Adopt a Watershed

Charities now concentrate on smaller scale projects involving whole communities. This seems to have far greater impact and perhaps should tell us that we need to look at water management from a different angle. What works for one community may not work for another. Building huge dams, canals and reservoirs cannot be the answer.  There must be other ways to help control the pollution in our water while reducing the unnecessary consumption of the precious natural resource.

Finding ways to filter water in a cost effective and simple way is a priority, since charities struggle to find the money to maintain water quality at the same level as before. With traditional water filters only lasting about a year and replacements being expensive in terms of actually transporting them to the often remote locations, better ways must be found to improve water quality as well as accessibility. It seems therefore more sensible to give out research grants for the benefit of mankind than hand out trillions of dollars for the construction of just one dam benefitting just one country.

Water Quality of our Oceans

Promoting sustainable, low impact tourism around the world is a start in the right direction. Many countries depend almost entirely on tourism but the very way in which tourism impacts on the water quality in particular and the environment in general often condemns whole areas to devastation and threatens local people’s livelihood. Where reefs are now being protected and wildlife habitats are being built into the tourist programme, a new lease of life has been given to small communities depending on foreign monies.

If we continue to over-fish and destroy marine creatures on such a large scale, we will not only have destroyed our food source, we will have given plankton carte blanche to spread and spread and spread. Eventually turning into an unhealthy bacterial soup, our oceans will choke on plant life no longer kept in check by hungry fish and other marine life.

Water Temperature Matters

Our climate around the world depends on a delicate balance of warmed up and cooled seawater circulating with the oceans’ currents around the globe. Any disturbance owing to global warming and melting ice caps will have a major impact on our climate and the quality of our water. Melting ice will change the level of salinity in our oceans, adding further to changes in temperature of the currents. Over long periods this will lead to climate change, in the short term to extreme weather patterns.

Improving Water Quality Starts at Home

We are all responsible for the improvement of our water quality. Reducing the amount of water treatments needed in the first place while cutting down on waste water and polluting agent’s starts at home, as does recycling.

If you are building a new house, think of ways of improving water recycling and reducing waste. If you can, ask for a water metre to be installed in your home, it will not only save you money in the long run, but will help to reduce water wastage. Increasing the insulation in our home will help to cut down fuel consumption and results in less global warming. Everyone can do something to improve the water quality and prevent water pollution.

As the black sludge spreads over the surface of the water and slowly drifts downward, undersea plant life suffers. When it covers the surface, the plants are cut off from the sunlight they need to grow and thrive. As it drifts downwards, the oil coats the plants, insuring that even once the surface is clear, they will still be denied the much needed sunlight. Animals that feed upon undersea plant life, such as shrimp, then face the same risk as all other forms of life that ingest the oil.

When the oil spill first began, fishermen all went out to see, throwing down large fishing nets, capturing all the fish and shrimp they could before they were affected. This was done for the simple convenience of having seafood available at restaurants. However, this action, too, had effects on the underwater environment. Many undersea plants were uprooted, and many “homes” were destroyed in this hasty action. Paying no heed to what else might be caught up in the net, many sea turtles and dolphins met their end when they couldn’t escape.

For many of the captured fish and shrimp, it was already too late. This is why the prices of these animals, in the form of food, have drastically increased at many restaurants around the world. Fresh, healthy seafood can still prove difficult to find in the Gulf of Mexico, even now.

Many beaches in Florida that once attracted tourists are now riddled with oil and tar, making them both unappealing and unhealthy. As the beach draw disappears to tourists, many choose to go elsewhere. This, in turn, hurts the once profitable small tourist towns that dot coastlines near the Gulf of Mexico. Even now, the carcasses of various forms of sea life were ashore, victims of the oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers.

The cost to undersea life is much more drastic than the costs we have had to make, as land dwelling humans. While we have lost money, a particular source of food, and money, many animals have lost their lives. Since the oil spill, it is believed that near 6,000 birds have died. Almost 100 dolphin carcasses have been found, and three whale bodies that can be linked directly to the oil spill have been discovered. Nearly 550 sea turtles have been found dead, pushing some of the species to the endangered species list. The price we have had to pay is small in comparison to theirs.

Our environment is durable, however. Although it will take time, it will recover from this disaster. The best we can do is to do all we can insure that causes this much harm does not happen again. Many of the marine animals that call the ocean home would not be able to survive another tragedy of that magnitude. As self-made and self-proclaimed rulers of this earth, we have a responsibility to all other forms of life that inhabit it.

Sometimes things discharged into the rivers can lead to the sea as the rivers flow into the sea and the sea flows into the ocean.  Some of the things discharged can contain harmful chemicals which will end up polluting not only the small rivers, but the large sea and the vast ocean.

Agriculture is very important to man, but it can also lead to marine pollution especially if crude means of agriculture is used or when the farmers are not careful enough. There are some places where irrigations systems are practiced. These irrigation channels can act as runoff through which chemicals enter the sea. Pesticide used in farming can mix up with the water flowing through the rivers. The pesticide will get to the sea as the rivers flow to sea. But this is not the problem. The problem is that these pesticides can contaminate the sea. Worst of it all is that these pesticides can lead mutation as they become incorporated into the marine food web. When this happens both marine and human lives are in danger. Indeed quite a good number of us like sea food. If luck runs against you, you can eat some sea foods that have been contaminated by pesticides.

Inland mining is another way through which dangerous chemicals can enter the sea and pollute it. Through mining such chemicals like copper can enter the sea. When these chemicals are flushed away by flood into the rivers, it will enter the sea as the river flows into the sea. This also can result in marine pollution.

At times during construction of roads, building and even bridges, certain chemicals like carbon, nitrogen and others are being used. Such chemicals through runoff from these construction sites can enter into the sea as in the above manner and then contaminate the sea. Runoff from construction sites is another avenue through which chemicals can enter into the sea and pollute it.

One of the most dangerous causes of marine pollution is oil spills. In fact thousands of marine lives can be lost through oil spill. Besides the immediate lost of marine lives through oil spillage, there is also aftermath consequence of it. It is extremely difficult to clean up such components of crude oil as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These chemicals can stay for many years in the sea. Staying for some years does not mean that their potency have been neutralised by the sea. They are still active and harmful.

Residues from cargoes which are discharged directly into the sea are also another cause of marine pollution.   The atmosphere itself has its own quota to contribute in the pollution of the sea. Dangerous winds and hurricanes can blow up different types of materials into the sea. Plastic bottles and bags and others can be blown off from the landfill into the sea and these results in marine pollution.

In fact there are different ways through which marine pollution occurs. It is left for us to help out in our individual little way to reduce marine pollution which is in some cases unavoidable.

Water is so delicate in every way that it can easily be affected by any pollutant. Moreover some people also use some dangerous chemicals in fishing which of course destroys the animals and at the same time causes so much pollution to the water. What is even more disturbing is when humans go back to drink this same water without actually knowing that was the water they polluted.

One major effect of water pollution is that it causes so much destruction to living organisms and this is usually one of the major issues why it is very necessary to see to it that water is protected. Those people who actually use river water, stream or lakes are often most affected when there is so much pollution in water. It is therefore worthwhile to say that, some of these things should be checked immediately because it often affects most people who truly do not have any idea on water pollution. This problem has been noted quite for some time now and it is often associated especially with rural communities or those who are in a low income area. Those people are affected the most due to ignorance on how to clean the water before consuming it and other related factors.

To avoid some water pollution in one way or the other, it is often appropriate that there is enough education on how to protect water bodies. Aside from this, to also prevent already polluted water from affecting us so much, it is very good that water is boiled to a very high temperature to destroy all microorganisms and therefore make it clean enough for human consumption. Most at times those who do not have knowledge concerning this kind of purity end up causing a lot of mess to themselves and this explains why there should be that education so that no one will have that excuse whatsoever. There are even instances whereby some people after boiling the water also add some chemicals that purify the water for drinking and this might be known just simply by education.

Nevertheless, there should be enough education on how rivers, streams, ponds and so on should be treated and as such there should be some legal issues attached to it. For instance if there is a law that states that anyone who is caught polluting any of the water bodies should be persecuted, it will be very interesting to know that the majority will try as much as possible not to go against it and this of course will reduce the way water is being polluted and its other related effects.

In general, water is a very useful commodity and as such should be treated accordingly. Good water treatment means good health and of course long life. Educate yourself and others on the importance of clean water not only for humans, but for all life on this planet.