What Can We Do to Help Reduce Water Pollution?
Just because it disappears, doesn’t mean it goes away
A Call To Action
Working Together to Reduce Water Pollution
A Guide for Individuals, Communities, and Governments
A Call to Action
Children
Learn about water pollution and how it affects people and the environment.
Talk to your parents and teachers about ways to reduce water pollution at home and in your community.
Conserve water by taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth, and fixing any leaky faucets.
Pick up litter around your home and school.
Recycle plastic and other materials to keep them out of landfills.
Get involved in local water conservation and pollution prevention projects.
Examples of actions that children can take
Start a water conservation club at your school.
Organize a community cleanup of a local river or stream.
Create posters and flyers about water pollution and how to prevent it.
Talk to your class about the importance of protecting water quality.
Write a letter to your elected officials urging them to support water pollution prevention policies.
Adults
Make changes to your daily habits to reduce water pollution, such as conserving water, using less plastic, and avoiding the use of pesticides and herbicides.
Support businesses that are committed to environmental sustainability.
Get involved in your community and advocate for policies that protect water quality.
Donate to organizations that are working to reduce water pollution.
Examples of actions that adults can take
Install a rain barrel to collect rainwater for watering your lawn and garden.
Plant trees and shrubs around your home to help filter runoff.
Use a compost bin to reduce the amount of waste you send to the landfill.
Avoid using pesticides and herbicides on your lawn and garden.
Volunteer for a local water conservation or pollution prevention organization.
Governments
Invest in wastewater treatment infrastructure.
Regulate industrial and agricultural activities to reduce water pollution.
Promote water conservation and pollution prevention programs.
Educate the public about the importance of protecting water quality.
Examples of actions that governments can take
Provide financial incentives for homeowners and businesses to install water-efficient appliances and equipment.
Implement stormwater management programs to reduce runoff pollution.
Restore wetlands and other natural areas that help filter water pollution.
Enact stricter regulations on industrial and agricultural activities that pollute water.
Fund research into new technologies to reduce water pollution.
By working together, we can all help to reduce water pollution and protect our precious water resources.
Additional tips for those who want
to help reduce water pollution
Use less plastic. Choose reusable bags when you go shopping, and avoid single-use plastic items like straws and water bottles.
Recycle. This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce water pollution. When you recycle, you help to keep plastics, metals, and other materials out of landfills, where they can leach harmful chemicals into groundwater.
Conserve water. Turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth, take shorter showers, and fix any leaks around your home. Every little bit of water you save helps.
Turn off the Tap When You Brush Your Teeth
Pick up trash. When you see trash on the ground, pick it up and put it in a trash can. This helps to keep litter out of waterways, where it can harm fish and other wildlife.
Learn about water pollution.
The more you know about the problem, the more motivated you will be to help solve it.
Get involved in your community.
There are many ways to get involved in water conservation and pollution prevention efforts. You can volunteer with a local environmental organization, or start your own project.
Be a role model.
Show your friends and family how easy it is to make a difference. When they see you taking steps to reduce water pollution, they may be inspired to do the same.
Groundwater pollution: Groundwater is the water that lies beneath the Earth's surface. It is a vital source of drinking water for many people. Groundwater pollution can be caused by a variety of things, including:
Leaking septic tanks and landfills
Agricultural runoff
Oil spills
Saltwater intrusion
Surface water pollution: Surface water is the water that we see on the Earth's surface, such as rivers, lakes, and oceans. It is also a vital source of drinking water for many people. Surface water pollution can be caused by a variety of things, including:
Sewage
Industrial waste
Agricultural runoff
Oil spills
Urban runoff
Suspended matter: Suspended matter is any solid material that is suspended in water.
The suspended particles either settle at the bottom of water sources, damaging marine life and leaching toxic chemicals into drinking water supplies, or they float on the surface of the water, preventing oxygen and sunlight from penetrating the water below.
It can be caused by a variety of things, including:
Sediment 4.Bacteria
Plastic 5.Oil
Algae 6.Trash
Nutrient pollution: Nutrient pollution is the introduction of excessive amounts of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, into water. This can lead to algae blooms, which can deplete the oxygen in the water and kill fish and other aquatic life
Oxygen-depleting pollution:
When oxygen levels are too low, any life that relies on oxygen for respiration will be killed off, and anaerobic organisms will survive.
As many anaerobic organisms produce ammonia and other harmful toxins, this can make water even more dangerous for aquatic life that lives in these environments, and humans that rely on water resources for drinking water.
Thermal pollution: Thermal pollution is the introduction of heated water into water bodies. This can harm fish and other aquatic life and can also change the ecosystem of the water body.
The main source of thermal pollution comes from power plants discharging cooling water into rivers. The raising of temperatures due to global warming is also thought to be a type of thermal water pollution.
Microbiological pollution: Microbiological pollution is the introduction of harmful microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses, into water. This can cause waterborne diseases, such as cholera and typhoid.
This type of water pollution is common in areas where people drink untreated water. If water is not treated, it causes serious illnesses to humans that drink the contaminated water, and it can also cause fish and other aquatic organisms to die.
Chemical pollution:
Chemicals are the most common type of water pollution, and many industries use chemicals that can end up in water systems. These chemicals can be anything from metals and solvents in industrial operations, fertilizers and pesticides in the agricultural industry to chemicals used in pest control companies. When the chemicals enter the soil and water systems, it has negative impacts on humans, livestock, and fish that utilize these environments. In water settings, chemical water pollution is very toxic.
Water Pollution & Human Health:
To jump straight to the point, water pollution kills. Drinking contaminated water puts people at risk of serious illnesses from waterborne pathogens. Most people think that water pollution in drinking water is only common in third-world countries, however, even in wealthy nations such as the US, accidental and/or illegal waste, contributes to harmful pathogens entering waterways.
The accumulation of chemical pollutants in water such as heavy metals, once ingested, can cause lots of health issues such as cancer and hormone disruption in humans. Increases in human health issues from water pollution put a large strain on our healthcare system.
Water pollution not only affects humans when they ingest it but can also pose risks to human health when swimming in polluted waters. Health issues such as pinkeye, hepatitis, skin rashes, and even respiratory infections have been linked to water containing poor water quality from sewage spills.
Water Pollution & The Environment:
Ecosystems rely on healthy water conditions to function. When water pollution causes algal blooms from excessive nutrients, it reduces the oxygen levels in the water, creating dead zones which starve organisms of oxygen, causing them to die.
Chemicals and heavy metals from different types of water pollution can reduce the lifespan of aquatic animals and their ability to reproduce. Also, metals that accumulate in water for long periods, can also make their way up the food chain to larger predatory fish such as tuna, which in turn we consume, leading to metal poisoning.
Aquatic environments are also threatened by marine debris pollution, a type of water pollution we are far too familiar with, because of the media. Marine debris can starve, entangle, and suffocate animals; this is particularly common in marine mammals and seabirds.
Solutions To Water Pollution
