We have reached the point where water is leveling down, becoming a severe concern to every creature alive on the planet. Humans have been wasting water for a long time, and it has cost us way more than we have realized.
There are villages and places where there is no water at ground level, and it has led to millions of problems beginning from the shortage of water to wash clothes and ending with not enough water to cook. Things have become problematic, and water is the sole ingredient of our survival.
Half of the health condition could ease if humans consume the recommended daily intake of water instead of wasting it by poring on roads to clean it. Moreover, there has been a new issue where water in ponds and dams is stalked up with small microorganisms and chemicals released from the plant, causing health issues in houses drinking those supplying water.
Water pollution is toxic for the environment and for the humans who consume it daily. Water isn’t something that we can escape drinking because that is the basic need of human life. Clean water is used for various social development purposes and the environment’s growth. Still, we have no idea about the estimated rate of people who do not get safe water to drink.
Many sources have confirmed that by the coming years, we all will be living in water-stressed places where the availability of water will be deficient compared to the need. As we suffer from this, more countries with low or no sanitization facilities will keep themselves healthy in the time of need.
We need to ask ourselves again and again, how this is when we have reached this stage; the first thing that comes to our mind is water wastage, and the other part is water pollution. While we are still stubborn to waste more water even after there have been more campaigns organized on this, let’s look up a few of the sources from which water pollution occurs.
Causes of Water Pollution
Since water can dissolve almost anything, it is the lead cause of its pollution and its diseases.
Agricultural Waste
Water pollution due to the agriculture industry has become an age-old process. In countries like India, the U.S, and Australia, farming is the primary source of living, and much of the country’s water supply is used up by the farmers for farming purposes.
But during the rainy season, all the pesticides, chemicals, and animal waste wash away from the fields and are drained into nearby lakes or water bodies. This could lead to the growth of a bacteria called algal blooms due to phosphorous and nitrogen in the washed away waste, which is responsible for lowering the levels of oxygen in ponds, causing marine life death.
Garbage and Plastic Wastage
According to Medical News Today, the waste thrown away every year is around 1.4 billion tons, and 10 percent of it is plastic, and the estimated amount of plastic that washes over into the ocean figures around 4.8–12.7 million.
Suppose we detail how the mechanisms of garbage thrown in the ocean work; we would likely end up being aware of the harm we have caused to the marine animals and us. Trash reaches down ocean or pond or the other water bodies in our area either through industries using up plastic or debris similar to it.
It could be humans throwing trash cans nearby the lake or a small water pond that moves away and mingles into big rivers or oceans. Plastics break down into microplastic when they move into the sea, which in return is eaten up by fish, and when humans eat those fishes, they fall sick.
In the end, we are harming all ourselves and the other living creatures on earth.
Sewage Treatment and Dirty Water
The maximum amount of water used by us domestically or in industries all go into the environment and are not treated. The wastewater contains oil, dirt from the roads and ground level, dust, plastic, etc., which dissolves into the river or ocean, causing harm to marine life.
If all the wastewater is treated and supplied for further use, there wouldn’t be any water shortage and fewer chances of infection or death either in marine animals or human beings.
Oil and Radioactive Waste
The radioactive waste consists of Uranium fuel used up in nuclear power and could survive in the environment for millions of years if not correctly disposed of. They are why oceans and rivers contain such hazardous elements leading to infection and death in the living being.
Moreover, Oil is spilled by cargo ships from their tankers while shipping it off to different places. The oil does not mix up with water. It keeps floating on the top, causing infection or diseases when the water from that water body is supplied to various houses in the cities or farms, harming the crops and the land quality.
How water pollution affects Human Health?
- Disposing plastics in the ocean break down into microplastics that could enter into food items, salt, or water consumed by us. If these microplastic enter into seafood, they could cause infection and many terrible conditions. Microplastics are harmful because they have oxidative stress, which could cause inflammation or metabolic-related issue in humans.
- Around 40 percent of the world’s population have people who do not have proper sanitation and drinking water facilities. They consume water from the sewage and are filled with enough contaminated elements that could cause severe infection. Most of the water-borne diseases are due to contaminated or wastewater consumption. According to the stats, more than half a billion kids under five die of water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, hepatitis, etc.
- Harmful chemicals present in the drinking water could cause diseases and symptoms related to it that may affect life quality and living. The contaminated water cause rashes, hair loss, and itchy skin. People exposed to drinking contaminated water regularly without their knowledge or awareness are at risk of cancer, the effect on the immune system, cardiovascular or kidney problems, etc.
So what could be done to manage the excess of water pollution is a question we have been preaching to millions of people for a very long time. It has now become more than evident that there is a much more serious need to combat this water pollution situation to make life for all creatures clean and straightforward.
- Farmers should consider using natural pesticides instead of chemicals so that rainwater is not the chemicals polluting the rivers even if it washes away.
- Recycling more and more plastic and reusing them should be a must.
- Disposing chemicals with more caution
- Throwing household garbage in the trash can rather than in lakes or rivers around the house
- Checking the pollution level in the vehicle to know whether there is any leakage of a substance causing harm to water and air.
All these measures might help and add up to all the other efforts people are making to keep their environment clean and themselves and other living beings healthy.
