People who seek to preserve the environment have expressed significant concerns about pollution of our rivers, lakes and seas. In this essay, I will enumerate the causes of pollution to these bodies-of-water, also, discuss the impact of this on animal and human society.
First of all, human activities in terms of indiscriminate disposal of industrial and domestic waste are responsible for most of the water pollution in our environment. A number of times, waste generated by industries are channelled to rivers and lakes in the environment. However, these waste contains untreated harmful substances which will cause the water to be unsafe for human domestic use at the same time toxic for aquatic life. Similarly, waste generated from human domestic activities are improperly disposed into bodies-of-water. For example, single-use plastic like Styrofoam, polythene bags are practically emptied into water ways, causing serious environmental pollution especially in communities with poor sanitation culture.
Turning to the effect of water pollution on animal and human society, it leads to an uptick in human health hazards and likewise causing existential threats to aquatic life. Reports emerging from several environmental agencies suggest a direct link between pollution of sources of drinking water and increase in health conditions like diarrhea, colon cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in the community. Likewise, there has been a significant decline in the fish population in the high sea, this has been attributed to pollution by micro plastic.
In conclusion, irresponsible disposal of waste generated from human domestic and industrial activities are largely responsible for water pollution. These have adverse effects on human health indices and stability of aquatic population.