What is Water Pollution?

“Water Pollution is the accumulation of the water bodies i.e. rivers, oceans, lakes and underground water occurs as a result of human activities and it can cause threat to the living creatures as well as to the plants that live in these water bodies.”

Water is very essential part of our life. Without water we can’t even imagine to survive. 71% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. Clean water free from all impurities is a must for a healthy life. We use water for many purposes like to drink, to take bath, for recreation and also water participate as most important component of Mother Nature. But water loses its value when it gets polluted. Polluted and impure water is very harmful for our health as well as for the marine life. Water pollution even affects the wildlife because it is largely dependent on the water resources.

Sources of Water Pollution
Water Pollution is a result of some human activities such as outfalls of wastes products from the industries into the water resources like rivers and lakes. Broadly classifying, there are two major sources of water pollution i.e. Direct Sources and Indirect Sources:

Direct Sources: Water disposal of wastes from factories, refineries, industries is a major source of water pollution. These wastes get mixed into the water and this water is the chief supply source for many urban sectors. Disposal of products like wrappers, poly bags etc., in the rivers, lakes is another major source of water pollution. In many countries, government is trying to regulate such kind of disposals by the industries for controlling water pollution.

Indirect Sources: When rain water moves from agriculture land, industrial and urban areas and join back to the rivers, oceans, lakes, it brings a lot of products which chiefly acts as pollutants for water. This drained water mainly contains residual of agriculture practices say harmful fertilizers, pesticides etc. These chemicals are most harmful pollutants of water. Besides these, emission of gases from bakeries, automobiles & factories also participate in water pollution.

Different types of water pollution and their effects

Oxygen-depletion
Micro-organisms such as bacteria break down the biodegradable waste products into their food components. So, biodegradable wastes are less harmful as compared to non-biodegradable wastes. But, excess of biodegradable wastes also results into serious problem like depletion of oxygen in water.

For consumption of food aerobic Bacteria and fishes needs enough amount of oxygen gas in surrounding water. According to a recent research bacteria are more dominating organisms in terms of utilization of oxygen. So, fish and other marine organisms are unable to get sufficient oxygen in such an environment. This leads to mass destruction of marine life in that zone of water. Therefore, the substances which contribute in the depletion of oxygen should be minimized or avoided.

Microbiological
This pollution refers to the presence of harmful microorganisms in water for example- viruses, bacteria and protozoa. The swimmers who swim in this polluted water can have severe health problems. Bacterial (detrimental) contamination in water is very harmful for marine life also. People who eat sea food of a zone which is contaminated with such an organisms can results into spread of severe infections in human population. Some serious waterborne diseases are cholera and polio.

Nutrients
For proper growth and maintenance plants need necessary elements like nitrogen and phosphorus. These are available in water in plenty. These elements results in the growth of weeds and algae in water and their active presence leads to an oxygen-depleted environment. Weeds and algae make the water unpleasant in taste even after proper filtration.

Suspended Material
Dust particles, molecules, atoms and other pollutants of this category, when present in water are known as suspended materials. These suspended materials accumulate at the bottom of water and makes it impure both for the organisms who are living in the water as well as for the humans who use this water. These types of materials make water toxic by nature.

Chemicals
Disposed chemicals like solvents from chemical industries are one of the major sources of water pollution. This type of water becomes acidic, basic or poisonous in nature and this type of pollution is extremely dangerous for marine life.

Pesticides and insecticides are major classes of common chemicals which are suspended in water resources knowingly or unknowingly. Material like oils and detergents spoils purity of water. Presence of flammable chemicals in water is extremely dangerous. This has already happened in the Niagara River that flows between US & Canada. It caught fire because of highly flammable chemicals discharged into the water of river.

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