Water pollution is a global threat that leads to deaths and diseases worldwide

''Water pollution is a global threat that leads to deaths and diseases worldwide''
Water Pollution occurs almost everywhere! I agree to the sentence that it is a global threat... Water pollution is caused by three matters which are untreated sewage & industrial waste released into rivers & seas. Secondly, oil spills from ships and finally, plastic waste dumped as rubbish into rivers and seas. When all of the following are not treated, pollution occurs. Toxic pollutants in water can cause the death of fish and other marine organisms. Polluted water may also carry bacteria and other organisms that can cause diseases and one good example is cholera. Oil spills from ships can kill many marine creatures as oil will stick on its feathers of sea birds and the fur of animals such as seals. Lastly, many animals, such as turtles die due to swallowing plastics! A lot of waste is always found... No matter where we are. We will always see dirty areas around us! Do you like to live in a dirty world? I don't think so. Believe me, if we do not stop water pollution, we might not safe lives for the future generation. Now, I have proved that water pollution is a global threat that leads to deaths and diseases worldwide.

One of the cause for water pollution is oil spills. Oil spills cover sea's surface which results in the plants not getting light for photosynthesis.This results in no food and oxygen made by plants. Without oxygen the marine animals would have to come up to the surface to get oxygen.But, the surfaceis already covered with oil ,this means that the fish would not get any oxygen .Without oxygen ,they will die.

Littering is another serious water pollution. When there are rubbish in the water ,some fishes might mistake it for food. When they eat this litter , they might choke and die. In addition, when the fishes drink the polluted water , they might be sick and when we accidentally eat this fishes , we ourselves would be sick too.

So let's not pollute the water and harm ourselves in the end.

unitysec09_17 wrote:''Water pollution is a global threat that leads to deaths and diseases worldwide''
Water Pollution occurs almost everywhere! I agree to the sentence that it is a global threat... Water pollution is caused by three matters which are untreated sewage & industrial waste released into rivers & seas. Secondly, oil spills from ships and finally, plastic waste dumped as rubbish into rivers and seas. When all of the following are not treated, pollution occurs. Toxic pollutants in water can cause the death of fish and other marine organisms. Polluted water may also carry bacteria and other organisms that can cause diseases and one good example is cholera. Oil spills from ships can kill many marine creatures as oil will stick on its feathers of sea birds and the fur of animals such as seals. Lastly, many animals, such as turtles die due to swallowing plastics! A lot of waste is always found... No matter where we are. We will always see dirty areas around us! Do you like to live in a dirty world? I don't think so. Believe me, if we do not stop water pollution, we might not safe lives for the future generation. Now, I have proved that water pollution is a global threat that leads to deaths and diseases worldwide.

I agree with Hadi that untreated sewage & industrial waste released into rivers and sea from the Industries also causes water pollution. Water pollution also causes millions or even billions of animals and plants to die of water pollution .People must realise that water pollution does not occur on its own but it's because of us human. Let's save the Earth for our future generations. Home sweet home!!

Water polution harms the biodiversity it harms not only plants but also animals. Most factories nowadays have proper discharge system so as to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals release to the sea.
My answer to Zhi Ming's answer is yes, you are right! You see people everyday cutting down trees and hunting animals for food. This is almost the same as polluting the water. This are the major effects that we human beings had done! Our fault & due to that the other organism in the world have to suffer the same fate as we do! Some reasons like oil spills, untreated sewage & industrial waste released into rivers & seas & plastic waste dumped as rubbish into rivers & seas are some ways that pollute the river & seas. Some ways that we humans had tried to stop it are by maintaining septic system. If you have a septic system, have it regularly inspected and maintained. Overloaded or improperly functioning septic systems can spew raw sewage directly into bodies of water or can contaminate groundwater. Most septic systems should be pumped every 2-3 years. This is quoted from Zhi Ming's and by the way, I regretfully say that this is not enough! 1 solution is never enough for a problem to be solved. Like there are many ways that we can answer a question. But one answer is never enough! Like to get a 5 marks out of 5, we must at least give 2 to 3 answers. So in this case, we have to think up a solution fast! We only have 3% of water that is fresh water. If we destroy this population, every living organism will taste its on medicine. We will be dying of thirst. Never see a life from on Great Mother Earth's land! So I define this, NO WATER = NO LIVES. . I wonder if you were to agree on this great earthlings... Heal the world. Before its too late.

Water pollution is a global threat that leads to deaths and diseases worldwide

What is water pollution?
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater. All water pollution affects organisms and plants that live in these water bodies and in almost all cases the effect is damaging either to individual species and populations but also to the natural biological communities. It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful components.

I agree to the statement water pollution is a global threat that leads to deaths and diseases worldwide .Water pollution is caused by us, humans .

Not treating sewage water will also cause water pollution.Sewage is the term used for wastewater that often contains faeces, urine and laundry waste. There are billions of people on Earth, so treating sewage is a big priority. Sewage disposal is a major problem in developing countries as many people in these areas don’t have access to sanitary conditions and clean water. Untreated sewage water in such areas can contaminate the environment and cause diseases such as diarrhoea. Sewage in developed countries is carried away from the home quickly and hygienically through sewage pipes. Sewage is treated in water treatment plants and the waste is often disposed into the sea. Sewage is mainly biodegradable and most of it is broken down in the environment. In developed countries, sewage often causes problems when people flush chemical and pharmaceutical substances down the toilet. When people are ill, sewage often carries harmful viruses and bacteria into the environment causing health problems.

Industrial Waste also causes water poolution.Industry is a huge source of water pollution, it produces pollutants that are extremely harmful to people and the environment.

Many industrial facilities use freshwater to carry away waste from the plant and into rivers, lakes and oceans.Some pollutants from industrial sources include:
Lead – This is a metallic element and can cause health and environmental problems. It is a non-biodegradable substance so is hard to clean up once the environment is contaminated. Lead is harmful to the health of many animals, including humans, as it can inhibit the action of bodily enzymes.
Mercury - This is a metallic element and can cause health and environmental problems. It is a non-biodegradable substance so is hard to clean up once the environment is contaminated. Mercury is also harmful to animal health as it can cause illness through mercury poisoning.
Sulphur – This is a non-metallic substance that is harmful for marine life.
Oils – Oil does not dissolve in water, instead it forms a thick layer on the water surface. This can stop marine plants receiving enough light for photosynthesis. It is also harmful for fish and marine birds.

Thirdly , dumping rubbish in the sea or rivers or other water sources .Dumping of litter in the sea can cause huge problems. Litter items such as 6-pack ring packaging can get caught in marine animals and may result in death. Different items take different lengths of time to degrade in water:

Cardboard takes 2 weeks to degrade, newspaper takes 6 weeks to degrade , photodegradable packaging takes 6 weeks to degrade, foam takes 50 years to degrade , styrofoam takes 80 years to degrade, aluminium takes 200 years to degrade , plastic packaging takes 400 years to degrade , glass takes more than 400 years to degrade .

Fourthly , it is the oil spilling or oil pollution ,Oceans are polluted by oil on a daily basis from oil spills, routine shipping, run-offs and dumping. Oil spills make up about 12% of the oil that enters the ocean. The rest come from shipping travel, drains and dumping. An oil spill from a tanker is a severe problem because there is such a huge quantity of oil being spilt into one place.
Oil spills cause a very localised problem but can be catastrophic to local marine wildlife such as fish, birds and sea otters. Oil cannot dissolve in water and forms a thick sludge in the water. This suffocates fish, gets caught in the feathers of marine birds stopping them from flying and blocks light from photosynthetic aquatic plants.

Last but not least it is global warming .You might think, how can global warming be a cause for water pollution ?This the answer.

An increase in water temperature can result in the death of many aquatic organisms and disrupt many marine habitats. For example, a rise in water temperatures causes coral bleaching of reefs around the world. This is when the coral expels the microorganisms of which it is dependent on. This can result in great damage to coral reefs and subsequently, all the marine life that depends on it.The rise in the Earth's water temperature is caused by global warming. Global warming is a process where the average global temperature increases due to the greenhouse effect.
The burning of fossil fuel releases greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.
This causes heat from the sun to get ‘trapped’ in the Earths atmosphere and consequently the global temperature rises.

How can we prevent water pollution?
Conserve water by turning off the tap when running water is not necessary. This helps prevent water shortages and reduces the amount f contaminated water that needs treatment.
Be careful about what you throw down your sink or toilet. Don't throw paints, oils or other forms of litter down the drain.
Use environmentally household products, such as washing powder, household cleaning agents and toiletries.
Take great care not to overuse pesticides and fertilisers. This will prevent runoffs of the material into nearby water sources.
By having more plants in your garden you are preventing fertiliser, pesticides and contaminated water from running off into nearby water sources.
Don't throw litter into rivers, lakes or oceans. Help clean up any litter you see on beaches or in rivers and lakes, make sure it is safe to collect the litter and put it in a nearby dustbin.


Let's save the Earth !!!

unitysec09_17 wrote:One of the cause for water pollution is oil spills. Oil spills cover sea's surface which results in the plants not getting light for photosynthesis.This results in no food and oxygen made by plants. Without oxygen the marine animals would have to come up to the surface to get oxygen.But, the surfaceis already covered with oil ,this means that the fish would not get any oxygen .Without oxygen ,they will die.

Littering is another serious water pollution. When there are rubbish in the water ,some fishes might mistake it for food. When they eat this litter , they might choke and die. In addition, when the fishes drink the polluted water , they might be sick and when we accidentally eat this fishes , we ourselves would be sick too.

So let's not pollute the water and harm ourselves in the end.

i agree with Xin Yi as water pollution is due mainly to nitrates and phosphate found in fertilisers. these are faitly soluble in water. when nitrates and phosphates get washed into stagnant water, they promote the rapid growth of algae. when the algae die, they are decomposed by aerobic bacteria that use up dissolved oxygen for their respiration. thus the oxygen supply in the water is slowly depleted. this causes the deaths of many fish and aquatic organisms. when excess nutrients are washed into a body of water, changes occur to the water. this process is called eutrophocation. eutrophication makes the water smelly and incapable of supporting life.

Water pollution is contamination of water by foreign matter that deteriorates the quality of the water. Water pollution covers pollutions in liquid forms like ocean pollution and river pollution. As the term applies, liquid pollution occurs in the oceans, lakes, streams, rivers, underground water and bays, in short liquid-containing areas. It involves the release of toxic substances, pathogenic germs, substances that require much oxygen to decompose, easy-soluble substances, radioactivity, etc. that become deposited upon the bottom and their accumulations will interfere with the condition of aquatic ecosystems. For example, the eutrophication: lack of oxygen in a water body caused by excessive algae growths because of enrichment of pollutants.therefore i agree that water pollution is a global threat and people around the world should put in effort to save the Earth from water pollution.

Basic Information of Water Pollution
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater. All water pollution affects organisms and plants that live in these water bodies and in almost all cases the effect is damaging either to individual species and populations but also to the natural biological communities. It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful constituents.
_________________________________________________________
Cons of Water Pollution
Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily. In addition to the acute problems of water pollution in developing countries, industrialized countries continue to struggle with pollution problems as well. In the most recent national report on water quality in the United States, 45 percent of assessed stream miles, 47 percent of assessed lake acres, and 32 percent of assessed bay and estuarine square miles were classified as polluted.

Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and either does not support a human use, like serving as drinking water, and/or undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities, such as fish. Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water. Water pollution has many causes and characteristics.
_____________________________________________________________________
Water Pollution Categories
Surface water and groundwater have often been studied and managed as separate resources, although they are interrelated. Sources of surface water pollution are generally grouped into two categories based on their origin.
- Point source pollution
- Non-point source pollution
- Groundwater pollution
_____________________________________________________________________
Laws in the USA
In the USA, concern over water pollution resulted in the enactment of state anti-pollution laws in the latter half of the 19th century, and federal legislation enacted in 1899. The Refuse Act of the federal Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 prohibits the disposal of any refuse matter from into either the nation's navigable rivers, lakes, streams, and other navigable bodies of water, or any tributary to such waters, unless one has first obtained a permit. The Water Pollution Control Act, passed in 1948, gave authority to the Surgeon General to reduce water pollution. However, this law did not lead to major reductions in pollution.

Growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led Congress to carry out a major re-write of water pollution law in 1972. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, commonly known as the Clean Water Act (CWA), established the basic mechanisms for controlling point source pollution. The law mandated the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish and enforce wastewater standards for industry and municipal sewage treatment plants. The Act also continued requirements that EPA and states issue water quality standards for surface water bodies. Congress included authorization in the Act for major public financing to build municipal sewage treatment plants. The 1972 CWA, however, did not require similar regulatory standards for non-point sources.

In 1987, Congress expanded the coverage of the CWA with enactment of the Water Quality Act. These amendments defined both municipal and industrial stormwater discharges as point sources and required these facilities to obtain discharge permits. The 1987 law also re-organized the public financing of municipal treatment projects and created a non-point source demonstration grant program. Further amplification of the CWA included the enactment of the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2002.

Pathogens are another type of pollution that prove very harmful. They can cause many illnesses that range from typhoid and dysentery to minor respiratory and skin diseases. Pathogens include such organisms as bacteria, viruses, and protozoan. These pollutants enter waterways through untreated sewage, storm drains, septic tanks, runoff from farms, and particularly boats that dump sewage. Though microscopic, these pollutants have a tremendous effect evidenced by their ability to cause sickness.

All water pollution affects organisms and plants that live in these water bodies and in almost all cases the effect is damaging either to individual species and populations but also to the natural biological communities. It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful constituents.

Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases,and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily.

Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and either does not support a human use, like serving as drinking water, and/or undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities, such as fish. Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water. Water pollution has many causes and characteristics.

Causes of water pollution

The specific contaminants leading to pollution in water include a wide spectrum of chemicals, pathogens, and physical or sensory changes such as elevated temperature and discoloration. While many of the chemicals and substances that are regulated may be naturally occurring (calcium, sodium, iron, manganese, etc.) the concentration is often the key in determining what is a natural component of water, and what is a contaminant.

lol!:

I agree with Zhiming's first post about plants being unable to photosynthesize due to oil spills, therefore blocking all sunlight.

It does not only affect the plants but also the other marine animals in the sea. Since the plants are unable to photosynthesize, it will therefore affect the marine creatures as they will compete for the oxygen in the sea, as plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen during photosynthesis. So, if photosynthesis is unable to take place, sea animals and plants would compete for oxygen and therefore, there will be extinction as some organisms might not be able to breathe in dissolved oxygen and therefore, might cause extinction.

Okay, I don't know if it makes sense. :X

I agree with what Harie explain. Industrial area often release harmful chemical into the sea, that causes water pollution to the Earth. Untreated sewage and oil spills into the sea can cause loss of live of the marine animals in the sea. The layer of oil would prevent oxygen getting into the sea, and the marine animals would not be able to respire. Therefore, marine animals will die and if this continues, many marine animals would be extinct from this Earth. Disposing rubbish such as plastics bag may also cause serious loss of animals. Turtles in the sea might mistook the plastic bags as jellyfishes and they would tend to swallow them. Plastic bag is also harmful and and it cannot be digested in living things.

We need to save the Earth by preventing water pollution from occuring any further. Just a little act by throwing rubbish into the rubbish bin, than throwing into the drains, sea, rivers, or pond, can save many marine life and even conserve our environment, to make our Earth a better environment to live in.

I agree with xin yi . Oil spill is a water pollution by which the oil which has a lower density then water,it will float on the water covering the surface of the water. This way the marine plants and animals are being affected.As, light cannot pass through the oil and the plants would not be able to photosynthesis and will not produce oxygen instead use the oxygen for respiration. the water has a limited amount of dissolved oxyen used by the animals normally.So this will introduce more problem where the plants and animals have to fight for oxygen and more carbon dioxide is produced and inthe end the animals and plants would die due to oil spills. How sad as in the end our food will be the one that is
rotten.

I TOTALLY agree with Qinyi!
Just small actions can lead to the Earth not dying out!

Littering is also one of the causes of water pollution. Example: A plastic bag might be mistaken by a turtle for a jellyfish and eat it. The turtle would then choke on the plastic bag and die. It might also cause extinction to the turtle species.

I still don't know if I'm making any sense :B

Admin wrote:Discuss about the causes of water pollution and how does it affects the biodiversity.

Water pollution is caused by literally anything from nature's call in river to oil poured into the sea in huge amounts. So it would be unrealistic to completely aviod it. However certain things like cleaning rivers and no oil dumping or not abandoning finless sharks in the sea are all managable tasks. Even so, the chemicals can reach the rivers or seas in many ways. It can be dumped intentionally , it could have seeped into ground water, streams or rivers because of failing pipes or storage tanks, it could have disasterously contaminated waterways because of industrial accidents, it could have been because of acid rain or leached out of contaminated soil. Nevertheless this just gives us more reasons to find preventions. If the fishes are affected in so many ways and humans eat them then it would mean we are affected too, directly or indirectly. Other ways for us to be infected is if we play in the beaches' sea water. With so many ways of affecting and being affected, as children of the earth we should do whatever within our means to keep water suitable for all living organisms!

I totally agree with what vanessa said on her 3rd post about the littering .the example vanessa gave was on choking of the plastic bag.But actually the plastic bag can not only choke the marine animals.

The plastic bag can also suffocate some small marine animals which could have accidentally went into the plastic bag.This can also cause the extinction of the species of the small marine animals.Not only that even things like cans or maybe any sharp edged objects that is being thrown into the sea can harm the innocent marine animals .

So do not pollute the water and harm the poor marine animals. Help them and they will too in return as food!

So, to end it all up the statement is true.

I personally think that many causes of water pollution including sewage and fertilizers.All living things need to drink water and without water all living things cannot survive.If there is water pollution,the fishes that drink in the polluted water will get poisoned and people who catch and eat or sell to others to eat will die if the poison is a serious enough to cause death to all the living organism or other predators who eat them.So i suggest not to pollute the water and keep the water clean . So we will have a no water pollution in the future.

Those people that pollute the water is so call a ''idiot'' because he or she do not keep our world clean. If water is clean, than fishes will not get poison so easily . if more and more fishes get poison , soon we cannot eat either curry fish head that is around $10 or fish n chips that is only $2 in our school as it is extinct. so i suggest to keep the water clean so we can eat the food i suggested(nice to eat by the way)

unitysec09_17 wrote:Water pollution is a worldwide threat to marine lives and to humans. From water pollution, it will harm fishes. Humans will kill the fishes if some of the fishes escaped and got caught and is sold to humans, they will become sick and maybe even die. In order to save these marine animals and ourselves, we should stop water pollution NOW!!!

So as mentioned by my previous post we should do whatever we can to prevent water pollution. So I agree with Jin uu that we should stop water pollution NOW!!! But what should we do? Well, some unexpected ways are
-Fight global warming!
As atmospheric CO2 levels rise, ocean CO2 levels would also rise, thus increasing the acidity level of the ocean. If the plants cannot counter the ever increasing Co2 levels then there might not be enough oxygen or the water would be too acidic to live in.
The temperature would also rise with global warming and certain organisms may not be able to adapt to the temperature changes.

-Buy organic food.
Organic food does not use pesticides which are harmful for the enviroment and you!

-Start buying "green" household cleaners and personal care products.

-Only use drugs when absolutely necessary. Learn about natural cures and how important good nutrition, sleep, and low stress levels are to keeping you healthy.

-Stop all use of chemical pesticides around your house.
Alternatives for pesticides are Neem,Rotenone,Pyrethrin and Sabadilla which are all plants.You can also use Onion and Mint as bug repellant. As for fungicide, you can use dilluted milk.

-If you have to dispose of old paint, varnish, or other DIY chemicals, find out the safest possible way to do so.

And so I end my second post. GNight!

The contamination and dirtying of places with water or water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, seas and groundwater is called water pollution. Water pollutions happens in worldwide. Water pollution will cause the water to be dirty, poisoned and unpleasant. Water pollution will affect the marine plants and animals living in the water bodies as the water body is their habitat and they live there. If the environment in the water body is polluted, their habitat will be destroyed and they may not be able to continue their lives in the water body, resulting them to die. The source of water pollution can be classified under 'direct' or 'indirect'. Direct is something introduced right into the water, whereas indirect is contamination that occurs elsewhere then finds its way into a water source, generally by natural means.

Actions like throwing litters into the river or spilling oil in the sea are already considered as water pollutions. Everybody will be affected by the actions of water pollutions. If the water is polluted, there will not be any clean water for drinking, recreations, agriculture and industries, the aesthetic qualities of lakes, rivers, seas and oceans will be diminished and contaminated water also destroys aquatic life and reduces its reproduction abilities, causing it to be at risk of being extinct. Polluted water is a hazard to human health. The most serious effect of water pollution is human infectious diseases such as amoebiasis, giardiasis, ascariasis and hookworm. All these waterborne diseases are transmitted via contaminated water and they may even cause deaths. To avoid all these negative impacts of water pollution, we should try our best not to pollute the water so that the water is clean and safe for us to use.

We should not throw any litter or anything other items into the sea because this will affect aquatic living things in the sea as the aquatic plants will be blocked out from light energy and cannot photosynthesize, therefore, the plant will not give out oxygen but more carbon dioxide, then the fishes and the plants will fight for oxygen underwater and will all die with lack of dissolved oxygen underwater and wont be able to breathe, this will cause more pollution under water.

We should all be considerate and throw useless items into the dustbin where u can see, if not hold on to it until u see one, if u throw it into the sea or river, more people will follow and the aquatic lifeforms will keep dying and therefore extinct in the future and the water will be very very dirty, in the end, no more aquatic lifeforms will exist

I agree with Zhi ming. When oil spills cover the surface of the sea as it is denser than water, it will block off sunlight resulting in plants unable to photosynthesise.If the plants are unable to photosynthesise, rendering them unable creating starch for themselves and releasing oxygen into the water, plants will eventually die out and so will animals due to the competition of oxygen for respiration. Also, oil spills may harm sea birds as the oil will stick on the birds, rendering them unable to fly and will drown in the sea.
If this countinues, aquatic plants and animals in the sea will be extinct and so will seabirds, so stop water pollution!