water pollution project presentation

Home / Free Education Presentation templates / Free Water Pollution PPT Template and Google slides

Free Water Pollution PPT Template and Google slides

About the Template

Water pollution ppt presentation slides.

Today one of the most pressing environmental concerns is water pollution. Download this water pollution ppt template and outline your thoughts on water pollution and what can you do to prevent it.

Today water pollution,  Air Pollution  is becoming a serious concern. Our Free Water Pollution PowerPoint Template features a thoughtfully crafted blend of eye-catching visuals, data-driven charts, and easy-to-read text. With a color scheme that evokes the tranquillity of clean waters and the urgency to protect them, this template sets the stage for impactful storytelling.

A Future Drowned in Toxins: Water Pollution – The Threat to Our Planet

Water pollution poses a severe threat to our planet. Contaminated water bodies can disrupt and decline of fish populations and the destruction of marine habitats. Toxic substances can also seep into groundwater, contaminating drinking water sources and posing serious health risks to humans and animals. Furthermore, water pollution can contribute to climate change by releasing greenhouse gases such as methane, which is produced in anaerobic conditions like polluted sediments.

With this water pollution presentation template highlight the devastating consequences of water pollution, educate can inspire audience to become environmental stewards and take action to protect our planet’s precious water resources.

Through captivating visuals, compelling storytelling, and interactive elements, with these PPT on water pollution can foster a deeper understanding of the issue and empower students to make a positive difference.

What You Will Find in this Water Pollution PPT Presentation Slides

This water pollution ppt template includes variety of slides, to help you create informative resource on water conservation. The slides included in the template cover a wide range of topics, providing a solid foundation for your environmental education and advocacy efforts.

• Introduction: A captivating opening slide to grab your audience’s attention and set the stage for the presentation.
• About Water Pollution: A clear and concise definition of water pollution, along with its significance and global impact.
• Types of Water Pollution: A breakdown of different types of water pollution, including point and non-point sources.
• Groundwater Pollution: Information on the contamination of groundwater resources and its serious consequences.
• Surface Water Pollution: An overview of pollution affecting rivers, lakes, and streams, with examples of common pollutants.
• Ocean Water Pollution: The impacts of pollution on marine ecosystems, including oil spills, plastic waste, and nutrient runoff.
• Types of Water Contamination: A detailed explanation of various contaminants found in water, such as heavy metals, chemicals, and pathogens.
• Effects of Water Pollution on the Human Body: The health risks associated with consuming contaminated water, including diseases and long-term health problems.
• Preventing Water Pollution: Strategies and solutions for reducing water pollution, such as wastewater treatment, pollution control measures, and sustainable practices.

How Water Pollution Templates Can Educate Your Audience

These Water pollution slides template serves as a powerful tool for enlightening audiences about the critical issues facing our planet and inspiring them to take action. By presenting information in an engaging and accessible manner, educators can:

• Raise awareness: Educate audiences about the causes, effects, and consequences of water pollution, fostering a deeper understanding of the issue.
• Inspire action: Motivate individuals to reduce their water consumption and support efforts to protect water resources.
• Promote critical thinking: Encourage audiences to analyze information, evaluate solutions, and develop informed opinions on environmental issues.
• Foster empathy: Help audiences connect with the natural world and understand the impact of pollution on aquatic ecosystems and human communities.
• Empower individuals: Equip audiences with the knowledge and skills to become active participants in environmental conservation and advocate for sustainable practices.

Key Features of this free Water Pollution Presentation template

This thoughtfully crafted PPT on water pollution is designed to empower individuals and organizations to effectively communicate the importance of water conservation and pollution prevention. With a blend of informative content, engaging visuals, and practical resources, this template provides a comprehensive framework for creating impactful presentations, educational materials, and advocacy campaigns.

• Stunning Visuals:  From polluted water bodies to images of eco-friendly practices, this PPT on water pollutions provides you wide range of high-quality visuals to support your message.
• Clear and Concise Text:  The template’s text sections are formatted for maximum readability, making it easy to create informative content without overwhelming your audience.
• Environmental Icons:  Included icons help in reinforcing environmental themes and are easily customizable.
• Section Breaks:  Well-structured section breaks allow you to organize your presentation seamlessly, ensuring your content flows naturally.
• Editable and Customizable:  The template is fully customizable, so you can tailor it to your specific needs, whether you’re a student, researcher, educator, or environmental advocate.

Who Should Download Water Pollution Templates

This water pollution slides template is a valuable resource for a wide range of individuals and organizations committed to environmental education and advocacy. Whether you’re a teacher, student, researcher, or community activist, this template can help you effectively communicate the importance of water conservation and pollution prevention.

Who Should Get this Free Water Pollution PPT

• Teachers: Teachers or educators can use these educational templates to create engaging and informative lessons on water pollution, environmental science, and sustainability.
• Students: Develop presentations for class projects, research papers, or community outreach initiatives.
• Environmental Organizations: Use the template to create educational materials, advocacy campaigns, and fundraising appeals.
• Community Activists: Organize events, workshops, and presentations to raise awareness and mobilize local action.
• Government Officials: Develop public education campaigns and inform citizens about water policies and regulations.
• Businesses: Demonstrate corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives.
• Individuals: Create personal presentations for community groups, clubs, or social gatherings.

According to recent research conducted by  Environment Protection Agency  (EPA), water in many nations’ rivers and lakes and the reservoir is far from pure. Plus, the quality of the water tested is far from pure.

Water pollution is a massive global problem. Every year, millions of pollutants are dumped into our oceans, lakes, and rivers. This contamination can cause serious health problems for both people and wildlife. Thankfully, there are ways to help prevent water pollution from happening. With this water pollution PowerPoint presentation slide, educate your audience and make them understand the causes and essential steps to be taken to reduce the impact.

Water pollution can have a devastating impact on aquatic life and the environment. But together we can protect our waters and preserve our planet! So, what you are waiting for is to get this presentation on water pollution ppt presentation and create awareness in society for preserving the environment.

If you are looking for more environmental-related templates, check out our  Creative templates  library.

Google Slide,PowerPoint

100% Fully Customizable

Free to use

Free Active Template Library

Free Air Pollution PPT Template and Google Slides

Free Ecology PPT Template and Google Slides

Free Earth Day PowerPoint Template & Google Slides Themes for Presentation

Free – Mental Health Awareness Month PowerPoint Template and Google Slides

Free Spotify Google Slides Template PowerPoint

Are you looking for custom presentation template designs.

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable

Water Pollution PPT: Cause, Effects, Types, Prevention

Water pollution occurs when harmful substances, such as chemicals, waste, or toxins, contaminate water bodies like rivers, lakes, and oceans. These pollutants come from industrial discharge, agricultural runoff, sewage, and plastic waste, affecting the quality of water for humans, animals, and plants.

Also See: Noise Pollution PPT

Contaminated water harms aquatic life, disrupts ecosystems, and can spread diseases. It also affects drinking water supplies, making it unsafe for consumption. Preventing water pollution requires efforts like proper waste disposal, reducing plastic use, and using environmentally friendly farming practices. Clean water is essential for life, making it crucial to protect our water sources from pollution.

Also See: Soil Pollution PPT

Table of Content for Water Pollution PPT

• What is Water Pollution?

Free Download Link

Water Pollution PPT

Related posts:

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Newly Launched - AI Presentation Maker

Researched by Consultants from Top-Tier Management Companies

AI PPT Maker

Powerpoint Templates

PPT Bundles

Kpi Dashboard

Professional

Business Plans

Swot Analysis

Gantt Chart

Business Proposal

Marketing Plan

Project Management

Business Case

Business Model

Cyber Security

Business PPT

Digital Marketing

Digital Transformation

Human Resources

Product Management

Artificial Intelligence

Company Profile

Acknowledgement PPT

PPT Presentation

Reports Brochures

One Page Pitch

Interview PPT

All Categories

Must-Have Water Pollution PowerPoint Templates with Samples and Examples

Sapna Singh

Do you know that water is the only substance on Earth that exists naturally in three states: solid, liquid, and gas? This vital natural resource supports life on our planet. Unfortunately, human activities have caused major disasters linked to water contamination, wreaking havoc on the environment and public health.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, one of the largest oil spills in history, occurred in the Gulf of Mexico when the oil rig exploded accidentally, releasing 210 million tonnes of oil into the surrounding waters, polluting over 1,000 miles of coastline. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a vast accumulation of floating trash resulting from human waste in the North Pacific Ocean.

Access SlideTeam’s PPT Templates to gain the ability to make a difference by emphasizing ways to protect our planet and secure a brighter future.

Even though our planet is mostly water, industrial spills, chemical leaks, nuclear mishaps, and human activities have all contributed to widespread contamination of water sources. There is an increasing need to recognize the state of our waters and encourage the community to preserve them as clean as possible.

Stand up for our waters.

This blog features must-have PowerPoint Templates for learning about the current water crises and pollution challenges. Use these pre-made templates to discuss why water is so important for human survival and more! The 100% editable and customizable nature of the templates allows you to edit your presentations. The content-ready slides give you the much-needed structure.

Promoting environmental awareness is vital to maintaining a sustainable and bright future for our children. Discover pre-designed Climate Change and Environmental Awareness Templates to help spread the word and address the challenges.

Template 1: Sources Of Water Pollution

Water is essential to our ecosystem. It is, therefore, critical to discuss the natural causes and anthropogenic causes that contribute to water contamination concerns. This PPT Template depicts some critical water pollution facts to ensure effective water treatment regulations and management to maintain the world’s water supply clean. Use this presentation to handle the complex challenges of water resource decisions and design solutions that are socially acceptable, politically viable, and economically feasible. Download it now!

Download this template

Template 2: Ways to Prevent and Control Water Pollution

Less than 0.3% of freshwater is available for human consumption. This PPT Slide discusses the global importance of water and addresses facts linked to water pollution. This infographic provides a general summary of water pollution's effects on organisms. It offers information about facts, measurements, trash, and other topics. Use this template to understand how water pollution can be prevented and controlled in a variety of ways.

Template 3: Characteristics of Water Quality Assessment Operations

Water quality assessment is required to determine the acceptability and safety of water for use across purposes. Use this PPT Template to discuss the assessment of water contamination levels. It comprises factors like station density and location, observation frequencies, variables to be considered, duration, and more. This aids in understanding changes in concentrations of contaminants, monitoring them to implement treatment operations, and track public health. Get it right away.

The most serious ecological threats we face today!

To tackle water pollution, it is important to address the root causes at the community level. Use SlideTeam’s PPT Templates to minimize or restrict water contamination to preserve the natural world for the benefit of both people and nature.

PS Explore the transforming potential of CSR and how SlideTeam’s pre-made PPT Templates may help you get there.

Related posts:

• How to Design the Perfect Service Launch Presentation [Custom Launch Deck Included]
• Quarterly Business Review Presentation: All the Essential Slides You Need in Your Deck
• [Updated 2023] How to Design The Perfect Product Launch Presentation [Best Templates Included]
• 99% of the Pitches Fail! Find Out What Makes Any Startup a Success

Liked this blog? Please recommend us

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA - the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

--> Digital revolution powerpoint presentation slides

--> Sales funnel results presentation layouts

--> 3d men joinning circular jigsaw puzzles ppt graphics icons

--> Business Strategic Planning Template For Organizations Powerpoint Presentation Slides

--> Future plan powerpoint template slide

--> Project Management Team Powerpoint Presentation Slides

--> Brand marketing powerpoint presentation slides

--> Launching a new service powerpoint presentation with slides go to market

--> Agenda powerpoint slide show

--> Four key metrics donut chart with percentage

--> Engineering and technology ppt inspiration example introduction continuous process improvement

--> Meet our team representing in circular format

JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser.

• My Wish List

• Compare Products
• Presentations

Water Pollution

You must be logged in to download this file*

item details (6 Editable Slides)

(6 Editable Slides)

Related Products

Grab our innovative Water Pollution PowerPoint template to describe the process of releasing harmful substances into the water bodies, which leads to their contamination, making them unfit for human consumption.

Environmentalists can leverage these PowerPoint slides to demonstrate the sources of water contamination and the different types and causes of water pollution. You can utilize the animated deck to depict the contributors and harmful effects of water pollution and measures to prevent it.

Sizing Charts

Got any suggestions?

We want to hear from you! Send us a message and help improve Slidesgo

Top searches

Trending searches

indigenous canada

48 templates

hispanic heritage month

21 templates

39 templates

49 templates

day of the dead

13 templates

dominican republic

35 templates

Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention

It seems that you like this template, action plan for water pollution prevention presentation, free google slides theme, powerpoint template, and canva presentation template.

This is the template you need if you’re looking to present an action plan for water pollution prevention. It’s full of beautiful illustrations of water, and combining a background in shades of blue with colorful touches. It has everything you need to make the subject come alive, from graphs and icons to charts and more. So add your own personal touch, and do your part to help keep water clean!

Features of this template

• 100% editable and easy to modify
• 37 different slides to impress your audience
• Contains easy-to-edit graphics such as graphs, maps, tables, timelines and mockups
• Includes 500+ icons and Flaticon’s extension for customizing your slides
• Designed to be used in Google Slides, Canva, and Microsoft PowerPoint
• 16:9 widescreen format suitable for all types of screens
• Includes information about fonts, colors, and credits of the resources used

How can I use the template?

Am I free to use the templates?

How to attribute?

Combines with:

This template can be combined with this other one to create the perfect presentation:

Attribution required If you are a free user, you must attribute Slidesgo by keeping the slide where the credits appear. How to attribute?

Register for free and start downloading now

Related posts on our blog.

How to Add, Duplicate, Move, Delete or Hide Slides in Google Slides

How to Change Layouts in PowerPoint

How to Change the Slide Size in Google Slides

Related presentations.

Premium template

Unlock this template and gain unlimited access

• All Resource

PPT Templates

Single slides.

• Pitch Deck 218 templates
• Animation 341 templates
• Vertical Report 316 templates
• Business 814 templates
• Finance 56 templates
• Construction 48 templates
• IT/Commerce 175 templates
• Medical 64 templates
• Education 46 templates
• Lifestyle 406 templates
• Pitch Decks 138 templates
• Business 549 templates
• Finance 20 templates
• Construction 75 templates
• IT/Commerce 73 templates
• Medical 27 templates
• Education 45 templates
• Lifestyle 578 templates
• Pitch Decks 140 templates
• Business 469 templates
• Finance 19 templates
• Construction 64 templates
• IT/Commerce 72 templates
• Medical 29 templates
• Education 39 templates
• Lifestyle 490 templates
• Cover 266 templates
• Agenda 97 templates
• Overview 216 templates
• CEO 28 templates
• Our Team 142 templates
• Organization 48 templates
• History 38 templates
• Vision, Mission 109 templates
• Problem, Solution 193 templates
• Opportunity 154 templates
• Business Model 158 templates
• Product, Services 299 templates
• Technology 65 templates
• Market 155 templates
• Prices 56 templates
• Customers 55 templates
• Competitor 113 templates
• Business Process 151 templates
• Analysis 222 templates
• Strategy 120 templates
• Marketing, Sales 61 templates
• Profit, Loss 69 templates
• Financials 247 templates
• Timeline 122 templates
• Proposal 40 templates
• Contact Us 272 templates
• Break Slides 16 templates
• List 361 templates
• Process 351 templates
• Cycle 177 templates
• Hierarchy 98 templates
• Relationship 152 templates
• Matrix 86 templates
• Pyramid 67 templates
• Tables 145 templates
• Map 96 templates
• Puzzles 163 templates
• Graph 217 templates
• Infographics 436 templates
• SWOT 111 templates
• Icon 418 templates
• Theme Slides 138 templates
• Mockup 42 templates
• Column 315 templates
• Line 199 templates
• Pie 139 templates
• Bar 179 templates
• Area 130 templates
• X Y,Scatter 16 templates
• Stock 59 templates
• Surface 3 templates
• Doughnut 256 templates
• Bubble 65 templates
• Radar 83 templates
• Free PPT Templates 2,101 templates
• Free Keynote 2,017 templates
• Free Google Slides 2,098 templates
• Free Theme Slides 35 templates
• Free Diagram 126 templates
• Free Chart 49 templates
• New Updates

Result for ' water pollution '

325 Templates are available.

• Sort by Accuracy
• Sort by Newest

World water Day PowerPoint Design

Highly editable presentation template. Scalable vectorial PowerPoint shapes and PowerPoint icons Professional and unique slides Modern and clean design 100% fully editable via Excel

Modern, simple, and clean design Easy to change colors Free images and artwork Shapes and text are 100% editable Changable into PDF, JPG, and PNG formats

water Simple PowerPoint Template Design

Built-in custom color palette Data charts (editable via Excel) 100% vector objects & icons All images included Easy color change

Stop Ocean Plastic pollution PowerPoint Theme

100% vector objects & icons Professional and unique slides Beautiful presentation decks and templates Professionally designed infographic templates Creatively crafted slides All elements are editable

Marine pollution Startup PPT Templates

Quick and easy to customize Creative slides Free images and artwork Professional look presentation Easy color change

Detox water PowerPoint Templates Design

Quick and easy to customize Fully editable content (graphics and text) via PowerPoint - No Photoshop needed! Data charts (editable via Excel) 100% vector objects & icons 16:9 aspect ratio

water Park PowerPoint Presentation Examples

Built-in custom color palette Easy to change colors Easy to edit in PowerPoint Shapes: fully editable vector graphics Modern layouts based on master slides

Plastic pollution is Growing slide template

Easy editable data driven charts (pie, bar, line) Possible to change shape and color properties Professional and unique slides Ready to use presentation slides on data analytics High quality, editable pre-designed slides

Air Purifiers for Air pollution Presentation Format

Modern, simple, and clean design Completely editable presentation template Premium & modern multipurpose For professionals and educators Created with high quality slides Drag & drop image placeholders

Air pollution PPT Business

Quick and easy to customize Possible to change shape and color properties Free font used Professional look presentation Modern and clean design

water Parks Best PowerPoint Presentation Templates

16:9 aspect ratio Easy to customize without graphic design skills Professional and unique slides Created with high quality slides Easy to edit in PowerPoint

Maldives water Villa - Free Template Design

Easy to edit in PowerPoint Modern, attractive, and business-friendly colors 4:3 slide size Latest Templates support version

Free PPT Template - Cold Ice water

Creative slides Smart and innovative presentation slides Drag & drop image placeholders Landscape orientation style

Gustav Klimt " water Serpents I" - Free Powerpoint Sample

Landscape orientation style Creative and innovative presentation slides Image placeholders Easily editable data driven charts (pie, bar, line)

Johannes Vermeer "Young Woman With a water Pitcher" - Free PPT Template

Modern, simple, and clean design Presentation photos are included; Landscape orientation style Latest Templates support version

water Slide - Free Powerpoint Sample

Drag & drop image placeholders Clean, modern, and creative slides Clean style Modern, attractive, and business-friendly colors

Free PPT Template - A Drop of water on White Flower

All images included Non-animated No animation template 4:3 slide size

A Cup With Icey water on It and Lights - Free Design Template

Free images and artwork Non-animated Modern, attractive, and business-friendly colors 4:3 slide size

Free PPT Sample - Pepper Falling on the water With White Background

Smart and innovative presentation slides Drag & drop image placeholders 4:3 aspect ratios Creative and innovative presentation slides

Free Presentation Templates - water Drop

Smart and innovative presentation slides Presentation photos are included; Image placeholders Easily editable data driven charts (pie, bar, line)

1 / 17 page

Free Slides

Slide Members

[email protected]

All Rights Reserved 2024 © Copyright Slide Members

Information

• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions

Recent Slides

• 21+ Latest weekly update Powerpoint Templates & Google slides
• 15+ New Animation Powerpoint Templates Update
• 17+ Recently Powerpoint Templates & Google slides Update

• Random article
• Teaching guide
• Privacy & cookies

Water pollution: an introduction

by Chris Woodford . Last updated: October 1, 2023.

O ver two thirds of Earth's surface is covered by water ; less than a third is taken up by land. As Earth's population continues to grow, people are putting ever-increasing pressure on the planet's water resources. In a sense, our oceans, rivers , and other inland waters are being "squeezed" by human activities—not so they take up less room, but so their quality is reduced. Poorer water quality means water pollution .

We know that pollution is a human problem because it is a relatively recent development in the planet's history: before the 19th century Industrial Revolution, people lived more in harmony with their immediate environment. As industrialization has spread around the globe, so the problem of pollution has spread with it. When Earth's population was much smaller, no one believed pollution would ever present a serious problem. It was once popularly believed that the oceans were far too big to pollute. Today, with around 7 billion people on the planet, it has become apparent that there are limits. Pollution is one of the signs that humans have exceeded those limits.

Photo: Stormwater pollution entering a river from a drain. Photo by Peter C Van Metre courtesy of US Geological Survey .

What is water pollution?

Water pollution can be defined in many ways. Usually, it means one or more substances have built up in water to such an extent that they cause problems for animals or people. Oceans, lakes, rivers, and other inland waters can naturally clean up a certain amount of pollution by dispersing it harmlessly. If you poured a cup of black ink into a river, the ink would quickly disappear into the river's much larger volume of clean water. The ink would still be there in the river, but in such a low concentration that you would not be able to see it. At such low levels, the chemicals in the ink probably would not present any real problem. However, if you poured gallons of ink into a river every few seconds through a pipe, the river would quickly turn black. The chemicals in the ink could very quickly have an effect on the quality of the water. This, in turn, could affect the health of all the plants, animals, and humans whose lives depend on the river.

Photo: Pollution means adding substances to the environment that don't belong there—like the air pollution from this smokestack. Pollution is not always as obvious as this, however.

Thus, water pollution is all about quantities : how much of a polluting substance is released and how big a volume of water it is released into. A small quantity of a toxic chemical may have little impact if it is spilled into the ocean from a ship. But the same amount of the same chemical can have a much bigger impact pumped into a lake or river, where there is less clean water to disperse it.

"The introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy into the marine environment (including estuaries) resulting in such deleterious effects as harm to living resources, hazards to human health, hindrance to marine activities, including fishing, impairment of quality for use of sea water and reduction of amenities." [1]

What are the main types of water pollution?

When we think of Earth's water resources, we think of huge oceans, lakes, and rivers. Water resources like these are called surface waters . The most obvious type of water pollution affects surface waters. For example, a spill from an oil tanker creates an oil slick that can affect a vast area of the ocean.

Photo: Detergent pollution entering a river—an example of surface water pollution. Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service Photo Library.

Not all of Earth's water sits on its surface, however. A great deal of water is held in underground rock structures known as aquifers, which we cannot see and seldom think about. Water stored underground in aquifers is known as groundwater . Aquifers feed our rivers and supply much of our drinking water. They too can become polluted, for example, when weed killers used in people's gardens drain into the ground. Groundwater pollution is much less obvious than surface-water pollution, but is no less of a problem. In 1996, a study in Iowa in the United States found that over half the state's groundwater wells were contaminated with weed killers. You might think things would have improved since then, but, two decades on, all that's really changed is the name of the chemicals we're using. Today, numerous scientific studies are still finding weed killers in groundwater in worrying quantities: a 2012 study discovered glyphosate in 41 percent of 140 groundwater samples from Catalonia, Spain; scientific opinion differs on whether this is safe or not. [2]

Surface waters and groundwater are the two types of water resources that pollution affects. There are also two different ways in which pollution can occur. If pollution comes from a single location, such as a discharge pipe attached to a factory, it is known as point-source pollution . Other examples of point source pollution include an oil spill from a tanker, a discharge from a smoke stack (factory chimney), or someone pouring oil from their car down a drain. A great deal of water pollution happens not from one single source but from many different scattered sources. This is called nonpoint-source pollution .

When point-source pollution enters the environment, the place most affected is usually the area immediately around the source. For example, when a tanker accident occurs, the oil slick is concentrated around the tanker itself and, in the right ocean conditions, the pollution disperses the further away from the tanker you go. This is less likely to happen with nonpoint source pollution which, by definition, enters the environment from many different places at once.

Sometimes pollution that enters the environment in one place has an effect hundreds or even thousands of miles away. This is known as transboundary pollution . One example is the way radioactive waste travels through the oceans from nuclear reprocessing plants in England and France to nearby countries such as Ireland and Norway.

How do we know when water is polluted?

Some forms of water pollution are very obvious: everyone has seen TV news footage of oil slicks filmed from helicopters flying overhead. Water pollution is usually less obvious and much harder to detect than this. But how can we measure water pollution when we cannot see it? How do we even know it's there?

There are two main ways of measuring the quality of water. One is to take samples of the water and measure the concentrations of different chemicals that it contains. If the chemicals are dangerous or the concentrations are too great, we can regard the water as polluted. Measurements like this are known as chemical indicators of water quality. Another way to measure water quality involves examining the fish, insects, and other invertebrates that the water will support. If many different types of creatures can live in a river, the quality is likely to be very good; if the river supports no fish life at all, the quality is obviously much poorer. Measurements like this are called biological indicators of water quality.

What are the causes of water pollution?

Most water pollution doesn't begin in the water itself. Take the oceans: around 80 percent of ocean pollution enters our seas from the land. [16] Virtually any human activity can have an effect on the quality of our water environment. When farmers fertilize the fields, the chemicals they use are gradually washed by rain into the groundwater or surface waters nearby. Sometimes the causes of water pollution are quite surprising. Chemicals released by smokestacks (chimneys) can enter the atmosphere and then fall back to earth as rain, entering seas, rivers, and lakes and causing water pollution. That's called atmospheric deposition . Water pollution has many different causes and this is one of the reasons why it is such a difficult problem to solve.

With billions of people on the planet, disposing of sewage waste is a major problem. According to 2017 figures from the World Health Organization, some 2 billion people (about a quarter of the world's population) don't have access to safe drinking water or the most basic sanitation, 3.4 billion (60 people of the population) lack "safely managed" sanitation (unshared, with waste properly treated). Although there have been great improvements in securing access to clean water, relatively little, genuine progress has been made on improving global sanitation in the last decade. [20] Sewage disposal affects people's immediate environments and leads to water-related illnesses such as diarrhea that kills 525,000 children under five each year. [3] (Back in 2002, the World Health Organization estimated that water-related diseases could kill as many as 135 million people by 2020; in 2019, the WHO was still estimating the annual death toll from poor water and sanitation at over 800,000 people a year.) In developed countries, most people have flush toilets that take sewage waste quickly and hygienically away from their homes.

Yet the problem of sewage disposal does not end there. When you flush the toilet, the waste has to go somewhere and, even after it leaves the sewage treatment works, there is still waste to dispose of. Sometimes sewage waste is pumped untreated into the sea. Until the early 1990s, around 5 million tons of sewage was dumped by barge from New York City each year. [4] According to 2002 figures from the UK government's Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the sewers of Britain collect around 11 billion liters of waste water every day; there are still 31,000 sewage overflow pipes through which, in certain circumstances, such as heavy storms, raw sewage is pumped untreated into the sea. [5] The New River that crosses the border from Mexico into California once carried with it 20–25 million gallons (76–95 million liters) of raw sewage each day; a new waste water plant on the US-Mexico border, completed in 2007, substantially solved that problem. [6] Unfortunately, even in some of the richest nations, the practice of dumping sewage into the sea continues. In early 2012, it was reported that the tiny island of Guernsey (between Britain and France) has decided to continue dumping 16,000 tons of raw sewage into the sea each day.

In theory, sewage is a completely natural substance that should be broken down harmlessly in the environment: 90 percent of sewage is water. [7] In practice, sewage contains all kinds of other chemicals, from the pharmaceutical drugs people take to the paper , plastic , and other wastes they flush down their toilets. When people are sick with viruses, the sewage they produce carries those viruses into the environment. It is possible to catch illnesses such as hepatitis, typhoid, and cholera from river and sea water.

Photo: Nutrients make crops grow, but cause pollution when they seep into rivers and other watercourses. Photo courtesy of US Department of Agriculture (Flickr) .

Suitably treated and used in moderate quantities, sewage can be a fertilizer: it returns important nutrients to the environment, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which plants and animals need for growth. The trouble is, sewage is often released in much greater quantities than the natural environment can cope with. Chemical fertilizers used by farmers also add nutrients to the soil, which drain into rivers and seas and add to the fertilizing effect of the sewage. Together, sewage and fertilizers can cause a massive increase in the growth of algae or plankton that overwhelms huge areas of oceans, lakes, or rivers. This is known as a harmful algal bloom (also known as an HAB or red tide, because it can turn the water red). It is harmful because it removes oxygen from the water that kills other forms of life, leading to what is known as a dead zone . The Gulf of Mexico has one of the world's most spectacular dead zones. Each summer, according to studies by the NOAA , it typically grows to an area of around 5500–6500 square miles (14,000–16,800 square kilometers), which is about the same size as the state of Connecticut. [21]

Waste water

A few statistics illustrate the scale of the problem that waste water (chemicals washed down drains and discharged from factories) can cause. Around half of all ocean pollution is caused by sewage and waste water. Each year, the world generates perhaps 5–10 billion tons of industrial waste, much of which is pumped untreated into rivers, oceans, and other waterways. [8] In the United States alone, around 400,000 factories take clean water from rivers, and many pump polluted waters back in their place. However, there have been major improvements in waste water treatment recently. Since 1970, in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has invested about $70 billion in improving water treatment plants that, as of 2021, serve around 90 percent of the US population (compared to just 69 percent in 1972). However, another $271 billion is still needed to update and upgrade the system. [15]

Factories are point sources of water pollution, but quite a lot of water is polluted by ordinary people from nonpoint sources; this is how ordinary water becomes waste water in the first place. Virtually everyone pours chemicals of one sort or another down their drains or toilets. Even detergents used in washing machines and dishwashers eventually end up in our rivers and oceans. So do the pesticides we use on our gardens. A lot of toxic pollution also enters waste water from highway runoff . Highways are typically covered with a cocktail of toxic chemicals—everything from spilled fuel and brake fluids to bits of worn tires (themselves made from chemical additives) and exhaust emissions. When it rains, these chemicals wash into drains and rivers. It is not unusual for heavy summer rainstorms to wash toxic chemicals into rivers in such concentrations that they kill large numbers of fish overnight. It has been estimated that, in one year, the highway runoff from a single large city leaks as much oil into our water environment as a typical tanker spill. Some highway runoff runs away into drains; others can pollute groundwater or accumulate in the land next to a road, making it increasingly toxic as the years go by.

Chemical waste

Detergents are relatively mild substances. At the opposite end of the spectrum are highly toxic chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) . They were once widely used to manufacture electronic circuit boards , but their harmful effects have now been recognized and their use is highly restricted in many countries. Nevertheless, an estimated half million tons of PCBs were discharged into the environment during the 20th century. [9] In a classic example of transboundary pollution, traces of PCBs have even been found in birds and fish in the Arctic. They were carried there through the oceans, thousands of miles from where they originally entered the environment. Although PCBs are widely banned, their effects will be felt for many decades because they last a long time in the environment without breaking down.

Another kind of toxic pollution comes from heavy metals , such as lead, cadmium, and mercury. Lead was once commonly used in gasoline (petrol), though its use is now restricted in some countries. Mercury and cadmium are still used in batteries (though some brands now use other metals instead). Until recently, a highly toxic chemical called tributyltin (TBT) was used in paints to protect boats from the ravaging effects of the oceans. Ironically, however, TBT was gradually recognized as a pollutant: boats painted with it were doing as much damage to the oceans as the oceans were doing to the boats.

The best known example of heavy metal pollution in the oceans took place in 1938 when a Japanese factory discharged a significant amount of mercury metal into Minamata Bay, contaminating the fish stocks there. It took a decade for the problem to come to light. By that time, many local people had eaten the fish and around 2000 were poisoned. Hundreds of people were left dead or disabled. [10]

Radioactive waste

People view radioactive waste with great alarm—and for good reason. At high enough concentrations it can kill; in lower concentrations it can cause cancers and other illnesses. The biggest sources of radioactive pollution in Europe are two factories that reprocess waste fuel from nuclear power plants : Sellafield on the north-west coast of Britain and Cap La Hague on the north coast of France. Both discharge radioactive waste water into the sea, which ocean currents then carry around the world. Countries such as Norway, which lie downstream from Britain, receive significant doses of radioactive pollution from Sellafield. [19] The Norwegian government has repeatedly complained that Sellafield has increased radiation levels along its coast by 6–10 times. Both the Irish and Norwegian governments continue to press for the plant's closure. [11]

Oil pollution

Photo: Oil-tanker spills are the most spectacular forms of pollution and the ones that catch public attention, but only a fraction of all water pollution happens this way. Photo by Lamar Gore courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service Photo Library and US National Archive .

When we think of ocean pollution, huge black oil slicks often spring to mind, yet these spectacular accidents represent only a tiny fraction of all the pollution entering our oceans. Even considering oil by itself, tanker spills are not as significant as they might seem: only 12 percent of the oil that enters the oceans comes from tanker accidents; over 70 percent of oil pollution at sea comes from routine shipping and from the oil people pour down drains on land. [12] However, what makes tanker spills so destructive is the sheer quantity of oil they release at once — in other words, the concentration of oil they produce in one very localized part of the marine environment. The biggest oil spill in recent years (and the biggest ever spill in US waters) occurred when the tanker Exxon Valdez broke up in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989. Around 12 million gallons (44 million liters) of oil were released into the pristine wilderness—enough to fill your living room 800 times over! Estimates of the marine animals killed in the spill vary from approximately 1000 sea otters and 34,000 birds to as many as 2800 sea otters and 250,000 sea birds. Several billion salmon and herring eggs are also believed to have been destroyed. [13]

If you've ever taken part in a community beach clean, you'll know that plastic is far and away the most common substance that washes up with the waves. There are three reasons for this: plastic is one of the most common materials, used for making virtually every kind of manufactured object from clothing to automobile parts; plastic is light and floats easily so it can travel enormous distances across the oceans; most plastics are not biodegradable (they do not break down naturally in the environment), which means that things like plastic bottle tops can survive in the marine environment for a long time. (A plastic bottle can survive an estimated 450 years in the ocean and plastic fishing line can last up to 600 years.)

While plastics are not toxic in quite the same way as poisonous chemicals, they nevertheless present a major hazard to seabirds, fish, and other marine creatures. For example, plastic fishing lines and other debris can strangle or choke fish. (This is sometimes called ghost fishing .) About half of all the world's seabird species are known to have eaten plastic residues. In one study of 450 shearwaters in the North Pacific, over 80 percent of the birds were found to contain plastic residues in their stomachs. In the early 1990s, marine scientist Tim Benton collected debris from a 2km (1.5 mile) length of beach in the remote Pitcairn islands in the South Pacific. His study recorded approximately a thousand pieces of garbage including 268 pieces of plastic, 71 plastic bottles, and two dolls heads. [14]

Alien species

Most people's idea of water pollution involves things like sewage, toxic metals, or oil slicks, but pollution can be biological as well as chemical. In some parts of the world, alien species are a major problem. Alien species (sometimes known as invasive species ) are animals or plants from one region that have been introduced into a different ecosystem where they do not belong. Outside their normal environment, they have no natural predators, so they rapidly run wild, crowding out the usual animals or plants that thrive there. Common examples of alien species include zebra mussels in the Great Lakes of the USA, which were carried there from Europe by ballast water (waste water flushed from ships ). The Mediterranean Sea has been invaded by a kind of alien algae called Caulerpa taxifolia . In the Black Sea, an alien jellyfish called Mnemiopsis leidyi reduced fish stocks by 90 percent after arriving in ballast water. In San Francisco Bay, Asian clams called Potamocorbula amurensis, also introduced by ballast water, have dramatically altered the ecosystem. In 1999, Cornell University's David Pimentel estimated that alien invaders like this cost the US economy $123 billion a year; in 2014, the European Commission put the cost to Europe at €12 billion a year and "growing all the time. [18]

Other forms of pollution

These are the most common forms of pollution—but by no means the only ones. Heat or thermal pollution from factories and power plants also causes problems in rivers. By raising the temperature, it reduces the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water, thus also reducing the level of aquatic life that the river can support. Another type of pollution involves the disruption of sediments (fine-grained powders) that flow from rivers into the sea. Dams built for hydroelectric power or water reservoirs can reduce the sediment flow. This reduces the formation of beaches, increases coastal erosion (the natural destruction of cliffs by the sea), and reduces the flow of nutrients from rivers into seas (potentially reducing coastal fish stocks). Increased sediments can also present a problem. During construction work, soil, rock, and other fine powders sometimes enters nearby rivers in large quantities, causing it to become turbid (muddy or silted). The extra sediment can block the gills of fish, effectively suffocating them. Construction firms often now take precautions to prevent this kind of pollution from happening.

What are the effects of water pollution?

Some people believe pollution is an inescapable result of human activity: they argue that if we want to have factories, cities, ships, cars, oil, and coastal resorts, some degree of pollution is almost certain to result. In other words, pollution is a necessary evil that people must put up with if they want to make progress. Fortunately, not everyone agrees with this view. One reason people have woken up to the problem of pollution is that it brings costs of its own that undermine any economic benefits that come about by polluting.

Take oil spills, for example. They can happen if tankers are too poorly built to survive accidents at sea. But the economic benefit of compromising on tanker quality brings an economic cost when an oil spill occurs. The oil can wash up on nearby beaches, devastate the ecosystem, and severely affect tourism. The main problem is that the people who bear the cost of the spill (typically a small coastal community) are not the people who caused the problem in the first place (the people who operate the tanker). Yet, arguably, everyone who puts gasoline (petrol) into their car—or uses almost any kind of petroleum-fueled transport—contributes to the problem in some way. So oil spills are a problem for everyone, not just people who live by the coast and tanker operates.

Sewage is another good example of how pollution can affect us all. Sewage discharged into coastal waters can wash up on beaches and cause a health hazard. People who bathe or surf in the water can fall ill if they swallow polluted water—yet sewage can have other harmful effects too: it can poison shellfish (such as cockles and mussels) that grow near the shore. People who eat poisoned shellfish risk suffering from an acute—and sometimes fatal—illness called paralytic shellfish poisoning. Shellfish is no longer caught along many shores because it is simply too polluted with sewage or toxic chemical wastes that have discharged from the land nearby.

Pollution matters because it harms the environment on which people depend. The environment is not something distant and separate from our lives. It's not a pretty shoreline hundreds of miles from our homes or a wilderness landscape that we see only on TV. The environment is everything that surrounds us that gives us life and health. Destroying the environment ultimately reduces the quality of our own lives—and that, most selfishly, is why pollution should matter to all of us.

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.

Making people aware of the problem is the first step to solving it. In the early 1990s, when surfers in Britain grew tired of catching illnesses from water polluted with sewage, they formed a group called Surfers Against Sewage to force governments and water companies to clean up their act. People who've grown tired of walking the world's polluted beaches often band together to organize community beach-cleaning sessions. Anglers who no longer catch so many fish have campaigned for tougher penalties against factories that pour pollution into our rivers. Greater public awareness can make a positive difference.

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), the 1972 London (Dumping) Convention , the 1978 MARPOL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships , and the 1998 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic . The European Union has water-protection laws (known as directives) that apply to all of its member states. They include the 1976 Bathing Water Directive (updated 2006), which seeks to ensure the quality of the waters that people use for recreation. Most countries also have their own water pollution laws. In the United States, for example, there is the 1972 Clean Water Act and the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act .

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.

If you liked this article...

Don't want to read our articles try listening instead, find out more, on this site.

• Air pollution (introduction)
• Climate change and global warming
• Environmentalism (introduction)
• Land pollution
• Organic food and farming

For older readers

For younger readers.

• Earth Matters by Lynn Dicks et al. Dorling Kindersley, 2008: A more general guide to problems Earth faces, with each major biome explored separately. In case you're interested, I contributed the polar regions chapter. The book is mostly a simple read and probably suitable for 7–10 (and maybe 9–12).

Selected news articles

Water pollution videos, notes and references.

Text copyright © Chris Woodford 2006, 2022. All rights reserved. Full copyright notice and terms of use .

This article was originally written for the UK Rivers Network and first published on their website in April 2006. It is revised and updated every year.

Rate this page

Tell your friends, cite this page, more to explore on our website....

• Get the book
• Send feedback

• Water Pollution Template

We understand that water pollution refers to the accumulation of foreign substances in rivers, lakes and seas. This can cause serious consequences, as it directly affects the welfare and survival of living beings such as animals, plants and people. Today you can take Water Pollution Template to perfectly explain the importance of this natural resource, through professional, interactive and high quality presentations.

This water pollution template for PowerPoint and Google Slides brings a long list of vectors, animations, diagrams and images associated precisely on this natural resource. Also, you should know that it has 32 exportable slides for Canva, a platform known worldwide for its millions of photos and videos available for your use. This is your opportunity to develop a presentation that promotes actions of value for the environment, what are you waiting for, download this free ppt resource and join this cause.

Free Water Pollution Template for PowerPoint and Google Slides

Main features

• 32 slides 100% editable
• 16:9 widescreen format suitable for all screens
• High quality royalty-free images
• Easy to edit layouts for presenting or printing
• Included resources: charts, graphs, timelines and diagrams
• More than 100 icons customizable in color and size
• Main font: Rubik Light
• Predominant color: Turquoise

Download this template

If within your needs are designs like this, we invite you then to see our available collection of PowerPoint templates and water Google Slides themes. Here you will find a large number of educational contributions perfect for illustrating ideas, strategies, plans and initiatives focused on the care and non-waste of this important natural resource.

We use cookies to improve the experience of everyone who browses our website. Cookies Policy

Accept Cookies

• My presentations

Auth with social network:

Download presentation

We think you have liked this presentation. If you wish to download it, please recommend it to your friends in any social system. Share buttons are a little bit lower. Thank you!

Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Water Pollution.

Published by Felicia Hogan Modified over 2 years ago

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "Water Pollution."— Presentation transcript:

Wednesday, Mar 5 th, 2014 Did you know… Chameleons often have tongues longer than their bodies. A worm is both male & the same time (a hermaphrodite.)

Syllabus statements: Chapter Video Labs:

Review Day 2.

Environmental Science 2012

Living in the Environment

All rivers in Alabama flow to the Gulf of Mexico..

Supply of Water Resources

Water Pollution Chapter

Slide 1 Fig. 19.1, p. 476 No electronic rights for this image.

Water Pollution G. Tyler Miller’s Living in the Environment 14 th Edition Chapter 22 G. Tyler Miller’s Living in the Environment 14 th Edition Chapter.

WATER POLLUTION. Water pollution  What is it? The contamination of water in lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater. Water pollution occurs when.

Chapter 21 Water Pollution. Core Case Study: Using Nature to Purify Sewage  Ecological wastewater purification by a living machine. Uses the sun and.

Types, Effects, and Sources of Water Pollution

Do Now: Movie: Veolia Groundwater contamination Copy the questions into your notebook. While watching the movie answer the following: 1) How is groundwater.

Today everybody is downwind or downstream from somebody else. -- William Ruckelshaus.

Introduction to Water Pollution

Water Pollution Chapter 22. Types of Water Pollution Sewage ↑ Enrichment Explosion in algal, bacteria, & decomposer populations ↑ Biological oxygen demand.

About project

© 2024 SlidePlayer.com Inc. All rights reserved.

• In PowerPoint Downloads
• On June 9, 2021

Water Pollution PPT Free Download | 10 Slides

Table of contents.

Water is one of the inevitable elements in our daily life. One of the studies conducted in Archiv Fur Kriminologie concluded like this. Humans will not be able to live more than 8 to 21 days without water. This conclusion points out the necessity of saving and conserving water. As we all know, almost 71 percent of the earth’s surface is water-covered. But in this, only 1 percent is freshwater which is accessible to us. This reality again emphasizes the importance of saving water and preventing water pollution.

“Water is Precious. Save Water”

Here we are focusing on the causes of water pollution and its remedies. In addition, we will discuss things that we can do to prevent water pollution. First, let’s look into what is water pollution?

What is Water Pollution?

In simple words, it is the contamination of usable water by harmful substances like chemicals or microorganisms by any means. On the other hand, activities reducing the quality of water are called water pollution.

Freshwater sources like rivers, lakes, and ponds are getting polluted in the name of industrialization. For instance, domestic wastes, food processing wastes, livestock operations can leads to the contamination of freshwater sources. Apart from all these, we humans pollute freshwater sources like ponds, rivers, and water streams by throwing household wastes and scraps into them.

How does the water get polluted?

Without any doubt, we can say that freshwater sources around us are getting polluted every day. Industrialization is one of the reasons for water pollution. The majority of the factories are dumping wastes, garbages, and sewages into nearby rivers, ponds, or lakes. The minority reprocess and resues the wastewater and substandard water.

Corporate industries are not worried about the surroundings and people living nearby. The ignorance and irresponsibility of the municipality and responsible people make the situation even worse.

In some places, the household sewage is connected to the rivers since they do not have proper sanitation and septic tank facility. It leads to one of the worst water pollutions where we knowingly pollute usable water. Earlier, urban areas were ahead in water pollution when comparing to rural areas. But now, things have changed a lot. The rate of water pollution has increased by 5x in both urban and rural areas. One of the reasons for this massive increase in pollution is the emergence of industries and factories in urban areas.

One of the practices seen in villages is washing clothes and feeding animals in the small rivers and ponds. At the same time, they wash these cattle and animals in the pond. It can directly harm the water sources when activities like this happen in a massive volume. And the other, people throw wastes into the rivers and ponds. In rural areas and villages, people even food wastes into water streams. Whatsoever, water is getting polluted every day. Here are some of the popular ways of water pollution around the world. Let’s look at some of the common causes of water pollution. Here are they.

Wastewater from factories & industries

Industries and factories use water for many purposes. Without water, manufacturing and production can’t exist. They use water for cleaning, cooling, washing, dyeing, and treatments for manufacturing and production processes. Water pollution is happening behind all industrial activities. In that, textile industries are the biggest polluters on the planet. Studies say that one-fifth of the world’s industrial water pollution comes from textile mills. For example, in China, 25% of water pollution happens through textile dyeing and treatments. Almost more than 25000 types of chemicals are mixed and used in the dyeing process of fabrics. These mixed chemicals are thrown away from the facility to any of the flowing water bodies.

The reason behind not building proper recycling and reusing units is because of high maintenance costs and implementing costs. If the companies and factories do the right thing, the pollution will come down to half. None of the government authorities check these requirements while approving the factories to operate.

Some factories produce mixed water as a byproduct of the chemical reactions that happened from their day-to-day industrial activities. This water contains chemicals substances that can be dangerous to us.

Oil leaks & spills

It is common knowledge that oil and water never dissolve completely. But it can be together like that for a long time. Oil act as a cover when it spilled on water. It can remain as long they want and thereby making it polluted. Oil spills and leakages happen very often in oceans. Sometimes from the ships that transport oil or from drilling and mining operations held underwater or seashores. These are also some of the main causes of water pollution.

Use of chemicals & pesticides in agriculture.

It is rare but happens often. When it comes to the massive use of pesticides and chemicals in agricultural lands. It becomes one of the causes of water pollution. The chemicals and pesticides dissolve in the soil after a couple of weeks. Through this, the loam gets saturated with chemicals and pesticides. When the monsoon comes, these chemicals and pesticides come out with rainwater and flows to any of the water resources like wells, ponds, rivers, and sea. It causes one of the dangerous water pollutions if we consume this water.

Why do we need to save water?

Humans cannot survive without drinking water. So it is our duty and responsibility to save and protect water from being polluted. Without drinking water, humans and animals will die. What will happen if we do not do anything? Well, right now we might have enough water resources and backups. But in the coming future, there will be a scarcity of drinking water even if we have hundreds of water purification or processing plants. So it is better to save water resources and water right now when we can.

Do you think we can survive on the earth without water? No, we cannot. It is an essential factor that holds our life. Even animals will die if the freshwater sources are over. There will be no animals and living organisms left if the water pollution rises on a huge scale. So, it is our responsibility to protect freshwater sources from being polluted.

As said earlier, the volume of fresh water on the earth is decreasing every single day. It is better to save water being wasted and polluted whenever we can. For instance, think about you are walking on a road and see a broken public water pipeline and leaks water leaks heavily. As a man who understands the value of water, we should call the respective authorities and inform them. Because they may not know about the broken pipe and water is being wasted.

How can we prevent water pollution?

By implementing proper waste management facilities, we can reduce water pollution to a considerable amount. The cause of the continuous increase in water pollution is the indigent waste management systems in factories, companies, and homes. As well as a brainy human being, stop throwing wastes mainly into water sources like ponds and rivers.

As a single human being, we have limited control over the rate of water pollution. But as a group of human beings, we can control the rate of water pollution to a substantial amount. So what we need can do is, we can aware people around us about water pollution and its future outcomes.

What each one of us can do?

It is our duty to conserve water from pollution. The fun fact is, nobody is even thinking about saving or protecting it for the coming generation. There might be plenty of water resources right now. But if its keeps getting polluted at a rapid rate, it is sure that these water streams would not last much in the future.

It is effortless to say that save water and prevent water pollution. But when it comes to daily practicality, none of us think about protecting water. We all do things that pollute our precious water sources. For instance, we all throw household garbages and plastic wastes into nearby rivers and ponds. Sometimes, we throw garbages into lands where it somehow reaches the water bodies through rain or water flow after a couple of months or years. In short, each one of us is responsible for water pollution in some ways with or without knowledge.

Jinu Varghese

I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper matti pibus leo.

Get Started

• Brand Assets
• Flex UI Kit
• Modern UI Kit
• Framer UI Kit
• Gradients UI Kit
• Black & White UI Kit

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center
• Introduction & Top Questions

Domestic sewage

Solid waste, toxic waste, thermal pollution, petroleum (oil) pollution, effects of water pollution on groundwater and oceans, water quality standards.

How does water pollution affect aquatic wildlife?

Is red tide caused by water pollution.

water pollution

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• National Geographic - What Is Water Pollution?
• Frontiers - Effects of Water Pollution on Human Health and Disease Heterogeneity: A Review
• Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health - Water Pollution
• Environmental Pollution Centers - What Is Water Pollution?
• National Resources Defense Council - Water Pollution: Everything You Need to Know
• Chemistry LibreTexts - Water Pollution
• water pollution - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

What is water pollution?

Water pollution is the release of substances into bodies of water that makes water unsafe for human use and disrupts aquatic ecosystems. Water pollution can be caused by a plethora of different contaminants, including toxic waste , petroleum , and disease-causing microorganisms .

What human activities cause water pollution?

Human activities that generate domestic sewage and toxic waste cause water pollution by contaminating water with disease-causing microorganisms and poisonous substances. Oil spills are another source of water pollution that have devastating impacts on surrounding ecosystems.

Sewage can promote algae growth, which can eventually result in eutrophic “dead zones” where aquatic life cannot survive because of a lack of oxygen. Microplastics are often found in marine wildlife and can become concentrated in humans who consume seafood because of biomagnification . Oil spills, such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, strand and kill many different marine species.

While some studies point to human activity as a catalyst for red tide, scientists are unsure about its cause. Red tide is a common term for harmful algal blooms that often poison or kill wildlife and humans who consume contaminated seafood. Red tides can severely impact ecosystems and local economies.

water pollution , the release of substances into subsurface groundwater or into lakes , streams, rivers , estuaries , and oceans to the point that the substances interfere with beneficial use of the water or with the natural functioning of ecosystems . In addition to the release of substances, such as chemicals , trash, or microorganisms, water pollution may include the release of energy , in the form of radioactivity or heat , into bodies of water.

Types and sources of water pollutants

Water bodies can be polluted by a wide variety of substances, including pathogenic microorganisms, putrescible organic waste, fertilizers and plant nutrients , toxic chemicals, sediments, heat , petroleum (oil), and radioactive substances . Several types of water pollutants are considered below. (For a discussion of the handling of sewage and other forms of waste produced by human activities, see waste disposal and solid-waste management .)

Water pollutants come from either point sources or dispersed sources. A point source is a pipe or channel, such as those used for discharge from an industrial facility or a city sewerage system . A dispersed (or nonpoint) source is a very broad unconfined area from which a variety of pollutants enter the water body, such as the runoff from an agricultural area. Point sources of water pollution are easier to control than dispersed sources, because the contaminated water has been collected and conveyed to one single point where it can be treated. Pollution from dispersed sources is difficult to control, and, despite much progress in the building of modern sewage-treatment plants, dispersed sources continue to cause a large fraction of water pollution problems.

Domestic sewage is the primary source of pathogens ( disease -causing microorganisms) and putrescible organic substances. Because pathogens are excreted in feces , all sewage from cities and towns is likely to contain pathogens of some type, potentially presenting a direct threat to public health . Putrescible organic matter presents a different sort of threat to water quality. As organics are decomposed naturally in the sewage by bacteria and other microorganisms, the dissolved oxygen content of the water is depleted. This endangers the quality of lakes and streams, where high levels of oxygen are required for fish and other aquatic organisms to survive. In addition, domestic sewage commonly contains active pharmaceutical ingredients, which can harm aquatic organisms and may facilitate antibiotic resistance . Sewage-treatment processes reduce the levels of pathogens and organics in wastewater, but they do not eliminate them completely ( see also wastewater treatment ).

Domestic sewage is also a major source of plant nutrients , mainly nitrates and phosphates . Excess nitrates and phosphates in water promote the growth of algae , sometimes causing unusually dense and rapid growths known as algal blooms . When the algae die, oxygen dissolved in the water declines because microorganisms use oxygen to digest algae during the process of decomposition ( see also biochemical oxygen demand ). Anaerobic organisms (organisms that do not require oxygen to live) then metabolize the organic wastes, releasing gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide , which are harmful to the aerobic (oxygen-requiring) forms of life. The process by which a lake changes from a clean, clear condition—with a relatively low concentration of dissolved nutrients and a balanced aquatic community —to a nutrient-rich, algae-filled state and thence to an oxygen-deficient, waste-filled condition is called eutrophication . Eutrophication is a naturally occurring, slow, and inevitable process. However, when it is accelerated by human activity and water pollution (a phenomenon called cultural eutrophication ), it can lead to the premature aging and death of a body of water.

The improper disposal of solid waste is a major source of water pollution. Solid waste includes garbage, rubbish, electronic waste , trash, and construction and demolition waste, all of which are generated by individual, residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial activities. The problem is especially acute in developing countries that may lack infrastructure to properly dispose of solid waste or that may have inadequate resources or regulation to limit improper disposal. In some places solid waste is intentionally dumped into bodies of water. Land pollution can also become water pollution if the trash or other debris is carried by animals, wind, or rainfall to bodies of water. Significant amounts of solid waste pollution in inland bodies of water can also eventually make their way to the ocean. Solid waste pollution is unsightly and damaging to the health of aquatic ecosystems and can harm wildlife directly. Many solid wastes, such as plastics and electronic waste, break down and leach harmful chemicals into the water, making them a source of toxic or hazardous waste.

Of growing concern for aquatic environments is plastic pollution . Since the ocean is downstream from nearly every terrestrial location, it is the receiving body for much of the plastic waste generated on land. Several million tons of debris end up in the world’s oceans every year, and much of it is improperly discarded plastic litter. Plastic pollution can be broken down by waves and ultraviolet radiation into smaller pieces known as microplastics , which are less than 5 mm (0.2 inch) in length and are not biodegradable. Primary microplastics, such as microbeads in personal care products and plastic fibers in synthetic textiles (e.g., nylon ), also enter the environment directly, through any of various channels—for example, from wastewater treatment systems , from household laundry, or from unintentional spills during manufacturing or transport. Alarmingly, a number of studies of both freshwater and marine locations have found microplastics in every aquatic organism tested. These tiny plastics are suspected of working their way up the marine food chains , from zooplankton and small fish to large marine predators, and have been found in seafood. Microplastics have also been detected in drinking water. Their health effects are unknown.

Waste is considered toxic if it is poisonous , radioactive , explosive , carcinogenic (causing cancer ), mutagenic (causing damage to chromosomes ), teratogenic (causing birth defects), or bioaccumulative (that is, increasing in concentration at the higher ends of food chains). Sources of toxic chemicals include improperly disposed wastewater from industrial plants and chemical process facilities ( lead , mercury , chromium ) as well as surface runoff containing pesticides used on agricultural areas and suburban lawns ( chlordane , dieldrin , heptachlor). (For a more-detailed treatment of toxic chemicals, see poison and toxic waste .)

Sediment (e.g., silt ) resulting from soil erosion or construction activity can be carried into water bodies by surface runoff . Suspended sediment interferes with the penetration of sunlight and upsets the ecological balance of a body of water. Also, it can disrupt the reproductive cycles of fish and other forms of life , and when it settles out of suspension it can smother bottom-dwelling organisms.

Heat is considered to be a water pollutant because it decreases the capacity of water to hold dissolved oxygen in solution, and it increases the rate of metabolism of fish. Valuable species of game fish (e.g., trout ) cannot survive in water with very low levels of dissolved oxygen . A major source of heat is the practice of discharging cooling water from power plants into rivers; the discharged water may be as much as 15 °C (27 °F) warmer than the naturally occurring water. The rise in water temperatures because of global warming can also be considered a form of thermal pollution.

Petroleum ( oil ) pollution occurs when oil from roads and parking lots is carried in surface runoff into water bodies. Accidental oil spills are also a source of oil pollution—as in the devastating spills from the tanker Exxon Valdez (which released more than 260,000 barrels in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989) and from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig (which released more than 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010). Oil slicks eventually move toward shore, harming aquatic life and damaging recreation areas.

Groundwater —water contained in underground geologic formations called aquifers —is a source of drinking water for many people. For example, about half the people in the United States depend on groundwater for their domestic water supply . Although groundwater may appear crystal clear (due to the natural filtration that occurs as it flows slowly through layers of soil ), it may still be polluted by dissolved chemicals and by bacteria and viruses . Sources of chemical contaminants include poorly designed or poorly maintained subsurface sewage-disposal systems (e.g., septic tanks ), industrial wastes disposed of in improperly lined or unlined landfills or lagoons , leachates from unlined municipal refuse landfills, mining and petroleum production, and leaking underground storage tanks below gasoline service stations. In coastal areas, increasing withdrawal of groundwater (due to urbanization and industrialization) can cause saltwater intrusion: as the water table drops, seawater is drawn into wells.

Although estuaries and oceans contain vast volumes of water, their natural capacity to absorb pollutants is limited. Contamination from sewage outfall pipes, from dumping of sludge or other wastes, and from oil spills can harm marine life, especially microscopic phytoplankton that serve as food for larger aquatic organisms. Sometimes, unsightly and dangerous waste materials can be washed back to shore, littering beaches with hazardous debris. In oceans alone, annual pollution from all types of plastics was estimated to be between 4.8 million and 12.7 million tonnes (between 5.3 million and 14 million tons) in the early 21st century, and floating plastic waste had accumulated in Earth’s five subtropical gyres, which cover 40 percent of the world’s oceans.

Another ocean pollution problem is the seasonal formation of “ dead zones” (i.e., hypoxic areas, where dissolved oxygen levels drop so low that most higher forms of aquatic life vanish) in certain coastal areas. The cause is nutrient enrichment from dispersed agricultural runoff and concomitant algal blooms. Dead zones occur worldwide; one of the largest of these (sometimes as large as 22,730 square km [8,776 square miles]) forms annually in the Gulf of Mexico , beginning at the Mississippi River delta.

Although pure water is rarely found in nature (because of the strong tendency of water to dissolve other substances), the characterization of water quality (i.e., clean or polluted) is a function of the intended use of the water. For example, water that is clean enough for swimming and fishing may not be clean enough for drinking and cooking. Water quality standards (limits on the amount of impurities allowed in water intended for a particular use) provide a legal framework for the prevention of water pollution of all types.

There are several types of water quality standards. Stream standards are those that classify streams, rivers , and lakes on the basis of their maximum beneficial use; they set allowable levels of specific substances or qualities (e.g., dissolved oxygen , turbidity, pH) allowed in those bodies of water, based on their given classification. Effluent (water outflow) standards set specific limits on the levels of contaminants (e.g., biochemical oxygen demand , suspended solids, nitrogen ) allowed in the final discharges from wastewater-treatment plants. Drinking-water standards include limits on the levels of specific contaminants allowed in potable water delivered to homes for domestic use. In the United States , the Clean Water Act and its amendments regulate water quality and set minimum standards for waste discharges for each industry as well as regulations for specific problems such as toxic chemicals and oil spills . In the European Union , water quality is governed by the Water Framework Directive, the Drinking Water Directive, and other laws . ( See also wastewater treatment .)

MyFreeSlides

Water Pollution Presentation Theme

Water Pollution Powerpoint Template tells us how we exploit our natural and the most important reserve which helps in sustaining life that is: “Water”. This template argues with the narrow thinking of people to dump their wastes in the water, which results in the accumulation of wastes inside and beneath the surfaces of water resulting in the death of fisheries. This free Water pollution Google Slides help you to provide cute and awesome presentations for your ppt projects. To make Learning a Good Experience for the Students Presentations are very helpful. This PPT can be used by Schools, Colleges, etc.

Check our other Newest Themes Here- MyFreeSlides . Feedback from Your Side is Highly Appreciated, it keeps us Motivated :). Check for Other Free Chemistry Powerpoint Template . 

Total Slides : 29 Compatibility : Google Slides, Office 365, PowerPoint 2007-2016 License : Creative Commons Attribution

Free : Yes Animated : No Size : 16:9 Win/Mac ready : Yes

Copy in Google Slide

Download as PPT

Discover more from MyFreeSlides

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading