Most water pollution is the result of

Discharge from a Chinese fertilizer factory winds its way toward the Yellow River. Like many of the world's rivers, pollution remains an ongoing problem.

Table of Contents Show

Water pollution causes
Freshwater pollution effects
Freshwater pollution solutions
What are the top 3 causes of water pollution?
What is the most common water pollution?
What is the biggest impact on water pollution?

Photograph by Greg Girard, Nat Geo Image Collection

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Water pollution is a rising global crisis. Here’s what you need to know.

The world's freshwater sources receive contaminants from a wide range of sectors, threatening human and wildlife health.

ByChristina Nunez

Published March 16, 2010

• 6 min read

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From big pieces of garbage to invisible chemicals, a wide range of pollutants ends up in our planet's lakes, rivers, streams, groundwater, and eventually the oceans. Water pollution—along with drought, inefficiency, and an exploding population—has contributed to a freshwater crisis, threatening the sources we rely on for drinking water and other critical needs.

Research has revealed that one pollutant in particular is more common in our tap water than anyone had previously thought: PFAS, short for poly and perfluoroalkyl substances. PFAS is used to make everyday items resistant to moisture, heat, and stains; some of these chemicals have such long half-lives that they are known as "the forever chemical."

Safeguarding water supplies is important because even though nearly 70 percent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh. And just one percent of freshwater is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in remote glaciers and snowfields.

Water pollution causes

Water pollution can come from a variety of sources. Pollution can enter water directly, through both legal and illegal discharges from factories, for example, or imperfect water treatment plants. Spills and leaks from oil pipelines or hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations can degrade water supplies. Wind, storms, and littering—especially of plastic waste—can also send debris into waterways.

Thanks largely to decades of regulation and legal action against big polluters, the main cause of U.S. water quality problems is now "nonpoint source pollution," when pollutants are carried across or through the ground by rain or melted snow. Such runoff can contain fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides from farms and homes; oil and toxic chemicals from roads and industry; sediment; bacteria from livestock; pet waste; and other pollutants.

Finally, drinking water pollution can happen via the pipes themselves if the water is not properly treated, as happened in the case of lead contamination in Flint, Michigan, and other towns. Another drinking water contaminant, arsenic, can come from naturally occurring deposits but also from industrial waste.

Freshwater pollution effects

pBeautiful tendrils fill the now-dry Colorado River Delta in northern Mexico. So much water has been taken out of the river upstream that it rarely reaches the sea./p

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pAn aerial view of the Colorado River near Meeker, Colorado, shows a reservoir and irrigated fields./p

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pPeering from a decoy, a hunter lifts his head above the water of the Indus River, one of the major sources of water for parts of South Asia./p

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pThe Lansdowne and Ayub Bridges in Sukkur, Pakistan./p

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The Syr Darya river near Tashkent. The river feeds the North Aral Sea, which has grown dramatically since the construction of a dam that now divides the Northern part of the sea (in Kazakhstan) from the southern part (in Uzbekistan).

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The Rio Grande marks the border with the US and Mexico on the Adams Ranch near Big Bend National Park. The Adams Ranch is a major parcel of land that shares the US/Mexico border. There is no fence or any sort of man made barrier in this region. The border is marked by the Rio Grande river. The proposed fence would devastate the rich culture and wildlife corridor that this region represents.

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Algae colors the conflence of the Rio Grande and Arroyo San Carlos.

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pStrong tides are seen during a sand-washing operation to clear up the sediment-laden Yellow River at the section of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir. This round of operation was estimated to take more than 20 days, with a maximum discharged water flow of 3,500 cubic meters per second./p

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pStrong tides are seen during the fifth-round sand-washing operation to clear up the sediment-laden Yellow River at the section of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir. Over 300 million tons of sand from the lower Yellow River have been flushed into the sea during the previous four sand-washing operations./p

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$pMost of Victoria and New South Wales in Australia suffered an unprecedented drought that lasted for more than a decade. River levels dropped and reservoirs went to a fraction of their capacity. Lake Hume is the largest reservoir in Australia and was set up to provide irrigation water for farms further down the Murray Basin and drinking water for Adelaide. On the day this photograph was taken it was at 19.6% capacity. By the end of the summer of 2009 it dropped to 2.1% capacity. /p$

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The mouth of the Murray River where a dredge keeps the pathway open.

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<p>Beautiful tendrils fill the now-dry Colorado River Delta in northern Mexico. So much water has been taken out of the river upstream that it rarely reaches the sea.</p>

Beautiful tendrils fill the now-dry Colorado River Delta in northern Mexico. So much water has been taken out of the river upstream that it rarely reaches the sea.

Photograph by Peter McBride, Nat Geo Image Collection

Water pollution can result in human health problems, poisoned wildlife, and long-term ecosystem damage. When agricultural and industrial runoff floods waterways with excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, these nutrients often fuel algae blooms that then create dead zones, or low-oxygen areas where fish and other aquatic life can no longer thrive.

Algae blooms can create health and economic effects for humans, causing rashes and other ailments, while eroding tourism revenue for popular lake destinations thanks to their unpleasant looks and odors. High levels of nitrates in water from nutrient pollution can also be particularly harmful to infants, interfering with their ability to deliver oxygen to tissues and potentially causing "blue baby syndrome." The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 38 percent of the European Union's water bodies are under pressure from agricultural pollution.

Globally, unsanitary water supplies also exact a health toll in the form of disease. At least 2 billion people drink water from sources contaminated by feces, according to the World Health Organization, and that water may transmit dangerous diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

Freshwater pollution solutions

14:37

NG Live!: Sandra Postel: Troubled Waters

National Geographic Fellow Sandra Postel views the world through a water lens, advocating for all to make simple and easy changes to their everyday lives that will help "Change the Course" of the Earth's precious supply of freshwater. The National Geographic Live! series brings thought-provoking presentations by today’s leading explorers, scientists, photographers, and performing artists right to your YouTube feed. Each presentation is filmed in front of a live audience at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. New clips air every Monday.

In many countries, regulations have restricted industry and agricultural operations from pouring pollutants into lakes, streams, and rivers, while treatment plants make our drinking water safe to consume. Researchers are working on a variety of other ways to prevent and clean up pollution. National Geographic grantee Africa Flores, for example, has created an artificial intelligence algorithm to better predict when algae blooms will happen. A number of scientists are looking at ways to reduce and cleanup plastic pollution.

There have been setbacks, however. Regulation of pollutants is subject to changing political winds, as has been the case in the United States with the loosening of environmental protections that prevented landowners from polluting the country’s waterways.

Anyone can help protect watersheds by disposing of motor oil, paints, and other toxic products properly, keeping them off pavement and out of the drain. Be careful about what you flush or pour down the sink, as it may find its way into the water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends using phosphate-free detergents and washing your car at a commercial car wash, which is required to properly dispose of wastewater. Green roofs and rain gardens can be another way for people in built environments to help restore some of the natural filtering that forests and plants usually provide.

What are the top 3 causes of water pollution?

Causes of Water Pollution.

Rapid Urban Development..

Improper Sewage Disposal..

Fertilizer Run-Off..

Oil Spills..

Chemical Waste Dumping..

Radioactive Waste Discharge..

What is the most common water pollution?

Chemical pollution The most common type of water pollution, chemicals can infiltrate both underground water sources and those sitting on the Earth's surface.

What is the biggest impact on water pollution?

Industries and farming activities are the leading cause. Solvents and metals used in industries can pollute rivers and lakes. Weed, insects, and fungi control in farms using pesticides is the other cause of soil contamination. Chemical contamination also results from petroleum spills.