River Pollution
River Pollution River pollution is form of water pollution that refers to the contamination of rivers. River pollution occurs when waste and different other pollutants are discharged into river without being properly treated. River pollution has negative effect on aquatic ecosystems. The negative impact on plants and animals often leads to decline in species, and sometimes even to extinction of entire species (Yangtze River dolphin). River pollution also leads to decrease in freshwater resources because rivers are among most important sources of freshwater in the world.
This means that the excessive river pollution could easily lead to global water shortage. Excessive river pollution could also lead to many waterborne diseases. Pollution can be in a variety of forms: Rubbish like crisp packets, newspaper and bags. Oil,Poisonous substances,Cans, bottles and other solid objects,Human waste / excrement Factories Factories use water from rivers to power machinery or to cool down machinery. Dirty water containing chemicals is put back in the river. Water used for cooling is warmer than the river itself, and this is also a form of pollution.
People People are sometimes careless and throw rubbish such as bottles and crisp packets directly into rivers Agriculture Farmers put fertilizers and pesticides on their crops so that their crops grow better. But these fertilizers and pesticides can be washed through the soil by rain, to end up in rivers. Fertilizers and pesticides are harmful because they cause algae to grow. The algae then destroy water plants. Construction site stormwater Silt fence installed on a construction site.
Sediment from construction sites is managed by installation of: erosion controls, such as mulching and hydroseeding,and sediment controls, such as sediment basins and silt fences. Discharge of toxic chemicals such as motor fuels and concrete washout is prevented by use of:spill prevention and control plans, and specially designed containers (e. g. for concrete washout) and structures such as overflow controls and diversion berms Effects of pollution Pollution kills water plants and animals. Polluted water also carries diseases.
When animals drink the water, they may get diseases which can kill them. People can even get these diseases by eating the infected animal. This happens a lot in poor countries in Africa where people get untreated water directly from the river. Rivers look unsightly when there is rubbish in them. Polluted rivers smell bad. Solution: In order to tackle river pollution issue people need to show more care for our environment in general. There also needs to be better and far more frequent monitoring of rivers as well as strict punishments for polluters.
The data needs to become live, and real-date, as well as being available to general public. The worst affected countries should create funds and start cleaning their rivers because having polluted river doesn’t only mean huge environmental but also huge economic damage. We must not forget that rivers provide us with many important services. Improving water quality of our rivers is certainly very important task that needs to be addressed properly on all levels – local, regional, national as well as international. Healthy rivers mean healthy environment, and healthy environment means healthy life.
