 WATER 1.

SOURCE OF WATER
2. WATER POLLUTION
POLLUTION 3. EFFECT ON ENVIORNMENT
 SOURCE OF WATER
• There are various sources of water. About
97% of the water on the Earth’s surface
is covered with water. The three main
sources of water are:
• Rainwater.
• Groundwater – This includes water
bodies like Wells and Springs.
• Surface water – This includes different
water bodies like Reservoirs, Rivers,
Streams, Ponds, Lakes and Tanks.
 IMPORTANCE OF WATER

• We all need water for different daily activities

including:
• Domestic Purposes include bathing, cleaning, cooking,
drinking, and washing.
• Agricultural applications include irrigation, farming,
gardening, and frost control.
• Other Industrial Applications.
• Apart from this, we drink water to:
• Stay hydrated
• Lubricate Joints
• Regulate the body’s temperature
• Transport nutrients and other waste in the body.
• Balance the loss of water from the digestive tract and
body tissues.
 SOURCES OF WATER
POLLUTION

• Sewage ( Waste Water):The sewage water carries pathogens, a

typical water pollutant, other harmful bacterias, and chemicals
that can cause serious health problems and thereby diseases.
• Agricultural Pollution: Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are
used by farmers to protect crops from insects and bacterias.
However, when these chemicals are mixed up with water, they
produce harmful pollutants for plants and animals.

• Oil Pollution: Oil spill poses a huge threat to marine life when a
large amount of oil spills into the sea and does not dissolve in
water. It causes problems for local marine wildlife, including
fish, birds, and sea otters.

• Industrial Waste: Industries produce a tremendous amount of

waste, which contains toxic chemicals and pollutants, causing
air pollution and damage to our environment and us.

• The burning of fossil fuels: Fossil fuels like coal and oil, when
burnt, produce a substantial amount of ash in the atmosphere.
The particles which contain toxic chemicals when mixed with
water vapour result in acid rain.

• River dumping and Marine Dumping: The garbage produced by

households in the form of paper, plastic, food, aluminium,
rubber, glass, is collected and dumped into the rivers and seas.,
they not only cause water pollution but also harm aquatic
animals.
 WATE
R
CYCLE
 WATER CYCLE
• Water never stops moving. The water cycle mainly describes the process of
the continuous movement of water from the surface of the earth and it is
usually carried out in four different stages. The entire cycle is controlled by
the sun and is also known as the hydrological cycle
• Evaporation: In this stage, the heat from the sun heats up the water from
oceans and other water bodies and evaporates the water in the form of
vapours which rises up and form clouds.
• Condensation: The water vapour’s in the clouds cools down.
• Precipitation: The cooled water vapours in the clouds form droplets and
released in the form of Precipitation back to the earth surface in the form
of rain or snow.
• Collection: The rainwater runs off to the ground and gets collected into the
river, ponds, well, and back to the sea.
• As mentioned above, about 97% of the water on the Earth’s surface is
covered with water. Only 2 to 3% is available and safe for drinking. Rest of
the water is saltwater and other two-thirds of the Earth’s freshwater is
frozen in glaciers and these water resources are mostly inaccessible for
human use.
• This is the reason, we all need to reduce wasting this natural resource and
conserve water for future requirements.
 EFFECT ON ENVIORNMENT DUE
TO WATER POLLUTION

 Causes of Water Pollution

 Contamination of Water by Pathogens
• Disease-causing agents or pathogens is one of the major water
pollutants responsible for contamination of water and causes of
water pollution. Domestic sewage and animal excreta contain
different types of pathogens such as bacteria and other
microorganisms. For instance, human excreta contain bacteria like
Streptococcus faecalis and E. coli responsible for gastrointestinal
diseases.

• Water Pollution Due to Organic Wastes

• Another very important pollutant is organic matter like leaves,
trash, grass, dried leaves, etc. The runoff of the organic matter
leads to the pollution of water. Excessive growth of phytoplankton
in water can also be among the causes of water pollution.
However, these wastes are biodegradable (waste that can
decompose).

• The large bacterial population present in the water can decompose

the organic matter. These bacteria consume the oxygen present in
the water. However, the amount of oxygen present in the water
depends upon the holding capacity of the water.

• The oxygen present in water is the concentration of dissolved

oxygen (DO). The DO concentration in cold water is up to 10 parts
per million or 10 ppm. This amount is very small in comparison to
oxygen in the air which is around 200,000 ppm. The DO
concentration in water is a very important factor in terms of
aquatic life.

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC.

 EFFECT ON ENVIORNMENT DUE
TO WATER POLLUTION

 Biological Oxygen Demand

• In most cases, aerobic bacteria (bacteria
that do require oxygen for their survival)
utilizes the DO to decompose the organic
wastes thereby depleting the DO
concentration. Therefore, a particular
amount of oxygen is needed by bacteria to
decompose the organic matter present in a
particular volume of the water sample.
• This is known as BOD or Biochemical
Oxygen Demand. Therefore, the amount of
BOD indicates the amount of organic matter
present in a water sample. BOD indicates
the amount of oxygen which can easily
break down the organic material present in
a water body. The BOD value of clean water
is 5ppm. The BOD value of highly polluted
water can reach up to 17 ppm and
sometimes more.
 EFFECT ON ENVIORNMENT DUE
TO WATER POLLUTION
 Chemical Pollutants
• All of us have read that water is an excellent solvent. Therefore it can dissolve even
harmful heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, nickel, etc. These types of heavy metals
fall into the category of important types of pollutants because they are very harmful to
human body.
• Moreover, human beings are not capable of excreting these heavy metals. It will not
show its effect is present in small quantity. However, over the time the concentration
of the metals will rise in the human body due to gradual decomposition and can
possibly cross the tolerance limit.
• Heavy metals if cross the tolerance limit can cause damage in different parts of human
body including kidney, liver, central nervous systems, etc. Moreover, another type of
chemical pollutants includes acids and salts. An acid such as sulphuric acid can be
found in mine drainage and salts can be found in many sources such as sodium and
calcium chloride to melt snow and ice in colder regions.
• Another set of chemical pollutants responsible for water pollution are organic
chemicals. For instance, oil spills (petroleum products) pollute the oceans. Similarly,
pesticides are a class of organic substance that can one of the causes of water
pollution when they drift down as run-off from lands or in the form of sprays.
• Additionally, industrial chemicals such as PCBs or polychlorinated biphenyls are a class
of very harmful class water pollutant. Recent studies indicate they are carcinogenic
(cancer-causing). PCB is present in many regular household and industrial chemicals
like cleansing solvent, detergents, and fertilizers. However, nowadays biodegradable
detergents are used.
 EFFECT ON ENVIORNMENT
DUE TO WATER POLLUTION
 Eutrophication
• The lack of oxygen can be responsible for
destroying the aquatic life of any waterbody.
Chemical pollutants like fertilizer contain
phosphates in the form of additives. Therefore,
phosphate addition in water can lead to rapid
growth of algae. Hence, gradually the algae
growth can cover entire water surface which can
lead to the reduction in oxygen concentration.
• Therefore, lack of oxygen can cause death and
decay of aquatic animals thereby creating
anaerobic conditions in the waterbody. Hence,
the water body will become bloom-infested and
can inhibit the growth of other living organisms.
This entire process is eutrophication.
• Therefore, eutrophication refers to a process
where water bodies support dense plant
population due to nutrient enrichment, which can
also cause animal death by depriving the animal
life of oxygen thereby resulting in gradual loss of
biodiversity.
 MEASURES TO PREVENT WATER
POLLUTION