Water Pollution

The topic of my report is water pollution, which is one of the biggest problems that we have to face nowadays

According to the American College Dictionary, pollution is defined as: "to make foul or unclean; dirty." Water pollution occurs when a body of water is adversely affected due to the addition of large amounts of materials to the water. When it is unfit for its intended use, water is considered polluted

The major sources of water pollution can be classified as municipal, industrial, and agricultural. Municipal water pollution consists of waste water from homes and commercial establishments. For many years, the main goal of treating municipal

wastewater was simply to reduce its content of suspended solids, oxygen-demanding materials, dissolved inorganic compounds, and harmful bacteria. In recent years, however, more stress has been placed on improving means of disposal of the solid residues from the municipal treatment processes

Estimates suggest that nearly 1.5 billion people lack safe drinking water and that at least 5 million deaths per year can be attributed to waterborne diseases. With over 70 percent of the planet covered by oceans, people have long acted as if these very bodies of water could serve as a limitless dumping ground for wastes. Raw sewage, garbage, and oil spills have begun to overwhelm the diluting capabilities of the oceans, and most coastal waters are now polluted. Beaches around the world are closed regularly, often because of high amounts of bacteria from sewage disposal, and marine wildlife is beginning to suffer.

The problems associated with water pollution are able to disrupt life on our planet to a great extent. By passing laws to try to combat water pollution, Congress has acknowledged the fact that water pollution is a serious issue. But the government alone cannot solve the entire problem. It is ultimately up to us, to be informed, responsible and involved when it comes to the problems we face with our water.

Water pollution is a change in the chemical or physical condition of the water that impairs man's enjoyment of water. There are so many sources of water pollution and until now I didn't realize that I was one of them. When I help clean my Mom's house, especially the kitchen and the bathroom, I use the strongest product on the market to disinfect them. Also when I take out the garbage I am polluting the water. "Entering sewers in dissolved form are the soaps, synthetic detergents, bleaches, and other chemicals used by the housewife. From homes also come various disposable paper products, including toilet tissue and babies' diapers" (Sources 336). It is a shame. I really wish there was a way for me or us to clean our houses without polluting the environment around us.

I felt a little bit better later on, while researching water pollution problems, I read an article about a housewife named Lorrie Coterill from Athens, Texas, who discovered near her home barrels leaking diesel fuel and a sludge containing lead, arsenic, cadmium, and other dangerous substances. These were illegally dumped and they were contaminating the ground water used by the neighborhood. Later on Lorrie Coterill became an environmentalist in her state (Countryman 1). This story about Lorrie Coterill made me feel better because at least one of us was doing something more than just adding pollutants to the water.

During the last five years, several events have had an effect on water pollution, the following is a list of some of them.

Jan. 30, 2000 Aurul goldmine dam near Baia Mare, Romania overflows releasing cyanide-laced slurry into the Danube River. The spill is been compared to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986 and a cyanide spill in southern Colorado in 1992. Alexandru Savulescu, "Romanian Gold Mine Reopens Despite Cyanide Disaster Fears" (ENS, July 28, 2000)

Summer 2001 Protests in China concerning the Three Gorges Dam increase as a massive relocation of over one million people begins. "Credible accounts are emerging of protests involving thousands of people," said the London Independent (June 19). 2001 Ð'-

July 6, 2001 Environmental Working Group reports that sources of drinking water for more than 7 million Californians and millions of others