Water pollution, caused by contaminates being introduced to our water can have many negative effects. You will find out what some of these negative effects are. By the way, if you’re curious why there are no positive effects listed, it’s because there is none; it’s all wrong things when it comes to water pollution.
Water pollution has severe effects on us, and other living beings. Any wildlife and aquatic life exposed to water pollution can become very sick, or even die. Water pollution can cause us to get very sick as well and even potentially lead to death.
Causes of Water Pollution
These are just some of the causes of water pollution. There are many more that are not included here.
Volatile Organic Chemicals
What are volatile organic chemical water contaminants? VOC, for short, include many familiar things like pesticides and pesticides. It also contains other chemicals as well.
How do these chemicals get into the water? You can blame industrialization. You can also blame the many, many farmers using a ton of harmful, toxic pesticides.
Farmers use a lot of pesticides to treat their crops for a more abundant harvest. But the problem is, the excess pesticides they use has always had a way of making its way into water supplies that we use and depend on for survival.
Chloramines
Thinking that contaminants are just the stuff we don’t intentionally pour into our water sources? Well, I’d hate to tell you, but I’m going to have to tell you that you are wrong. Recently, chloramine has been used in large volume for the very reason of treating our water; to make it safer.
Chloramine was used to replaced chlorine for treating water. The reasoning behind that is using chloramine to treat water will result in fewer by-products; thus, complying with specific rules set out by the EPA. The problem with chloramines is there is a lot of unknowns. We don’t quite know for sure what the volumes of chloramine and its by-product can do to us through prolonged exposure.
Lead
Lead was once a heavily used metal. That was before we found out just how harmful it can be. Lead is toxic to humans and other living beings. It can cause serious damage to the liver and kidneys, the nervous system, the cardiovascular system, and much more. It is just a very nasty metal that does a lot of harm.
The problem is, there are still a lot of houses that might have used a lot of materials with a lot of lead. Some really old pipes and plumbing might even still have some lead in it. The can cause the lead to leach into the water used by you. For homes with copper pipes, the solder used to solder the joins between different pieces of pipes have contained lead in there. This can cause to lead leeching into your water supplies.
Mercury
Mercury is another seriously bad heavy metal just does a lot of nasty stuff to you. Areas that have been contaminated with mercury through accidents, or illegal disposal will can leach mercury into water sources. Aside from that, mercury can also contaminate water through naturally occurring deposits of mercury.
By-products of Water Disinfectants
Chlorine, once widely used to disinfect our tap water, had a severe problem. It wasn’t the chlorine itself that was harmful to people. The problem with chlorine was how it reacted to certain organic materials in water. When the chlorine reacted with rotting leaves in the water, it created lots and lots of harmful by-products.
Ways to Prevent Water Pollution
How do you help prevent water pollution? The not contribute, and to help reduce the effects of water pollution on life and the planet itself, just be aware and be mindful. The next time you choose to purchase any chemical for use, be aware of what potential harm it can do to life and the planet. At the very least, be mindful of how it can harm you and the area surrounding where you are planning to use it.
To protect yourself from water pollution, you will want to get yourself a water filter. Anytime you are using tap water to drink or cook with, filter your water with a decent water filter. To say that it will give you 100% protection would be lying, but it does make a world of a difference, so give that a thought.