Sources and Methods of Water Pollution (10)
Sources Methods
Petroleum products

  • Manufacture of plastics

  • Manufacture of lubricants

  • Fractional distillation of crude oil

  • Vehicle fuel

  • Manufacture of solvents

  • Refinery gases for domestic cooking

  • Paraffin wax

  • Bitumen for road surfacing and roofing 

  • Manufacture of synthetic fabrics; nylon, terylene

  • Accidental spills from ships, tanker trucks, pipelines and  leaky underground storage tanks.

  • Old and faulty machineries in industrial factories which are inefficient

  • Improper refinery processes with the production of toxic byproducts

 
Synthetic Agricultural Chemicals

  • Pesticides

  • Herbicides

  • Insecticides

  • Fungicides

 
  • Accumulation of chemicals in plants and animals when die, will not decompose which will spread to water sources during rainfall, increasing toxicity of water source.
Heavy metals

  • Mining

  • Automobile exhaust

  • Metallurgy

  • Manufacture of semiconductors

  • Manufacture of batteries

 

  • Leak pipelines

  • Unfiltered industrial discharge which flows into water sources

  • Emission of oxides of lead from tractors and machineries used during mining or in industries which dissolves in water

  • Improper storage of heavy metals in storage containers

 
Hazardous wastes

  • Radioactive  materials

  • Corrosive materials

  • Reactive materials

  • Ignitable materials

 
  • Improper treatment of waste which are still toxic upon release 
Excess organic matter

  • Chemical fertilizers

  • Sewage sludge

  • Animal waste

 
  • Stimulate algae growth and during decomposition of algae it consumes oxygen which dissolves in the water, decreasing the level of oxygen in aquatic ecosystem and increase the mortality rate (death rate) of flora and fauna. At the same time, decaying material will turn the water murky. This is called eutrophication.
Sediment

  • Soil erosion and soil

  • particulates washed by storms and floodwaters from croplands, unprotected soils, strip mines, roads and bulldozed urban areas 

  • Accumulation of sediments will turn the water murky

  • Mass flow of mud into water source system will alter the clarity of water

 
Infectious organisms

  • Microbes (virus, bacteria, protozoan) 

  • Host for growth of these microorganisms, consuming nutrients in lakes, rivers, oceans

  • Infect plants and animals in the aquatic ecosystem, which die and upon decomposition which accumulates sediments and organic matters which turns the water source murky thereby polluting it.

 
Air pollution

  • Acid rain

  • Emissions of greenhouse gases

 

  • Dissolves into rainwater which alters the pH of water

  • Dissolves into water sources which affects the aquatic ecosystem   

 
Thermal pollution
  • Drawn from rivers and lakes to be used as coolants in factories and power plants

  • Warmer water returned to rivers and lakes will alter the species makeup of the aquatic ecosystem, introducing infectious organisms and others which are adaptable to warmer temperature, which will alter the water composition in the lake or river

  • Level of oxygen in water sources will be reduced, threatening the aquatic ecosystem which will lead to the death of many species and in turn make the water murky

 
Soil pollution

  • accumulation of sediments-         accumulation of sediments

  • non biodegradable chemical fertilizers

 

  • Seeping of  rainwater     containing chemical                        pollutants from soil surface through underground soil which flows into water systems

 

 

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