Water Pollution

The ocean and the water is something near to my heart. However, as time goes on our waters are getting more and more polluted due to human carelessness. Things like plastic, sewage, oil spills, and dumping industrial waste in our waters all have negative effects on marine life. What a lot of people don't realize is that pollution in our water effects humans too. This is even more of a incentive to protect our water ways. Though there has been many recent efforts to clean and prevent pollution in the water, it has not been enough.

Different types of pollution have different types of effects on the water ways and the marine life contained in them. Sewage water even after it has been treated and cleaned contains high levels of nutrients. When this water is released the high levels of nutrients cause high amounts of algae and cause lakes/ponds to become eutrophic or oxygen depleted. Large amounts of algae deprive underwater grasses of sunlight which deprive marine organisms of habitat. Treated sewage also contain many chemicals. When these chemicals get into the water ways they disturb the endocrine system of fish and other marine animals. Also, some industrial plants pour hot water into bodies of water. This causes the marine organism's need for oxygen to go up.  But warm water contains less dissolved oxygen so marine animals suffocate due to lack of oxygen. Runoff from farms often contains fertilizers. These fertilizers contain nitrogen which cause levels of bacteria in lakes and ponds to go up. These bacteria use up the oxygen supply in the water to break down the nitrogen compound. Because of a depleted oxygen supply it causes the other marine animals to suffocate.   Marine animals can also mistake trash and other pollutants for food, causing them to become ill or die. If humans eat marine organisms the pollution inside the animals can have an effect on humans as well.  Large gyres in the ocean cause trash to collect in certain areas. Plastic is not biodegradable so it just collects and collects. This cause large buildups of trash in the areas where gyres collect.  Oil spills although they are not intentional have a huge negative effect on marine life as well.

The solutions to these problems are relatively simple. Stop dumping wastes into bodies of water. Legislation should be passed to stop and type of industry from dumping any type of waste product into any body of water. Commercial activity near bodies of water should be limited in order to keep trash content down. Oil drilling and transporting technologies should have backup systems in order to contain a spill if one does happen. Some of these things may cost extra money but in the long run it will have a positive effect on marine life as well as all terrestrial life.     Here is a link to a video with more information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM