Water Pollution Causes

1. Pesticides
Pesticides that get applied to farm fields and roadsidesand 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. In the Midwestern United
States, a region that is highly dependent on groundwater, water utilities spend
$400 million each year to treat water for just one chemicalthe pesticide
Atrazine.
2. 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.
In excess levels, nutrients over-stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algae.
Excessive growth of these types of organisms clogs our waterways and blocks
light to deeper waters while the organisms are alive; when the organisms die,
they use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, causing oxygen-poor waters
that support only diminished amounts of marine life. Such areas are commonly
called dead zones.
Nutrient pollution is a particular problem in estuaries and deltas, where the runoff
that was aggregated by watersheds is finally dumped at the mouths of major
rivers.
3. Oil, Gasoline and Additives
Oil spills like the Exxon Valdez spill off the coast of Alaska or the more recent
Prestige spill off the coast of Spain get lots of news coverage, and indeed they
do cause major water pollution and problems for local wildlife, fishermen, and
coastal businesses. But the problem of oil polluting water goes far beyond
catastrophic oil spills. Land-based petroleum pollution is carried into waterways
by rainwater runoff. This includes drips of oil, fuel, and fluid from cars and trucks;
dribbles of gasoline spilled onto the ground at the filling station; and drips from
industrial machinery. These sources and more combine to provide a continual
feed of petroleum pollution to all of the world's waters, imparting an amount of oil
to the oceans every year that is more than 5 times greater than the Valdez spill.

4. 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, resulting in "acid mine drainage"
and heavy metal pollution that can continue long after the mining
operations have ceased.
Similarly, the action of rainwater on piles of mining waste (tailings)
transfers pollution to freshwater supplies.
In the case of gold mining, cyanide is intentionally poured on piles of
mined rock (a leach heap) 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.
5. Chemical and Industrial Processes
Almost all bodies of water in the world have some level of pollution from
chemicals and industrial waste.
In the United States, 34 billion liters per year (60%) of the most hazardous liquid
wastesolvents, heavy metals, and radioactive materialsare injected directly
into deep groundwater via thousands of "injection wells." Although the EPA
requires that these effluents be injected below the deepest source of drinking
water, some pollutants have already entered underground water supplies in
Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Oklahoma.
6. Plastic
Plastics and other plastic-like substances (such as nylon from fishing nets and
lines) can entangle fish, sea turtles, and marine mammals, causing pain, injury,
and even death. Plastic that has broken down into micro-particles is now being
ingested by tiny marine organisms and is moving up the marine food chain.
Sea creatures that are killed by plastic readily decompose. The plastic does not
it remains in the ecosystem to kill again and again.
7. Personal Care Products, Household Cleaning Products, and Pharmaceuticals
Whenever we use personal-care products and household cleaning products
whether they be laundry detergent, bleach, or fabric softener; window cleaner,
dusting spray, or stain remover; hair dye, shampoo, conditioner, or Rogaine;
cologne or perfume; toothpaste or mouthwash; antibacterial soap or hand lotion
we should realize that almost all of it goes down the drain when we do laundry,
wash our hands, brush our teeth, bathe, or do any of the other myriad things that

incidentally use household water. Similarly, when we take medications, we

eventually excrete the drugs in altered or unaltered form, sending the compounds
into the waterways. Studies have shown that up to 90% of your original
prescription passes out of you unaltered. Animal farming operations that use
growth hormones and antibiotics also send large quantities of these chemicals
into our waters.
Unfortunately, most wastewater treatment facilities are not equipped to filter out
personal care products, household products, and pharmaceuticals, and a large
portion of the chemicals passes right into the local waterway that accepts the
treatment plant's supposedly clean effluent.
Study of the effects of these chemicals getting into the water is just beginning,
but examples of problems are now popping up regularly:
Scientists are finding fragrance molecules inside fish tissues.
Ingredients from birth control pills are thought to be causing genderbending hormonal effects in frogs and fish.
The chemical nonylphenol, a remnant of detergent, is known to disrupt fish
reproduction and growth.
Air pollution causes
Major primary pollutants produced by human activity include:

Sulfur oxides (SOx) especially sulfur dioxide is emitted from burning of coal
and oil.
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) especially nitrogen dioxide are emitted from high
temperature combustion. Can be seen as the brown haze dome above or
plume downwind of cities.
Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, non-irritating but very poisonous
gas. It is a product by incomplete combustion of fuel such as natural gas,
coal or wood. Vehicular exhaust is a major source of carbon monoxide.
Carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas emitted from combustion.
Volatile organic compounds (VOC), such as hydrocarbon fuel vapors and
solvents.
Particulate matter (PM), measured as smoke and dust. PM 10 is the fraction
of suspended particles 10 micrometers in diameter and smaller that will
enter the nasal cavity. PM 2.5 has a maximum particle size of 2.5 m and
will enter the bronchus and lungs.
Toxic metals, such as lead, cadmium and copper.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), harmful to the ozone layer emitted from
products currently banned from use.
Ammonia (NH3) emitted from agricultural processes.
Odors, such as from garbage, sewage, and industrial processes
Radioactive pollutants produced by nuclear explosions and war
explosives, and natural processes such as radon.

Anthropogenic sources (human activity) mostly related to burning different

kinds of fuel

"Stationary Sources" as smoke stacks of power plants, manufacturing

facilities, municipal waste incinerators.
"Mobile Sources" as motor vehicles, aircraft etc.
Marine vessels, such as container ships or cruise ships, and related port
air pollution.
Burning wood, fireplaces, stoves, furnaces and incinerators .
Oil refining, and industrial activity in general.
Chemicals, dust and controlled burn practices in agriculture and forestry
management, (see Dust Bowl).
Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents.
Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane.
Military, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and rocketry.

The major forms of pollution are listed below along with the particular pollutants
relevant to each of them:

Air pollution, the release of chemicals and particulates into the

atmosphere. Common examples include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide,
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and nitrogen oxides produced by industry
and motor vehicles. Photochemical ozone and smog are created as
nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react to sunlight.

Water pollution via runoff, leaching to groundwater, liquid spills,

wastewater discharges, eutrophication and littering.
Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are released by spill or
underground storage tank leakage. Among the most significant soil
contaminants are hydrocarbons, heavy metals, MTBE[4], herbicides,
pesticides and chlorinated hydrocarbons.
Radioactive contamination, added in the wake of 20th century discoveries
in atomic physics. (See alpha emitters and actinides in the environment.)
Noise pollution, which encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise,
industrial noise as well as high-intensity sonar.
Light pollution, includes light trespass, over-illumination and astronomical
interference.
Visual pollution, which can refer to the presence of overhead power lines,
motorway billboards, scarred landforms (as from strip mining), open
storage of trash or municipal solid waste.
Thermal pollution, is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused
by human influence, such as use of water as coolant in a power plant.