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Effects Of Water Pollution: Waves Of Damage
from:Water pollution is more then witnessing the occasional carelessness of a human who may have dropped an item into the water. There are many factors that encompass this type of pollution. We are all affected by it and need to take warning of what has happened and what will continue to happen if it is not stopped.
Who Is To Blame For Water Pollution?
We are conditioned to blame another source for any mishaps, especially one that is as large as water pollution. There are major contributing factors that stem from big industry and governmental oversight, but there is another player in this nightmare; man. It did not just take one man and one day to create this fiasco, but many humans and many centuries. There have been major steps towards monitoring and fining big businesses that pollute our waterways, but there does not seem to be a way to do so for each individual on this great Earth. This type of source is now called nonpoint pollution.
How Does Water Pollution Happen?
There are many reasons that water pollution occurs and many happen without our intentions. Some of the contributing factors include:
• Runoff – Oil, toxic chemicals, and grease from urban runoff or energy production
• Sediments – Construction sites that are poorly managed, crop and forest lands, and eroding stream banks
• Salt – On roadways, irrigation, acid drainage from abandoned mines
• Bacteria – Nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and improper septic systems leek into the groundwater
Who Is Bothered?
The out of sight out of mind concept has been the way of thinking for too long. People think that once pollution goes out into the water then the problem ends, but what they forget is the waterways are homes to many species of plant life and animal organisms; many that have become extinct due to water pollution. Here is just a taste of some of the damage that may occur:
• Bacteria – The bacteria that is in the pollution cause many diseases among the fish and other living organisms and may result in death.
• Oxygen – This is vital for the underwater population too. Some toxins that are dumped require oxygen for decomposition, which robs the organisms of their oxygen. There are others that create the overproduction of certain algae that also require too much oxygen.
• Solids – Plastics, metals, and other solids that enter the waterways are accidentally ingested by organisms causing illness or death.
• Toxins – Some of the toxins taken in will make fish or other organisms ill, those fish are caught for market, and the human who eats the fish also become ill.
Water pollution carries a heavy burden for all those who come in contact with the waterways of our earth. The Earth may be covered with a large portion of water but once it is tainted then that is all there is. We cannot just ask for more, so we need to take care of the water and the organisms it houses.
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