Causes & Effects of Water Pollution: Short Term & Long Term

Effects of water pollution can be adverse and quite long lasting. It can have various ill effects on human health such as cholera, tuberculosis, jaundice, etc. It has an ill impact on the environment which is leading to global warming and loss of marine life. It also contaminates groundwater leading to a scarcity of freshwater level under the ground. 

Keyterms: Water, Cholera, Tuberculosis, Jaundice, Groundwater, Sea, lake, Ocean, Living organisms

Read more: Ecology and Environment

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Water Pollution Definition 

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Water pollution means the contamination of water bodies such as seas, lakes, oceans, rivers, aquifers, and groundwater caused mainly due to inhuman activities with industrial and agricultural effluents. It is the change of chemical, physical or biological properties of water that will result in a detrimental consequence of living organisms.

Portable water which is considered safe for human and animal consumption as well as used for drinking, cooking, washing, crop irrigation, etc. Nowadays, chemicals, bacteria and other pollutants are also affecting this. It adversely affects all the living forms, directly or indirectly depending upon the source. The effects of water pollution can be felt for years to come . 

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Sources of Water Pollution

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Some of the most common key causatives of occurence of water pollution are given below

• Domestic Waste
• Urbanization
• Deforestation
• Industrial effluents
• Social and Religious Practices
• Insecticides and pesticides
• Detergents and Fertilizers

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Water Pollution – A Modern Epidemic

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The most common cause of water pollution is the contamination of water bodies by harmful chemicals. As we have seen in the above article, the dumped plastic bottles, tins, water cans and other wastes pollute the water bodies. This results in water contamination, which harms not just humans, yet the entire biological system. Toxic chemicals drain from these pollutants, travel up to the food chain and eventually influence people. As a rule, the result is damaging to only the local population and species, however it can have an impact on a worldwide scale too.

Around 6 billion kilograms of garbage is dumped each year in the seas. Apart from modern effluents and untreated sewage, different types of unwanted materials are dumped into different water bodies. These can go from nuclear waste to oil slicks, the last of which can render tremendous areas uninhabitable.

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Effects of Water Pollution

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The effects of water pollution usually depends upon the types of pollutants and its concentration. Likewise, the location of water and the water bodies also plays an important role in determining the levels of water pollution

• The water contamination drastically affects aquatic life. This may affect their behaviour, metabolism, cause illness and eventual death. Dioxin is a kind of chemical which causes a lot of problems from reproduction to uncontrolled cell development or malignant growth. These chemicals are bioaccumulation in fish, chicken and meat. It may also travel up the food chain before entering the human body.
• Water bodies near the vicinity of urban areas are extremely polluted. This is the result of dumping garbage and harmful chemicals by commercial and industrial establishments.
• The impact of water contamination can enormously affect the food chain. It disturbs the food-chain. Some toxic substances like cadmium and lead upon entering the food chain through animals (fish when consumed by animals, humans) can continue to disturb at more significant la levels.
• People are also affected by water pollution and can contract diseases such as hepatitis through faecal matter in water sources. Bad drinking water treatment and ill suited water can generally cause an outbreak of infectious diseases such as cholera, etc.
• The ecosystem can be fundamentally affected, modified and destructured due to water pollution.

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Preventions of Water Pollution

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Water pollution can be controlled to a large extent by a range of methods. The best way to prevent the pollution of water is to try and reduce the harmful effects. This may decrease the initial toxicity and degradation of water. However, there are various small we can make to protect the water pollution

• To save water is our first aim. Water wastage is a major significant issue globally and people are simply now waking up to the issue. Essentially small changes people can make domestically will make a huge difference.
• Treating the waste products prior to disposing of it in a water body helps decrease water pollution on a large scale. Agriculture or other industries can reuse this wastewater by reducing its harmful substance.
• By utilizing dissolvable products that don't proceed to become pollutants, we can reduce the amount of water contamination caused by a family.
• Ion exchange method, reverse osmosis and coagulation are some of the chemical methods which help in controlling water pollution.
• Reusing, recycling and reducing water wherever needed are some possible ways that also helps in overcoming the effect of water pollution.

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Things to Remember

• Effects of water pollution is a part of unit 4 Our Environment and carries a total of 7 to 8 periods and 2 to 3 marks.
• That is a ton of water available on earth out of which less than 0.3% of the water is accessible for human consumption. And if you ever see any lake or river around you, you'll find that we are facing a major concern of Water Pollution.
• Moreover, wasteful and outdated practices, absence of awareness and plenty of other circumstances have prompted water pollution.
• It has more than 1 trillion litres of water distributed in the oceans, lakes, rivers and streams