhaden fish in North Carolina's Neuse River were killed in a
Pfiesteria outbreak. In 1997, several tidal creeks in the Chesapeake
Bay watershed experienced Pfiesteria outbreaks, and serious fish kills
occurred. Nutrient pollution played a role in both cases.

• Chemical contamination

Over the years, many types of chemicals have gotten into our
waterways—and they continue to do so today. Chemical water
pollution typically occurs because ...

1. the chemicals were dumped into the water intentionally;

2. the chemicals seeped into groundwater, streams, or rivers
because of failing pipes or storage tanks;
3. the chemicals catastrophically contaminated waterways because
of industrial accidents;
4. the pollution settled out of polluted air (or was precipitated out of
polluted air); or
5. chemicals were leached out of contaminated soil.

The above types of chemical contamination are considered "point

sources" of water pollution. Non-point-source chemical pollution also
occurs via pesticide runoff from farm fields and homeowners' lawns, as
well as runoff of automotive fluids and other chemicals from roads,
parking lots, driveways, and other surfaces.

The effect of every chemical that has ever polluted water, but it's easy
enough to point out a few things:

 Severe chemical spills and leaks into surfaces waters usually have
an immediate effect on aquatic life (fish kills, etc.).

 Chronic lower-level chemical pollution has more subtle effects, with

problems manifesting over a long period of time and sometimes being
difficult to tie directly to the water pollution

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 The human effects of chemical pollution in water can generally be
viewed the same as any other form of chemical contamination—water
is just the delivery mechanism.

 Pesticides

 The human effects of chemical pollution in water can generally be

viewed the same as any other form of chemical contamination—water
is just the delivery mechanism.

 Pesticides have been found in well water in countries such as India,

The Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Japan, Canada and Australia. Pesticide
contamination of drinking water is a particular problem in rural
agricultural areas where pesticide use is heavy and drinking water
supplies come directly from groundwater or surface water.

 Pesticides can migrate via water into the food chain as well,
ultimately being consumed by humans or animals in food.

In the most infamous case of

pesticide pollution, widespread use of the insecticide DDT polluted
waterways, contaminating fish, and ultimately poisoning bald eagles

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(and other animals) that ate the fish. DDE, the principal breakdown
product of DDT, built up in the fatty tissues of female eagles and
prevented sufficient calcium being released to produce strong egg
shells. The thin shells would break when the parents sat on the eggs to
keep them warm. DDT affected many other species as well. In
terms of general human health effects, pesticides can ...

• Affect and damage the nervous system;

• Cause liver damage;
• Damage DNA and cause a variety of cancers;
• Cause reproductive and endocrine damage;
• Cause other acutely toxic or chronic effects.

 Oil and Petroleum chemicals

When oil pollution gets in water, some of the components of are

degraded and dispersed by evaporation, photochemical reactions, or
bacterial degradation, while others are more resistant and may persist
for many years, especially in shallow waters with muddy sediments.

Though much scientific work remains to be done on the effect that

petroleum pollution has on plants and animals, we do know a few
things

• Exposure to oil or its constituent chemicals can alter the ecology

of aquatic habitats and the physiology of marine organisms.

• Scientists know that oil (or chemical components of oil) can seep
into marsh and sub-tidal sediments and lurk there for decades,
negatively affecting marsh grasses, marine worms, and other
aquatic life forms that live in, on, or near the sediment.

• Evidence strongly suggests that components of crude oil, called

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), persist in the marine
environment for years and are toxic to marine life at
concentrations in the low parts-per-billion range. Chronic
exposure to PAHs can affect development of marine organisms,
increase susceptibility to disease, and jeopardize normal
reproductive cycles in many marine species.

 PCBs, Dioxins, and Other POPs

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PCBs, dioxins, DDT, and a number of other persistent organic
pollutants don't readily break down in the environment and tend to
collect in the fatty tissues of animals. All of these chemicals are toxic
for the animals that harbor them. In cases where humans might eat,
say, a PCB-contaminated farmed salmon, their systems must deal with
the chemical insult.

Here are a few specific examples of the effects of POPs-related water

pollution:

• PCB contamination in Puget Sound exceeds the level known to

suppress immune function in the harbor seal. PCBs are also
thought to be a factor in the decline of Puget Sound killer whales,
whose numbers declined by 14% between 1995 and 2003.

• Elevated levels of PCBs and DDT may be contributing to the

deaths of California southern sea otters.

• The breeding success of Baltic seals declined sharply in the

1960s and 1970s. Scientists suspect that PCBs were the main
culprit.

• Deformed fish and other aquatic life have been found near
Swedish pulp mills that use chlorine as a bleaching agent—a
practice that results in discharges of dioxins and other highly
toxic substances.

 Other Chemicals

Tens of thousands of chemicals are used in industrial processes and

are found in car-maintenance products, household cleaners, toiletries,
and many other consumer products. Our current regimes for
controlling whether these chemicals get into the environment are not
sufficient for keeping them out of the water, and the potential myriad
effects are worrisome.

 Mining

There are a number of negative water-pollution effects from mining

operations:

• Acid mine drainage

When rain or surface water flows over exposed rock and soil, it can
combine with naturally occurring sulfur to form sulfuric acid. The
acidified rainwater eventually finds its way to streams and

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groundwater, polluting them and impacting local aquatic life. Some
streams can become so acidic—more acidic than car-battery acid—the
aquatic ecosystem is completely destroyed. The same leaching
process that causes acid mine drainage can impart heavy-metal
pollutants from the soil and rock as well.

• Spills and leaks

Whether it's a leak in the containment system of a cyanide leach heap

or a breach in a coal-slurry impoundment dam, the result is the same—
pollution of streams, rivers, and groundwater, killing aquatic life and
poisoning drinking water.

• Mountaintop Removal Mining

In this technique, the tops of coal-rich mountains are removed and the
overburden is dumped into nearby valleys, burying stream habitats
altogether, with the obvious catastrophic effect on whatever life forms
lived in or around the stream.

• Marine debris

Marine debris is basically trash in the ocean. Trash fouls inland

waterways too, for sure, but trash seems to be a particular problem in
our seas. The Ocean Conservancy calls marine debris one of the
world's most pervasive marine pollution problems.

The debris includes escaped inland trash and garbage thrown

overboard by ships and boaters—plastic bottles and bags, six-pack
rings, cigarette butts, Styrofoam, etc. Marine animals can swallow the
trash items, which often look similar to prey they would normally eat,
or the trash item may have barnacles or other delectables attached
and is inadvertently ingested with the food. For instance, sea turtles
will eat a plastic bag believing it to be a jellyfish. The bag can cause an
intestinal blockage and sometimes death.

A new and potentially devastating effect of marine debris is emerging.

After years of degradation at sea, plastic breaks up. The plastic has not
biodegraded but rather has disintegrated into very small pieces.
Marine animals near the bottom of the food chain are now ingesting
these teeny-tiny little pieces of plastic pollution. How far up the food
chain the stuff will go is unknown.

Discarded or lost fishing gear—line, rope, nets—and certain trash items

can get wrapped around marine animals fins or flippers, causing

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drowning or amputation. Marine debris can also degrade coral reefs,
sea grass beds, and other aquatic habitats.

 Thermal pollution

It's easy enough to see how discharging the heated-up water from a
power plant into a river could cause problems for aquatic organisms
used to having their water home stay at a fairly specific temperature.
Indeed, industrial thermal pollution is a problem for our waterways—
fish and other organisms adapted to a particular temperature range
can be killed from thermal shock, and the extra heat may disrupt
spawning or kill young fish.

Additionally, warmer water temperatures lower the dissolved oxygen

content of the water. That's a double-whammy to aquatic organisms,
since the warmer water also causes them to increase their respiration
rates and consume oxygen faster. All this increases aquatic organisms'
susceptibility to disease, parasites, and the effects of toxic chemicals.

Global warming is imparting extra heat to our oceans, which have

absorbed about 20 times as much heat as the atmosphere over the
past half-century. The ocean is a complex system, and scientists don't
know yet what all of the effects of this type of "water pollution" will be,
but here are some likely ones:

• Sea levels will rise (because of thermal expansion and melting

ice), increasing coastal flooding and inundation.
• There will be more intense hurricanes as they gather additional
strength from warmer surface waters.
• Temperature-sensitive species like corals will see tougher times.
The Pew Oceans Commission notes that an increase in the mean
sea-surface temperature of only 2 degrees F could cause the
global destruction of coral reef ecosystems.
• Increasing sea-surface temperatures are associated with the
northward spread of a oyster pathogen in the eastern US. Similar
cases are highly likely.

 Noise pollution

"Noise pollution" from ship engines and sonar systems make it difficult
for marine mammals like whales, dolphins, and porpoises to
communicate, find food, and avoid hazards. Powerful sonar systems
operating at certain frequencies have been implicated in whale
beachings and may cause damage to marine mammals' sound-
sensitive internal structures, causing internal bleeding and even death.

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Frequent or chronic exposure to both high- and low-intensity sounds
may cause stress on all higher forms of marine life, potentially
affecting growth, reproduction, and ability to resist disease.

 Solutions to water pollution

• Reducing nutrient and pesticide pollution

Solutions to water pollution caused by excess nutrients and chemical

pesticides can be found in five broad categories:

• Encourage smart agricultural practices...

Right-sizing applications of fertilizer and using techniques like

biodynamic farming, no-till planting, settling ponds, and riparian buffer
zones can help keep polluted runoff from entering streams.

Animal agriculture can be a problem too. For example, runoff from

chicken-raising operations is a leading cause of nutrient pollution in the
Chesapeake Bay. As a compassionate society, we should probably ban
altogether the barbaric practices imposed on animals in concentrated
feeding operations; but until we do that, these potent pollution centers
must be made to meet strict water quality standards.

• Reduce urban/suburban runoff of lawn fertilizers and

pesticides...

If you put "normal" fertilizer, pesticides, and other chemicals on your

lawn, landscaping, and gardens, you are part of the water pollution
problem. While you may find these products helpful, much of their
volume is washed by rain or blown by air to nearby streams, ponds,
and rivers. They also tend to degrade your soil over time, making your
future gardening efforts that much more difficult and reliant on
chemicals.

You can find out how to have a nice lawn, stop wasting money on lawn
chemicals, and stop polluting our waterways by checking out these two
articles: lawn care tips and organic lawn care.

• Prevent further destruction wetlands, and reestablish

them wherever possible..

Both inland and coastal wetlands act to buffer surges in runoff and to
filter pollutants from runoff and flows. Yet it has been standard practice
in the US (and many other countries) to allow development concerns to

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almost always trump the value of "nature's services." It's time to get
serious about preserving wetlands.

• Drive less...

Nitrogen deposition from air pollution is a big part of the nutrient

pollution problem. About a third of the nitrogen pollution in the
Chesapeake Bay is from nitrogen deposition from air pollution, much of
which comes from automobile emissions.

How much we drive, how large a vehicle we motor in, mileage

standards, and many other factors all play a part in how much pollution
we personally leave behind when driving. People are also constrained
with brainless building codes that force separation between houses,
stores, and work, forcing us to drive more than we'd like. But driving
less is something we all can do better at, if we try; and all of the
relatively small individual contributions will make a big difference when
summed across millions of drivers.

 Reducing sewage pollution

If the toilet in your house were spewing its contents onto your
bathroom floor, you would make it a very high priority to get the
situation corrected. As societies, we should place the same priority on
upgrading out-of-date or under-capacity sewage treatment plants that
sometimes spew their contents into our waterways. It's also important
to ensure that homeowners with septic fields are installing and
maintaining their systems in a way that does not contaminate nearby
groundwater or surface water.

More specifically, we should...

• Get going on fixing outdated municipal water treatment

plants. If you flush, you may be part of the problem. Society
needs to ante up whatever is necessary to fix inadequate sewage
treatment systems. But the ante here is not necessarily that
painful—for instance, Maryland instituted a mere $3 "flush tax"
on citizens' sewer bills to help fund the upgrade of the state's
aging treatment plants.
• Fully fund the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which
provides federal funding in the form of loans to municipalities
who need to upgrade their systems. It's worth noting that in
2006 a certain someone with the initials "GWB" decided to
significantly cut funding for the program. Boo hiss.

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 • Help localities set up programs that ensure septic system
maintenance and monitoring. A lot of rural homeowners
seem to think that a septic system is a magical place where No.
1's and 2's go, never to be heard from again. Nope. Septic
systems are bio-mechanical devices that need occasional
attention; otherwise, they begin to fail and send poo-goo into
streams and groundwater. A great way to help keep your septic
field in good shape is to occasionally add Flow, a biologically
active formula that helps break things down.
• Eliminate "straight pipes." In some areas, even in the US, a
few people still run the outflow pipe from their house's plumping
system straight to the nearest creek. These illegal setups need to
be corrected.
• Fully fund beach monitoring programs so that people will
stay out of the water when it's not safe. (OK, we know that's not
really a water pollution solution, but it's worth doing until sewage
problems are truly solved.)
• Conserve water which helps reduce loads on septic systems
and treatment plants, reducing the likelihood that they will send
waste into our waters.

 Improving Storm Water Management and

Watershed Monitoring

Water pollution control is most appropriately addressed at the

watershed level. As the saying goes, everyone lives upstream of
somewhere else. What happens in someone's back yard and
neighborhood impacts every other part of the watershed system at
lower elevations—all the way to the ocean.

One thing that works well to help control backyard and neighborhood
pollution is to implement urban and suburban storm water
management strategies, including:

• preserving undeveloped land to help soak up rains; and

• constructing wetlands, stream buffer zones, and settlement
ponds to allow contaminated runoff to undergo natural biological
remediation before it gets into the watershed.

 Stopping Deforestation

A healthy forest acts like a sponge to soak up the rains when they
come, holding the water and filtering it before it makes its way to
nearby streams, lakes, and rivers. When all the trees are cut down—
clearcutting is still logging companies' preferred method of operation—
the forest ecosystem dies and can no longer perform this service. Rain

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water rushes directly into streams, flowing over exposed soil, picking
up and carrying sediment pollution into nearby waterways.

You can support healthy forests by (a) supporting efforts to ban

clearcutting; (b) supporting "roadless rules" that keep logging roads
out of pristine national forests; (c) making smarter lumber and paper
choices for yourself and implementing methods to save paper. It's also
worth noting that paper manufacturing is a highly polluting affair, and
using paper sourced with high levels of "post consumer content" helps
reduce pollution from the production of virgin paper.

 Reducing Pollution from Oil and Petroleum Liquids

While it's true that a large amount of oil naturally seeps into the ocean
from underground geological sources, marine life in the areas where
this occurs have had eons to adapt to the conditions. Human-caused
petroleum pollution invariably happens in much more sensitive areas,
often with disastrous consequences.

The first-level solution to this type of water pollution is to stop letting

so much oil and oil byproducts get into the water in the first place. Yes,
we must reduce the occurrences of oil spills; but more importantly, we
must reduce the amount of petroleum pollution getting into waterways
from non-spill sources, which contribute far more to the problem than
spills.

Governments and corporations can respond to both types of petro-

pollution by

• Quickening the pace of moving the world's tanker fleet to all

double-hull ships.
• Tightening regulations governing maintenance and inspections of
commercial ships, motor boats, and recreational water craft,
which can leak oil and fuel into the water. (And maybe it's a good
idea if we completely prohibit motorized craft on our drinking-
water reservoirs!)
• Requiring filtration ponds and natural buffer zones around roads
and parking lots to help keep runoff contaminated with oil and
gas drips from getting into waterways.
• Doing more citizen education on the subject of how to keep oil
out of our environment.

You as an individual can do some things too

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 • Drive your vehicle less. That will mean your vehicle is putting
less petroleum pollution into our waters (not to mention less air
pollution into our air).
• Maintain your vehicle more. If you see oil stains on your
driveway, your car needs attention.
• If you must own a motorized boat or jet ski, keep it well
maintained.
• We hope it goes without saying, but if you change your oil
yourself, don't dump the used oil down the nearest sewer drain!
In many places, local service stations are required by law to
accept your used oil. Alternatively, most municipal recycling
centers accept used motor oil.

Cleaning Up Chemical Pollution

Biologist Joseph Sheldon has described the chemical inundation of our

biosphere as "global toxification". Chemicals are everywhere, in
everything—"better living through chemistry" has turned out to have a
serious pollution downside. Here's what we can do about it.

First, there are some things we should expect from our government
and corporations:

• Reinvigorate progress on cleaning up superfund sites, and

reestablish the "polluter pays" principle. Taxpayers should not
foot the bill for decades of industry abuses.
• Clean up polluted brown field sites—sites not quite bad enough
to make the superfund list, but still pretty bad—and promote
their redevelopment.
• Eliminate all remaining industrial waste-water discharges to
streams, enforcing a "zero emissions" policy for the waste water
from our factories.
• Sign into US law the international treaty on persistent organic
pollutants.
• Adopt the precautionary principle: Synthetic chemicals should be
considered toxic unless it can be proved otherwise. This concept
has already been incorporated into Europe's new "REACH" law on
chemicals. As it stands now, the US public is a collective guinea
pig for studying the long-term effects of chemicals that have not
been proven safe.
• Upgrade water treatment plants so they can filter out chemicals
and pharmaceuticals. Most plants do not handle either.
• Continue the fight to stop emissions of acid-rain chemicals (sulfur
and nitrogen) that not only damage forests but also acidify lakes.

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There are also some water pollution solutions we as consumers and
citizens can implement when it comes to chemicals:

• Buy organic food.

• Start buying "green" household cleaners and personal care
products.
• Only use pharmaceuticals when absolutely necessary. Learn
about natural cures and how important good nutrition, sleep, and
low stress levels are to keeping you healthy—and pharma-free.
• Stop all use of chemical pesticides around your house and yard.
• If you have to dispose of old paint, varnish, or other DIY
chemicals, check with your local government's environment or
public works office to find out the safest way to do so.

 Fighting Global Warming

In terms of water pollution, there are two main threats from global
warming:

1. Ocean Acidification — As atmospheric CO2 levels have risen,

ocean CO2 levels have risen even more, thus increasing the
acidity level of the ocean. At a minimum, this trend will
negatively affect organisms with shells, which may dissolve or
become malformed if the pH drops low enough.
2. Ocean Temperature — As the planet warms, so does the
ocean. All organisms in nature have limits to the temperature
range in which they can exist. Increasing the temperature of the
oceans will have varying—but likely negative—effects on ocean
creatures.

There are plenty more ways in which global warming will impact water;
for instance, less mountain snow pack and smaller glaciers will result in
lower river flows for many regions during summer, and melting ice
sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will change salinity levels and
ocean flows, and will raise ocean levels, inundating coastal properties
and ecosystems.

 CONTROLLING MEASURES

• Do not throw wastes into drains because of convenience .

• Find out where to take harmful waste.

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• Dispose of garbage in a bin or by composting.
• Never wash animal wastes into trenches.
• Never wash pesticides into trenches.
• Use fertilizers in minimum quantities and avoid applying
fertilizers when it is raining.
• Breaking water mains is an offence and endangers the health
of people as polluted water can easily enter the potable water
supply system .This would prevent the likelihood of flooding
and of mosquitoes breeding.
• Quickly fixing leaks on cars reduces the chance of polluting oil
and petrol getting into water ways.
 CONCLUSION

Clearly, the problems associated with water pollution have the

capabilities to disrupt life on our planet to a great extent.
Congress has passed laws to try to combat water pollution thus
acknowledging the fact that water pollution is, indeed, a serious
issue. But the government alone cannot solve the entire
problem. It is ultimately up to us, to be informed, responsible
and involved when it comes to the problems we face with our
water. We must become familiar with our local water resources
and learn about ways for disposing harmful household wastes so
they do not end up in sewage treatment plants that cannot
handle them or landfills not designed to receive hazardous
materials. In our yards, we must determine whether additional
nutrients are needed before fertilizers are applied, and look for
alternatives where fertilizers might run off into surface waters.
We have to preserve existing trees and plant new trees and
shrubs to help prevent soil erosion and promote infiltration of
water into the soil. Around our houses, we must keep litter, pet
waste, leaves, and grass clippings out of gutters and storm
drains. These are just a few of the many ways in which we, as
humans, have the ability to combat water pollution. As we head
into the 21st century, awareness and education will most
assuredly continue to be the two most important ways to prevent
water pollution. If these measures are not taken and water
pollution continues, life on earth will suffer severely.

Global environmental collapse is not inevitable. But the

developed world must work with the developing world to ensure
that new industrialized economies do not add to the world's
environmental problems. Politicians must think of sustainable
development rather than economic expansion. Conservation
strategies have to become more widely accepted, and people

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must learn that energy use can be dramatically diminished
without sacrificing comfort.

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