What is water pollution?

Water pollution is the contamination of water sources by substances which make the water
unusable for drinking, cooking, cleaning, swimming, and other activities. Pollutants include
chemicals, trash, bacteria, and parasites. All forms of pollution eventually make their way to
water.
Or
Addition of unwanted substances in water which makes water harmful for living beings and non-
living things.
Or

Water pollution occurs when a body of water becomes contaminated, usually by chemicals or

microorganisms. Water pollution can cause water to become toxic to humans and the

environment.

Water is an essential resource for all life on Earth. If a water source becomes contaminated due
to pollution, it can lead to health issues in humans, such as cancer or cardiovascular conditions.

HOW WATERS GET POLLUTED

The common causes of water pollution include sewage disposal, chemical release from
industries, agricultural runoff, etc. The effects of these causes include aquatic life disturbance,
neurological and psychological errors in human beings, loss of flora and fauna

 Industrial Waste.
 Sewage and Wastewater /Leakage From Sewer Lines.
 Mining Activities.
 Marine Dumping.
 Accidental Oil Leakage.
 The burning of fossil fuels.
 Chemical fertilizers and pesticides/ Fertilizer Run-Off.
 Rapid Urban Development.
 Improper Sewage Disposal- not treated.
 Oil Spills from garages
 Chemical Waste Dumping.
 Radioactive Waste Discharge.
Ways to Reduce Water Pollution
1. Reduce the Use of Chemicals When Cleaning.
2. Practice Water Conservation.
3. Dispose of your Medications Properly.
4. Avoid the Use of Pesticides and Herbicides.
5. Avoid Water-Polluting Recreational Activities.
6. Avoid Disposing Items into the Toilet. (wcs) to avoid blockages
7. Maintain your Car

8. reducing plastic usage and recycling plastics when possible

9. disposing of household chemicals properly

10. keeping up with the maintenance of their vehicle to ensure it is not leaking harmful substances

11. avoiding using pesticides

12. making sure to clean up dog waste

13. making sustainable choices regarding food and drinks

14. considering going vegan or vegetarian

 EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION

Consumption of polluted water is a major cause of ill health. Polluted water causes some of the
deadly diseases like cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, jaundice, etc. About 80 per cent of stomach
diseases in India are caused by polluted water.

Effects Of Water Pollution

The effect of water pollution depends upon the type of pollutants and its concentration. Also, the
location of water bodies is an important factor to determine the levels of pollution.

 Water bodies in the vicinity of urban areas are extremely polluted. This is the result of
dumping garbage and toxic chemicals by industrial and commercial establishments.

 Water pollution drastically affects aquatic life. It affects their metabolism, behavior,
causes illness and eventual death. Dioxin is a chemical that causes a lot of problems from
reproduction to uncontrolled cell growth or cancer. This chemical is bio accumulated in
fish, chicken and meat. Chemicals such as this travel up the food chain before entering
the human body.

 The effect of water pollution can have a huge impact on the food chain. It disrupts the
food-chain. Cadmium and lead are some toxic substances, these pollutants upon entering
the food chain through animals (fish when consumed by animals, humans) can continue
to disrupt at higher levels.

 Humans are affected by pollution and can contract diseases such as hepatitis through
faecal matter in water sources. Poor drinking water treatment and unfit water can always
cause an outbreak of infectious diseases such as cholera, etc.

 Destruction of biodiversity. Water pollution depletes aquatic ecosystems and triggers

unbridled(uncontrolled) proliferation (spread) of phytoplankton in lakes .
 Contamination of the food chain.
 Lack of potable water.
 Disease. Like cholera, typhoid
 Infant mortality- diarrheal disease
Preventing Water Pollution
The first method of preventing water pollution is to conserve the clean water that we do use.

The second method of preventing further water pollution is by using fewer chemicals and
cleaners in our homes and avoiding disposing of them down the sink and shower drains.

The next step toward better water quality is to get your home pipes checked for lead pollution.
This reduces negative health effects from lead and other chemical substances and heavy metals
and prevents further contamination into other bodies of water such as oceans, rivers, and lakes.

Lastly, it is important to avoid polluting outdoor water sources and supplies.

There are a number of organizations and technological advancements that aid in producing
higher water quality and the treatment of contaminated water, throughout the world.

Parameters of water
The physical parameters include color, taste, odor, temperature, turbidity, solids, and electrical
conductivity. On the other hand, chemical parameters can include pH, acidity, alkalinity,
chlorine, hardness, dissolved oxygen, and biological oxygen demand

There are three types of water quality parameters physical, chemical, and biological

Physical parameters of water

 These are some physical aspects of water quality that helps to determine whether water
is polluted or not.

1. Color:

 Pure water is colorless. Therefore any types of color appearance in water indicates water
pollution.
  Natural water system is often colored by foreign material. If color is due to suspended
material, it is called as apparent color. Color given by dissolved material that remains even
after removal of suspended material is called true color or real color.

2. Turbidity:

 Pure water is clear and do not absorb light. Therefore if turbidity appears in water, it
indicates water pollution.

 Turbidity in water is given by various materials like suspended solid, dissolved materials
and microbial loads. In general turbidity increases with increases in quantity of these
materials in water. However different materials differ in their light absorption capacity.

 Some materials that give turbidity may be toxic to consumers. Therefore turbid water is
not suitable for drinking purposes. Furthermore turbidity decrease efficiency of
disinfection process.

 Materials that give turbidity provide attachment site for toxic chemicals.

 Turbidity prevents penetration of light into deeper layer of natural water system that
directly affects photosynthetic organism in bottom.

3. Taste and odor:

 Pure water is always tasteless and odorless. Therefore if any types of taste and odor is
present, it indicates water pollution.

 Water taste and odor may develops due to natural or artificial regions.

 Artificial region for taste and odor in water is due to disinfection process (chlorination).
Some natural impurities dissolved in water can also give taste and odor.

 Compounds giving taste and odor to water may be toxic to consumer, so drinking water
should be taste less and odor less.

4. Temperature:

 Temperature is not directly used to evaluate whether water is potable (drinkable) or not.
  In natural water system like lake and river, temperature is very important physical factor
that determines water quality. If temperature increase, solubility of Oxygen in water
decreases.

 Furthermore rise in temperature increases the growth rate of aquatic microorganism, so

they consume dissolved O2 faster and level of dissolved O2 decreases.

 Similarly, temperature affects disinfection process because efficiency of disinfection is

lower at lower temperature.

5. Foam:

 Foam in water id due to foaming substances like detergents, soaps etc dissolve in water.
Foam is regarded as dangerous in natural water system because it creates anaerobic
condition.

 Some foaming substance is toxic to consumers. Therefore water with foam is not suitable
for drinking purposes.

6. Conductivity:

 Conductivity of water is mainly due to presence of ionizable inorganic compounds.

 Pure water has very low conductance. The conductivity measurement indicates amount of
ionizable inorganic compounds in water.

7. Total dissolved solid:

 If water is filtered to remove suspended solid, the remaining solid in water indicates total
dissolved solid.

 Dissolved solid may be organic (animal or plants waste) or inorganic compounds

(carbonate, sulfate, bicarbonate etc). These compounds give variety of effects like
hardness, taste, odor etc depending on nature of dissolved solid.
BIOLOGICAL PARAMETER

What are the biological parameters of water?

Biological parameters are important factor that determine quality of drinking water. It is more
important than physical and chemical parameters in term of direct effect on human health. Some
important biological characteristics affecting quality of drinking water includes bacteria,
protozoa, virus and algae

Biological parameters of water

 Biological parameters are important factor that determine quality of drinking water. It is
more important than physical and chemical parameters in term of direct effect on human
health.

 Some important biological characteristics affecting quality of drinking water includes

bacteria, protozoa, virus and algae.

1. Bacteriological aspects of water pollution:

 Human beings and other animals discharge large number of intestinal bacteria into stool
and urine. Therefore bacteria appears in drinking water when water source is contaminated
with stool.

 Some intestinal bacteria which are normal flora of intestine are not pathogenic while other
bacteria causes serious disease when they are present in drinking water.

 Some pathogenic bacteria includes- Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio cholera, Yersinea

enterocolitica
 These bacteria are only present in drinking water if source of water is contaminated with
faeces.

 Drinking water must be regularly check to detect intestinal pathogens. However all
intestinal pathogens are difficult to cultivate and identify in routine examination.
Therefore, presence of pathogenic intestinal bacteria is indirectly checked by detecting
intestinal normal flora. Such organism which are routinely checked for quality of water is
known as indicator organism for faecal contamination.
  Some indicator organism are faecal coliform ( E. coli), faecal Streptococci
(Enterococcus), Clostridium perfringens

2. Virological aspects of water pollution:

 Drinking water must be free from viruses.

 Sometime viruses from intestinal tract of infected person get access to water along with
faeces.

 Some intestinal pathogenic viruses which are transmitted through contaminated water are-
Rotavirus, Poliovirus, Hepatitis A and E, etc

3. Parasitological aspects of water pollution:

 Drinking water should be free from disease causing parasites.

 Many species of protozoa and helminthes that causes water borne disease contaminates
water through stool of infected patients.

 Some pathogenic parasites are- Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia, Balantidium coli, etc

4. Algae:

 Growth of algae in water affects the quality of water by various ways.

 Algae gives characteristic color, odor and taste to water. Also algae prevent penetration of
light to bottom of water system affecting photosynthetic organisms.

 Various algae produces toxic compounds. For examples, Microcystis produces

hepatotoxin, Similarly Anaebaena and Nostoc produces neurotoxin. Therefore, drinking
water should be free from algae

Chemical parameters of water

Chemical parameters: pH, Electrical Conductivity (E.C), Total Solids (TS), Total Dissolved
Solids (TDS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Hardness, Calcium Hardness, Magnesium
Hardness, Nitrates, Phosphates, Sulphates, Chlorides, Dissolved Oxygen (D.O), Biological
Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
These are some chemical aspects of water quality that helps to determine whether water is
polluted or not.

1. Chloride ion:

 Normally all types of water contains chloride ion but its concentration is very low in
natural water system.

 Chloride ion concentration increases in case of urine and sewage contaminated water.

 High concentration of chloride ion give salty taste and also corrodes pipelines of water.

 Normally 150mg/ltr of chloride ion is harmless.

 Maximum permissible limit of chloride ion in drinking water is 200mg/ ltr.

2. Ammonia:

 In water ammonia come from decomposition of organic matter like protein, amino acids
etc. Its concentration also increases during water disinfection process using chloramine.

 In water Ammonia (NH3) is first oxidized into nitrite and then into nitrate. Therefore by
measuring the concentration of NH3, nitrite and nitrate, we can predict the time of
contamination of organic matter in water.

 In recently contamination, concentration of NH3 is very high than nitrite and nitrate.

 Concentration of NH3 in ground water system is usually 3mg/ltr. If its concentration is

greater than 50mg/ltr, it gives characteristic taste and odor.

3. Nitrite:

 It is very unstable intermediate formed during conversion of NH2 into nitrate.

 In aerobic condition nitrite is oxidized into nitrate whereas in anaerobic condition, nitrite is
reduced to ammonia.
  If concentration of nitrite is greater in drinking water, it brings serious health hazard to the
consumers.

 Disease caused by high concentration of nitrite in infants is called Blue baby syndrome,
which is characterized by blue coloration of skin

 Level of nitrite in drinking water should not exceed 3mg/ltr.

4. Nitrate:

 It is most stable oxidized form of nitrogen. In water nitrate comes from organic matter
decomposition and from atmospheric nitrogen fixation.

 Like nitrite Nitrate should not exceed 3mg/ltr in drinking water. It is because nitrate can be
reduced into nitrite in gut of infants and causes nitrite poisoning.

 Nitrate is very important in natural water system like lake and pond because high
concentration of nitrate facilitates heavy growth of aquatic plants causing eutrophication.

5. Phosphate:

 In water phosphate is present in the form of H2PO4-, polyphosphate and as organic

phosphate.

 Phosphate in water sources comes from agricultural wastes, sewage and from industrial
effluent.

 Phosphate is not toxic to human being but it is important chemical in natural water system
like pond because its high concentration facilitates eutrophication.

6. Hardness:

 Hardness of water is merely due to salt of calcium and magnesium.

 Temporary hardness is due to carbonate and bicarbonate of calcium and magnesium while
permanent hardness is due to chloride and sulfate of calcium and magnesium.

7. Biological oxygen demand (BOD):

 Biological oxygen demand represents amount of oxygen required by living organism
(microorganism) for oxidation of biodegradable organic matters present in water under
aerobic condition.

 BOD is a direct measurement of quality of oxygen needed for biodegradation of organic

matter and indirect measurement of quantity of biodegradable organic matter in water.

 Furthermore, if dissolved oxygen is absent then organic matter starts to decompose

anaerobically that creates taste and odor problem.

 High value of BOD is an indicator of water pollution