WATER POLLUTION INTRODUCTION Nowadays pollution is a big problem in the world.

Many people and companies as well are searching and creating new programs and strategies for avoiding pollution. The government is also trying to find a solution to overcome or may be reduce the pollution. We are all aware today that pollution is an increasing environmental problem. Today many people regard pollution as a problem that will not go away, but one that could get worse in the future. The existence of pollution in the environment, considered as a national and a world problem. Pollution is caused by the on purpose or accidental pollution like, wastewater from the oil refineries or cities, tankers accidents also account for the oil pollution. Nowadays, pollution is usual to subdivide it into the artificial divisions of air, land, water, noise pollution. For example, motor vehicles discharge 900 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year which is about 15 per cent of our total output. More vehicles can make more global warming. If numbers of automobiles keep increasing like a present rate, it will be more than a billion vehicles on the road by 2025. Also by 2025, two-thirds of the world's people will live in cities, so traffic jams and pollution will become a big problem in most people's lives. As well as noise pollution, air pollution, the other subdivided pollution such as water pollution also can cause a major health and environmental issue. What is water pollution? According to Science Daily, water pollution can be defined as a large set of adverse effects upon water bodies (lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater) caused by human activities. Water or known as H2O consist of two parts of hydrogen and a part of oxygen sounds very simple, but it contribution to the living things is very huge and important. It is one of the most essential elements to health and is so important that our body actually has a specific drought management system in place to prevent dehydration and ensure living things survival. Water might be everywhere, but one must never take it for granted. Moreover, water makes up more than two thirds of human body weight, and without water, we would die in a few days. The human brain is made up of 95 per cent water, blood is 82 per cent and lungs 90 per cent. A mere 2 per cent drop in our body's water supply can trigger signs of dehydration which symptoms is like fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on smaller print, such as a computer screen. Mild dehydration is also one of the most common causes of daytime fatigue. An estimated seventy-five percent of Americans have mild, chronic dehydration. Pretty scary statistic for a developed country where water is readily available through the tap or bottle water.

CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION Although natural phenomena such as volcanoes, storms, earthquakes and other catastrophic also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water, these are not deemed to be pollution. Normally, this pollution mostly cause by human activities. There are different human sources that added to the pollution of water. There are two sorts of sources, point and nonpoint sources. Point sources discharge pollutants at specific locations through pipelines or sewers into the surface water. Examples of point sources are factories, sewage treatment plants, underground mines, oil wells, oil tankers and agriculture. Nonpoint sources are sources that cannot be traced to a single site of discharge, for examples such as acid deposition from the air, traffic, pollutants that are spread through rivers and pollutants that enter the water through groundwater. Nonpoint pollution is hard to control because the perpetrators cannot be traced. A few causes of water pollution that will be discuss are eutrophication, sewage and wastewater, marine dumping, industrial waste, radioactive waste, oil pollution, underground storage leakage, atmospheric deposition and global warming. EUTROPHICATION Eutrophication means natural nutrient enrichment of streams and lakes. The enrichment is often increased by the human activities for agriculture industries. Over time, water sources such as lakes, pond or rivers then become eutrophic due to an increase in nutrients. Eutrophication is mainly caused by an increase in nitrate and phosphate levels and has a negative influence on water life. This is because, due to the enrichment, water plants such as algae will grow extensively. As a result the water will absorb less light and certain aerobic bacteria will become more active. These bacteria deplete oxygen levels even further, so that only anaerobic bacteria can be active. This makes life in the water impossible for fish and other organisms, leading to areas known as dead zones.. Many causes of water pollution, such as manure and chemical fertilizers, as well as sewage and farm livestock waste, pollute the water bodies through Eutrophication. These water pollutants actually contain much nutrients that promote the growth of micro-organisms like algae and bacteria that break down decaying matter. The decay of the organic matter from the fertilizers and sewage uses up oxygen in the water. At the same time, the excessive algae growth at the surface of the water blocks out sunlight to other water plants within the water. As a result, oxygen dissolved in the water does not get replenished. Fishes and other water life in that area suffocate to death,

Eutrophication can extent over large areas in the water bodies. For example, based on a publication by the International Lake Environment Committee, Survey of the State of the Worlds Lake (1988 1993), it was found that 54% of the lakes in Asia have been affected by Eutrophication, while 53 % of the lakes in Europe, 41% in South America, 48% in North America, and 28% in Africa have been similarly impacted.

In addition to pollution via eutrophication, chemicals in synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that leech from farms are also harmful to humans and other living organisms in the long-run. Read about the dangers of pesticides and fertilizer pollution.

Excessive nutrients in water bodies promote plant growth and decay (mainly in algae and plankton) which leads to a drop in water quality and disruption of the natural ecosystem. For example, the lack of oxygen gases for marine life causing a drop in a population. This is happening because of the algal shading preventing marine life from getting enough sunlight for photosynthesis or making food. Moreover, thus may lead to the decreasing in the recreational and aesthetic value of water bodies especially if the water sources is one of the important landscape for certain places. o health problems when it occurs in drinking water reserves o coral reef decline coral reefs are important as they provide habitats for marine life (which much of the ecosystem depends on) and protect the shore from erosion by storm waves

 however, they are the most nutrient-sensitive of all habitats, requiring the lowest external inputs to trigger eutrophication this to the coral and can lead death of reefs thus

endanger marine reef life

SEWAGE AND WASTEWATER MARINE DUMPING INDUSTRIAL WASTE RADIOACTIVE WASTE OIL POLLUTION UNDERGROUND STORAGE LEAKAGE

ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION GLOBAL WARMING Water pollution has many causes and characteristics. Increases in nutrient loading may lead to eutrophication. Organic wastes such as sewage and farm waste impose high oxygen demands on the receiving water leading to oxygen depletion with potentially severe impacts on the whole eco-system. Industries discharge a variety of pollutants in their wastewater including heavy metals, organic toxins, oils, nutrients, and solids. Discharges can also have thermal effects, especially those from power stations, and these too reduce the available oxygen. Silt-bearing runoff from many activities including construction sites, forestry and farms can inhibit the penetration of sunlight through the water column restricting photosynthesis and causing blanketing of the lake or river bed which in turns damages the ecology. REFERENCES UK Rivers Network. Introduction to water pollution. Retrieved on 30th November 2012 from http://www.ukrivers.net/pollution.html Water Treatment Solution, retrieved on 30th November 2012 from http://www.lenntech.com/waterpollution-faq.html Water Pollution Guide. Retrieved on 30th November 2012 from http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/