Where Water Pollution Springs From and What You Can Do About It

Water plays an essential role in our day-to-day lives; we use it for drinking, bathing, and more. However, pollution keeps us from enjoying clean and safe water and poses serious threats to our health.

Today, our waters are being infested with different waste products turning our bodies of water into powerful weapons of destruction. Because water is a universal solvent, most pollutants easily dissolve in it which leads to contamination.

Water Pollution Sources

Where does water pollution spring from? The chief sources of water pollution can be classified into two – point and non-point sources.

• Point sources are contaminants coming from a single discernible source such as factory emissions, tunnel, smokestack, pipe, ditch, or conduit. Water pollution point sources also include the discharges from industrial plants and municipal sewage treatment plants.
• Non-point sources are pollutants emitted from various sources. Non-point source pollution often results from drainage, seepage, atmospheric deposition, precipitation, marine activities, or land runoff. Today, it remains the leading cause of water quality problems.

Water Pollution Causes

The widespread water pollution today can be traced back to different causes which often include:

• Sewage and wastewater can cause pollution and contamination of many rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. They carry threatening viruses, bacteria, and chemicals mostly from feces, urine, and pharmaceutical substances flushed down the toilet. When left untreated, sewage water can cause environment contamination and serious health issues.
• Marine dumping or dumping of litter and garbage in bodies of water can lead to serious health and environmental problems. More than polluting the bodies of water, litters thrown into the water such as cardboard, newspaper, foam, Styrofoam, plastic, Photodegradable packaging, glass, and aluminum can cause the deaths of marine animals and species.
• Industrial waste is one of the largest causes of water pollution. Industrial plants and facilities often release pollutants such as asbestos, lead, mercury, nitrates, phosphates, sulfur, oils, and other petrochemicals that pose serious threats to the people’s health and the environment.
• Radioactive waste results when nuclear wastes produced from scientific, medical, and industrial operations which use radioactive material aren’t disposed of properly. The biggest sources of nuclear waste products include nuclear fuel processing plants, mining activities, and the like.
• Atmospheric deposition happens when water becomes polluted because of air pollution. The water particles mix with carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere which results in the formation of weak acids. When air is polluted, water gets polluted as well. Acid rain then happens which pollutes and harms marine and aquatic life.
• Eutrophication, the leading cause of freshwater and marine habitat contamination, takes place when the ecosystem becomes enriched with chemical nutrients. The increase in nutrients most often caused by fertilizer runoffs results in rapid growth of phytoplanktons and algal blooms – the leading cause of lack of oxygen and death of aquatic organisms.

What You Can Do Today

If you think you can’t contribute to the prevention of water pollution, you’re wrong. Even with a little contribution, you can make a significant change in the environment. Your help matters. After knowing the sources and causes of water pollution, here are a few more things you can do:

• Never leave your faucets on when not in use. Treat water as a precious investment you won’t dare waste. Use water wisely.
• Be responsible with where you place your trash. Properly discard them in their proper garbage bins. Never throw them anywhere.
• Switch to using eco-friendly household products such as cleaners, toiletries, etc. at home.
• Avoid overusing pesticides and fertilizers as these often cause runoffs into nearby water sources. Use organic alternatives.
• Do not flush and get rid of oils, household chemicals, pills, medications, paints, toiletries, etc. down your sink, drain, and toilet.

Let’s be proactive caretakers of our planet. If we don’t take water pollution seriously, we may be unknowingly welcoming contaminated water into our homes.

More than that, to make sure you’re drinking and bathing in unpolluted and uncontaminated water, invest in a portable water filter or a ceramic water filter today.