Water Pollution

Water pollution refers to any undesirable change in the physical, chemical, or biological properties of water that renders it unfit for use.

Water pollution is caused by a variety of factors, including:

• Microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, protozoans, helminths, and algae are examples of biological pollutants. These microorganisms consume dissolved oxygen in the water. As a result, the water becomes depleted of oxygen.
• Sewage: Sewage is waste from domestic activities such as detergents and human excreta that is discharged directly into water bodies and pollutes them.
• Pesticides and fertilisers (DDT, polychlorinated biphenyls) seep into groundwater through soil pores and pollute subsoil water.
• Oil spills: One of the leading causes of water pollution is the unintentional discharge of petroleum into the ocean.
• Heavy metals are composed primarily of mercury, cadmium, lead, and nickel. These metals disrupt the pH of the water and make it toxic.

Effects Of Water Pollution 

• Pollution has an impact on humans, and faeces in water sources can cause diseases such as hepatitis. Infectious diseases such as cholera can always be caused by poor drinking water treatment and contaminated water.
• Water pollution has the potential to severely impact, modify, and destruct the ecosystem.
• Water pollution has the potential to have a significant impact on the food chain. It upends the food chain. Cadmium and lead are both toxic substances that enter the food chain through animals.
• Garbage and toxic chemicals are dumped by industrial and commercial establishments. Water pollution has serious consequences for aquatic life.
•  It disrupts their metabolism and behaviour, resulting in illness and death. Dioxin is a chemical that causes numerous reproductive issues.

Preventive measures to control water pollution 

• Water pollution can be controlled to a greater extent using a variety of methods. It is preferable to treat sewage waste before discharging it into bodies of water.
• By doing so, the initial toxicity can be reduced, and the remaining substances can be degraded and rendered harmless by the water body itself.
• Water that has undergone secondary treatment can be reused in sanitary systems and agricultural fields.
• Some chemical methods for controlling water pollution include precipitation, the ion exchange process, reverse osmosis, and coagulation.
• Individually, reusing, reducing, and recycling wherever possible will go a long way toward mitigating the effects of water pollution.

Natural resources are naturally occurring materials that are useful to man or could be useful under hypothetical technological, economic, or social circumstances, as well as supplies are drawn from the earth, Food, building and clothing materials, fertilisers, metals, water, and geothermal power are just a few examples. Natural resources were once considered the domain of the natural sciences.

Saltwater covers the planet’s atmosphere. When it comes to potable water sources, however, saltwater is ineffective. Desalination plants are in short supply due to the high energy costs associated with their operation. Aside from breathtaking ocean views, there have been saltwater opportunities where humans have profited. Many people’s diets around the world include saltwater fish.

Water is one of the most valuable resources available to all living things. Despite the fact that water is a renewable resource, scarcity of high-quality water remains a major issue in many parts of the world. We need water for a variety of reasons, including growing food, keeping clean, generating electricity, controlling fires, and, most importantly, staying alive.