Major Sources of Water Pollution
Industrial wastes: The rejected goods or the wastage of the mills, factories and workshops fall into the lakes, rivers or seas and pollute that water.
The rejected discharge of large industries such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates and such like organic matters as well as copper, lead, chromium, zinc, mercury, inorganic sulphur compound, phosphorus and other poisonous things mix with the water and pollute it.
The industries that discharge industrial wastes includes Food Processing centers, Paint manufacturing factories, Petro-chemicals industries, Tanneries, Paper manufacturing mills and such like industrial centers.
Domestic garbage and wastes: Water mixed with soap and detergents used in domestic chores are the main causes of water pollution. The garbage kept deposited for long on the ground in the urban areas produce poisonous chemicals and bacteria, that infect the river water, the terrestrial water bodies of all sorts.
Following heavy downpours, a big volume of the infected water flow down the sewerage from the garbage dumps into rivers, ponds, lakes and other water bodies polluting them dangerously.
Mineral oils: If the mineral oils and their by-products mix with the sea water, they pollute the sea extensively. This results in death of numerous aquatic plants and lives and degradation of the aquatic ecology.
Thermal power stations: The ebullient water that comes out from the thermal power stations, nuclear power plants or from the iron and steel industries to fall into the river or lake or sea make the water of the receiving water-bodies so hot that the aquatic life-stream there perishes.
Acid rain: When Sulphur and Nitrogen Oxide, Sulphate and Nitrate salt mix with rain water, it is called acid rain. This rain water pollutes the water of any water body, like pond or canal, lake or river.
Agricultural Chemicals: Modern mode of agriculture includes use of excessive chemical fertilizers, insecticides and many other chemicals to kill the unwanted plants and weeds. These chemical are left lying on the soil. During watering the field on raining, these chemicals go deep down into the soil and pollute the subterranean water.
The water from the ploughed fields washes down the filth and the fatal germ into the ponds and canals and water-bodies and rivers and pollute their water.
Natural phenomena: Soil erosion, Landslide, erosion of the coastal land, volcanic eruption, etc. cause the harmful things in the soil to mix with the water in the soil and pollute it dangerously. These besides, the refuse coming out during extracting and processing of Uranium and Thorium pollutes water.
