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| Types, Sources, Effects of Water Pollution | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| �������� What is water pollution?� It is referred to as the loss of any of the actual or potential beneficial uses of water caused by any change in its composition due to human activity (Water Internet).� There are two types of water pollution; they are point source pollution and non-point source pollution.�� | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| �������� Point sources discharge pollutants at particular locations through pipes, ditches, or sewers into bodies of surface water (Miller 517).� Examples of point sources include factories, sewage treatment plants, active and abandoned underground mines, offshore oil wells, and oil tankers (Miller 517). Municipal pollution consists of wastewater from resident's homes and commercial companies.� Industrial wastewater differs markedly both within and among industries, with its impact depending on characteristics such as the pollutants that industry produces in its operations (Encarta Internet).� Point sources are easy to recognize and easy to regulate the pollution (Miller 517).� | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ��������� Non-point sources are sources that cannot be traced to any single location of discharge (Miller 517). This type of pollution is largely uncontrolled. Examples of non-point sources include acid deposition, runoff of chemicals into surface water, and seepage into the ground from croplands, livestock feedlots, logged forests, streets, lawns, and parking lots (Miller 517).� Non-point sources cannot be detected, but they have disastrous substances and chemicals in them. Ideal urban streets runoff contains various types of pollutants, from highly harmful suspended solids and deadly substances-including heavy metals such as zinc, mercury, and cadmium-to bacteria, oxygen demanding materials, nutrients, oil, and grease (Solstice Internet). Some industries may pollute in another way.� They use large quantities of water to cool equipment.� Heat from the equipment make the water hot.� When discharged into a river or a lake, it may cause thermal pollution that can harm plant and animal life. Another source of non-point pollution is agriculture.� Irrigation practices used in agriculture can cause massive amounts of water containing soil, fertilizers, pesticides, and other contaminants to flow off fields and back into the streams (Point Internet). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���������� Eutrophication, the process by which wastes add nutrients to water and change the balance of life, occurs from both point and non-point sources.� When excessive nutrients and organic wastes are added to a balanced ecosystem, the growth of algae is increased.� As the algae die, they add to the wastes.� The bacteria produced use of much oxygen converting wastes into nutrients that few fish survive. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Water pollution can cause some disorders and diseases in humans and other organisms.� Lead can cause brain damage, particularly in children.� Iron and manganese can make water to turn rust-colored and are harmful when ingested in enormous amounts.� Radioactive substances, such as radium, can create cancer, particularly bone cancer.� Nitrate compounds, which are located in fertilizers, prohibit hemoglobin from binding with oxygen (Kaminsky Internet).� Chemical pollutants have the tendency to form sores on the skin of a few types of animals (Effects Internet).� | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������� Polluted water may look clean or dirty, but it all contains germs, chemicals, or other materials that can cause inconvenience, illness, or death.� Impurities must be removed before such water can be used safely for drinking, cooking, washing, or laundering.� Even some industries must clean the water before it can be used in their manufacturing processes.� As long as there is human civilization, water pollution will be a problem. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������Works Cited�������� ������������������������������� ������������������������������� | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dahling, Kevin; Johnson, Jill; and Krebsbach, Mary.� Point Vs. Nonpoint Pollution.? Environmental | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������������� Focus.� Environmental Geology of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.� Available on Online. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ��������� ����Accessed:� April 14, 1998.� | http://tgl.geology.muohio.edu/Focus/PointVs.NonpointPollution.htm | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Effects of Water Pollution on the Environment.� Publisher unavailable. �Available on Internet. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������������� Accessed:� April 14, 1998.� http://206.45.107.24/thomas/effects.htm | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kaminsky, Peter.� Water Pollution.� Portions.� United Water Company.� Available on Online. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������������� Accessed:� April 14, 1998.� http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/ES/WS/pollution.htm | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Miller, G. Taylor.� Water Pollution. Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ��������������� 10th Edition.� California: Belmont, Wadsworth Publishing Company.� 1998.�� 514-539.���� | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Water Pollution.� Encarta Online.� Mircosoft Network.�� Available on Online.� Accessed:� April 14, 1998.� | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| �������������� http://encarta.msn.com/index/concise/Ovol2B/0539d000.asp | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Water Pollution.� Solstice.�� Crest Organization.� Available on Online.� Accessed:� April 14, 1998.� | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������������� http://www.crest.org/policy-and-econ/nrdc/mobility/h2opollu.htm | |||||||||||||||||||||||