Water Pollution

Water is Essential for Life

It covers 71% of the earth's surface and makes up 65 % of our bodies. Everyone wants clean water-- to drink, for recreation, and just to enjoy looking at. If water becomes polluted, its loses its value to us economically and aesthetically, and can become a threat to our health and to the survival of the fish living in it and the wildlife that depends on it.

How does water pollution occur?

Although some kinds of water pollution can occur through natural processes, it is mostly a result of human activities. We use water daily in our homes and industries, about 150 gallons per day per person in the United States. The water we use is taken from lakes and rivers, and from underground (groundwater); and after we have used it-- and contaminated it-- most of it returns to these locations.

The used water of a community is called wastewater, or sewage. If it is not treated before being discharged into waterways, serious pollution is the result. Historically, it has taken humanity quite a bit of time to come to grips with this problem. Water pollution also occurs when rain water runoff from urban and industrial areas and from agricultural land and mining operations makes its way back to receiving waters (river, lake or ocean) and into the ground.

What are some different types of water pollution?

Microbiological

Disease-causing (pathogenic) microorganisms, like bacteria, viruses and protozoa can cause swimmers to get sick. Fish and shellfish can become contaminated and people who eat them can become ill. Some serious diseases like polio and cholera are waterborne.

Chemical

A whole variety of chemicals from industry, such as metals and solvents, and even chemicals which are formed from the breakdown of natural wastes (ammonia, for instance) are poisonous to fish and other aquatic life. Pesticides used in agriculture and around the home-- insecticides for controlling insects and herbicides for controlling weeds-- are another type of toxic chemical. Some of these can accumulate in fish and shellfish and poison people, animals, and birds that eat them. Materials like detergents and oils float and spoil the appearance of a water body, as well as being toxic; and many chemical pollutants have unpleasant odors. The Niagara River, between the US and Canada, even caught fire at one time because of flammable chemical wastes discharged into the water.

Oxygen-depleting Substances

Many wastes are biodegradable, that is, they can be broken down and used as food by microorganisms like bacteria. We tend to think of biodegradable wastes as being preferable to non-biodegradable ones, because they will be broken down and not remain in the environment for very long times. Too much biodegradable material, though, can cause the serious problem of oxygen depletion in receiving waters.
Like fish, aerobic bacteria that live in water use oxygen gas which is dissolved in the water when they consume their "food". (The oxygen in the compound H₂O, water, is chemically bound, and is not available for respiration (breathing)). But, oxygen is not very soluble in water. Even when the water is saturated with dissolved oxygen, it contains only about 1/25 the concentration that is present in air. So if there is too much "food" in the water, the bacteria that are consuming it can easily use up all of the dissolved oxygen, leaving none for the fish, which will die of suffocation.
Once the oxygen is gone (depleted), other bacteria that do not need dissolved oxygen take over. But while aerobic microorganisms-- those which use dissolved oxygen-- convert the nitrogen, sulfur, and carbon compounds that are present in the wastewater into odorless-- and relatively harmless-- oxygenated forms like nitrates, sulfates and carbonates, these anaerobic microorganisms produce toxic and smelly ammonia, amines, and sulfides, and flammable methane (swamp gas). Add in the dead fish, and you see why we don't want large amounts of biodegradable materials entering lakes and streams.

Nutrients

The elements phosphorus and nitrogen are necessary for plant growth, and are plentiful in untreated waste water. Added to lakes and streams, they cause nuisance growth of aquatic weeds, as well as "blooms" of algae, which are microscopic plants. This can cause several problems. Weeds can make a lake unsuitable for swimming and boating. Algae and weeds die and become biodegrable material, which can cause the problems mentioned above (and below). If the water is used as a drinking water source, algae can clog filters and impart unpleasant tastes and odors to the finished water.

Suspended matter

Some pollutants are dissolved in wastewater, meaning that the individual molecules or ions (electrically charged atoms or molecules) of the substance are mixed directly in between the molecules of water. Other pollutants, referred to as particulate matter, consist of much larger-- but still very small-- particles which are just suspended in the water. Although they may be kept in suspension by turbulence, once in the receiving water, they will eventually settle out and form silt or mud at the bottom. These sediments can decrease the depth of the body of water. If there is a lot of biodegradable organic material in the sediment, it will become anaerobic and contribute to problems mentioned above. Toxic materials can also accumulate in the sediment and affect the organisms which live there and can build up in fish that feed on them, and so be passed up the food chain, causing problems all along the way . Also, some of the particulate matter may be grease-- or be coated with grease, which is lighter than water, and float to the top, creating an aesthetic nuisance.

How do we prevent water pollution?

To keep our used water from spoiling our water resources, we have to remove the pollutants before the water gets back into the environment. In urban areas in most developed countries, the wastewater from homes, businesses and factories is collected by a system of underground pipes-- sewers-- which carry it to one or more central treatment facilities. Most of these are located near bodies of water into which the treated wastewater is discharged.

Homes in non-urban areas that are not connected to a sewer are usually required by their town to have on-site treatment systems. Most common for single homes are septic systems, which consist of a buried tank connected to a set of perforated pipes, embedded in gravel, which distribute the water into the soil. (The "Links" page has several references on this subject.) Larger housing complexes may have treatment systems based on the principles used in full-scale sewage treatment plants.

A Word About Sewers: Besides having a set of sewer pipes-- called, strangely enough, sanitary sewers-- which carry wastewater to a treatment plant, cities and towns also need pipes to collect storm water. These are needed to prevent street flooding and usually lead directly to a waterway without any treatment. The runoff of pollutants from streets and yards into these storm sewers contain oil and other automotive wastes, which may contain toxic metals and organic compounds-- as well as pesticides and nutrient-containing fertilizers from lawns and gardens, and pathogenic microorganisms from animal wastes. Further complicating the situation is the fact that while some cities and towns have completely separate sanitary and storm sewer systems, many others have combined systems. During rainy periods, combined sewers cause two problems: overloading of the treatment plant with extra water and contaminating waterways with untreated sewage from overflows. Even in cities with separate sewer systems, the flows to the treatment plants often increase greatly when it rains because of cracks or separations in the pipes, which allow groundwater or storm water from broken storm sewer pipes to infiltrate into the sanitary sewer-- or from direct inflow of storm water into manholes and from illegal connections of roof drains and sump pumps in buildings.*