Water Pollution
Essay by people • August 29, 2011 • Essay • 349 Words (2 Pages) • 1,804 Views
Water covers 70% of the earth and only 3% of fresh water. 1% of fresh water and 2% of frozen fresh water. Pollution is a major cause to life. It impacts on marine life and is a major impact to life in the whole world.
Afterwards, we are slowly but surely harming our planet to the point where organisms are dying at a very alarming rate. In addition to innocent organisms dying off, our drinking water has become greatly affected as is our ability to use water for recreational purposes. In order to combat water pollution, we must understand the problems and become part of the solution.
Causes of water pollution .
Water pollution is the action of environmental contamination with man-made waste into water. The source of this waste could be raw sewage, chemicals, trash, or fertilizer. Water polltuion has severe human consequences, since less than 3% of the Earth contains water that is potable or safe for drinking. Also, water is so important for human survival because we cannot live without it. When a source for drinking water becomes cantaminated with untreated sewage it is possible to spread diseases through the water like Giardiasis, a diarrheal disease caused by a parasitic protazoa, Giardia lamblia. These types of diseases can also be caused by bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. Another type of water pollution usually occurs when water is contaminted with fertilizer. The water is then nitrified and phosphorolized by the fertilizer chemicals. These added nutrients in the water can cause eutrophication or the process of changing of a body water due to excessive plant nutrients. This eutrophication promotes excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants, which then chokes the open-water areas, thus decreasing the amount of oxygen available in the water. Consequently, fish and other organism may die off due to the lack of oxygen. Other types of water polltion include trash that is dumped into a body of water or chemicals that seep or are dumped into a body of water. These two types of water pollution can have harmful side effects for humans and different organisms.
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