Backround Information: Water Pollution


 What is Water Pollution?
   
    Water pollution is any change chemically or biologically in water quality that has a negative impact on living organisms that live in this water and/or use this water. Water pollution can be caused agricultural runoff, 75,000 chemical compounds from industries and factories, gasoline, cleaning products, and more.     

    Water pollution can be categorized into a few major areas of water contaminants including: disease-causing bacteria or viruses, plastic or pesticides, and human activities. Some ways the humans contribute to this water contamination are: from gasoline, cleaning products, and factories.


Statistics of Water Pollution

-29 cities 45,000 infants drank formula mixed with tap water containing weed killers and that "over half of these infants were swallowing 4 to 9 chemicals in every bottle!” 

-We use water daily in our homes and industries, about 150 gallons per day per person in the United States”

-“US drinking water contains more than 2100 toxic chemicals that can cause cancer”

-"1 in 3 people get cancer due to water pollution around the world…one out of 2 men"

-[There are] approximately 90 contaminants in drinking water”

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“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”


Why is Water Pollution Damaging?

    Water takes over 70% of the Earth’s surface, and because of water contamination, innocent organisms are dying off and our drinking water has been impacted. The effects of water pollution don’t only impact people, but they also can kill animals, fish, and other organisms. It also disturbs the food chain because smaller animals eat many pollutants. For example, in the oceanic life, smaller organisms are eaten by larger levels on the food chain, which also get impacted by this water pollution.    

    The ecosystems, both terrestrial and oceanic, are severely destroyed by this water pollution and this eventually does come back to impact us as well through diseases and other issues.