Water Pollution

Rivers, well, lake and underground water are the sources of water. Some of the people’s activities pollute air. These are the discharge of solid wastes from industries and factories, improper use of chemical fertilizer, pesticides and insecticides and release of wastes and other harmful residues through drainage. They pollute water sources and change in water quality. Foreign elements when change quality of water is water pollution. In other word, when pollutants change physical and chemical property of water its quality is different from original one. Such water is called polluted and it is not useful. Thus, the change of the state of water in such a way that it is not useful to use by living beings is called water pollution.

a. Causes of Water Pollution
People use water for different purposes such as drinking, irrigation and cleanliness. These activities affect the water sources in one or another way. It means there are different reasons of water pollution. Some of them are as follows:
· In city areas both pipes of drinking water and drainage are placed side by side. Drinking water gets polluted when dirty water and wastes leakage from the pipe.
· Washing clothes and utensils nearby the well, tape, pond and rivers are common. People also take bath in or nearby water sources. Cattle go to water sources to drink water. These types of activities pollute water sources.
· Wastes of hospital, laboratory, industry and workshop contain harmful chemical and wastes. If they are mixed with water sources they pollute water sources.
· It is common that farmers used different types of chemicals such as fertilizer, pesticide and insecticide in their farm.

b. Effects of Water Pollution
Water pollution produces several harmful effects. Some of them are given below:
· Polluted water causes several diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid. People suffer from these diseases. Other diseases due to polluted water affect even other living beings.
· Polluted water of river, pond and lake harm the health of living-beings including human beings.
· Polluted water generates bad smell to its surroundings. It pollutes the settlement area and even the environment.
· Polluted water if irrigated to agricultural land it affects young plants, seedlings and living-beings. It slows down their normal growth. Some of the useful insects and plants die due to the affect of polluted water.

c. Methods of Water Pollution Control
We can adopt different methods of water pollution control depending upon the place and situation. Some methods are given below:
· It is necessary to reduce household wastes. Such wastes should not throw to river, rivulet, pond, lake well and their surroundings.
· Wastes water of industries and factories should be properly treated before discharge to outside either land or water sources. Similarly, solid and waste, dirty water of hospital, laboratory and industries should be processed properly for controlling water pollution.
· Water pollution control programmes should be launched at central and local levels.
· Some of the natural calamities such as soil erosion, landslides and floods pollute water sources and even they damage them. If we take precaution for their control contributes in controlling of water pollution.