WATER POLLUTION

Today we will also learnabout water pollution.

Water is mandatory for life. Human beings need water not only for drinking but for cooking, washing,
irrigation and fishing. Sadly, people have been abusing and misusing water since long.

Water pollution has become an increasing problem on earth which is affecting both human and animal
lives.

Water pollution occurs when substances usually chemicals or microorganisms contaminate a stream,
river, lake, ocean or other body of water, degrading water quality rendering it toxic to humans or the
environment.

The causes of water pollution may be categorized into two. These are the natural and human causes.

For the natural causes, water pollution maybe caused by the following.

1. Volcanoes
2. Animal waste
3. Algae
4. Silt from floods

For the human causes, which is the most crucial and detrimental, water pollution may be caused by the
following:

1. Sewage- this refers to used water which is a wastewater. It comes from our sinks, showers,
toilets, and from commercial, industrial and agricultural activities. The term also include
stormwater runoff which occurs when rainfall carries road salts, oil, grease, chemicals and debris
from impermeable surfaces into our waterwaste. According to the United Nations, more than 80
percent of the world’s wastewater flows back to the environment without being treated or
reused. In the least developed countries, the figure tops 95 percent.
2. Use of pesticides and fertilizers from farms
3. Waste from factories and construction sites
4. Acid Rain
5. Oil Spillage

EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION

1. DEATH OF AUQATIC ANIMALS- kills organisms like fish, crabs, dolphins that depend of these
water bodies.
2. DISRUPTION OF FOOD CHAINS- pollutants are eaten by small animals. These animals are
consumed by fish and others. The food chain continues to be disrupted at all level due to this.
3. DIEASEAS- drinking polluted water can cause serious health problems like cholera, typhoid and
diarrhoea.
How can we stop water pollution?

There is no easy way to solve water pollution; if there were, it wouldn't be so much of a problem.
Broadly speaking, there are three different things that can help to tackle the problem—education, laws,
and economics—and they work together as a team.

Education

Making people aware of the problem is the first step to solving it. Greater public awareness can make a
positive difference.

Laws

One of the biggest problems with water pollution is its transboundary nature. Many rivers cross
countries, while seas span whole continents. Pollution discharged by factories in one country with poor
environmental standards can cause problems in neighboring nations, even when they have tougher laws
and higher standards. Environmental laws can make it tougher for people to pollute, but to be really
effective they have to operate across national and international borders. This is why we have
international laws governing the oceans, such as the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (signed
by over 120 nations).

Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, or Republic Act No. 9275 was passed, which aim is to protect the
country’s water bodies from pollution from land-based sources. It provides for a comprehensive and
integrated strategy to prevent and minimize pollution through a multi-sectoral and participatory
approach involving all stakeholders. In Section 2, it specifically states that RA 9275 aims to pursue a
policy of economic growth in a manner consistent with the protection, preservation and revival of the
quality of our fresh, brackish and marine water. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved the Clean
Water Act on March 2, 2004, and it took effect on May 6, 2004. The Implementing Rules and
Regulations (IRR) of the Act were approved by the Secretary of the DENR on May 16, 2005 and took
effect on June 10, 2005.

DENR

The primary duty of the DENR is to act as the overall lead agency to implement and enforce the Clean
Water Act. This included the preparation of a National Water Quality Status Report, an Integrated Water
Quality Management Framework, and a 10-year Water Quality Management Area Action Plan. The
Action Plan is to be reviewed by the water quality management area governing board every five years,
or as the need arises.238 Aside from designating water management areas pursuant to Section 5, the
DENR is also tasked to designate water bodies where specific pollutants from either natural or man-
made source have already exceeded water quality guidelines as nonattainment areas for the exceeded
pollutants.

Economics

Most environmental experts agree that the best way to tackle pollution is through something called
the polluter pays principle. This means that whoever causes pollution should have to pay to clean it up,
one way or another. Polluter pays can operate in all kinds of ways. It could mean that tanker owners
should have to take out insurance that covers the cost of oil spill cleanups, for example. It could also
mean that shoppers should have to pay for their plastic grocery bags, as is now common in Ireland, to
encourage recycling and minimize waste. Or it could mean that factories that use rivers must have their
water inlet pipes downstream of their effluent outflow pipes, so if they cause pollution they themselves
are the first people to suffer. Ultimately, the polluter pays principle is designed to deter people from
polluting by making it less expensive for them to behave in an environmentally responsible way.

Our clean future

Life is ultimately about choices—and so is pollution. We can live with sewage-strewn beaches, dead
rivers, and fish that are too poisonous to eat. Or we can work together to keep the environment clean so
the plants, animals, and people who depend on it remain healthy. We can take individual action to help
reduce water pollution, for example, by using environmentally friendly detergents, not pouring oil down
drains, reducing pesticides, and so on. We can take community action too, by helping out on beach
cleans or litter picks to keep our rivers and seas that little bit cleaner. And we can take action as
countries and continents to pass laws that will make pollution harder and the world less polluted.
Working together, we can make pollution less of a problem—and the world a better place.