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Causes of water pollution and effects
Causes of water pollution and effects
Causes of water pollution and effects
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Overview
Pollution in the Great Lakes is a major problem. It affects both Canada and the U.S. and has been a problem for over 50 years. Both the Canadian and American governments have taken action against this, but the problem hasn’t gone away yet. This report will talk about pollution, and its toll on the Great Lakes. It will also talk about what we can do to slow down, and hopefully stop pollution in these lakes.
Environmental Issues
There are many issues that have to deal with pollution. Everything from algae to the supply of water we need to survive is affected by pollution. The Great Lakes makes up one fifth of the world’s fresh water and this one fifth is now being polluted. The destruction of the area and the increase in pollution has increased since the 1960’s. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012)
Dumping and contact with toxic chemicals have made much of the Great Lakes dangerous. One of the major sources of toxins and pollutants that are polluting the lakes is large farms. The artificial fertilizers and pesticides that are used run off into the water and then into the lakes. Sewage water from cities drains into the lakes when overflowing occurs, contributing to the pollution. Chlorine has to be used as a disinfectant in the drinking water that comes from the lakes.
Phosphorus and nitrogen are the main pollutants that leach into the waters. When rivers, like the Humber River, become polluted, they eventually run out into the Great Lakes. This is why regular litter from suburban areas is also a factor of pollution in the lakes.
There are many ways pollutants can enter lakes and rivers: agricultural and urban runoff, industrial outfalls, migration through groundwater, through the food chain, and many more. Many p...
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...y man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”
-John F. Kennedy
Works Cited
Environment Canada. (2013). Great Lakes. http://www.ec.gc.ca/grandslacs-greatlakes/default.asp?lang=En&n=70283230-1
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2012). The Great Lakes Today: Concerns. http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/atlas/glat-ch4.html
Latham, A., Wright, E., & Tsang, A. (n.d.). Pollution's Effects on the Great Lakes Ecosystem. Retrieved from University of Michigan website: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/section5group1/introduction_and_background
TEACH. (2006). Water Pollution in the Great Lakes. http://www.greatlakes.net/teach/pollution/water/water1.html
The Guides Network. (2014). Water Pollution Guide. http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/preventingyou.html
Great Lakes Water Quality Board. (1991). Cleaning up our Great Lakes. Windsor, Ont. The Commission.
According to the Worldwatch Institute the rapid industrialization has polluted many lakes and streams resulting in chemical pollution and increased algae blooms leaving the water undrinkable. These combined issues are then causing knock on effects to the aquatic life by staving them of oxygen. Many areas are also suffering with an increase in dust storms; these have been a cause of over agricultural use. These increased storms would not cause many problems but now they can ...
As global temperatures and ocean levels rise, the water levels of the Great Lakes continues to fall. As the lakes hit their all time lowest level in global history in 2012, society remains ignorant to the imposing doom that lurks ahead. Since the Great Lakes make up the largest group of fresh water lakes on Earth and are responsible for approximately 21% of the Earth’s fresh water supply, this issue is becoming one of the largest environmental and economical issues our modern world faces. The effects of this issue include destroying animal habitats and a major economic market; shipping. Water levels in the Great Lakes have been dropping for the past fourteen years, but it wasn’t until boats were scraping the bottom of Lake Huron that people began to take notice. This terrible environmental issue has been dubbed a long term cycle of over evaporation and not enough precipitation to replenish the Lakes. Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit has been monitoring this issue for a decade and has made startling discoveries, such as in 2012, he discovered Lake Michigan and Lake Huron’s water levels only rose four inches after winter, whereas the Lakes have been regularly recorded as gaining a foot of water after the winter season had ended. This amount of water added is not enough to maintain a proper water level during the dry, hot summer seasons that evaporate much water from the Great Lakes. While some scientists say that this is just a cycle that will adjust itself naturally, most experts that have been studying this phenomenon, such as Kompoltwicz, would agree that the issue has gone to far
The American Great Lakes; Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario make up 21% of the world’s surface, fresh water. These lakes are home to a variety of wildlife species and fish that are a concern. The lakes also provide drinking water for 40 million people. Commercial fishing, sport fishing and Native American fishing are the major industries providing jobs in the Great Lakes Region and this impacts the fragile ecosystem. The urban runoff and sprawl, sewage disposal, agriculture and toxic industrial waste also affect human health, fish populations, and aquatic food chains. The Great Lakes Restoration initiative is the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades. There is a task force of 11 federal agencies that developed an action plan to implement the initiative. The action plan is to cover fiscal years 2010-2014 and addressed five urgent issues. Those issues include; 1. Cleaning up toxics and areas of concern. 2. Combating invasive species, 3. Promoting nearshore health by protecting watersheds from polluted runoff, 4. Restoring wetlands and other habitats. 5. Tracking progress and working with strategic partners. In 2012 and 2013 with the input of citizens 3 key priorities helped to guide the restoration project. They were cleaning up areas of concern, reducing nutrients entering the lakes and preventing the introduction of new, invasive species. New technologies, such as a swimming video camera and an all-terrain robot, are granting researchers their first glimpse of a region critical to the Great Lakes’ health.
Only 17% of the surveyed lakes in North Carolina are impaired for swimming and 6% are impaired for aquatic life uses. A few lakes are impacted by dioxin, metals, and excessive nutrient enrichment. The Champion Paper mill on the Pigeon River is the source of dioxin contamination in Waterville Lake. The State and the mill implemented a dioxin minimization program in the mid-1980s and completed a modernization program in 1993 that will reduce water usage and discharges.
As swans drift with the current on a secluded lake in upper Canada they think not of the water they are in but of dreams of the past and wants for the future. On the other hand, seals off the coast of Northern California fear for their lives every day of humans exploiting their natural habitat. Many things can endanger water born animals, and most all of these come directly from humans. The pollutants of water come from many sources both close and far away from the water body itself. Wastes of humans are the major cause of pollution in the water, such materials include sewage, chemicals among other notable items. First, the composition water: water is odorless, tasteless and a transparent liquid. Though in large quantities water appears to have a bluish tint, it maintains the transparent tendency when observed in smaller quantities. Water covers approximately seventy percent of the Earth's surface in the solid and liquid form. Pollutants can be carried over a great distance by combining with evaporating moisture, forming clouds and then the wind taking the clouds to the larger body of water. This process is called acid rain and it is a major source of water pollution. Acid rain has been a problem since the Industrial Revolution, and has kept growing ever since. With acid rain moving over to a fresh water body, the plants and animals could experience pollution that they never had to deal with before and they could possibly die for the sudden change without them having time to adapt, if this is possible.
Pollution is something we create. It is man made. We pollute our air, and very importantly, our water. The great lakes is one o...
In the news we hear about all the problems with water pollution in third-world countries, making the problem feel sort of foreign to us. However, water pollution is much closer to your home than you might think. As a matter of fact all kinds of different pollution affects us all the time, it can be in the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. Pollution has plagued our beloved Buckeye Lake and we intend use the process of dredging to provide a short-term solution, until another, more permanent solution is put in place.
There is no denying the presences of the Great Lakes, not only are they unavoidable, but they have also been a major player in the growing of civilization in North America and Canada. A person would have to live under a rock, no pun intended, to not know about these phenomenons. Most would ask from where did these Great Lakes come? How did they form? How are they beneficial? What are some of the Great Lakes here? A Great Lake is an extremely large inland freshwater sea, which is amazing since we are surround by oceans occupied with salt water. The Great Lakes are the largest system of fresh surface water on Earth, which makes them vital to our survival. However, they have been subject to damage by pollutants. There are five lakes in North America, which are: Lake Michigan, Huron, Erie, Superior, and Ontario. Not many people take the time to try to understand our Great Lakes or the importance of them. Coming to understand what these Great Lakes are, how they got here, and how they are beneficial to our ecosystem will ultimately help us further appreciate their vital diversity and encourage us to preserve them.
Pollution comes in many forms. In the ocean we dump a variety of substances, including human wastes, chemicals from fertilizers, oil, and trash such as plastic which all contribute to the growing issue of our ocean pollution. In addition to, our usable waters are finite. More than 97.5 percent of the water on this planet is undrinkable salt water; the remaining 2.5 percent has two-thirds of the usable fresh water locked up in glaciers, snow, and permafrost. Of the one-third of freshwater that is available for human use, 20 percent is used for industrial use. (“Water Pollution”) “In effect, water pollution reduces the volume of water available for use by human and other populations.” (Robin Clarke, Jannet King) Knowing that there are approximately 7.2 billion people and growing on this planet with only 0.83 percent of available for our use wouldn’t you want to do everything possible to help put an end to water pollution? (worldometers)
Pollution is causing the destruction of environments and habits resulting in many adverse affects. The types of environments that are heavily damaged by pollution is normally freshwater ones. Polluting factors such as untreated sewage, mining waste, acid rain, fertilizers and pesticides
Pollution is a major problem in The Bahamas, and worldwide. The Bahamas is a beautiful archipelago consisting of seven hundred islands and cays surrounded by water, and is known for its water, sand and sunny climate (Tourism Today, 2011). The Bahamas is a less developed country and has experience the majority of situations, and snags that more developed countries has face, such as pollution. Pollution in The Bahamas is a very important problem for its affects the citizens of The Bahamas, and the Bahamian waters, lands and air quality. The Bahamas has a pollution problem because there are large amount of garbage exposed...
Water Pollution is a current issue that has serious consequences; it progresses everyday in our lakes, oceans, rivers and other bodies of water.
Transportation is a big issue with pollution. Vehicles create smog, catalysts for ozone, and components for acid rain. Smog contains a chemical called ozone. Ozone can seriously affect a human’s health. It reacts with the molecules in the lining of our airways. This then causes inflammation. Acid rain has many ecological effects, but none is as bad as its impact on lakes, streams, wetlands and other bodies of water. Acid rain makes waters acidic, which causes them to absorb the aluminium that goes from soil into water. When bodies of water become more acidic, the numbers and species of fish and other organisms living in the water begin to decrease. There are many examples of water pollution. Raw sewage running into water, industrial waste spills, and exhaust fumes from vehicles. A big problem with raw sewage is that Bacteria use up oxygen in the water, as they decompose the organic material in the water. The lack of oxygen kills animals and other organisms that live in the water. Many harmful chemicals are in industrial waste. These can become drinking water pollutants if not well managed. Car exhaust creates a wide range of gases and solid matter. This causes global warming, acid rain, and it harms the environment and human health. Engine noise and oil spills also cause pollution. Since most oils float, the marine creatures most affected by oil spills are animals like sea otters, and seabirds that are found on the shore or in
Water pollution is also a major thing in the world because almost 60% of it is fishes. It occurs due to several factors; the industrial waste dumped into the rivers and other water body’s cause am imbalance in the water leading to its severe contamination and deaths. And the infamous Global warming is the emission of greenhouse gases particularly CO2 is leading to global warming.
Are you aware of the detrimental impacts that we have had on our environment? Every second, the Earth is being polluted by poisonous gases, waste products and due to human activities, the world’s climate is dramatically changing. In other words, these impacts do not only harm our environment but also our health. It has been scientifically proven that air pollution causes respiratory diseases and cancer, due to the inhalation of all the harmful chemicals. Water pollution can also lead to typhoid, diarrheal diseases and other waterborne disease, due to the intake of bacteria and parasites. Many people have died due to these health-related illnesses. So why are we still living in this awful condition? Air sustains us and water is a basic necessity, so we should do what we can to prevent pollution. In short, we should protect our environment to ensure a healthy life a...