Water Pollution
When the astronaut Neil Armstrong looked at the earth from the moon, it looked all blue! This is because water covers more than two-third of the earth’s surface. But fresh water represents less than 0.5% of the total water on the earth’s surface. The rest of the water is either in the form of seawater or locked up in icecaps or soil. This is why we often hear of many areas of the earth having water scarcity.
Worldwide, the consumption of water is doubling every 20 years – more than twice the rate of increase in population.
Water covers over 75% of the Earth’s surface, it is without doubt the most valuable of all the Earths natural resources. Without it there would be no life on earth: it is essential for everything and everyone on our planet to grow and prosper. Even though we as humans recognize this fact, we disregard it by polluting our rivers, lakes, and oceans.
We are slowly but surely harming our planet to the point where organisms are dying at a very alarming rate. In addition to innocent organisms dying off, our drinking water has become greatly affected, as is our ability to use water for recreational purposes.
In order to combat water pollution, we must understand the problems and become part of the solution. Many causes of pollution include contamination from sewage and fertilizers contain nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates. In excessive concentrations, nutrients over-stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algae. Excessive growth of these types of organisms consequently clogs our waterways, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, and block light to deeper waters.
This, in turn, proves very harmful to aquatic organisms as it affects the respiration ability or fish and other invertebrates that reside in water.
Make up of the planet’s water
Oceans 97.2%
Ice caps/glaciers 2.38%
Ground water 0.397%
Atmosphere 0.001%
Surface water (e.g., lakes, rivers, streams, ponds) 0.022%
Effects of Water Pollution
•Quality of life
•Habitat
•Drinking water
•Recreation
What Can I Do?
1.Never dump anything down a drain.
2.Recycle motor oil and other vehicle fluids.
3.Throw litter in its place.
4.Clean up after your pet.
5.Check your vehicles for leaks and repair them.
6.Reduce the amount of household hazardous wastes generated at home.
7.Take a shower instead of a bath.
8.Use environmentally safe cleaning products around the house.
9.If you need to water your lawn do it in the morning there’s less evaporation (Remember rain does it naturally.)
10. Set your mowing to its highest setting this encourages grass roots to grow deeper for
moisture and grass blades to hold moisture longer than with a closely clipped lawn.
11. Place a shutoff nozzle on your hose to control the flow of water so you only use what you need. Remember to turn the water off at the tap to prevent leaks.
12. Leaks are the biggest water waster around the home. A leak of one drop per second wastes 2,400 gallons of water per year! Take a few minutes to find out if you have a leak in your home.
We don’t have to stop using the earth’s resources but we do have to stop wasting them.
AI
