Water Pollution & Our Environment

Water pollution has created a lot of problems for us. Many diseases are water borne and caused serious illnesses among the people. About 60 percent of Pakistan is lacking pure drinking water. Water pollution means the contamination of water bodies, for instance, rivers, lakes, oceans, groundwater, and aquifers. Water pollution is increasing day by day due to sewage leaching and industrial wastage disposal in rivers and lakes. Water pollution occurs when contaminants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to eradicate harmful and dangerous compounds.

Main Causes of water pollution:

The main cause of water pollution is the disposal of untreated liquid municipal waste into water bodies, like rivers, canal, lakes, and ponds. The leakage of sewer lines and pollutes the water resources. Industrial waste water highly contaminates the water and causes water pollution. Nowadays, the most important parameter of water pollution is the high decline in the water harvesting. Water is polluted by the poor sanitation and sewerage system and consequently

Effects of water pollution:

The most harmful effect of water pollution is the drinking water contamination, which ultimately causes the serious diseases. The drastic pollution of water bodies, for instance, rivers, canals, drains, barrages and lakes and ponds. The other effect is the sub-soil water pollution which ultimately leads to the poor quality water for irrigation and drinking purposes as well. The water bodies and oceans are enriched with different varieties of aquatic life. Polluted water ensures the death and extinction of aquatic life. If we apply polluted irrigation water containing heavy metals and contaminants, the irrigated crops are damaged and fail to grow. Heavy metal contamination has become a serious issue in these days and it is an alarming threat to the human beings. Polluted water is the only one reason for enhanced rate of water borne diseases.

Remedies to lessen water pollution:

There is a need to for the installation of polluted water treatment plants. The industrial and municipal effluents should be treated before disposal to oceans water bodies like rivers, lakes, and the canals. There should be an adequate collection of disposable materials, recycling, reduce and reuse of these items. In industrial sector, there should be the application of “Clean Technology” so that public could not get harm from the wastage of industries and smoke from chimneys. Sewage line should be segregated and separate from the drinking water supply line to abstain the mixing of both supplies. We should install filter plants for consumption of clean drinking water. Finally, create awareness of 3R’s formula, which is, Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse. The water bodies and oceans are enriched with different varieties of aquatic life. Polluted water ensures the death and extinction of aquatic life. We should not throw garbage or waste into the oceans and water resources. The menace of water pollution is increasing day by day due sewage leaching and industrial wastage disposal in rivers and lakes. There should be rules to check the water quality for irrigation and drinking purpose. Poor quality irrigation water leads to uptake and accumulation of heavy metals in the crops and vegetables. The cereals and vegetable are sold in the market which causes diseases.