Water pollution poses a threat of damage to organisms that live in aquatic ecosystems. Because, water is one of the main sources of life support that has a very important function. Most of the constituents of the human body, animals, and plants are water.
In addition, in daily life, water is always necessary for drinking, bathing, cooking, washing and other purposes.
The presence and quality of water around us cannot be separated from the presence of hydrological cycles that always run. The water cycle is a natural process in the form of water recycling that starts from evaporation of water until it drops back in the form of rain.
Water Pollution Definition
Water pollution is a change in the state of a water shelter (such as lakes, rivers, oceans, or ground water) due to human activity.
Unpolluted water is not always pure water, but water that does not contain certain foreign materials crosses the normal threshold. So that it can be used for normal purposes for a certain.
Types of Water Pollution
- Surface water pollution
- Underground water pollution.
Water Pollution Causes
1# Microorganisms
It comes from various sources, such as air, soil, garbage, dirt, carcasses, and organic matter.
2# Chemicals
Chemicals in the form of heavy metals derived from industrial activities. One of the chemicals that most often poisons water is mercury.
3# Waste heat
This heat waste is removed from the power plant.
Source of water pollution
Water pollution sources can be categorized into two types:
Direct sources
A direct source is a source of pollution that directly releases waste and harmful byproducts to nearby water sources without treatment. Examples: plant waste, waste management facilities, refineries and others.
Indirect sources
An indirect source of pollutants that enter the body of water through groundwater, soil, or atmosphere such as acid rain.
Bodies of water can be polluted by a wide range of substances, including pathogenic microorganisms, decomposing organic waste, plant nutrients, toxic chemicals, sediment, heat, petroleum and radioactive substances.
Some of the most common water pollutants are:
- Domestic waste (household)
- Industrial wastes.
- Insecticides and pesticides
- Detergents and fertilizers.
Impact of water pollution
Everything on Earth when contaminated with pollutants will certainly have a variety of negative impacts, not least water pollution, the various effects of this water pollution among others as follows:
Lowering oxygen levels in the water
The most common impact of water pollution is the decrease in oxygen levels in the water. So, why is this oxygen important in the water? Because oxygen is used by aquatic animals to breathe and it is also used by aquatic plants for photosynthesis. So when the water contains only a little oxygen, many animals and plants that live in the water die.
Reduce clean water reserves
This impact is a definite impact due to water pollution. However, water pollution will cause water to become dirty, so that the reserves of clean water on Earth will be reduced because of a lot of polluted water. This will certainly be very troublesome and also detrimental to many parties, especially humans themselves.
Disrupting the balance of water ecosystems
Water pollution will also disrupt the balance of water ecosystems. However, water is the main and most prominent component of the water ecosystem. In water ecosystems, water is home to a wide range of biotic components, so if the water is polluted, then this will cause an ecosystem imbalance.
Causes erosion, flooding, and landslides
Water pollution will also cause a wide range of natural events or disasters to occur. Disasters that have the potential to arise due to water pollution include erosion, flooding, and landslides.
This is because polluted soil will cause many plants to die. And when plants die, there will be many natural disasters that will occur. Among the natural disasters that will occur are erosion, landslides, and also floods.
How to solve water pollution
1. Create a Stabilization Pool
The first way is to create a stabilization pond that is useful for treating wastewater naturally.
That way pollutants can be neutralized before the waste is flowing into the river.
Stabilization ponds commonly used are anaerobic ponds, facultative pools for waste with concentrated organic matter, and maturation ponds for eliminating pathogenic microorganisms
2. Using a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP)
The second way is to use WWTP which is used with special tools.
WWTP is used by going through three stages, namely primary treatment or the first processing which aims to separate solid and liquid substances using filters and sedimentation tanks.
Then in the second stage it is carried out to agglolate, remove colloids, and stabilize organic substances in the waste.
The last stage or called tertiary treatment is the stage of removing nutrients or nutrients, especially nitrates and phosphates and adding chlorine to eliminate pathogenic microorganisms.
3. Manure Management
Tackling water pollution can also be done by treating a lot of manure produced from household waste.
Management can be done by accommodating in one place to then be processed anaerobically into biogas that can be used as a gas source for households.
Without doing those three ways, water pollution can get worse and have many adverse effects.
