Water pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans and groundwater).

Water pollution affects plants and organisms living in these bodies of water; and, in almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to

individual species and populations, but also to the natural biological communities.

Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful

compounds.

Introduction

Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases, and that

it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily. An estimated 700 million Indians have no access to a proper toilet, and 1,000 Indian

children die of diarrheal sickness every day. Some 90% of China's cities suffer from some degree of water pollution, and nearly 500 million people

lack access to safe drinking water. In addition to the acute problems of water pollution in developing countries, industrialized countriescontinue to

struggle with pollution problems as well. In the most recent national report on water quality in the United States, 45 percent of

assessed stream miles, 47 percent of assessed lake acres, and 32 percent of assessed bay andestuarine square miles were classified as polluted.

Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and either does not support a human use, like serving

as drinking water, and/or undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities, such as fish. Natural phenomena such

as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water.

Water pollution categories

Surface water and groundwater have often been studied and managed as separate resources, although they are interrelated.Sources of surface water

pollution are generally grouped into two categories based on their origin.

Point source pollution

Point source pollution refers to contaminants that enter a waterway through a discrete conveyance, such as a pipe orditch. Examples of sources in

this category include discharges from a sewage treatment plant, a factory, or a city storm drain. The U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA) defines point

source for regulatory enforcement purposes. The CWA definition of point source was amended in 1987 to include municipal storm sewer systems,

as well as industrial stormwater, such as from construction sites.

Non-point source pollution

Non-point source (NPS) pollution refers to diffuse contamination that does not originate from a single discrete source. NPS pollution is often the

cumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a large area. The leaching out of nitrogen compounds from agricultural land

which has been fertilized is a typical example. Nutrient runoff instormwater from "sheet flow" over an agricultural field or a forest are also cited as

examples of NPS pollution.

pollution. However, this runoff is typically channeled into storm drain systems and discharged through pipes to local surface waters, and is a point

source. However where such water is not channeled and drains directly to ground it is a non-point source.

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Groundwater pollution

Interactions between groundwater and surface water are complex. Consequently, groundwater pollution, sometimes referred to as groundwater

contamination, is not as easily classified as surface water pollution. By its very nature, groundwater aquifers are susceptible to contamination from

sources that may not directly affect surface water bodies, and the distinction of point vs. non-point source may be irrelevant. A spill or ongoing

releases of chemical or radionuclide contaminants into soil (located away from a surface water body) may not create point source or non-point

source pollution, but can contaminate the aquifer below, defined as a toxin plume. The movement of the plume, a plume front, can be part of

a Hydrological transport model or Groundwater model. Analysis of groundwater contamination may focus on the soil characteristics and

site geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, and the nature of the contaminants.

Causes of water pollution

The specific contaminants leading to pollution in water include a wide spectrum of chemicals, pathogens, and physical or sensory changes such as

elevated temperature and discoloration. While many of the chemicals and substances that are regulated may be naturally occurring

(calcium, sodium, iron, manganese, etc.) the concentration is often the key in determining what is a natural component of water, and what is a

contaminant.

Oxygen-depleting substances may be natural materials, such as plant matter (e.g. leaves and grass) as well as man-made chemicals. Other natural

and anthropogenic substances may cause turbidity (cloudiness) which blocks light and disrupts plant growth, and clogs the gills of some fish

species.

Many of the chemical substances are toxic. Pathogens can produce waterborne diseases in either human or animal hosts.[11] Alteration of water's

physical chemistry includes acidity (change in pH), electrical conductivity, temperature, and eutrophication. Eutrophication is an increase in the

concentration of chemical nutrients in an ecosystem to an extent that increases in the primary productivity of the ecosystem. Depending on the

degree of eutrophication, subsequent negative environmental effects such as anoxia (oxygen depletion) and severe reductions in water quality may

occur, affecting fish and other animal populations.

Pathogens

Coliform bacteria are a commonly used bacterial indicator of water pollution, although not an actual cause of disease.

Other microorganisms sometimes found in surface waters which have caused human health problems include:

 Burkholderia pseudomallei

 Cryptosporidium parvum

 Giardia lamblia

 Salmonella
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 Novovirus and other viruses

 Parasitic worms (helminths).

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High levels of pathogens may result from inadequately treated sewage discharges. This can be caused by a sewage plant designed with less

than secondary treatment (more typical in less-developed countries). In developed countries, older cities with aging infrastructure may have leaky

sewage collection systems (pipes, pumps, valves), which can cause sanitary sewer overflows. Some cities also have combined sewers, which may

discharge untreated sewage during rain storms.[15]

Pathogen discharges may also be caused by poorly managed livestock operations.

Chemical and other contaminants

Contaminants may include organic and inorganic substances.

Organic water pollutants include:

 Detergents

 Disinfection by-products found in chemically disinfected drinking water, such as chloroform

 Food processing waste, which can include oxygen-demanding substances, fats and grease

 Insecticides and herbicides, a huge range of organohalides and other chemical compounds

 Petroleum hydrocarbons, including fuels (gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuels, and fuel oil) and lubricants (motor oil), and

fuel combustion byproducts, from stormwater runoff

 Tree and bush debris from logging operations

 Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as industrial solvents, from improper storage. Chlorinated solvents, which are dense non-

aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs), may fall to the bottom of reservoirs, since they don't mix well with water and are denser.

 Various chemical compounds found in personal hygiene and cosmetic products

Inorganic water pollutants include:

 Acidity caused by industrial discharges (especially sulfur dioxide from power plants)

 Ammonia from food processing waste

 Chemical waste as industrial by-products

 Fertilizers containing nutrients--nitrates and phosphates--which are found in stormwater runoff from agriculture, as well as commercial

and residential use

 Heavy metals from motor vehicles (via urban stormwater runoff) and acid mine drainage

 Silt (sediment) in runoff from construction sites, logging, slash and burn practices or land clearing sites

Macroscopic pollution—large visible items polluting the water—may be termed "floatables" in an urban stormwater context, or marine debris when

found on the open seas, and can include such items as:
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 Trash (e.g. paper, plastic, or food waste) discarded by people on the ground, and that are washed by rainfall into storm drains and

eventually discharged into surface waters

 Nurdles, small ubiquitous waterborne plastic pellets

Thermal pollution

Thermal pollution is the rise or fall in the temperature of a natural body of water caused by human influence. A common cause of thermal pollution

is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers. Elevated water temperatures decreases oxygen levels (which can kill

fish) and affects ecosystem composition, such as invasion by newthermophilic species. Urban runoff may also elevate temperature in surface waters.

Thermal pollution can also be caused by the release of very cold water from the base of reservoirs into warmer rivers.

Transport and chemical reactions of water pollutants

Most water pollutants are eventually carried by rivers into the oceans. In some areas of the world the influence can be traced hundred miles from the

mouth by studies using hydrology transport models. Advanced computer models such asSWMM or the DSSAM Model have been used in many

locations worldwide to examine the fate of pollutants in aquatic systems. Indicator filter feeding species such as copepods have also been used to

study pollutant fates in the New York Bight, for example. The highest toxin loads are not directly at the mouth of the Hudson River, but 100

kilometers south, since several days are required for incorporation into planktonic tissue. The Hudson discharge flows south along the coast due

to coriolis force. Further south then are areas of oxygen depletion, caused by chemicals using up oxygen and by algae blooms, caused by

excessnutrients from algal cell death and decomposition. Fish and shellfish kills have been reported, because toxins climb the food chain after small

fish consumecopepods, then large fish eat smaller fish, etc. Each successive step up the food chain causes a stepwise concentration of pollutants

such as heavy metals (e.g.mercury) and persistent organic pollutants such as DDT. This is known as biomagnification, which is occasionally used

interchangeably with bioaccumulation.

Large gyres (vortexes) in the oceans trap floating plastic debris. The North Pacific Gyre for example has collected the so-called "Great Pacific

Garbage Patch" that is now estimated at 100 times the size of Texas. Many of these long-lasting pieces wind up in the stomachs of marine birds and

animals. This results in obstruction of digestive pathways which leads to reduced appetite or even starvation.

Many chemicals undergo reactive decay or chemically change especially over long periods of time in groundwater reservoirs. A noteworthy class of

such chemicals is the chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene (used in industrial metal degreasing and electronics manufacturing)

and tetrachloroethylene used in the dry cleaning industry (note latest advances in liquid carbon dioxide in dry cleaning that avoids all use of

chemicals). Both of these chemicals, which are carcinogens themselves, undergo partial decomposition reactions, leading to new hazardous

chemicals (including dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride).

Groundwater pollution is much more difficult to abate than surface pollution because groundwater can move great distances through

unseen aquifers. Non-porous aquifers such as clays partially purify water of bacteria by simple filtration (adsorption and absorption), dilution, and,

in some cases, chemical reactions and biological activity: however, in some cases, the pollutants merely transform to soil contaminants.

Groundwater that moves through cracks and caverns is not filtered and can be transported as easily as surface water. In fact, this can be aggravated

by the human tendency to use natural sinkholes as dumps in areas of Karst topography.
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There are a variety of secondary effects stemming not from the original pollutant, but a derivative condition. An example is silt-bearing surface

runoff, which can inhibit the penetration of sunlight through the water column, hampering photosynthesis in aquatic plants.

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Measurement of water pollution

Water pollution may be analyzed through several broad categories of methods: physical, chemical and biological. Most involve collection of

samples, followed by specialized analytical tests. Some methods may be conducted in situ, without sampling, such as temperature. Government

agencies and research organizations have published standardized, validated analytical test methods to facilitate the comparability of results from

disparate testing events.

Sampling

Sampling of water for physical or chemical testing can be done by several methods, depending on the accuracy needed and the characteristics of the

contaminant. Many contamination events are sharply restricted in time, most commonly in association with rain events. For this reason "grab"

samples are often inadequate for fully quantifying contaminant levels. Scientists gathering this type of data often employ auto-sampler devices that

pump increments of water at either time or discharge intervals.

Sampling for biological testing involves collection of plants and/or animals from the surface water body. Depending on the type of assessment, the

organisms may be identified for biosurveys (population counts) and returned to the water body, or they may be dissected for bioassaysto

determine toxicity.

Physical testing

Common physical tests of water include temperature, solids concentration like total suspended solids (TSS) and turbidity.

Chemical testing

Water samples may be examined using the principles of analytical chemistry. Many published test methods are available for both organic and

inorganic compounds. Frequently used methods include pH, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nutrients

(nitrate and phosphoruscompounds), metals (including copper, zinc, cadmium, lead and mercury), oil and grease, total petroleum hydrocarbons

(TPH), and pesticides.

Biological testing

Biological testing involves the use of plant, animal, and/or microbial indicators to monitor the health of an aquatic ecosystem.

Control of water pollution

Domestic sewage

Domestic sewage is 99.9% pure water, the other 0.1% are pollutants. While found in low concentrations, these pollutants pose risk on a large

scale. In urban areas, domestic sewage is typically treated by centralized sewage treatment plants. In the U.S., most of these plants are

operated by local government agencies, frequently referred to aspublicly owned treatment works (POTW). Municipal treatment plants are

designed to control conventional pollutants: BOD and suspended solids. Well-designed and operated systems (i.e., secondary treatment or

better) can remove 90 percent or more of these pollutants. Some plants have additional sub-systems to treat nutrients and pathogens. Most
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municipal plants are not designed to treat toxic pollutants found in industrial wastewater.

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Cities with sanitary sewer overflows or combined sewer overflows employ one or more engineering approaches to reduce discharges of

untreated sewage, including:

 utilizing a green infrastructure approach to improve stormwater management capacity throughout the system, and reduce

the hydraulic overloading of the treatment plant

 repair and replacement of leaking and malfunctioning equipment

 increasing overall hydraulic capacity of the sewage collection system (often a very expensive option).

A household or business not served by a municipal treatment plant may have an individual septic tank, which treats the wastewater on site

and discharges into the soil. Alternatively, domestic wastewater may be sent to a nearby privately owned treatment system (e.g. in a rural

community).

Industrial wastewater

Some industrial facilities generate ordinary domestic sewage that can be treated by municipal facilities. Industries that generate wastewater

with high concentrations of conventional pollutants (e.g. oil and grease), toxic pollutants (e.g. heavy metals, volatile organic compounds) or

other nonconventional pollutants such as ammonia, need specialized treatment systems. Some of these facilities can install a pre-treatment

system to remove the toxic components, and then send the partially treated wastewater to the municipal system. Industries generating large

volumes of wastewater typically operate their own complete on-site treatment systems.

Some industries have been successful at redesigning their manufacturing processes to reduce or eliminate pollutants, through a process

called pollution prevention.

Heated water generated by power plants or manufacturing plants may be controlled with:

 cooling ponds, man-made bodies of water designed for cooling by evaporation, convection, and radiation

 cooling towers, which transfer waste heat to the atmosphere through evaporation and/or heat transfer

 cogeneration, a process where waste heat is recycled for domestic and/or industrial heating purposes.

Agricultural wastewater

Nonpoint source controls

Sediment (loose soil) washed off fields is the largest source of agricultural pollution in the United States.[10] Farmers may utilizeerosion

controls to reduce runoff flows and retain soil on their fields. Common techniques include contour plowing, crop mulching,crop rotation,

planting perennial crops and installing riparian buffers.

Nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) are typically applied to farmland as commercial fertilizer; animal manure; or spraying of municipal or

industrial wastewater (effluent) or sludge. Nutrients may also enter runoff from crop residues, irrigation water, wildlife, and atmospheric
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deposition. Farmers can develop and implement nutrient management plans to reduce excess application of nutrients.

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To minimize pesticide impacts, farmers may use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques (which can include biological pest control)

to maintain control over pests, reduce reliance on chemical pesticides, and protect water quality.

Point source wastewater treatment

Farms with large livestock and poultry operations, such as factory farms, are calledconcentrated animal feeding operations or confined

animal feeding operations in the U.S. and are being subject to increasing government regulation. Animal slurries are usually treated by

containment in lagoons before disposal by spray or trickle application to grassland. Constructed wetlands are sometimes used to facilitate

treatment of animal wastes, as are anaerobic lagoons. Some animal slurries are treated by mixing with straw and composted at high

temperature to produce a bacteriologically sterile and friable manure for soil improvement.

Construction site stormwater

Sediment from construction sites is managed by installation of:

 erosion controls, such as mulching and hydroseeding, and

 sediment controls, such as sediment basins and silt fences.

Discharge of toxic chemicals such as motor fuels and concrete washout is prevented by use of:

 spill prevention and control plans, and

 specially designed containers (e.g. for concrete washout) and structures such as overflow controls and diversion berms.

Urban runoff (stormwater)

Effective control of urban runoff involves reducing the velocity and flow of stormwater, as well as reducing pollutant discharges. Local

governments use a variety of stormwater management techniques to reduce the effects of urban runoff. These techniques, called best

management practices (BMPs) in the U.S., may focus on water quantity control, while others focus on improving water quality, and some

perform both functions.

Pollution prevention practices include low impact development techniques, installation of green roofs and improved chemical handling (e.g.

management of motor fuels & oil, fertilizers and pesticides). Runoff mitigation systems include infiltration basins, bioretention systems,

constructed wetlands, retention basins and similar devices.

Thermal pollution from runoff can be controlled by stormwater management facilities that absorb the runoff or direct it into groundwater,

such as bioretention systems and infiltration basins. Retention basins tend to be less effective at reducing temperature, as the water may be

heated by the sun before being discharged to a receiving stream.

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