Water Pollution: Effects and Methods to Control

Effects of Water Pollution: Water bodies accumulate waste materials and wash away toxins and effluents from factories, eventually leading to water pollution. Most liquid wastes are directly dumped in the lakes and rivers, which carry them to large water bodies like seas and oceans.

Effects of Wastage of Water

What is Pollution?

Effects of Air Pollution On Environment

What are the Different types of Pollution?

Soil Pollution

• Agricultural practices in recent times aimed at improving crop yield to feed the ever-growing human population have converted Greenlands into deserts. As soil becomes drier and drier, its moisture retention capacity rescues, clay particles harden, and the soil becomes lifeless.
• Use of chemical fertilisers containing harmful toxins, pesticides, and insecticides that eliminate pests but damage soil fertility are all leading causes of Soil Pollution.
• Mining activities for extracting precious metals are another contributor to soil pollution. The soil becomes loose, rocks break down, and the normal composition of the soil is lost.

Ecology

Air Pollution

• Greenhouse gases like Carbon and Sulphur dioxide absorb heat from the sun and trap it in the troposphere, making the earth warmer and triggering Global warming. Due to this increase, ice caps metals, sea levels rise, and floods and hurricanes become more frequent.
• Some other causes of air pollution include the release of industrial exhaust directly into the air, nitrous oxides from airplanes, toxic gases from vehicles, and many more.
• Increase in livestock rearing for meat and milk also increase the release of Methane into the atmosphere. Methane is highly inflammable and has been involved in all major extinction-level events.
• These gases also damage the ozone layer, which forms a protective dome over the troposphere and prevents the entry of ultraviolet rays into the atmosphere.

Effects of Air Pollution on Plants

Noise Pollution

• An excessively loud, persistent noise can cause headaches, a racing heartbeat, high blood pressure, respiratory irritation, colitis, gastritis, and even heart attacks.
• Repeated loud noise exposures can cause hearing loss and/or persistent deafness. Loud noise can hinder hearing warning signs, leading to workplace accidents and injuries.
• Loud noise can also cause physical and mental stress, diminish productivity, disrupt communication, and interfere with focus.

Ecological Succession

Water Pollution

Effects Of Land Pollution

Water Pollution and Causes

• Using rivers and lakes for bathing and washing animals, washing clothes, and dumping domestic kitchen waste results in water pollution.
• Flow of sewage into water bodies without proper treatment is another cause.
• Industries directly release their effluents containing hard metals and chemicals into water bodies.
• The harmful gases in the air combine with vapor to form acid rain which then pours into water bodies.
• Oil spills from transport ships form thick films over the oceans and seas, preventing fish from breathing.
• The chemicals from agricultural fields get washed away by rain into water bodies, increasing toxicity.
• Radioactive wastes from Nuclear plants are also dumped into oceans.
• Electronic wastes like computers and mobile phones reach ocean beds and slowly release harmful chemicals.

Double Fertilization In Angiosperms

Harmful Effects of Water Pollution

• The phytoplanktons are the major releases of Oxygen which produce more oxygen than trees on the land.
• As the water becomes more toxic, these sensitive plants get killed, and the Oxygen balance is disturbed.
• In the absence of phytoplankton, zooplanktons receive less food, affecting small fishes and the entire food chain.
• The toxic chemicals burn the skin of water animals, reduce dissolved oxygen, and reduce the lifespan of whales and sharks.
• Oil spills remain in water bodies for years and float over the surface, making oceans warmer, less habitable, and toxic.

Ecosystem

• Nondegradable wastes like plastics accumulate at the bottom of the oceans and remain there for millions of years, affecting the animals living on sea beds.
• Fishes consume these toxins, which in turn are consumed by humans, which results in severe disorders like mercury poisoning.
• Due to increased organic matter, anaerobic bacteria and other microbes grow beyond their limit, further depleting oxygen and increasing the biological oxygen demand.
• Drinking such water causes numerous diseases, including dysentery and diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, and genetic disorders.
• Water bodies like ponds and lakes where the water is relatively still get completely covered in algal bloom resulting in the eutrophication of the plants and animals.

Plastic Pollution

Methods to Control Water Pollution

• All domestic waste like sewage and industrial effluents must be treated before release into water bodies.
• Use of plastics and other nondegrading objects must be completely banned.
• Multinational efforts to clean oceans and restore normal balance must take place.
• Burning of fossil fuels should be reduced as it eventually leads to acid rain.
• Water bodies should not be used for bathing or washing clothes.
• Chemical-based agricultural products must be replaced with organic fertilisers.
• Oil spills and accidental leakages must be prevented at all costs.
• Steps should be taken to rescue Global warming as the warming of water bodies results in the death of sensitive species.

Difference Between Plant Cell And Animal Cell

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