Water Pollution - Unfit For Use #GreenEnvironmentPollution

Water Pollution - Unfit For Use #GreenEnvironmentPollution

Polluted water cannot be drunk safely, cannot be used by industry, and is harmful to fish and wildlife. Water becomes polluted by wastes from people and from industrial operations. Water in its natural state, seawater, for example, may also be unfit for humans to drink. But the term "polluted" is generally applied only to water made unfit for use by the wastes of civilization.

Since water pollution is the result of civilization's progress, the problem of impure water grows worse as population increases and industry expands. The solution to the problem lies in continued progress in water-pollution control.

Water used in the home and in industry comes from rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, and wells. It is possible for each of these sources to become polluted. Most often it is solid and liquid wastes from homes and factories that cause pollution. But pollution also comes from wastes that get into the air. This happens when certain smokes and chemical fumes from factories become airborne and are carried earthward by rain. Chemicals sprayed on crops and trees to kill weeds and insect pests also cause pollution. These chemicals, washed from the soil by rainfall, often flow into a body of water and pollute it.

In addition to both solid and liquid body wastes, there are other household wastes: soaps, detergents, grease, and dirt, from bathing, dishwashing, laundering, and house cleaning. Together these wastes are known as sewage. The wastes contain organic sub-stances, matter that is living or that once lived. The organic substances will break down, or decompose, into simpler substances. The wastes also contain bacteria, some of which can cause disease.

Industrial wastes come from manufacturing processes. Depending on the particular process, the waste may be organic matter, grit, acid, alkali, dye, metal, or some sort of chemical compound. Since many industrial wastes reach city sewers, the term "waste-water," rather than "sewage," is applied to municipal wastes.

Generally, liquid wastes from homes and factories are collected by sewers. If the waste-water is not to be treated, the sewers carry it to some body of water. Otherwise the sewers carry the waste-water to a treatment plant, where most of the impurities are re-moved.

In communities that have no sewers, household wastes go into septic tanks, where bacteria turn some of the solid matter into liquid. The liquid then flows to underground tile fields. This liquid may pollute shallow wells if they are near the tile field. In some cases industrial wastes that are discharged into the ground pollute underground water supplies, as do leaking sewers.

In rural areas pollution can be a danger not only to people but to livestock as well. Waste sometimes gets into streams where stock drink, and sewage seepage can affect even deep wells. In most parts of the United States local health officers will test rural water supplies upon request.

Source: Ryan C. Mccord