Water pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes,

rivers, oceans and groundwater).
Water pollution affects plants and organisms living in these
bodies of water; and, in almost all cases the effect is damaging not
only to individual species and populations, but also to the natural
biological communities.
Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or
indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove
harmful compounds.
 Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been
suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases,
and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily An
estimated 700 million Indians have no access to a proper toilet, and
1,000 Indian children die of diarrheal sickness every day. Some 90% of
China's cities suffer from some degree of water pollution, and nearly 500
million people lack access to safe drinking water. In addition to the acute
problems of water pollution in developing countries,
industrialized countries continue to struggle with pollution problems as
well. In the most recent national report on water quality in the
United States, 45 percent of assessed stream miles, 47 percent of
assessed lake acres, and 32 percent of assessed bay and estuarine
square miles were classified as polluted.
Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by
anthropogenic contaminants and either does not support a human use,
like serving as drinking water, and/or undergoes a marked shift in its
ability to support its constituent biotic communities, such as fish. Natural
phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes
also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of
water.
 Water pollution categories
Surface water and groundwater have often been studied and
managed as separate resources, although they are
interrelated. Surface water seeps the soil to form ground
water. Sources of surface water pollution are generally
grouped into two categories based on their origin.
Point source pollution

Point source pollution - Shipyard - Rio de Janeiro

 Point source pollution refers to contaminants that enter a waterway
through a discrete conveyance, such as a pipe or ditch. Examples of
sources in this category include Clean Water Act (CWA) defines point
source for regulatory enforcement purposes. The discharges from a
sewage treatment plant, a factory, or a city storm drain. The U.S. CWA
definition of point source was amended in 1987 to include municipal
storm sewer systems, as well as industrial stormwater, such as from
construction sites.[9]
Non–point source pollution
Non–point source (NPS) pollution refers to diffuse contamination that
does not originate from a single discrete source. NPS pollution is often
the cumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a
large area. The leaching out of nitrogen compounds from agricultural
land which has been fertilized is a typical example. Nutrient runoff in
stormwater from "sheet flow" over an agricultural field or a forest are
also cited as examples of NPS pollution.
Contaminated storm water washed off of parking lots, roads and
highways, called urban runoff, is sometimes included under the category
of NPS pollution. However, this runoff is typically channeled into storm
drain systems and discharged through pipes to local surface waters, and
is a point source. However where such water is not channeled and
drains directly to ground it is a non-point source.
 Groundwater pollution
Interactions between groundwater and surface water are complex.
Consequently, groundwater pollution, sometimes referred to as
groundwater contamination, is not as easily classified as surface water
pollution. By its very nature, groundwater aquifers are susceptible to
contamination from sources that may not directly affect surface water
bodies, and the distinction of point vs. non-point source may be
irrelevant. A spill or ongoing releases of chemical or radionuclide
contaminants into soil (located away from a surface water body) may not
create point source or non-point source pollution, but can contaminate
the aquifer below, defined as a toxin plume. The movement of the plume,
a plume front, can be part of a Hydrological transport model or
Groundwater model. Analysis of groundwater contamination may focus
on the soil characteristics and site geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, and
the nature of the contaminants.
 Causes of water pollution
The specific contaminants leading to pollution in water include a wide spectrum
of chemicals, pathogens, and physical or sensory changes such as elevated
temperature and discoloration. While many of the chemicals and substances
that are regulated may be naturally occurring ( calcium, sodium, iron,
manganese, etc.) the concentration is often the key in determining what is a
natural component of water, and what is a contaminant. Oxygen-depleting
substances may be natural materials, such as plant matter (e.g. leaves and
grass) as well as man-made chemicals. Other natural and anthropogenic
substances may cause turbidity (cloudiness) which blocks light and disrupts
plant growth, and clogs the gills of some fish species
Many of the chemical substances are toxic. Pathogens can produce
waterborne diseases in either human or animal hosts.[11] Alteration of water's
physical chemistry includes acidity (change in pH), electrical conductivity,
temperature, and eutrophication. Eutrophication is an increase in the
concentration of chemical nutrients in an ecosystem to an extent that increases
in the primary productivity of the ecosystem. Depending on the degree of
eutrophication, subsequent negative environmental effects such as anoxia
(oxygen depletion) and severe reductions in water quality may occur, affecting
fish and other animal populations
 Pathogens

A manhole cover unable to contain a sanitary sewer overflow.

Coliform bacteria are a commonly used bacterial indicator of water pollution,
although not an actual cause of disease. Other microorganisms sometimes
found in surface waters which have caused human health problems include:
Burkholderia pseudomallei
Cryptosporidium parvum
Giardia lamblia
Salmonella
Novovirus and other viruses
Parasitic worms (helminths).
High levels of pathogens may result from inadequately treated sewage
dischargesThis can be caused by a sewage plant designed with less than
secondary treatment (more typical in less-developed countries). In developed
countries, older cities with aging infrastructure may have leaky sewage
collection systems (pipes, pumps, valves), which can cause sanitary sewer
overflows. Some cities also have combined sewers, which may discharge
 Transport and chemical reactions of water pollutants
Most water pollutants are eventually carried by rivers into the oceans. In
some areas of the world the influence can be traced hundred miles from
the mouth by studies using hydrology transport models. Advanced
computer models such as SWMM or the DSSAM Model have been used
in many locations worldwide to examine the fate of pollutants in aquatic
systems. Indicator filter feeding species such as copepods have also
been used to study pollutant fates in the New York Bight, for example.
The highest toxin loads are not directly at the mouth of the Hudson River,
but 100 kilometers south, since several days are required for
incorporation into planktonic tissue. The Hudson discharge flows south
along the coast due to coriolis force. Further south then are areas of
oxygen depletion, caused by chemicals using up oxygen and by algae
blooms, caused by excess nutrients from algal cell death and
decomposition. Fish and shellfish kills have been reported, because
toxins climb the food chain after small fish consume copepods, then large
fish eat smaller fish, etc. Each successive step up the food chain causes
a stepwise concentration of pollutants such as heavy metals (e.g.
mercury) and persistent organic pollutants such as DDT. This is known
as biomagnification, which is occasionally used interchangeably with
bioaccumulation.
 Large gyres (vortexes) in the oceans trap floating plastic debris. The North
Pacific Gyre for example has collected the so-called "Great Pacific Garbage
Patch" that is now estimated at 100 times the size of Texas. Many of these long-
lasting pieces wind up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals. This results
in obstruction of digestive pathways which leads to reduced appetite or even
starvation.
Many chemicals undergo reactive decay[or chemically change especially over
long periods of time in groundwater reservoirs. A noteworthy class of such
chemicals is the chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene (used in
industrial metal degreasing and electronics manufacturing) and
tetrachloroethylene used in the dry cleaning industry (note latest advances in
liquid carbon dioxide in dry cleaning that avoids all use of chemicals). Both of
these chemicals, which are carcinogens themselves, undergo partial
decomposition reactions, leading to new hazardous chemicals (including
dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride).
Groundwater pollution is much more difficult to abate than surface pollution
because groundwater can move great distances through unseen aquifers. Non-
porous aquifers such as clays partially purify water of bacteria by simple filtration
(adsorption and absorption), dilution, and, in some cases, chemical reactions and
biological activity: however, in some cases, the pollutants merely transform to
soil contaminants. Groundwater that moves through cracks and caverns is not
filtered and can be transported as easily as surface water. In fact, this can be
aggravated by the human tendency to use natural sinkholes as dumps in areas
of Karst topography
 Control of water pollution
Domestic sewage

Sewage treatment

Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant serving Boston, Massachusetts and
vicinity.
Domestic sewage is 99.9% pure water, the other 0.1% are pollutants. While
found in low concentrations, these pollutants pose risk on a large scale.[20]
In urban areas, domestic sewage is typically treated by centralized sewage
treatment plants. In the U.S., most of these plants are operated by local
government agencies, frequently referred to as publicly owned treatment
works (POTW). Municipal treatment plants are designed to control
conventional pollutants: BOD and suspended solids. Well-designed and
operated systems (i.e., secondary treatment or better) can remove 90
percent or more of these pollutants. Some plants have additional sub-
systems to treat nutrients and pathogens. Most municipal plants are not
designed to treat toxic pollutants found in industrial wastewater
 Industrial wastewater
: Industrial wastewater treatment

Dissolved air flotation system for treating industrial wastewater.

Some industrial facilities generate ordinary domestic sewage that can be
treated by municipal facilities. Industries that generate wastewater with high
concentrations of conventional pollutants (e.g. oil and grease), toxic
pollutants (e.g. heavy metals, volatile organic compounds) or other
nonconventional pollutants such as ammonia, need specialized treatment
systems. Some of these facilities can install a pre-treatment system to
remove the toxic components, and then send the partially treated
wastewater to the municipal system. Industries generating large volumes of
wastewater typically operate their own complete on-site treatment systems.
Some industries have been successful at redesigning their manufacturing
processes to reduce or eliminate pollutants, through a process called
pollution prevention.