Sources of Water Pollution

Agricultural waste is nonpoint runoff from fertilizers into bodies of water.
Industrial waste is point and it flows directly into streams, rivers, and drains. Domestic waste is point and flows into storm sewers directly into a stream or lake.There are many causes and effects of industrial waste.

The contamination of ground water by industrial waste poses many potential health hazards for the environment. Improper disposal of toxic wastes can allow genotoxic chemicals to flow into ground waters, and these contaminated ground waters may produce toxicity, including mutation and possibly cancer, in individuals exposed to this.

There are many different effects of agricultural. One of them is algae blooms.

Above: A fish that was killed by eutrophication

These are very dangerous and cause dead aquatic ecosystems and unsafe water.
The effects of industrial are toxins ingested by marine life, are absorbed by plants, can kill many marine organisms. Also, they can choke on plastics, flow into groundwater, and aquifers used to drink.

The method of detection for agricultural is eutrophication. For domestic the methods are checking E. coli levels and looking at dirty water obvious to the naked eye. Lastly, the methods for industrial are measuring the levels of certain substances, such as grit, asbestos, phosphates, nitrates, mercury, lead, caustic soda, sulfur, oil, and sulfuric acid. Another is plastic found in water and some organisms die and some thrive.

Above: Detecting eutrophication and E.coli

The causes of agricultural waste are the run-off from fertilizer, manure runoff, and eutrophication. The causes of domestic waste are a Storm sewer directly into lakes and rivers and cleaning supplies and chemicals. Finally, the cause of industrial waste is wastewater is discharged from a plant directly into a body of water

The sources of these pollutants causing industrial and agricultural waste from industrial farms are form the shortage and disposal of animal waste. Industrial livestock farms store manure and other farm wastes in large tanks known as ‘lagoons’, which can hold millions of gallons of manure and wastes.

Above: A pipe pours agricultural waste into a lagoon

Unfortunately, these lagoons tend to leak and during large storms may possibly overflow. When this occurs, the environmental damage is about 160 times more toxic than raw sewage. Also, these lagoons release antibiotic residues and harmful bacteria that can flow into many water supplies.

Above: Industrial waste being dumped

The way of disposal for manure after it’s been stored in lagoons, industrial farms spray the waste onto fields to act as fertilizer. These farms, however, produce much more waste than can be used on the fields, and once the saturation level is reached the waste runs off into nearby water ecosystems.

Above: Run-off from a dairy farm

The causes and effects of agricultural waste is that agricultural activity was identified as a source of pollution for 48% of stream and river water, and for 41% of lake water. Water pollution from industrial farms not only damages the environment and kills a lot of wildlife, but it can also cause people to get sick and die. Since the farms exercise little restraint when it comes to water usage, they tend to waste large amounts of water, even when near by communities are experiencing water shortages. Since small and sustainable farms are more integrated with their surrounding communities, they pay closer attention to the ways they use water and how their practices affect local water supplies.

There are many socioeconomic considerations that many countries have to face during the hardship of water pollution. Some of these considerations are inhabitants of very impoverished countries would walk to their water supply for drinking and bathing. Also, if domestic waste flows into the river or body of water, they could get sick and unhealthy or unhygienic. The inability to afford running water is also a consideration. People also can buy a water purifier, or drink bottled water. Now there is less clean water, the price of water rises, and farmers must rearrange farmland.

Above: A sewer drain with garbage caught in it

The cultural beliefs of this to the U.S. are to fix water pollution. They can do this by purifying water, spreading the message around, and other advanced countries do what the U.S. does. Other countries are too poor or have survival to focus on, such as third world countries. This is becoming a large problem in the world today.

Above: Many people today do not have access to clean water

Many health risks are known from agricultural waste. The use of chemicals in pesticides and fertilizers release many gases, which cause air pollution so humans could quite possibly inhale these gases and die. Many factory farms dramatically reduce the quality of life in rural communities and threaten the health and safety of people living nearby. These facilities generate large amounts of waste, which can flow into the ground water and put residents at risk of exposure to deadly bacteria such as E coli. Also, the runoff from industrial farms can also spread antibiotic-resistant bacteria. For example, some of these antibiotic bacteria are anthrax, leptospirosis, and tetanus.

Above: Pesticides reduce the air quality of rural communities

Industrial waste causes many health risks. Flyash ,formed from the burning of coal, contains highly mobilized carcinogenic dioxins and furans strongly dangerous to humans. Flyash also contains silica dust, which causes lung cancer, silicosis, emphysema, and asthma. Contaminated leachate could be poisoning local drinking water, and also entering the Powell River and the Gulf of Georgia. Finally, there is testimonial evidence of buried transformers in the existing landfill. From this, PCB is a real possibility.
Domestic waste can cause Phaseolus vulgaris and Pisum sativum, which are infections.