Nutrient pollution, which includes nitrates and phosphates, is the leading type of contamination in these freshwater sources. Environmental Protection Agency, nearly half of our rivers and streams and more than one-third of our lakes are polluted and unfit for swimming, fishing, and drinking.
According to the most recent surveys on national water quality from the U.S. But a significant pool of that water is in peril. Surface water from freshwater sources (that is, from sources other than the ocean) accounts for more than 60 percent of the water delivered to American homes. Surface waterĬovering about 70 percent of the earth, surface water is what fills our oceans, lakes, rivers, and all those other blue bits on the world map. Groundwater can also spread contamination far from the original polluting source as it seeps into streams, lakes, and oceans. Once polluted, an aquifer may be unusable for decades, or even thousands of years. Ridding groundwater of contaminants can be difficult to impossible, as well as costly. Groundwater gets polluted when contaminants-from pesticides and fertilizers to waste leached from landfills and septic systems-make their way into an aquifer, rendering it unsafe for human use. For some folks in rural areas, it’s their only freshwater source. Nearly 40 percent of Americans rely on groundwater, pumped to the earth’s surface, for drinking water. When rain falls and seeps deep into the earth, filling the cracks, crevices, and porous spaces of an aquifer (basically an underground storehouse of water), it becomes groundwater-one of our least visible but most important natural resources. Toxic substances from farms, towns, and factories readily dissolve into and mix with it, causing water pollution. It’s also why water is so easily polluted. It’s the reason we have Kool-Aid and brilliant blue waterfalls. Known as a “universal solvent,” water is able to dissolve more substances than any other liquid on earth. Water is uniquely vulnerable to pollution. Water pollution occurs when harmful substances-often chemicals or microorganisms-contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment. To better understand the problem and what we can do about it, here’s an overview of what water pollution is, what causes it, and how we can protect ourselves. Still, we’re not hopeless against the threat to clean water. But while most Americans have access to safe drinking water, potentially harmful contaminants-from arsenic to copper to lead-have been found in the tap water of every single state in the nation. Sip a glass of cool, clear water as you read this, and you may think water pollution is a problem. Without action, the challenges will only increase by 2050, when global demand for freshwater is expected to be one-third greater than it is now.
Meanwhile, our drinkable water sources are finite: Less than 1 percent of the earth’s freshwater is actually accessible to us. Unsafe water kills more people each year than war and all other forms of violence combined.
This widespread problem of water pollution is jeopardizing our health. Some 80 percent of the world’s wastewater is dumped-largely untreated-back into the environment, polluting rivers, lakes, and oceans. Auden once noted, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” Yet while we all know water is crucial for life, we trash it anyway.
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