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Questions
With reference to pollution, explain the following:
Water pollution
Explain the following.
Water pollution
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Solution 1
Water pollution is caused by contamination of water by alteration in physical, chemical, biological characteristics of water making it unsuitable for designated use in its natural state.
Solution 2
Water pollution is the alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of water that makes it unfit for its intended uses, from drinking and irrigation to supporting aquatic life. It reduces dissolved oxygen, creates aesthetic and health hazards, and disrupts food chains. It arises from natural inputs like dissolved minerals and animal wastes, but is dominated by human sources: untreated sewage and domestic waste, industrial effluents carrying toxic chemicals and heavy metals, agricultural runoff rich in fertilisers and pesticides, oil spills, and thermal discharges from power plants. The consequences include eutrophication and algal blooms that deplete oxygen and kill fish, the spread of waterborne diseases (cholera, typhoid, diarrhoea, hepatitis), the creation of breeding grounds for disease vectors, and wider ecosystem damage, such as oil-coated birds and dead zones in seas. Persistent toxic substances bioaccumulate and biomagnify in food chains, for example, methylmercury accumulation in fish and arsenic or cadmium contamination have caused severe human illnesses in the past. Preventing and controlling water pollution requires treating sewage and industrial effluents before discharge, reducing and managing agricultural runoff, safer disposal of hazardous wastes, protecting and restoring wetlands and catchments, and community-level measures like rainwater harvesting and improved runoff control.
