Oil Spills
One of the worst things that could happen is an oil spill. An oil spill occurs when a ship carrying oil hits a reef, glacier, etc. The oil it carries would start to leak. The oil would cover an area of usually over 50 square-miles! Oil spills are very hard to clean up. Animals that live in the waters could also die. For example, oil could cling on to the feathers of birds and could poison the birds when they clean their feathers. Otters would be another victim of oil spills. Oil could get through the otters fur and disable their ability to protect themselves from the cold waters.

History
Alaska is very rich in oil and other natural resources. The worst oil spill that happened in Alaska was the Exxon Valdez spill. It was also said to be the worst oil spill disaster in the United States. On March 24, 1989, an oil tanker called the Exxon Valdez was coming from Port Valdez, Alaska. The captain of the ship changed course to avoid icebergs and the oil tanker struck the Bilge Reef on the Prince William Sound(a sea). In a few hours, 11 million gallons of thick, crude oil was in the ocean. To make matters worse, it turned out that the Alyeska Pipeline Service company was unprepared for the oil spill. According to the National Wildlife service, 270,000 birds were killed! This large oil spill changed the environment of Alaska permanently.

Other Forms of Pollution
The water is polluted in many ways. One way of polluting the water is buy dumping things into a river or lake. In the past, many people dump their trash into the river. In the Civil War, soldiers even dumped dead bodies into rivers and other water sources. Bacteria got into the water and many people became ill.

Some factories also dump dangerous chemicals into the rivers. The fish that live in the water would become contaminated with the chemicals. If a bird ate a fish from the river, the eggs it lay would usually have an egg too thin for it to survive.

Another way a river or lake polluted is by acid rain. Acid rain occurs when chemicals from factories and cars form acid in the rain. When rivers are polluted by acid rain, all animals and plants living there will die. Rivers and lakes polluted by acid rain may look clean, but is really because no animals live or go there anymore. Many places are spending millions of dollars to clean out their rivers and lakes. The cleanup crews have to get most of the sand on the bottom of the lake or river because it is contaminated.

The fertilizer that some farmers use is also dangerous for a lake or river. The fertilizer makes algae grow too fast.I'm sure that you all know that fertilizer is bad for water and creatures living in it, but do you know why? Well, the minerals in fertilizer is the main part involving in the destruction and polluting or water and water-creatures. These minerals such as phosphates make algae grow very quickly. The algae, being plants, take out all the carbon-dioxide from the water, making the fish die because the algae covers all the sunlight so that none can get through to all the other plants in the water. These water-plants produces oxygen that fish needs to survive.

Would you be surprised to know if we told you that landfill pollute water? Well, the main source of water they pollute is groundwater. The chemicals can leak out of the cans and batteries and seep underground. After many years, the chemicals can reach an underground water source. What you are going to hear might surprise you. Get ready, here it goes: One can of paint can pollute 2,700,000 gallons of water. Doesn't sound fair, does it. Many people get sick and die from certain chemicals found in polluted groundwater.