Water pollution is the number one problem the world is facing with tremendous impact to the life of the human race. This enormous human error is caused by a person’s selfish motives to enrich himself without considering the welfare of his fellowmen.
Every country has its own water treatment facilities to minimize the occurrence of water pollution into serious condition. But, even though government and private authorities are trying their best to control water contamination and reduce pollution, there are some unscrupulous business people who are working underground to satisfy their greediness and personal advantage.
Water pollution have so many causes, but I have only identified top 3 as the most serious ones.
1. Radioactive and industrial wastes
This kind of water pollutants comes from the industries and nuclear power plants that are being washed out to the rivers, lakes, and ocean at a high rate proportion. The more factory a country have, the higher is the rate of released pollutants they throw in to body of water.
These factories releases some toxic chemicals like mercury, sulfuric acid, lead, and used oil. Lead and mercury are two toxic chemicals that are harmful to plants and animals and most especially to humans and may cause death if taken in great proportion. These chemicals are non-biodegradable and is hard to clean up when mixed in the body of water.
2. Eutrophication
The continuous use of inorganic chemical fertilizer and pesticides for crop production and manufactured feeds for animal production where their wastes are carried down to water by heavy rain downpour. Once accumulates in the water, these waste chemicals causes the dense growth of plant life like phytoplankton which results the algae to bloom. These algae utilizes the oxygen in their growth process while depletes some marine lives to use oxygen resulting to their death.
Besides depleting oxygen from the water, algae also produces some toxic substances that effects higher life forms and food chain and causes the polluting of the water source.
3. Mining
Mining companies exposes heavy metals and sulfuric compounds previously stocked underground the soil profile. Once brought on top of the soil surface, some sediments are drained down to the body of water resulting in acid mine drainage and metal pollution.
It’s more serious in gold mining, where cyanide is poured into the piles of rocks to extract the gold from the ore rock. After the operation, cyanide ultimately finds its way into the lower portion and unto the river, lake or ocean floor.
Other sources of pollutants are not as serious as the top 3 mentioned above. However, small as they may be, still they contributes the polluting effect to our water, that needs to be addressed by all concerns including you.