Water Pollution

 What Can You Do to Prevent Water Pollution? PREVENTION OF WATER POLLUTION Half of the world's inhabitants will live in water-scarce areas by 2025, so every drop of polluted water today is an irreparable loss for tomorrow. That's why we must prevent water pollution with measures like the following: Reduce CO2 emissions to prevent global warming and acidification of the oceans. Reduce the use of chemical pesticides and nutrients on crops. Reduce and safely treat waste water so that, as well as not polluting, it can be reused for irrigation and energy production. Restrict the use of single-use plastics that end up floating in rivers, lakes and oceans, many as microplastics. Encourage sustainable fishing to ensure the survival of species and avoid depletion of the seas.

  MAIN CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION It is sometimes caused by nature, such as when mercury filters from the Earth's crust, polluting oceans, rivers, lakes, canals and reservoirs. However,  the most common cause of poor quality water is human activity  and its consequences, which we will now go on to explain:   Globa l warming Rising global temperatures  caused by CO 2  emissions heat the water,  reducing its oxygen content.   Deforestation Felling forests can  exhaust water resources  and generate organic residue which becomes a breeding ground for harmful bacteria.   Industry, agriculture and livestock farming Chemical dumping from these sectors is one of the main causes of  eutrophication of water.   Rubbish and faecal water dumping The UN says that more than  80% of the world's sewage  finds its way into seas and rivers untreated.   Maritime traffic Much of the plastic...

WHAT IS WATER POLLUTION The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that polluted water is water whose composition has been changed to the extent that it is unusable. In other words, it is toxic water that cannot be drunk or used for essential purposes like agriculture, and which also causes diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and poliomyelitis that kill more than 500,000 people worldwide every year. The main water pollutants include bacteria, viruses, parasites, fertilisers, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, nitrates, phosphates, plastics, faecal waste and even radioactive substances. These substances do not always change the colour of the water, meaning that they are often invisible pollutants. That's why small amounts of water and aquatic organisms are tested to determine water quality.

  The planet keeps nudging us with increasingly extreme droughts, reminding us that water is life. It is an essential resource upon which all living beings depend and it is crucial to all social and economic development, as well as energy production and adaptation to climate change. Nevertheless, we are now facing a gigantic challenge. How do we stop contaminating our rivers, seas, oceans, canals, lakes and reservoirs?