INTRODUCTION

Pollution has become a major issue over the years because it contaminates the Earth`s environment and affects human health. While some environmental pollution is a result of natural causes such as volcanic eruptions, most is caused by human activities. The increase of various types of pollution has made cancer pollutant more prevalent among the people, raising the risk of getting cancer. To regulate pollution, we first have to have an idea of what type of effects it will have on the general population and then determine the acceptable amount of exposure level. Since the specific risk here is that the individual will get cancer, after being exposed to a pollutant, possibly leading to their death. Enviroment has suffered from many negative influences that need to be stopped or be prevented in order to be sure that future generations will be able to survive. UNEP is the programme that does a lot for the planet in general and enviroment in particular. It took control over the major environmental issues such as : water, air pollution, climate change, proper land use and waste that create so much environmental troubles.

CONTENTS
Water pollution is increasingly becoming a large problem that we as humans need to confront. Water is our most valuable resource. Just think of how much we humans are dependent upon clean water. Water is way more valuable than gold, what can you go a day, week, year with out, gold or water? Besides the fact that we drink the water, we use it for irrigation of farm fields, cooking, washing clothes, flushing toilets, etc. and every industrial process requires water to function. Everyone knows that the Earth's surface is covered by 70% water, so why fuss of protecting water? Only 3% of all water is fresh and drinkable and of that 3%, 75% is frozen, which leaves a grand total of only 1% of the Earth's surface water that is readily available for consumption. After taking that fact into account, one can see why the

conservation and protection of our remaining water supply is so vital. Before water pollution can be stopped, the sources of the pollution must be known. The major sources of water pollution are organic pollution, agricultural pollution, runoff, toxic waste, and thermal pollution. Organic pollution is becoming more and more pressing on the environment, because of the growing population of the world. It's a simple concept, the more people there are in one area, the more waste they will produce. For example, in a city there are so many people that the sewage plants and the environment can't take care of all of the waste and function in its usual manner. The sewage plants do their best, but the secondary discharge that gets into the water supply causes great problems. The excess waste acts as a fertilizer or food source for algae and the growth rate is uncontrollable. Everyone has been in a lake where there is a lot of dead algae on the shore and the water is clouded with algae. This situation is known as eutrophication, where algae growth is out of control and the water becomes oxygen depleted. There are natural cycles of eutrophication in the spring and fall, but the body of water can deal with those amounts. When excess waste is added to the water the body of water can no longer control the growth of the algae and the water soon becomes algae ridden and oxygen depleted. The water becomes oxygen depleted, because the dead algae goes to the bottom and uses the oxygen in the deeper water to decompose, but if there is too much dead algae all the oxygen is depleted. Oxygen from the surface doesn't reach the bottom, because the warmer water is less dense than the deeper cooler water, therefor the warmer water floats on the colder water and they never mix, much like oil and water. Soon the dead algae piles upon itself and makes the lake shallower, until it totally fills in and dries up.

A wetland as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, "a lowland area, such as a marsh or swamp, that is saturated with moisture, especially when thought of as the

natural habitat for wildlife." Wetlands perform a very important function in nature. First off they provide habitat for a high percentage of endangered and threatened species of plants and animals. The survival of the species depends upon the survival of the wetland. When wetlands are reduced the population of water foul, fish, and animals reduces drastically. Not only are they just a home for the animals, they serve as a purification system. Water moves slowly through the wetland and the soil and the plants pick up the nutrients and contaminants and clean the water. They serve as a large filter, dirty water passes into the wetland and clean water is the final result. Wetlands also serve as water retention and flood prevention areas. If there were no wetlands all the water that is in the wetlands and the rain and snow would flood into our cities and neighborhoods. All the excess water is held in the wetlands were it is purified and slowly dispersed. Wetland act as an erosion control along coastlines and prevent wind erosion. They also safeguard that the soil will keep its nutrients. Wetlands are economically important also. Over 95% of the fish and shellfish that the US commercial industry harvest are dependent on the wetlands. Sport fishermen spend large amounts of money on fishing equipment and licensees. Valuable timber is harvested from the many forested wetland. Fur bearing mammals and alligators are harvested in wetlands. The vegetation of the wetlands can also be harvested. The US hasn't taken advantage of this option yet, but other countries such as China do. As one can see there are countless reasons for the preservation of wetlands. Wetlands need to be protected and preserved for the future. Another type of water pollution is one most people don't really think about, runoff.

Rainfall, snowmelt and irrigation cleanse the surface of the Earth. Any pollutants that are on the ground will eventually come in contact with water. So what? The water is just cleaning the streets and everything it comes in contact with, right? Wrong, the water picks up everything that is in it's path. This can range from pieces of food to motor oil to fertilizer or any pollutants that might lie on the millions of roads and expressways of the US. Now the polluted water makes its down fall into the ground water, which intern ends up in nearby streams, rivers, and lakes. This means that any pollutant left on the ground will eventually end up as contamination of the water supply. We need this water to drink and we use the rivers and lakes as recreation.

Water runoff presents a major problem.

Polluted water runoff is hard to calculate, but some attribute as high as 80% to runoff. Most people think that only the big companies are to blame for the poor quality of water, but that isn't so. The large companies are regulated by the Clean Water Act. There is no way to control the amount of pollution that is taken by water runoff. Police can not find everyone that has spread their old motor oil on their driveway to keep the dust down or keep track of how often people fertilize their lawn. This is much more difficult to detect and prevent. This comes down to each persons own values and environmental values. Each individual is responsable for their actions and there is no way to police that. The average person doesn't cause any large quantities of water pollution, it comes from an unlikely source.

Polluted runoff is hard to control. Currently there are efforts being taken to stop polluted runoff from entering the water supply, but they are all on a voluntary basis. Most people will help, but what of the others? Legislation needs to be made to enforce what some will not do. Runoff water pollution is serious and it effects everyone. Thermal pollution is simmilar to runoff in the fact that no one ever gives it any thought.

Thermal pollution occurs when the water is heated up by power plants. Fossil fuel power plants, Neucular power plants and hydrolic dams heat the water. The industrial process requires large quanities of cooling water and water runnign through danm turbines is heated. After the water is heated, it is then discharged into lakes and rivers. Certin types of fish, animals, and plankton die if the water temperature is raised to much. Fish can't spwan when the water temperature is to high. If temperatures are hot enough the life in the water becomes minimal. Also, when the water is warmed, it promotes the growth of algae. With high concentratiuons of algae, the problem of eutrophication is introduced again. Neucular power plants cause thermal pollution, but they also cause radioactive

waste. Little is known about radioactive waste, but it is know that small amounts of this material can destroy life in large quanities of water. There is one last source of pollution, toxic waste.

Toxic waste comes form a great variety of industrial plants. In mining opperations and many industrial processes heavy metals such as lead, copper, cadium, iron and others are released into the water. These heavy metals accumulate in fish and make them harmful to anything that eats them and to the fish itself. In pulp-mill paper production, a combination of organic waste and toxic waste combind to cause horriable effects. As mentioned before, DDT is a toxic waste that ravashises any environment it comes in contact with. PCB's are anothe rtoxic waste that are byproducts of many industrial processes. PCB's work in the same way as DDT by concentrating as it moves up the food chain until it is highly toxic by the time it reaches Humans and other animals high on the food chain. Water is the source of life for every single being on the planet. Therefore its quality dictates the level of the well being for these beings. Water is used for practically every sphere of human life. Water pollution has become the problem that needs rapid solutions. Lack of water causes loss of the harvest and even death of people from different diseases transmitted through water such as cholera. At the present moment, 460 million people live in territories with a water flaw [2]. The situation needs to change. The wastes, which are thrown into water, produce uneducable harm. The prognosis states that water obtained from aquifers is under threat due to the fact they can possibly collapse from such an intense use. Polluted water produces food unsuitable for eating and various diseases that create an unhealthy generation. This puts public water supply under danger, too. UNEP actively participates in finding a solution for the water issue. One of the brightest examples is the Water for the Future project, which includes cooperative work of UN countries over the proper water use. At the moment UNEP is trying to gather the data evaluating the water assessment on the planet in order to find the best way out of the water scarcity issue. It has already

analyzed the long-term water resources, the public water supply and the problem of wastewater. The best option offered it special water treatment and strict control over the water flow. It is also possible to keep water clean with the help of special filters. CONCLUSION

The contemporary enviroment is very weak and need help promptly. One of the keys to solve this problem is to act together. The planets enviroment has suffered some serious changes and most of them are very dangerous. This is the reason UNEPs interference into the course of event is simply necessary. UN includes all the most powerful counties in the world and it is them who need to think over new ways of prevention of further environmental pollution. The enviroment of the planet is its future and the future of the humanity. UNEP provide the example for the rest of the countries of what measures need to be taken in order to reduce the hazardous wastes and keep the planets water suitable for drinking and soil for growing crops. UNEP has made a great contribution and owing to its summits a lot of positive environmental projects were held. Un addresses a lot of environmental issues, but still there still exist a lot of problems to work on in order to preserve the planet for future population.