In all cultures and countries around the world, water pollution and sewage go hand in hand.

When dealing with water pollution sewage is one of the leading problems that have become increasingly difficult to contend with.

With a growing population the wastewater that ends up in our natural waterways is also increasing.

While stricter laws have been passed to help eradicate the issue, raw sewage from dogs, boats, and commercial vessels are still getting into our water.

This means that people are swimming in (and swallowing) some amount of raw sewage along many of the most populated beaches and in rivers. Of course, sewage can also get into our drinking water with one cracked septic system or mismanagement at a waste water pollution treatment plant.

In the fight against water pollution sewage happens to be one of the easiest pollutants to control in theory, but the hardest to get the human population dealing with. Pleasure boaters have not been allowed to discharge directly overboard for almost ten years.

With difficulties in enforcing this policy, the US Coast Guard has had to expend resources boarding and inspecting pleasure boats to ensure that the raw sewage is being directed into a holding tank rather than a direct overboard discharge.

All pleasure boats built in the last thirty years have offered the buyer the option of discharging overboard or discharging into a holding tank. Boaters resist holding tanks because there is a residual odor that can not be easily contended with when raw sewage sits in the holding tank in summer heat.

Wastewater treatment plants are prone to mishandling of the wastewater due to employee training issues. It only takes a small accidental discharge to contaminate a large portion of the waterways with untreated sewage. With greater employee training and fail safe technology, this is the one problem that many ecological organizations feel can be reasonably dealt with in the coming years.

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Raw sewage in our swimming and drinking water also comes from our beloved pets. Dog owners who do not take the small moment required to reach down and scoop their dogs’ waste are contributing directly to the water pollution sewage problem.

This type of waste can be especially difficult to contend with because many dogs tend to carry worms and other parasites that are excreted with their bowels. This means that when the rainwater carries away the defecation, there is an increased chance that internal parasites will enter the swimming and drinking water as well.

It is vital that everyone recognize the detrimental effects of raw sewage as one of our nastiest but solvable water pollution issues. The cooperation of pleasure boaters, boats and charters for hire, dog owners, and wastewater treatment facilities could decrease the threat of spreading infection, parasites, and water born illnesses by more than eighty percent.

With the chronic difficulties of getting everyone on board with the hazards that raw sewage poses within our natural waterways and our drinking water, it is not likely that we will see parasite and disease free water for a long time. The more effort we put into educating the public the closer we come to solving the problem of water pollution and sewage.

Our native waters are not the only waters at risk. Our waters are not only threatened by the actions and behaviors of its own residents when dealing with water pollution sewage issues. Around the globe there are raw sewage issues, and the more the untreated, infected, and parasitic waste enters the water the harder it is for the natural filtration system that the planet provides to clean the waterways.

With the current population, we have the potential to pollute every single waterway, ocean, and drinking water supply with raw sewage is we simply stop the effort to clean up after ourselves.

With such a harsh effect potentially waiting for us, why would we not all get on board the idea of keeping sewage out of our waterways? Water pollution and sewage treatment does not have to take over the planet, but it does take a cooperative effort.