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Water pollution: causes, consequences and solutions

 

 

Water is one of the natural elements that is found in the greatest amount on planet Earth. It is also responsible for the possibility of developing different life forms: plants, animals and the human being. The organisms of all living beings are composed of water in a high proportion, being that this is what makes up the muscles, organs and different tissues. Therefore, without water, life is not possible.

Current context

 

One of the biggest global problems at present is the lack of access to fresh and potable water for sanitation. If, in addition, we add the problem of water pollution, the picture worsens. Pollution is caused by spilled waste, fertilizers, pesticides or chemicals that flow into fresh water and end up contaminating salt water. On this problem, the NGO InpirAction says: "More than 1 billion people will suffer in the future water shortages due to pollution, overpopulation and climate change, which affect the sources of this essential resource."

In turn, according to the 2016 report of the United Nations on the development of water resources in the world, almost 80% of the jobs that constitute the global workforce depend on access to an adequate supply of water and services related to water, including sanitation.

Causes and consequences of water pollution

Water is necessary to grow and process food, it also provides energy to the industry in order to satisfy a population in constant growth. The inadequate management of urban, industrial and agricultural wastewater means that the water that hundreds of millions of people drink is dangerously contaminated or polluted chemically. Water pollution also causes part of the aquatic ecosystems to end up disappearing due to the rapid proliferation of invasive algae that feed on all the nutrients provided by the waste.

 

An important aspect is the division of water according to its degree of contamination. The first is polisaprobia: water that is strongly contaminated with organic carbon, characterized by a population of specific organisms and usually with a very low concentration and even total absence of oxygen. The second is the mesosaprobiana: the organisms that live in media with a moderate amount of organic matter and variable amount of oxygen in solution, like some chlorophyll algae. Finally, there is the oligosaprobiana: wastewater discharge areas to a river, where the waters have reached the appearance and characteristics of their natural state.

Water pollution is generated by different types of discharges: process water, sewage and white water. The first is a discharge of the production process, with which its pollutant load will depend on industrial activity. The second is generated in the toilets and similar to domestic wastewater. And the last, they are usually called "raw waters" due to their nature prior to purification. Its importance is that they are the basis of water production for massive human consumption.

Inadequately managed or inadequately managed water and sanitation services expose the population to preventable risks to their health: diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid fever and poliomyelitis. This is especially true in the case of hospitals in which both patients and professionals are exposed to increased risks of infection and disease when there are no water supply, sanitation and hygiene services.

According to an article of Socio-Sanitary Responsibility in October 2016, an estimated 842,000 people die every year from diarrhea as a result of water pollution, insufficient sanitation or poor hand hygiene. This infection is highly preventable, but it is still responsible for the deaths of 361,000 children under the age of five, deaths that could be avoided if these risk factors were addressed.

In places where water is not easily accessible, people may find that washing their hands is not a priority, which increases the likelihood of spreading diarrhea and other diseases. Diarrhea is the most well-known disease that is related to food consumption or water pollution. However, there are also other dangers: almost 240 million people are affected by schistosomiasis, a serious and chronic disease caused by parasitic worms contracted by exposure to infested water.