Water Pollution
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater. All water pollution affects organisms and plants that live in these water bodies and in almost all cases the effect is damaging either to individual species and populations but also to the natural biological communities. It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful constituents.
Underground Pollution.
The concentration of many pollutants in groundwater is often higher than that in the most contaminated surface water supplies. Many of the chemicals are tasteless and odorless at concentrations believed to pose a threat to human health. The major groundwater pollutants are chlorides, nitrates, heavy metals, and toxic organics.
Since groundwater usually moves slowly through an aquifer, it may take years for pollution to show up in areas adjacent to sources of contamination. Once an aquifer is contaminated the pollutants may remain for centuries.
Ocean Pollution
The oceans receive pollutants from many sources. Oil pollutions is one of the more serious problems. About half of the oil that contaminates the ocean comes from human sources: oil well blowouts, tanker spills, and inland disposal of oil. Oil harms many organisms, especially if a spill occurs near an estuarine zone.
It may take two to ten years for aquatic life to recover from a spill. Thanks to public outcry and stricter controls, the number of oil spills has decreased substantially, although the problem is far from solved.
Plastic pollution has also become a major problem throughout the world. Plastic nets, plastic garbage, and plastic medical wastes are killing millions of marine mammals, turtles, and fish. Animals may become tangles in the plastic debris or may eat it and die. Because of public outcry, many governments have banned the dumping of plastics in oceans.
The Water Pollution GuideWelcome to the Water Pollution Guide, where you can find useful information about the sources of water pollution and how they can be treated.
Water covers over 70% of the Earth's surface and is a very important resource for people and the environment. Water pollution affects drinking water, rivers, lakes and oceans all over the world. This consequently harms human health and the natural environment. Here you can find out more about water pollution and what you can do to prevent it.
What Can You Do?
If you want to help keep our waters clean, there are many things you can do to help. You can prevent water pollution of nearby rivers and lakes as well as groundwater and drinking water by following some simple guidelines in your everyday life.
Conserve water by turning off the tap when running water is not necessary. This helps prevent water shortages and reduces the amount f contaminated water that needs treatment.
Be careful about what you throw down your sink or toilet.
Don't throw paints, oils or other forms of litter down the drain.
Use environmentally household products, such as washing powder, household cleaning agents and toiletries.
Take great care not to overuse pesticides and fertilisers. This will prevent runoffs of the material into nearby water sources.
By having more plants in your garden you are preventing fertiliser, pesticides and contaminated water from running off into nearby water sources.
Don't throw litter into rivers, lakes or oceans. Help clean up any litter you see on beaches or in rivers and lakes, make sure it is safe to collect the litter and put it in a nearby dustbin.
http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/
Water is Essential for LifeIt covers 71% of the earth's surface and makes up 65 % of our bodies. Everyone wants clean water-- to drink, for recreation, and just to enjoy looking at. If water becomes polluted, its loses its value to us economically and aesthetically, and can become a threat to our health and to the survival of the fish living in it and the wildlife that depends on it.
How does water pollution occur?Although some kinds of water pollution can occur through natural processes, it is mostly a result of human activities. We use water daily in our homes and industries, about 150 gallons per day per person in the United States. The water we use is taken from lakes and rivers, and from underground ; and after we have used it-- and contaminated it-- most of it returns to these locations.
The used water of a community is called wastewater, or sewage. If it is not treated before being discharged into waterways, serious pollution is the result. Historically, it has taken humanity quite a bit of time to come to grips with this problem. Water pollution also occurs when rain water runoff from urban and industrial areas and from agricultural land and mining operations makes its way back to rivers, lakes and into the ground
How do we prevent water pollution?To keep our used water from spoiling our water resources, we have to remove the pollutants before the water gets back into the environment. In urban areas in most developed countries, the wastewater from homes, businesses and factories is collected by a system of underground pipes-- sewers-- which carry it to one or more central treatment facilites. Most of these are located near bodies of water into which the treated wastewater is discharged.
In the U.S., all such facilites must have a permit issued by the federal and/or state government, describing limits on the amounts of various pollutants which may be discharged. Industries located in areas where they are not connected to a sewer can discharge directly into a waterway, but will need a permit, and will probably have to have their own treatment plants. Even industries which are connected to sewers may have to pretreat their wastewaters before discharging them into the sewers, because they may contain materials which will harm the sewers or the treatment plants-- or may be a danger to the people who work in maintaining the sewer system.
Homes in non-urban areas that are not connected to a sewer are usually required by their town to have on-site treatment systems. Most common for single homes are septic systems, which consist of a buried tank connected to a set of perforated pipes, embedded in gravel, which distribute the water into the soil. Larger housing complexes may have treatment systems based on the principles used in full-scale sewage treatment plants.
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/5161/water1.htm 
