Water Pollution

Water pollution is any contamination of water with chemicals or other foreign substances that are detrimental to human, plant, or animal health. These pollutants include fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural runoff; sewage and food processing waste; lead, mercury, and other heavy metals; chemical wastes from industrial discharges; and chemical contamination from hazardous waste sites. Worldwide, nearly 2 billion people drink contaminated water that could be harmful to their health.

Sources of Water Pollution

There are various classifications of water pollution. The two chief sources of water pollution can be seen as Point and Non Point.

Point refer to the pollutants that belong to a single source. An example of this would be emissions from factories into the water.

Non Point on the other hand means pollutants emitted from multiple sources. Contaminated water after rains that has traveled through several regions may also be considered as a Non point source of pollution.

Multiple Types of Water Pollution

If water pollution comes from a single source such as a factory’s waste or oil spills it is called point-source pollution. If it comes from many sources, it is called nonpoint-source pollution.

Most types of water pollution only affect the immediate area but sometimes the pollution can travel hundreds or thousands of miles and then it is called transboundary pollution.

These different types of water pollution come from varied sources: surface water, groundwater, microbiological, oxygen depletion, nutrient, suspended matter, and chemical.

1. Surface Water Pollution

Surface water pollution is the most visible form of pollution and we can see it floating on our waters in lakes, streams, and oceans.

Trash from human consumption, such as water bottles, plastics and other waste products, is most often evident on water surfaces.

This type of pollution also comes from oil spills and gasoline waste, which float on the surface and affect the water and its...