In today’s world, pollution of the aquatic environment has been the main concern of the conservationist. This essay will scrutinize the factor responsible for water pollution and analyze its impact on animal and human society.
To begin with, one of the principal causes of water pollution in our society is the toxic chemicals from industrial plants scattered worldwide. These companies discharged their chemical waste like lead and mercury directly into the water bodies (rivers, lakes and seas) thereby contaminating the river and making it useless for human consumption. For example, there was an incident of water pollution in Portharcourt an industrial city in the Eastern part of Nigeria in the year 2023.
Moving to the consequences, Pollution of water bodies by toxic chemicals can have a severe impact on the lives of aquatic animals and in turn on human beings. People are deprived of clean water for drinking and cooking resulting in the utilization of polluted water for these purposes leading to waterborne diseases like cholera and gastroenteritis among many others. Furthermore, the effects can be through the food chain. For instance, fish that has been filled with toxins can be consumed by human beings resulting in many terminal illnesses and diseases like cancer. An example was the study by Obafemi Awolowo University which shows an increase in the incidence and prevalence of many cancers and diseases commonly seen in areas with water pollution. are caused by the consumption of toxic chemicals.
In conclusion, water pollution should be a concern for everyone and the causes should be prevented because of its negative impact on living things. Moreover, governments should make policies that ban pollution of water bodies and punishment should be imposed on the offenders. This will act as a deterrent to others.