The ecological effects of oil pollution in the natural waterways have the potential to be absolutely devastating. Waterfowl, aquatic life, and even human water sources can be devastated by even a small oil leak in water. When a large water event happens, the damage takes decades to correct.

Most oil water pollution doesn’t happen in major newsworthy events like Exxon’s mishap. The majority of oil water pollution happens through the average consumer’s actions, whether those actions are based on not being fully aware of the consequences or not caring about the consequences of their actions.

Something as simple as dumping motor oil from the change of oil of a boat or car can cause pollution effects for miles.It takes very little oil to create significant ecological problems. The 3 to 4 quarts of oil that most car engines hold have the potential to pollute more than 100 miles of waterway.

This can cause the death of waterfowl and aquatic life, and even annihilate water foliage that is vital to the natural ecosystem’s health.

The biggest problem with contaminating water with oil or oil based water pollution is that the oil adheres to everything, restricting a bird’s ability to fly, cutting off essential light sources for underwater life, and even suffocating fish as they take oil in through their gills.The devastation can have ecological impacts for years while the natural environment attempts to bounce back.

Car motor oil, boat engine oil, and oil based applications such as teak oil used to beautify the wood on boats can simply continue adding damage on top of more damage as these small infractions continue to add an accumulative power to the oil discharge that is already in the water.

You don’t have to live right next to a waterway to contribute to the oil water pollution problem. Disposing of oil in inappropriate ways seeps into the ground, contaminates drinking water, and can find its way to some of the waterways through rain runoff.

Every single time oil is spilled on the ground, coats our roadways, is dumped overboard or is pumped out through the boat’s bilge, you can be guaranteed that either groundwater or a natural waterway will feel the effects of the action.

A little bit of public education is invariably important in correcting the problem, it will perhaps contibute to solving the effects of water pollution. It is necessary for boat owners to farmers to residential communities to become oil aware.

Every time waste oil is properly disposed of, oil leaks from cars and trucks are fixed, and oil is recycled without spillage, hundreds of miles of waterways and groundwater is saved from the deadly effects that oil water pollution brings to our world.

Contaminated groundwater is a human hazard, and can make tap water highly unsafe to drink or to cook with. The oil water pollution found in groundwater isn’t likely to come pouring out of the faucet in thick black clumps.

Rather it is likely to carry the toxins into the tap and distribute it throughout the body without a great deal of detection until serious illness takes over and becomes arguably a forced recognition in order to improve the health of the contaminated drinking water victims.

Oil water pollution is one of the most damaging environmental concerns of today. The potential for the chronic and morbid destruction is far reaching and ever able to be doubled and tripled on negative effects simply through the daily actions of individuals and small businesses.

It is vital that the public become adequately educated on how their handling of oil and oil based components are likely to damage the world around them, sicken the ecosystem and in some cases even sicken their own family.

Modern technology has given us a heightened awareness of pollution, and some people may be inclined to think that because of the regulations this awareness has prompted, pollution is no longer as much of an issue as it was before.

They would be surprised to learn the truth.

One of its most dangerous forms is water contamination, which can affect almost everything else on Earth.

In March 2006, researcher Larry West wrote an exposé on dangerous drinking water. How to stop water pollution becomes a pressing issue when one reads his research.

He postulated that contaminated water is actually the leading cause of death worldwide—that it kills more people than wars, disease, or car accidents combined. The facts about water pollution are chilling, as anyone who reads West’s book can see.

His research indicated that every day, 14,000 people die because of polluted water. West also revealed that despite modern awareness, industrialized countries are among the worst offenders and that no country is considered safe simply because of technological advances.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just developing nations who struggle with stopping water contamination; about 41.3% of the USA’s major water sources are officially classified as polluted.

Surface water and groundwater are the two main categories in this debate. Most of the media’s attention on how to stop water pollution has traditionally been given over to surface water, since as its name indicates, it is the most noticeable.

Controversy exploded in the 1980s when pictures emerged of hardcore industrial waste being dumped into rivers and streams; during this same period the Exxon-Valdez oil spill brought further attention to pollution of Earth’s oceans, which are another form of surface water.

When corporations dump slime into a lake, people can see it floating there. But perhaps the most pervasive and insidious form of pollution does not take place on the surface at all.

Groundwater accounts for most of the world’s drinking water. Water pollution in China has become a huge concern, since groundwater constitutes about 70% of their drinking water on average, not to mention 40% of the water used for crop irrigation. To put it bluntly, a lot of groundwater ends up in peoples’ bodies one way or another.

And in places like China, a healthy economy comes first and healthy drinking water comes second. Amazingly, 90% of China’s cities have heavily contaminated groundwater. Although the government has tried to downplay this alarming fact by claiming that 63% of it is still suitable for drinking, people who live close to industrial areas suffer constant diarrhea.

Sources of water pollution are often extremely dangerous, especially in countries like China that don’t have sufficient regulation. For example many inhabitants of Daciluo Village, just outside of Beijing, have gotten violently sick from their murky greenish water. Daciluo’s wells were drilled from groundwater aquifers just below the surface.

Those aquifers had been badly contaminated by a nearby zinc-plating factory. The Chinese government shut down the zinc-plating plant after the international community got involved, but most companies get away without so much as a slap on the wrist.

Even though we may not live in China, everyone has a vested interest in finding out how to stop water pollution from continuing its planet-wide ravages. Every day, our water sources become a little more corrupted, until we too may share the fate of the Daciluo villagers with their monthly cramps and indigestion, not to mention birth defects and disease.

Raw sewage flows into the United States from rivers that run through Mexico. Shell Oil is paying $1 million in damages for severe water pollution in Puerto Rico. Livestock waste and industrial byproducts run into water sources of every kind, among other things causing disease and the closure of thousands of beaches every year.

Modern technology has shown us that nightmarish sources of water pollution are everywhere and the time has come to act, because clean drinking water is decreasing worldwide and it is feared population growth may soon cause worldwide drought and potential famine.

We need to shake off our sense of complacency and revise our infrastructure as well as our attitudes, so that the next generation can enjoy water free of pollution.