Abdul Azeem/ Textile Processing/ NTU

Water pollution
INTRODUCTION
What is water pollution?
Water pollution is any chemical, physical or biological change in the quality of water that
has a harmful effect on any living thing that drinks or uses or lives (in) it. Water pollution is the
contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater).

Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the
leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases and that it accounts for the deaths of more than
14,000 people daily. Comprising over 70% of the Earths surface, water is undoubtedly the most
precious natural resource that exists on our planet. Without the seemingly invaluable compound
comprised of hydrogen and oxygen, life on Earth would be non-existent: it is essential for
everything on our planet to grow and prosper. Although we as humans recognize this fact, we
disregard it by polluting our rivers, lakes, and oceans. Subsequently, we are slowly but surely
harming our planet to the point where organisms are dying at a very alarming rate. In order to
combat water pollution, we must understand the problems and become part of the solution.

How do we detect water pollution?

Water pollution is detected in laboratories, where small samples of water are analyzed for
different contaminants. Living organisms such as fish can also be used for the detection of water
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pollution. Changes in their behavior or growth show us, that the water they live in is polluted.
Specific properties of these organisms can give information on the sort of pollution in their
environment. Laboratories also use computer models to determine what dangers there can be in
certain waters. They import the data they own on the water into the computer, and the computer
then determines if the water has any impurities.

categories of water pollution:There are many specific causes of water pollution, but before we list the toppers, it's
important to understand two broad categories of water pollution:
Point source occurs when harmful substances are emitted directly into a body of water.
Nonpoint source delivers pollutants indirectly through transport or environmental change.

However major sources of water pollution can be classified as municipal, industrial, and
agricultural.

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CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION

Pesticides
Pesticides that get applied to farm fields and roadsides and homeowners' lawns run off
into local streams and rivers or drain down into groundwater, contaminating the fresh water that
fish swim in and the water we humans drink.
It's tempting to think this is mostly a farming problem, but on a square-foot basis,
homeowners apply even more chemicals to their lawns than farmers do to their fields! Still,
farming is a big contributor to this problem.

Fertilizers / Nutrient Pollution

Many causes of pollution, including sewage, manure, and chemical fertilizers, contain
"nutrients" such as nitrates and phosphates. Deposition of atmospheric nitrogen (from nitrogen
oxides) also causes nutrient-type water pollution.

Mining
Mining causes water pollution in a number of ways:

The mining process exposes heavy metals and sulfur compounds that were
previously locked away in the earth. Rainwater leaches these compounds out of
the exposed earth.
Similarly, the action of rainwater on piles of mining waste (tailings) transfers
pollution to freshwater supplies.
In gold mining, cyanide is poured on piles of mined rock to chemically extract the
gold from the ore. Some of the cyanide ultimately finds its way into nearby water.
Huge pools of mining waste "slurry" are often stored behind containment dams. If
a dam leaks or bursts, water pollution is guaranteed.

Chemical and Industrial Processes

Almost all bodies of water in the world have some level of pollution from chemicals and
industrial waste. Most hazardous liquid waste solvents, heavy metals, and radioactive materials
are injected directly into deep groundwater via thousands of "injection wells."

Personal Care Products, Household Cleaning Products

Whenever we use personal-care products and household cleaning products, we should
realize that almost all of it goes down the drain. Studies have shown that up to 90% of your
original prescription passes out of you unaltered.

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Sewage
In developing countries, an estimated 90% of wastewater is discharged directly into
rivers and streams without treatment.
Even in modern countries, untreated sewage can send disease-bearing water into rivers
and oceans. Leaking septic tanks and other sources of sewage can cause groundwater and stream
contamination.

Sources of pollution that resulted in beach advisories and closings

Air Pollution
Hey, I thought we were doing WATER pollution causes! Well, surprisingly enough, air
pollution contributes substantially to water pollution. Pollutants like mercury, sulfur dioxide,
nitric oxides, and ammonia deposit out of the air and then cause problems like mercury
contamination in fish and acidification of lakes.
Most of the air pollution that affects water comes from coal-fired power plants and the
tailpipes of our vehicles, though some also comes from industrial emissions.
Carbon Dioxide:- A 15-year-long study of the role of man-made CO2 in the earth's
oceans found that the oceans had absorbed enough CO2 to already have caused a slight increase
in ocean acidification.

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Heat
Heat is a water pollutant, increased water temperatures result in the deaths of many
aquatic organisms. These increases in temperature are most often caused by discharges of
cooling water by factories and power plants.

GLOBAL WATER POLLUTION

Global warming is also imparting additional heat to the oceans.
Estimates suggest that nearly 1.5 billion people lack safe drinking water and that at least
5 million deaths per year can be attributed to waterborne diseases.

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MAJOR EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION

The effects of water pollution are numerous (as seen above in causes). Some water pollution
effects are recognized immediately, whereas others dont show up for months or years.
Additional effects of water pollution include:
The food chain is damaged
When toxins are in the water, the toxins travel from the water the animals drink to humans when
the animals meat is eaten.
Diseases can spread via polluted water
Infectious diseases such as typhoid and cholera can be contracted from drinking
contaminated water. This is called microbial water pollution. The human heart and kidneys can
be adversely affected if polluted water is consumed regularly. Other health problems associated
with polluted water are poor blood circulation, skin lesions, vomiting, and damage to the nervous
system. In fact, the effects of water pollution are said to be the leading cause of death for
humans across the globe.
Acid rain
It contains sulfate particles, which can harm fish or plant life in lakes and rivers.
Pollutants in the water will alter the overall chemistry of the water
Pollutents cause changes in acidity, temperature and conductivity. These factors all have
an affect on the marine life.
Marine food sources are contaminated
Marine food sources are contaminated or eliminated by water pollution.
Altered water temperatures (due to human actions) can kill the marine

life
Also It can affect the delicate ecological balance in bodies of water, especially lakes and
rivers.

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The following chart shows how much the %age of pollutants are entering in ocean.

WATER POLLUTION SOLUTIONS

Reducing Nutrient and Pesticide Pollution
Solutions to water pollution caused by excess nutrients and chemical pesticides can be
found in following broad categories:

Encourage smart agricultural practices...

Reduce urban/suburban runoff of lawn fertilizers and pesticides...
Prevent further destruction wetlands, and reestablish them wherever possible..
Improve sewage treatment...

Reducing Sewage Pollution

As societies, we should place the same priority on upgrading out-of-date or undercapacity sewage treatment plants that sometimes spew their contents into our waterways.
More specifically, we should...

Get going on fixing outdated municipal water treatment plants.

Fully fund the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
Help localities set up programs that ensure system maintenance and monitoring.

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Eliminate "straight pipes."

Conserve water

Reducing Pollution from Oil and Petroleum Liquids

The first-level solution to this type of water pollution is to stop letting so much oil and oil
byproducts get into the water in the first place. Yes, we must reduce the occurrences of oil spills;
but more importantly, we must reduce the amount of petroleum pollution getting into waterways
from non-spill sources, which contribute far more to the problem than spills.

Cleaning Up Chemical Pollution

Chemicals are everywhere, in everything"better living through chemistry" has turned
out to have a serious pollution downside.

Fighting Global Warming

In terms of water pollution, there are two main threats from global warming:

Ocean Acidification
Ocean Temperature

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WATER TREATMENT PROCESS

The basic methods of treating municipal wastewater fall into three stages:
Primary Treatment:- including grit removal, screening, grinding, and sedimentation.
Secondary Treatment:- which entails oxidation of dissolved organic matter by means of
using biologically active sludge, which is then filtered off; and
Tertiary Treatment:- in which advanced biological methods of nitrogen removal and
chemical and physical methods such as granular filtration and activated carbon
absorption are employed.
wastewater can be treated completely at the plant and either reused or discharged directly into
receiving waters.

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REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollution
http://www.grinningplanet.com/2005/09-06/water-pollution-causes-article.htm
http://www.grinningplanet.com/2006/12-05/water-pollution-effects.htm
http://www.grinningplanet.com/2008/01-08/water-pollution-solutions-article.htm
http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/treating.html
http://www.lenntech.com/water-pollution-faq.htm
http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/waterpollution.htm

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