Water Pollution and Its Effects on Health and Environment
Water pollution by humans can take various forms. In this article – Five causes of water pollution and its effects on health and environment discover a complete page dedicated to this problem, which also evokes the effects on health and the environment.
For many reasons, water will be one of the major challenges of the 21st century
The main challenge related to this resource will undoubtedly be the pollution of different water sources.
To better understand the issues related to water pollution, here is all you need to know about its causes, effects, as well as the measures that aim to reduce this problem.
Today, the main causes of environmental pollution arise primarily from the production and use of the various sources of energy, then from industrial activities and, paradoxically nevertheless importantly, from agriculture.
At each of these fundamental causes of pollution will correspond to countless sources of dispersion of the polluting agents. The latter takes place from upstream (extractive industries) downstream, that is to say, up to domestic uses, which can play in certain cases (fermentable organic matter polluting water for example).
Thus, the consumption of chemicals marketed to the general public plays a significant role in the contamination of the environment, not to mention the considerable masses of fertilizers and pesticides dispersed in rural areas by agricultural activities.
What Are The Main Causes Of Water Pollution?
Trying to reflect and understand the problems of water is key to address its main causes.
The contaminated water is one whose “composition has been modified so that it does not qualify for the intended use if it was in its natural state.”
It is clear that without quality water it is impossible to guarantee the environmental balance of the human species, animals and plants. We are not talking about any resource, but our main natural resource.
To understand what you’re talking about, let’s get into the main causes of contaminated water:
- 1) Industrial waste
Industrial water pollution is mainly caused by the discharge of compounds and chemicals harmful to water. This makes this resource useless for human beings since it is not suitable for consumption or for use in purposes, such as agriculture or recreational activities. In addition, it also endangers the lives of other living beings, both animals and plants.
For example, within the conventional textile industry, large amounts of water are used together with various chemicals in the processes. This represents a big problem since many companies do not care about purifying and cleaning their liquid waste and discharging it uncontrollably to rivers or seas.
- 2) Increase in temperatures
Global warming influences the contamination of the water resource. Another of the consequences of the greenhouse effect remember is that it warms the oceans and partially melts glaciers and other ice, increasing sea level. Ocean water also expands if it heats up, which contributes even more to sea-level rise. This rise in temperature of the water makes it harder for fishes and seaweeds to survive.
- 3) Fertilizers, manure, and pesticides in agriculture
Water with fertilizers and chemicals is difficult to be treated to return to the channels suitable for consumption. The contamination of groundwater by agrochemical products and waste is one of the most important problems in almost all developed countries and, increasingly, in many developing countries.
Fertilizer contamination occurs when they are used in greater amounts than crops can absorb, or when they are removed by water or wind from the soil surface before they can be absorbed. Excess nitrogen and phosphates can infiltrate the groundwater or be dragged into waterways. This nutrient overload causes the eutrophication of lakes, reservoirs and ponds and results in an explosion of algae that suppress other aquatic plants and animals.
- 4) Deforestation
Excessive felling of trees helps rivers, lakes and other water sources dry out. And in many cases, they cause the appearance of sediments and bacteria under the soil and the resulting contaminated water.
- 5) Oil spills and derivatives
Discharges of crude oil and its derivatives through transportation such as leaks in underground tanks generate contaminated water in the short or medium term.
The contamination by crude oil or by refined oil (fuel oil, gasoline, and other products obtained by fractional distillation and chemical processing of crude oil) is generated accidentally or deliberately from different sources. Some researchers believe that oil pollution comes from ship-tank accidents and leaks in marine drilling equipment, however, others consider it a matter of propaganda, since almost 50% of the oil that arrives in the seas and oceans comes from the mainland, from which it is thrown to the ground by people in cities and industrial areas that are then dragged by river currents until they end up in the oceans.
The hydrocarbons form with the water an impermeable layer that hinders the passage of sunlight that uses phytoplankton to carry out the process of photosynthesis, interferes with the gas exchange, covers the skin and gills of aquatic animals causing death by suffocation.
Effects and Consequences: A Health Hazard
We continue talking about the pollution of water throughout the world, going into detail about the effects and consequences of water pollution on health:
As we move forward, water pollution can end up on our plate. When eating fish and shellfish from contaminated water, there is the bioaccumulative effect of mercury and other heavy metals and also of small plastic particles, known as microplastics. However, this also occurs in the intake of non-potable water.
Water pollution with arsenic in India and other parts of the world, for example, causes serious health problems. Likewise, bathing in the Ganges river is dangerous for health, because, in addition to being able to swallow polluted water, which contains harmful substances, this is a vector of diseases, including simple gastric problems and much more serious conditions, whether caused by viruses or bacteria.
Access only to contaminated water also implies a lower quality of life. Not having access to drinking water and having to walk several hours each day to bring water, even if it is not really clean, does not allow progress to families or societies in general. This is something that occurs mainly in many places in Africa and Asia.
The crops irrigated with contaminated water, on the other hand, also can pose a health risk. In fact, watering with polluted water means contaminating food. Among these cases, the presence of arsenic in rice from India is known, more common than we think.
In the same fish farms, on the other hand, unhealthy conditions that affect the product may occur. Without being able to guarantee, far from it, that wild fish is healthy, since we have pointed out that the sea may also be contaminated, fish farms are not better off in many cases. They must control the type of water and maintenance very well. Otherwise, the production will doubtfully meet a series of minimum health requirements. In this way, it may be that, if we buy food from the open sea or if it is from fish farms, we end up eating pollution. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure as much as possible that the regulations are complied with in these places.
From the possible health consequences of contaminated water, it is easier to understand how much it can unbalance ecosystems, including the specific problems it poses to fauna and flora.
There is a destruction of vegetation and animals that inhabit the seas. Not only do fish and other beings that live in the water suffer these devastating effects, but also seabirds suffer from this contamination of the waters, decimating their food or becoming poisoned or trapped until death.
Five causes of water pollution and its effects on health and environment: solutions
If contamination is not important, ecosystems have the ability to clean and restore its balance, the problem escapes the control of nature when it reaches a point of no return.
Collapse occurs when pollutants unbalance the system without the possibility that it absorbs such pollution. In these cases, it is necessary to act, although in many cases they are problems of such magnitude that solving them is simply a utopia.
At least, that’s the way it is today when problems refer to such tricky issues as plastic pollution in seas, chemical pollution in rivers or, for example, oil spills in both seas and rivers.
In this sense, it is important to carry out actions that improve the situation to minimize its environmental impact, as well as the threat it poses to public health, even if they cannot offer suitable results.
In many cases, for example, purification or other purifying treatments do not perform total decontamination, but it is also true that their need will depend on the use that is going to be given to the water. But, above all, prevention is essential, both from a legal and awareness point of view and through technologies that allow for really effective actions.