There is hardly any river or lake on the earth today that has not been polluted in one or several ways. Pollution has been an ever-increasing problem in freshwater. There are two broad categories of pollution: Point source and non-point source. Point Source is when there is only one place where the pollution is coming from. Non-Point Source is when there are multiple places where the pollution comes from. Within these two categories are many specific types of freshwater pollution. Types of freshwater pollution include organic matter, nutrients from agricultural lands, acidification, heavy metals from industries, and toxic organic compounds. Many freshwater sources have at least one of these or multiple types of pollution. It is up to us as
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When this happens, the environment and the populations start to be negatively affected. The Thames River in England 150 years ago was a running sewer. It was a developing country then, so it didn’t have any public utilities. It was so polluted with organic matter, that it became known as “The Great Stink.” The fish that had lived in the river had all died off due to the pollution, and the birds that lived off the fish died off as well due to the lack of fish. Very few houses had bathrooms and thus relied on the river to deposit their waste. In response to this, Queen Victoria ordered a filtration system be made for the river. “As a further precaution, the Victoria, Albert and Chelsea embankments were built to speed the river and get rid of the putrid mud. The Victorians built further under London with the Underground railway and more sewers. By the end of the twentieth century, London was the largest city in history and physically very much what we know today. The building of the embankments and the Beckon sewers improved the quality of the water.” (The River Thames). However, by the 20th century, the river became more than polluted. It was so polluted that the river had no oxygen left in it at all, and gave off a stink like rotten eggs due to the production of hydrogen sulphide. Further improvements were made to make the river clean again. Because of these criteria, plants …show more content…
“A toxic substance is a chemical pollutant that is not naturally occurring substance in aquatic ecosystems. The greatest contributors to toxic pollution are herbicides, pesticides and industrial compounds.”(EPA. Persistent Organic Pollutions). The example that comes to mind when thinking of toxic organic compound pollution is dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane (DDT). DDT was used as a pesticide in the 1940s to 1970s. However, when the DDT chemicals seeped into the groundwater supply it became a big problem. It damaged a lot of ecosystems and water bodies as well as animals and humans. An example of this pollution is the Great Lakes located in Michigan. Persistent organic pollution enter easily in the Great Lakes from waste sites, river runoff and other methods. This toxic pollution was discharged routinely into the Great Lakes. This affected the wildlife of the lakes and the entire ecosystem because of it. Since then, agreements have been made between Canada and Michigan to keep the water clean and safe from pollutants. This has started to fix the amount of pollution entering the lakes since then and still continues to this day. They will continue to work on the Great Lakes until it is free of toxic pollution and can sustain
When this happens, the environment and the populations start to be negatively affected. The Thames River in England 150 years ago was a running sewer. It was a developing country then, so it didn’t have any public utilities. It was so polluted with organic matter, that it became known as “The Great Stink.” The fish that had lived in the river had all died off due to the pollution, and the birds that lived off the fish died off as well due to the lack of fish. Very few houses had bathrooms and thus relied on the river to deposit their waste. In response to this, Queen Victoria ordered a filtration system be made for the river. “As a further precaution, the Victoria, Albert and Chelsea embankments were built to speed the river and get rid of the putrid mud. The Victorians built further under London with the Underground railway and more sewers. By the end of the twentieth century, London was the largest city in history and physically very much what we know today. The building of the embankments and the Beckon sewers improved the quality of the water.” (The River Thames). However, by the 20th century, the river became more than polluted. It was so polluted that the river had no oxygen left in it at all, and gave off a stink like rotten eggs due to the production of hydrogen sulphide. Further improvements were made to make the river clean again. Because of these criteria, plants …show more content…
“A toxic substance is a chemical pollutant that is not naturally occurring substance in aquatic ecosystems. The greatest contributors to toxic pollution are herbicides, pesticides and industrial compounds.”(EPA. Persistent Organic Pollutions). The example that comes to mind when thinking of toxic organic compound pollution is dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane (DDT). DDT was used as a pesticide in the 1940s to 1970s. However, when the DDT chemicals seeped into the groundwater supply it became a big problem. It damaged a lot of ecosystems and water bodies as well as animals and humans. An example of this pollution is the Great Lakes located in Michigan. Persistent organic pollution enter easily in the Great Lakes from waste sites, river runoff and other methods. This toxic pollution was discharged routinely into the Great Lakes. This affected the wildlife of the lakes and the entire ecosystem because of it. Since then, agreements have been made between Canada and Michigan to keep the water clean and safe from pollutants. This has started to fix the amount of pollution entering the lakes since then and still continues to this day. They will continue to work on the Great Lakes until it is free of toxic pollution and can sustain