Water is one of the inevitable elements in our daily life. One of the studies conducted in Archiv Fur Kriminologie concluded like this. Humans will not be able to live more than 8 to 21 days without water. This conclusion points out the necessity of saving and conserving water. As we all know, almost 71 percent of the earth’s surface is water-covered. But in this, only 1 percent is freshwater which is accessible to us. This reality again emphasizes the importance of saving water and preventing water pollution.
“Water is Precious. Save Water”
Here we are focusing on the causes of water pollution and its remedies. In addition, we will discuss things that we can do to prevent water pollution. First, let’s look into what is water pollution?
What is Water Pollution?
In simple words, it is the contamination of usable water by harmful substances like chemicals or microorganisms by any means. On the other hand, activities reducing the quality of water are called water pollution.
Freshwater sources like rivers, lakes, and ponds are getting polluted in the name of industrialization. For instance, domestic wastes, food processing wastes, livestock operations can leads to the contamination of freshwater sources. Apart from all these, we humans pollute freshwater sources like ponds, rivers, and water streams by throwing household wastes and scraps into them.
How does the water get polluted?
Without any doubt, we can say that freshwater sources around us are getting polluted every day. Industrialization is one of the reasons for water pollution. The majority of the factories are dumping wastes, garbages, and sewages into nearby rivers, ponds, or lakes. The minority reprocess and resues the wastewater and substandard water.
Corporate industries are not worried about the surroundings and people living nearby. The ignorance and irresponsibility of the municipality and responsible people make the situation even worse.
In some places, the household sewage is connected to the rivers since they do not have proper sanitation and septic tank facility. It leads to one of the worst water pollutions where we knowingly pollute usable water. Earlier, urban areas were ahead in water pollution when comparing to rural areas. But now, things have changed a lot. The rate of water pollution has increased by 5x in both urban and rural areas. One of the reasons for this massive increase in pollution is the emergence of industries and factories in urban areas.
One of the practices seen in villages is washing clothes and feeding animals in the small rivers and ponds. At the same time, they wash these cattle and animals in the pond. It can directly harm the water sources when activities like this happen in a massive volume. And the other, people throw wastes into the rivers and ponds. In rural areas and villages, people even food wastes into water streams. Whatsoever, water is getting polluted every day. Here are some of the popular ways of water pollution around the world. Let’s look at some of the common causes of water pollution. Here are they.
Wastewater from factories & industries
Industries and factories use water for many purposes. Without water, manufacturing and production can’t exist. They use water for cleaning, cooling, washing, dyeing, and treatments for manufacturing and production processes. Water pollution is happening behind all industrial activities. In that, textile industries are the biggest polluters on the planet. Studies say that one-fifth of the world’s industrial water pollution comes from textile mills. For example, in China, 25% of water pollution happens through textile dyeing and treatments. Almost more than 25000 types of chemicals are mixed and used in the dyeing process of fabrics. These mixed chemicals are thrown away from the facility to any of the flowing water bodies.
The reason behind not building proper recycling and reusing units is because of high maintenance costs and implementing costs. If the companies and factories do the right thing, the pollution will come down to half. None of the government authorities check these requirements while approving the factories to operate.
Some factories produce mixed water as a byproduct of the chemical reactions that happened from their day-to-day industrial activities. This water contains chemicals substances that can be dangerous to us.
Oil leaks & spills
It is common knowledge that oil and water never dissolve completely. But it can be together like that for a long time. Oil act as a cover when it spilled on water. It can remain as long they want and thereby making it polluted. Oil spills and leakages happen very often in oceans. Sometimes from the ships that transport oil or from drilling and mining operations held underwater or seashores. These are also some of the main causes of water pollution.
Use of chemicals & pesticides in agriculture.
It is rare but happens often. When it comes to the massive use of pesticides and chemicals in agricultural lands. It becomes one of the causes of water pollution. The chemicals and pesticides dissolve in the soil after a couple of weeks. Through this, the loam gets saturated with chemicals and pesticides. When the monsoon comes, these chemicals and pesticides come out with rainwater and flows to any of the water resources like wells, ponds, rivers, and sea. It causes one of the dangerous water pollutions if we consume this water.
Why do we need to save water?
Humans cannot survive without drinking water. So it is our duty and responsibility to save and protect water from being polluted. Without drinking water, humans and animals will die. What will happen if we do not do anything? Well, right now we might have enough water resources and backups. But in the coming future, there will be a scarcity of drinking water even if we have hundreds of water purification or processing plants. So it is better to save water resources and water right now when we can.
Do you think we can survive on the earth without water? No, we cannot. It is an essential factor that holds our life. Even animals will die if the freshwater sources are over. There will be no animals and living organisms left if the water pollution rises on a huge scale. So, it is our responsibility to protect freshwater sources from being polluted.
As said earlier, the volume of fresh water on the earth is decreasing every single day. It is better to save water being wasted and polluted whenever we can. For instance, think about you are walking on a road and see a broken public water pipeline and leaks water leaks heavily. As a man who understands the value of water, we should call the respective authorities and inform them. Because they may not know about the broken pipe and water is being wasted.
How can we prevent water pollution?
By implementing proper waste management facilities, we can reduce water pollution to a considerable amount. The cause of the continuous increase in water pollution is the indigent waste management systems in factories, companies, and homes. As well as a brainy human being, stop throwing wastes mainly into water sources like ponds and rivers.
As a single human being, we have limited control over the rate of water pollution. But as a group of human beings, we can control the rate of water pollution to a substantial amount. So what we need can do is, we can aware people around us about water pollution and its future outcomes.
What each one of us can do?
It is our duty to conserve water from pollution. The fun fact is, nobody is even thinking about saving or protecting it for the coming generation. There might be plenty of water resources right now. But if its keeps getting polluted at a rapid rate, it is sure that these water streams would not last much in the future.
It is effortless to say that save water and prevent water pollution. But when it comes to daily practicality, none of us think about protecting water. We all do things that pollute our precious water sources. For instance, we all throw household garbages and plastic wastes into nearby rivers and ponds. Sometimes, we throw garbages into lands where it somehow reaches the water bodies through rain or water flow after a couple of months or years. In short, each one of us is responsible for water pollution in some ways with or without knowledge.
