Water Conservation and Pollution In the world today, water scarcity persists in being an unnerving issue. The world’s supply of water is diminishing and is further narrowed by pollution. Without measures taken to conserve our water, there will be a global and chronic drought. As long as water is scarce, it is imperative to develop proposals concerning water conservation and pollution.
Although water is one of the most abundant resources on the planet, we are not able to utilize the majority of it. Ninety-eight percent of water on Earth is found in the oceans, while the remaining two percent of water is renewable. Although this may be true, irrecoverable sources, such as glaciers and underground aquifers, trap nearly all renewable water (Cooper, …show more content…
According to Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, industrial pollution is the predominant contributor when it comes to water contamination (“Water Pollution” 1). Leftover waste and chemicals are discarded into nearby rivers and streams, presumably the reason why 40 percent of freshwater sources are polluted (1). Among the discharged chemicals are nitrates and phosphates, which are beneficial to the growth of several organisms. While they may be salubrious, an overload of these chemicals can cause an abundance of algae to emerge, leading to oxygen deprivation in the area (Manuel 6). In addition to a depleted amount of oxygen, industrial wastes like phosphates cause eutrophication, or "the aging of a lake by enrichment of its water" (“Eutrophication” 1). In the natural cycle of eutrophication, water will disappear after thousands of years. However, chemicals significantly speed up the process by stripping away essential nutrients, such as oxygen, from marine life and depositing them into algae. Over time these algae multiply until the original source of water disappears into the surrounding land (7). With an abundance of sources contributing to aquatic pollution, it is no surprise that nearly half of Earth’s freshwater environments are polluted (“Water Pollution” …show more content…
Though the TMDL plan will limit the amount of pollutants in certain bodies of water, the process to create a TMDL is laborious. First, each type of pollutant requires its own type of TMDL, and certain bodies of water require specific types of TMDLs. In other words, developing a TMDL that collaborates with both a specific pollutant and a specific body of water is no minor task. Along with TMDLs, desalination seems to be a practical idea, but as a matter of fact it is inefficient. To elaborate, desalination requires copious amounts of energy to produce an insignificant amount of distilled water. Furthermore, the process generates pollution due to the use of fossil fuels. In spite of the fact that desalination is expensive, destitute countries in need of clean water are without access to saltwater, requiring additional work to transport the distilled product to these areas. Contrarily, bioplastics are remarkably efficient. Unlike regular plastics, they provide healthy nutrients to Earth’s surface when they degrade. By virtue of their infallibility, bioplastics will become prevalent in the near
Although water is one of the most abundant resources on the planet, we are not able to utilize the majority of it. Ninety-eight percent of water on Earth is found in the oceans, while the remaining two percent of water is renewable. Although this may be true, irrecoverable sources, such as glaciers and underground aquifers, trap nearly all renewable water (Cooper, …show more content…
According to Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, industrial pollution is the predominant contributor when it comes to water contamination (“Water Pollution” 1). Leftover waste and chemicals are discarded into nearby rivers and streams, presumably the reason why 40 percent of freshwater sources are polluted (1). Among the discharged chemicals are nitrates and phosphates, which are beneficial to the growth of several organisms. While they may be salubrious, an overload of these chemicals can cause an abundance of algae to emerge, leading to oxygen deprivation in the area (Manuel 6). In addition to a depleted amount of oxygen, industrial wastes like phosphates cause eutrophication, or "the aging of a lake by enrichment of its water" (“Eutrophication” 1). In the natural cycle of eutrophication, water will disappear after thousands of years. However, chemicals significantly speed up the process by stripping away essential nutrients, such as oxygen, from marine life and depositing them into algae. Over time these algae multiply until the original source of water disappears into the surrounding land (7). With an abundance of sources contributing to aquatic pollution, it is no surprise that nearly half of Earth’s freshwater environments are polluted (“Water Pollution” …show more content…
Though the TMDL plan will limit the amount of pollutants in certain bodies of water, the process to create a TMDL is laborious. First, each type of pollutant requires its own type of TMDL, and certain bodies of water require specific types of TMDLs. In other words, developing a TMDL that collaborates with both a specific pollutant and a specific body of water is no minor task. Along with TMDLs, desalination seems to be a practical idea, but as a matter of fact it is inefficient. To elaborate, desalination requires copious amounts of energy to produce an insignificant amount of distilled water. Furthermore, the process generates pollution due to the use of fossil fuels. In spite of the fact that desalination is expensive, destitute countries in need of clean water are without access to saltwater, requiring additional work to transport the distilled product to these areas. Contrarily, bioplastics are remarkably efficient. Unlike regular plastics, they provide healthy nutrients to Earth’s surface when they degrade. By virtue of their infallibility, bioplastics will become prevalent in the near