Understanding Water Pollution
The Impact of Water Pollution on Our Environment
Join us in exploring the causes, effects, and solutions to water pollution, a critical issue affecting our surface water and overall ecosystem.
What is water pollution? The release of substances into bodies of water that makes that water unfit for human use, and/or disrupts aquatic ecosystems is water pollution. It can be caused by many different contaminants, including toxic waste, petroleum, plastic, and disease-causing microorganisms.
Water Pollution is an enormous challenge all over the world including in the United States. Contaminated water leads to millions of illnesses and deaths every year. Across the globe nearly 2 billion people are drinking contaminated water that has the potential to seriously impact their physical health, mental acuity, and their ability to work and take care of themselves.
Much of the water they are drinking is contaminated by man-made water pollution. The United Nations states that more than 80 percent of the world’s wastewater flows back into the environment without being treated or reused. The result is that about 1.5 million people die each year due to water pollution-caused illnesses. Lack of access to safe water is the leading factor for infectious diseases, and it exacerbates malnutrition in poor populations
About two billion people do not have access to clean water today, and their water, if they have it, is contaminated by humans working in at least one, if not more, categories listed above.
Much of this contamination comes from the more than 80 percent of the world’s wastewater which mankind allows to flow back into the environment.
Surface Water Contamination
Water pollution is a pervasive issue that affects surface water bodies such as rivers, lakes, and oceans. Contaminants from various sources degrade water quality, harming aquatic life and posing health risks to communities relying on these water sources. The impact extends to ecosystems, disrupting the natural balance and leading to the loss of biodiversity.
DID YOU KNOW?
- A gallon of paint or a quart of motor oil can seep into the earth and pollute 250,000 gallons of drinking water.
- A spilled gallon of gasoline can pollute 750,000 gallons of water.
- A leak that fills up a coffee cup in 10 minutes will waste over 3,000 gallons of water in a year. That’s 65 glasses of water every day for a year.
- A leaky toilet can waste over 22,000 gallons of water in one year; enough to take three baths every day
Sources of Water Pollution
Understanding the Contributors
Industrial Pollution: Factories and industrial plants discharge pollutants directly into water bodies, including heavy metals, chemicals, and toxic waste. These contaminants can cause severe health problems for humans and wildlife.
Agricultural Pollution: Runoff from farms carries pesticides, fertilizers, and animal waste into rivers and lakes. This runoff leads to nutrient pollution, causing harmful algal blooms that deplete oxygen in the water, killing fish and other aquatic organisms.
Natural Pollution: Natural events such as wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and erosion can introduce sediments and organic matter into water bodies. While these sources are less controllable, they still contribute to the overall pollution levels and can exacerbate the effects of human-induced pollution.
Water Pollution in the Southwest
The western and southwestern states in North America and Mexico have their share of water pollution.
Contaminants of major concern today:
PFAS
Arsenic
Lead
Radium
Nitrates
Of course the nitrate pollution is caused by agricultural run-off from the use of fertilizers. Lead is most likely coming from old household pipes. And arsenic, lead, and radium, while found naturally, are introduced by mankind’s activities.
60% of the Southwest is polluted; and Texas is the worst!
According to recent studies, over 60% of surface water bodies in the Southwest are contaminated with pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals. It appears that Texas has the worst water pollution. Contaminants getting attention in drinking water there are arsenic, lead and radium.
Who is most affected?
The Southwest is in Trouble
The two biggest areas of concern in the Southwest when it comes to water are:
Pollution and Dwindling Resources
When John Wesley Powell, the famous one-arm explorer and second director of the USGS, warned in the mid-1800’s, that the arid west did not have enough water for extensive agriculture, he was right. If the West was going to be settled, he argued for conditions of less density and on the type of agriculture that should be allowed. Unfortunately, his advice went unheeded and western states to this day continue to use astounding amounts of water that must be piped in.
Today, southwestern states perilously depend upon one source for the bulk of their water resources – Lake Mead. Through an unprecedented in the history of mankind effort to pipe water from one source, the West’s water is expensively piped over hundreds of miles of terrain. But Lake Mead is drying up and will not sustain the exploding growth of certain western cities. Drought, likely caused by human-invoked climate change, and overuse is expected to dry up in 10 to 15 years. In addition to the over-extension of its resources, simple evaporation, augmented by the rising temperatures of climate change, sucks up 600,000 acre feet or roughly six vertical feet, of water
Demographic Inequities
Surface water reduction due to climate change and groundwater reduction due to mankind’s withdrawals, have exacerbated the inequities in the Southwest’s population. A lack of clean water and sanitation services are two things indigenous communities continue to struggle with; the cost of new water infrastructure is blocking access to both. Water infrastructure, which averages $600 per square foot for non-indigenous families with piped access is a fraction of the average of the $43,000 per acre-foot that Navajo families pay to have water hauled into their communities.
The Primary Culprits in the Southwestern states of the U.S.
Nutrients – farm fertilizer and pesticides, confined animal manure, atmospheric deposition, urban runoff, wastewater treatment plants.
Waste from extractive processes – mining and fossil fuel recovery create tailings and other waste which have been released into our surface and groundwaters. This can include but is not limited to arsenic, iron, radioactive elements from uranium mines, and produced water and water from ‘fracking of oil wells.
Stormwater runoff – Especially in urban areas, the hydrocarbons from cars on roads and streets is ending up in our water resources.
Other concerns – PFAS, metals and metalloids like arsenic, urban pesticides, fluoride, pharmaceuticals, bacteria and more.
Effective Water Management Practices
Industrial Waste Treatment
Implementing advanced treatment technologies to reduce industrial discharge into water bodies.
Agricultural Runoff Control
Using buffer strips and proper irrigation techniques to minimize pesticide and fertilizer runoff.
Natural Filtration Systems
Restoring wetlands and riparian zones to naturally filter pollutants from surface water.