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Mitigation Strategies And Solutions

Mitigation Strategies and Solutions
University of Phoenix
By: Amy Bryant
1/1/09
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater caused by human activities, which can be harmful to organisms and plants that live in these types of water bodies. Types of pollution may include a number things, whether it be people dumping their garbage in the water or on the sand near bodies of water or whether it be from oil spillage. Improper disposal practices have a direct impact on public health. Water resources have become inadequate in the city, partly because of the increase in water demand and poor environmental management but also because of pollution of water resources due to inappropriate sanitation practices. In the last few years the areas around dump sites have become very populated: the dumps are also located close to important water bodies. Water pollutants are divided into eight categories: sewage, disease-causing agents, sediment pollution, inorganic plant and algal nutrients, organic compounds, inorganic chemicals, radioactive substances, and thermal pollution. Sewage is one type of pollution that comes from wastewater drains or sewers. Examples of sewage are human wastes, soaps and detergents. Some effects of sewage are that it threatens public health; causes enrichment and high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Disease causing agents is another type of pollution that comes from wastes of infected individuals. Some examples of disease causing agents are bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasitic worms. Some effects of disease causing agents includes the spread of infectious diseases (cholera, dysentery, typhoid, infectious hepatitis, poliomyelitis). Another type of pollution is thermal pollution; this is caused by industrial runoff. Heated water produced during industrial processes, then released into waterways is an example of thermal pollution. One of the major effects of thermal pollution is that it...