Water Pollution, a real view to please

Water is the main component for life as we know it. We all need this fluid to function and live a full life. When we go for a day out for fun in the sun, there is usually water involved.
SO WHY IS IT THAT WE POLLUTE THIS RECOURSE?

When you go to your local lake for a day of fishing or boating, the least thought about issue on your mind is the containers that you bring your drinks or food in and what will happen to them once you emptied the content. Where will you discard your waste after your day of fun. Your last worry is cleaning your boat or your fishing tackle of the dirty water that the equipment came in contact with.

But you did place those empty containers in a bin that are provided, yes? But those bins were so full that people started putting their waste next to the bin hoping that somebody else would clear the waste away. But instead, the wind blew some of the waste into the water due to the fact that the waste was not contained for collection.

 Wast from weekends n the sun that get into the waterways collect in the water and those that do not sink out of sight is at the mercy of the prevailing wind. At some place on the waters edge all the floating debris collect and make for an unsightly scene.

Now this becomes every bodies problem. The water is becoming foul from the residue left in the containers.

 If nobody decide to take action and help to clean up other peoples messes, the waste start to break down in the water due to the chemical reaction of the container material with the water helped by the sun shining down. Unwanted chemicals get released into the water that can adversely affect the lives of the marine fauna and flora.

Animal life is effected greatly by the changes in the chemical composition in the water. In many cases the chemicals released by these containers are toxic to the fish and when concentrations are high enough, will kill most of the fish in the water.

Other forms of pollution also reach dams and lakes. These pollutants are brought from up-stream with the rivers and streams that feed the dam or lake. Most of these pollutants are manufacturing discharge, some are from the agricultural sector and do not forget the discharge from sewage plants.

These sewage plants treat the water before it gets discharged back into the environment, but in some cases the treatment process eliminate some bacteria but introduce other harmful chemicals.

I have seen cases where a plant has been so overwhelmed by the amount of sewage directed at it from a nearby city, that some of the waste gets dumped directly untreated into a local river.

The discharge directly into the river caused the deaths of a lot of fish and pollution from other things that people flush down their toilets that should not be there.

Then there are the agricultural contribution to the pollution. Most commercial farmers use chemicals to accelerate growth of their crops and to keep pests away. These chemicals are usually full of nitrates that accelerate the growth af toxic algae in the dams. Usually these toxic algae is kept under control in a natural way, but with the introduction of these extra nitrates in the water, the growth can not be curbed and it grows out of control suffocating the animal and plant life that exist.

Think before polluting.

River pollution

It is so easy to discard your chip wrapper on the ground and expect somebody else to pick it up.
You might say to yourself you are creating a job for a street cleaner, but you are fooling nobody.
Your little wrapper with the wrappers from millions of other people around the world land daily in the river systems.
These wrappers are usually made from petroleum based products that take ages to degrade. Some of the wrappers are lined with aluminium, and the chance of aluminium degrading is basically zero.
Many other products land up in the rivers daily including cool-drink bottles, food cans, oil bottles, plastic bags and so on. These pollutants pile up and become very unsightly to say the least.
When a storm break along the flow of the stream, all this rubbish is washed downstream and eventually land up in the ocean where the plastics pose a real threat to the animals living in the sea.
But these are not the only pollutants landing in the streams and rivers.
There are any chemicals spilled by accident in rivers. But most of these chemical pollutants are dumped into rivers on purpose. Many factories situated close to rivers use the river water to cool or flush their machinery. Once the cooling or flushing is done, the water is then returned to the river. But care is not taken to remove the toxic pollutants from the returning water. Some of these pollutants can have deadly affects on the aquatic fauna and flora.
Some of the pollutants that have a big effect on the Aqua Flora comes from the agricultural sector. Pesticides and fertilizers that are not absorbed by the plants flow into the ground water and also end up in rivers and the ocean. These can have effects beyond what we realize. Some of these chemicals are short lived and others stay in the system for years. Some of these chemicals accumulate in living organisms and become more concentrated the higher up the food chain. It becomes lethal at some stage and will kill the predator at the top of the food chain.
Governments have regulations in place to prevent some of the toxins from getting into the water systems, The problem is not the laws, it is enforcing those laws against pollution.
What is your view on the state of the planet regarding pollution?