Storm water refers to the water from rain or melting snow that “runs” downhill, usually into a storm drain, stream, lake, bay, river, ocean, or another body of water.

As the storm water runs toward its destination it is likely to pick up various pollutants from the ground.

Since the water is not running where it can be filtered whatever it picks up along the way will become part of the storm water runoff.

This means that water which runs through a contaminated area, such as a road construction site, can bring the tainted pollutants into the body of water causing pollution for the natural environment.

You can’t stop the storm water from running and you can not very well redirect it to avoid a specific area. Storm water pollution prevention is all about the cohesive efforts and responsible behaviors of everyone. It is necessary to cut polluted water off where it starts, which would be at the ground level.

Storm water pollution prevention is necessary for a variety of reasons. Pollutants can cause harm to the natural environment and the wildlife within the environment. It takes a surprisingly small amount of toxic pollutants to ruin the drinking water that is available for the surrounding wildlife as well as create an unhealthy environment for recreational or even commercial fishing.

Swimming areas can be closed down. In fact, at any given time of the year in the United States nearly 25% of recreational swimming beaches are closed due to poor storm water pollution prevention. That very same storm water can additionally throw of the balance of natural bodies of water and cause the growth of algae that is harmful to wildlife and to humans.

The Environmental Protection Agency, casually referred to as the EPA, has implemented some much needed guidelines for developing storm water pollution prevention plans. These plans developed by the EPA include a registry program for any business or industry that emits potential storm water runoff. This registry process serves several purposes.

For starters, it helps the EPA keep track of the industries that are discharging potentially toxic waste into our waterways. It also helps the EPA establish which pollutants are most likely to show up in various regions based on the industries that have applied for a permit. This can help accelerate the process of water testing and assist in developing in depth studies of the effects of the pollution.

Additionally, the permit registration process helps to raise funds for the clean up operations that are continuously taking place. With a system in place to help fund the clean up operations and keep close tabs on the level of pollution being pumped onto the ground for the next rain or snow event.

Storm water pollution prevention requires more than just buying a permit. All industries and businesses regardless of their size need to put forth their own environmental clean up effort.

Assembling a team for clean up of the discharge is not difficult. One person needs to stay on top of the plans and oversee that the prevention plan is well maintained. Small businesses that discharge waste are just as culpable for the condition of the waterways and surface pollution.

Businesses that deal with any type of discharge that can be spilled, such as antifreeze, need to be vigilant about teaching employees the proper clean up procedures for polluted storm water.

There is a very narrow window of time that a chemically based spill can be efficiently cleaned up. One of the most important aspects of storm water pollution prevention is fast action when spills happen, although spill prevention is always preferable.

Storm water pollution is one of the biggest pollutant problems that can occur. With simple pollutants covering the roadways, construction sites, industry, and even household projects all contribute to the growing problems of water pollution. The solution lies in the promise of each and every individual to intentionally and purposefully combat the contaminants that end up in our natural resources.

While drinking water filters and bottled water has become a staple in our society, most consumers still use unfiltered drinking water for cooking, filling pet water bowls and bottles, and for mixing powdered drink mixes.

Drinking water pollution is a big enough problem within our country to warrant the same vigilance as we give other health hazards.

There are numerous sources that pile up into serious contamination potential for all drinking water.

Whether your water i scoming from a well on your property or if you are using “filtered” city water sources, the chances that you have a problem with drinking water pollution is quite high.

Groundwater testing has shown that in any given area throughout the country as many as 200 variable contaminants have been detected. Long term exposure can create numerous health problems, including lead poisoning.

While not every single contaminant is destined to cause a serious health problem or even any health problem at all, you can not count on your local contaminants to be harmless.

Filtering helps to clear up a great deal of the usual drinking water pollution but what is much more effective and necessary is dealing with the direct sources of the water contaminants and cleaning up the environmental factors that are poisoning our drinking water.

By dealing with the direct sources of water contamination we can not only control our drinking water contaminants but we can also clean up the natural sources of water that house and provide life saving water for the wildlife of the natural environment.

Agriculture practices are one of the largest sources of groundwater contaminants. The chemical used in controlling bugs and other chemically based treatments run directly into the groundwater supply. Pesticides and poisonous agricultural raw waste can contaminate more than 40% of the surrounding groundwater.

Since groundwater contaminants run down with the gravitational pull, poisonous contaminants from agricultural practices can pollute drinking water miles away from its original source.

By teaching farmers and farming coops safer, more natural agricultural practices we can reduce one of the largest sources of drinking water contaminants and make the areas around farms a much healthier environment.

Another major contributor to drinking water pollution is urban run off. Another human based contribution that needs to be controlled at the source in order to save our drinking water supply.

Urban run off used to be considered a rather small contributor to the pollution problem in our drinking water because there was a very large contribution being made by construction and industrial wastes.

Yet with more stringent regulations controlling the pollutants associated with construction and industrial wastes, urban run off has reached a much higher place on the list of problematic situations contributing to the drinking water pollution problem.

When rain washes urban trash, chemicals, and pollutants from the structures and roadways of populated areas, there is no way for the water to filter itself on its way to the groundwater.

Since the pollutants run directly over pavement and other non-porous surfaces that have no filtering capabilities, and thus all pollutants will travel straight to the groundwater supply.

Everything from basic trash, cigarette butts, antifreeze, motor oil, gasoline, pesticides, and other daily use products are all contributing factors in groundwater contamination caused by urban run off. Practicing safer disposal practices of automobile chemicals, putting together trash clean up projects, and using environmentally safe household products can help cut down on urban run off pollutants.

Lead is one of the most concerning urban run off pollutants, as lead poisoning can cause learning problems, chronic emotional and health issues, and is non-reversible. Drinking lead contaminated water is a serious health problem. It does not matter if you live in the city, the country, or an upscale neighborhood, your drinking water can be laden with very dangerous levels of lead.

Lead based paints were outlawed due to their dangers, but older homes and buildings that are remodeled, improperly disposed of older electronics, and construction in older neighborhoods can release lead into the groundwater, creating a significant drinking water pollution hazard.

It takes the cooperation and the education of everyone to help clean up our biggest drinking water threats. The more environmentally friendly everyone becomes, the closer we get to finding cleaner drinking water and protecting our natural environment. Industrial and personal responsibility for our environment is the first and most significant step toward clean drinking water in the country in every community.

These may also be referred to as point and nonpoint contamination. In both cases, the descriptive word applied to the contamination type references its amount of direct contact with the water source.

Direct, or point contact, is something introduced right into the water. Indirect, or nonpoint contact, is contamination that occurs elsewhere and then finds its way into a water source, generally by natural means.

Point contamination involving surface water has typically gotten the most attention from the media; articles on water pollution will frequently highlight oil spills out at sea and similar scandals. These are the most visible type of water pollution.

The terrible reality that we see in front of our eyes is not always the fullest extent of pollution, however. As bad as oil and chemical spills are (and they are bad), much of the worst pollution goes unnoticed by most people because it occurs underground, affecting groundwater aquifers.

Groundwater is a prime nonpoint contamination target, which occurs in many ways and as we discuss the issue of how to stop water pollution, the best way to do it is to attack indirect pollution of groundwater, by finding the sources of water pollution.

Groundwater accounts for nearly 90% of the world’s drinking water. It’s especially difficult tracking nonpoint contamination because many times it occurs naturally when small amounts of pollutant find their way together and the overall effect becomes dangerous.

This means that regulations must be stepped up. If small amounts of pesticides are sprayed over orchards by a crop duster, for example, each individual dose of pesticide might be perfectly up to code. Then after it rains, these pesticides become sources of water pollution by draining slowly together until they finally run through the soil and reach an underground aquifer.

Pesticides are a relatively mild example. Rain can fall anywhere and anytime it wishes, thereby washing pollutants into major water sources. These pollutants can come from construction sites, which contain heavy metal content as well as chemical elements.

They can also come from something as innocuous as rainwater washing across asphalt-this is known as “urban runoff” and is actually somewhat poisonous. (Not a very comforting thought when we consider the prevalence of asphalt in modern life.) Then, we have more typical sources of water pollution: major corporations dumping toxic waste. Still, is it always those big-business bad guys ruining our lives with their sludge? The answer may surprise you.

Extreme forms of contamination often come from landfills. Sometimes nuclear waste has been buried by the government and, when mixed with rainwater, this becomes a very toxic runoff. But the worst and most dangerous landfills are those created by ordinary people.

You and I throw garbage away without thinking about where it goes-but in reality, it goes into our faucets. Facts about sources of water pollution are disturbing, partly because we are to blame. Rainwater runs through our garbage, becoming a thick, grimy juice of toxins in our water sources. Your baby’s diaper doesn’t biodegrade.

Old tyres don’t biodegrade. Plastic shopping bags don’t biodegrade either, and best of all, everything made of plastic originates from petroleum, or natural gas. We drink these residues every day.

We also eat residues. In 1962, researcher Rachel Carson wrote a groundbreaking book called Silent Spring in which she blew the lid off of lax government restrictions and showed contamination to the world.

For the first time, people became aware of what they were doing to the environment as they read the facts about water pollution, including this one: a stalk of celery, if grown in soil that has been exposed to polluted water, can magnify the pollutant in its stem many times over as it grows. That’s the ugly truth about sources of water pollution-whether direct or indirect, eventually they affect us all.

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.

Water pollution affects our oceans, lakes, rivers, and drinking water, making it a widespread and global concern. Numerous diseases, health problems, and even fatalities have been associated with water pollution.

Water is considered polluted when chemicals, pathogens, or contaminants are detected.  Human beings have the most crucial impact on our water resources.  They also have the ability to control or eliminate water pollution.

Causes of Water Pollution

Farmers often use chemicals to hinder bug infestations or other diseases from damaging or ruining their crops.  They may also use chemicals to enhance the growth of their crops.  Either way, these chemicals seep into the ground water or run off into lakes, creeks, or rivers, causing water pollution. 

Farmland that is irrigated and treated with chemicals in the form of fertilizers or pesticides is a major contributor to water pollution.

Industrial processes produce toxic waste containing heavy metals.  When heavy metals filter into water, they are fatal to marine life.  Shellfish and fresh fish are staple menu items for people around the world.

Humans are affected by the heavy metals ingested by the fish and shellfish, causing health problems and sometimes death.  The heavy metals in water have also been linked to severe birth defects, a damaged or suppressed immune system, cancer, fertility problems, and developmental problems in children.

The construction industry is also at fault for contaminating our water resources with cement, lubricants, plastics and metals. Rivers and lakes are also polluted from heavy silt or sediment run-off from construction sites.

Ground water pollution occurs when chemicals, debris, garbage, oil or other harmful contaminants enter the ground water supply over time.  Ground water is often a resource for our drinking water.  If it isn’t treated properly, those harmful elements can cause serious health issues for human beings and domestic animals.

Natural catastrophes are the cause of water pollution effects as well.  Major upheavals such as storms, earthquakes, acid rain, floods, and volcano eruptions have been known to disrupt the ecological system and pollute water.

The growth of algae due to food items, feces, or urea in the water source is also a source of water pollution.  When algae grow in water, it uses up more than its fair share of oxygen, causing other living organisms in the body of water to suffer.  Certain types of algae can be fatal if they reach an algal bloom stage, otherwise known as brown or red tides.

The process of contamination begins with tiny organisms called zooplankton and travels up the food chain through clams, birds, marine creatures, and ultimately, humans.  These types of algae are considered toxic because they have been known to cause fatalities in humans.  Even overgrowths of non-toxic types of algae can effectively block the sunlight from penetrating the water’s surface, which makes it difficult for marine life to find food, causing eventual death.

Littering on the land or on the water is a source of water pollution.  Debris tossed onto land eventually makes its way into storm drains and then returns to surface water.  Ships and boats discharging human waste or chemicals into the water directly are simply speeding up the pollution process.

Industrial accidents that dump chemicals into the water kill marine life swiftly and within a short period of time.  As the fish and plant life decompose, further water pollution occurs.  Even sunken ships are a contributor to water pollution.  As the ship corrodes and decays over time, those pieces of debris or chemicals are released into the ocean or freshwater lake.  Once again, marine life is affected, which means humans who eat those fish or shellfish can be adversely harmed as well.

6 Major Effects of Water Pollution

The effects of water pollution are numerous (as seen above).  Some water pollution effects are recognized immediately, whereas others don’t show up for months or years.  Additional effects of water pollution include:

1) The food chain is damaged. When toxins are in the water, the toxins travel from the water the animals drink to humans when the animals’ meat is eaten.

2) Diseases can spread via polluted water. Infectious diseases such as typhoid and cholera can be contracted from drinking contaminated water.  This is called microbial water pollution.  The human heart and kidneys can be adversely affected if polluted water is consumed regularly.  Other health problems associated with polluted water are poor blood circulation, skin lesions, vomiting, and damage to the nervous system.  In fact, the effects of water pollution are said to be the leading cause of death for humans across the globe.

3) Acid rain contains sulfate particles, which can harm fish or plant life in lakes and rivers.

4) Pollutants in the water will alter the overall chemistry of the water, causing changes in acidity, temperature and conductivity.  These factors all have an affect on the marine life.

5) Marine food sources are contaminated or eliminated by water pollution.

6) Altered water temperatures (due to human actions) can kill the marine life and affect the delicate ecological balance in bodies of water, especially lakes and rivers.

Water pollution effects have a huge impact on our environment and health.  The delicate balance between nature and humans can be protected, but it will take efforts on all fronts to prevent and eliminate water pollution locally and globally.