Drinking water pollution

When potable water is contaminated by various sources like industrial effluent, solid waste, chemical waste, hospital waste, agriculture run-off, nuclear waste, wastewater etc it is called drinking water pollution. Drinking water is found in rivers, lakes, estuaries, streams, wells, canals, water courses, distributaries. It is one of the worst forms of pollution which directly hits the human health because life can’t be continued without drinking water and it intake is must.

Harms of polluted drinking water

By consuming polluted drinkingwater likelihood of various diseases related to gastro, joints, digestive system, immune system etc increased manifold. Hundreds of thousands of people die every year due to water born diseases which is end result of consumption of drinking water. 

Main sources of drinking water pollution

Effluent of industries and wastewater if flows into the fresh water bodies without being treated it reduces the mineral features of that water and creates several negative elements in it which directly hits the human lives if such water is consumed for drinking purpose. Therefore, stress is made all over the world that industrial effluent and wastewater must be treated before their final disposal. These two sources hugely pollute the drinking water.

Agriculture run-off is the second main sources of drinking water pollution as mostly farm lands are situated nearby of the drinking water reserves either in river, lake or estuaries. Therefore, the flow of agriculture runoff into them pollutes the fresh water and hits its positive features. Agriculture runoff includes entire agriculture solid and liquid waste including dry leaves, residue of pesticide, residue of chemical fertilizer, residual water used in farming etc. It is advised that to reduce the agriculture runoff, farmers must shift from chemical fertilizer to natural fertilizers like they used to do so in ancient times and avoid using pesticide unnecessarily besides arranging safe disposal of rest of the agriculture refuse like dry leaves, waste crops, seeds etc.

Solid and hospital wastes if dumped directly into water bodies are also one of the main sources of drinking water pollution. In backward societies where awareness is lesser about these menaces, such wastes are thrown into the fresh water bodies without feeling their danger to health. Therefore, these wastes must be disposed of into designated places instead of throwing them into drinking water bodies as these are most harmful for human health.

As a matter of fact whatever - other than drinking water itself - is flowed into the water body causes drinking water pollution and is quite harmful for human health. Therefore, it is advised all over the world that drinking water is the most precious element which must be protected from menace of pollution otherwise health of human beings will never remain safe. 

Pollution tax

Pollution tax! Please don’t impose it, as we are already overloaded by host of taxes and duties how come we pay another tax. It is common reaction if we tell someone that they are gone be taxed for another reason. Just kidding, it’s not a tax for all. It is to be imposed on those who pollute.

Polluter pay principle is widely recognized formula to tax the polluter. It means one who pollutes has to rectify his or her wrongdoings by offsetting the harmful effects. How? If you pollute the air by your factory just plant hundreds of trees in the vicinity to mitigate the negative effects of industrial emissions. If you run a huge hospital which creates infectious waste you must install an appropriate technology to remove the harmful effects of that infectious waste. Appropriate technology can be incinerator if it emits zero emissions or auto clave which neutralize the infectious elements from such waste.

Why pollution?

Why pollution? A simple question; and its answer is also so simple. Lack of planning and over-ambition! Man is hectic by nature. Very few believe in patience. Each one wants to get more in lesser time. Each work he wants mechanized to finish in lesser period of time. This is intrinsic feature of human being which distinguishes him or her from other living beings. During previous three centuries the miraculous development and progress in the field of science and technology truly reflect the competitive nature of human being.

Lack of planning is main cause ofpollution. Most of industries all over the world more particularly in third world countries are installed just to meet the consumption demand of consumers. If for example in an urban area there is acute demand of leather garments then businesses just try to fulfill this demand by establishing a tannery (a factory where leather is made) and do not take care of the environmental aspect of their establishment.

There is environmental law - in one form or in another - in most of the countries of the world that wherever and whenever you want to set up a factory you have to get its environmental impact assessment through environmental watchdog of your area. However, this law came into being

Water pollution

Water pollution means contamination of water either sweet or salty by various harmful elements and compounds which are not good for health or their excess deprives the water of its natural characteristics or features. For example if effluent of a chemical factory flows into the river then we say that river carries polluted water.

Water pollution is one of the worst forms of pollution because every living being either human being, animal or plants all have to consume water daily and suffer from various serious diseases due to intake of polluted water. If such an important element of life is polluted by unhygienic substances then it will impact negatively the health of who consume such water.

History of Pollution

The history of pollution is as old as the life itself. At the very beginning of life on Earth when man came to know the use of fire and first time burnt wood to cook the food, the smoke emitted from it and first time the environment of this world got polluted.

Stone Age

Thereafter, in Stone Age the cutting and trimming of stones to make pottery and weapons created dust which made pollution in the air. Despite that its level was so tiny and was not widely felt by the human beings of that time.

Pollution prevention

It is so easy to talk about pollution prevention but to practice doing something for it, is a painstaking job which needs persistence and perseverance because of your efforts to prevent this menace would take long time to bring results.

It is usually not difficult to control the pollution - which was already created - by removing the garbage from undesignated places, by planting trees to minimize pollution load from air and to treat industrial effluent and civic wastewater before its reuse. However, preventing pollution from the very beginning is a difficult task.

Role of industries

The industry can prevent pollution by installing a treatment plant that treats the effluent before its final disposal. However, its installation costs quite a lot and mostly industries avoid to do so or talk about combined treatment plant for a cluster of industries which most of the time does not work because of non-cooperation by many industries of the cluster. These industries usually refuse to pay fee to utilize the services of a treatment plant and initially, they expect the government to bear the capital cost of the plant and eventually the plan fails at its very early stage. It mostly happens in backward countries while in western world the industrial pollution prevention is exemplary because of the ideal partnership between governments and industries to curb this menace from the very beginning.

What is pollution control?

What is pollution control? Is it a lengthy formula to apply it with heavy machinery on long term basis with hi-fi technical expertise? Of course not, it’s contribution of each one of us to play his or her role for the mitigation of environmental degradation at individual and collective levels. In this way our unending efforts could bring on change in the environment of our world.

Are we controlling pollution?

Are we doing our job to minimize pollution? We know very well that pollution is a menace; it is so harmful for life and health of human beings. Millions of people all around the word directly or indirectly get affected by this grey reality and thousands die of this curse annually. Moreover, world economy suffers losses of billions of dollars owing to this all-pervasive menace. Despite this we are not paying heed to this serious issue. Why? Because this harmful phenomenon does not hit us at once, it’s a slow poison which gradually takes the life to the deep trench of death.

Environmental pollution

Environmental pollution not only hits the natural beauty of environment but in one way or the other it also directly affects the life on Earth apart from causing several diseases to human beings and animals. When any element or compound enters into environment unnecessarily and impacts its natural balance then it results into environmental pollution. In this way environment gets retarded to grow further and instead it starts negatively affecting humans and other living beings.

Kinds of pollution

There are several types of environmental pollution out of them related to air, water and land are most important. Under land pollution various elements negatively affect the features and their natural balance of land and get it polluted. It is mainly created due to