WATER POLLUTION

Environmental Science
 Water Pollution
is one of the main environmental issues that we are facing, as more than 70% of
the Earth’s surface is water

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 What is WATER
POLLUTION?
Occurs when harmful substances—often chemicals or
microorganisms—contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer,
or other body of water, degrading water quality and rendering it
toxic to humans or the environment.

• The contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of

human activities.
• Water bodies include for example lakes, rivers, oceans,
aquifers and groundwater.
• Water pollution results when contaminants are introduced
into the natural environment.

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Source of Water • Some of the water pollution that is caused is by
Direct Sources, such as factories, waste
management facilities. refineries etc, that directly
Pollution release waste and harmful by-products into the
nearest water source without treating them.
• Indirect sources include pollutants that enter the
• Domestic Waste water bodies via groundwater or soil or via the
• Industrial effluents atmosphere as acid rain.
• Insecticides and pesticides
• Detergents and Fertilizers

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What are the causes of Water Pollution?
These are some of the various causes:
Urbanization and Agriculture
Human activity Toxic substances Deforestation
• Improper • Even though it does not • Agriculture has an impact
• Industries, have a direct impact on on water pollution due to
disposal of water quality, urbanization the use of chemicals such
• Marine
waste, and deforestation have a lot as fertilizers, pesticides,
Dumping, of indirect effects. For fungicides, herbicides or
• Illegal activities instance, cutting down trees insecticides running off in
• Radioactive the water, as well as
such as Blast and concreting over large
Wastes. areas generates an livestock excrement,
fishing acceleration of flows which manure and methane
does not give enough time (greenhouse effect).
for water to infiltrate and be Regarding aquaculture,
purified by the ground. pollution is directly in the
water, as excess food and
fertilizers are causing
dystrophication.

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 Categories of Water Pollution
Groundwater
• When rain falls and seeps deep into the earth, filling the cracks, crevices, and porous spaces of an aquifer (basically
an underground storehouse of water), it becomes groundwater—one of our least visible but most important natural
resources.
• Groundwater gets polluted when contaminants—from pesticides and fertilizers to waste leached from landfills and
septic systems—make their way into an aquifer, rendering it unsafe for human use. Ridding groundwater of
contaminants can be difficult to impossible, as well as costly. Once polluted, an aquifer may be unusable for decades,
or even thousands of years. Groundwater can also spread contamination far from the original polluting source as it
seeps into streams, lakes, and oceans.

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• Surface water
• Covering about 70 percent of the earth, surface water is what fills our oceans, lakes, rivers, and all those other blue
bits on the world map.
• Farm waste and fertilizer runoff. Municipal and industrial waste discharges contribute their fair share of toxins as well.
There’s also all the random junk that industry and individuals dump directly into waterways.

• Ocean water
• Eighty percent of ocean pollution (also called marine pollution) originates on land—whether along the coast or far
inland. Contaminants such as chemicals, nutrients, and heavy metals are carried from farms, factories, and cities by
streams and rivers into our bays and estuaries; from there they travel out to sea.
• Meanwhile, marine debris—particularly plastic—is blown in by the wind or washed in via storm drains and sewers. Our
seas are also sometimes spoiled by oil spills and leaks—big and small—and are consistently soaking up carbon
pollution from the air. The ocean absorbs as much as a quarter of man-made carbon emissions.

• Point Source
• When contamination originates from a single source, it’s called point source pollution. Examples include wastewater
(also called effluent) discharged legally or illegally by a manufacturer, oil refinery, or wastewater treatment facility, as
well as contamination from leaking septic systems, chemical and oil spills, and illegal dumping.
• While point source pollution originates from a specific place, it can affect miles of waterways and ocean.

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• Non – point source
• Nonpoint source pollution is contamination derived from diffuse sources. These may include agricultural or
stormwater runoff or debris blown into waterways from land.

• Transboundary
• Transboundary pollution is the result of contaminated water from one country spilling into the waters of another.
Contamination can result from a disaster—like an oil spill—or the slow, downriver creep of industrial, agricultural, or
municipal discharge.

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 Effects of Water Pollution
Diseases
• It causes typhoid, cholera, hepatitis and various other diseases.

Destruction of Ecosystem
• Ecosystems are extremely dynamic and respond to even small changes in the environment. Water pollution can cause
an entire ecosystem to collapse if left unchecked.

Eutrophication
• Chemicals in a water body, encourage the growth of algae. These algae form a layer on top of the pond or lake.
Bacteria feed on this algae and this decreases the amount of oxygen in the water body, severely affecting the aquatic
life there.
Affects the food chain
• Disruption in food chains happens when toxins and pollutants in the water are consumed by aquatic animals (fish,
shellfish etc.) which are then consumed by human.

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 • The Philippines is a developing country that is also
undergoing rapid urbanization and industrialization. Out of more
than one hundred million Filipinos, nine million rely on unsafe
water supplies. In fact, water pollution in the Philippines and a
lack of proper sewage kills 55 people every day.

• Katrina Arianne Ebora, part of UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation and

Hygiene program in the Philippines, notes that access to

A Threat to Life
adequate sanitation facilities is a problem for more than 30
million Filipinos.

• Environmental group Greenpeace has previously warned that

According to a report released by Filipinos in key agricultural areas are drinking water contaminated
with nitrates. After conducting a study on important farming
the Asian Development Bank, areas, Greenpeace warned that nitrate levels were alarmingly
“heavy inorganic pollutants have above the safety limits set by the World Health Organization
made water increasingly a (WHO). The group also noted that “drinking water from 30
percent of all groundwater wells sampled in [the Philippines and
threat to life.” Thailand] showed nitrates levels above the WHO safety limit of 50
mg l-1 of nitrate.”

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What are the Preventions/Solutions?

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The Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004
(Republic Act No. 9275)

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 Other Preventive measures and Solutions
• Reduce your plastic consumption and reuse or recycle plastic
when you can.
• Properly dispose of chemical cleaners, oils, and non-
biodegradable items to keep them from ending up down the
drain.
• Maintain your car so it doesn’t leak oil, antifreeze, or coolant.
• If you have a yard, consider landscaping that reduces runoff and
avoid applying pesticides and herbicides.
• Save Water
• Better treatment of sewage
• Use environmentally friendly products

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 THANK YOU!
https://borgenproject.org/water-pollution-in-the-philippines/
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/water-pollution-everything-you-need-know
http://r12.emb.gov.ph/ra-9275-the-philippine-clean-water-
act/#:~:text=The%20Philippine%20Clean%20Water%20Act%20of%202004
%20(Republic%20Act%20No,and%20community%2Fhousehold%20activities
).