Water Pollution and Its Causes

Water pollution happens when harmful substances get mixed with water, making it impure or dirty. This means the water is not safe for drinking or using.

• Sometimes, dirt or debris can be seen floating in water, making it look muddy or unclean.
• Some harmful substances dissolve in water and are invisible but still dangerous.
• Water can be unsafe even if it appears clean due to these dissolved substances.
• Polluted water is harmful to humans, animals, and plants, causing illness.
• Rivers and lakes are key water sources that must be kept clean to ensure safe usage.

A polluted water body

1. Biological Pollutants: These are living organisms like algae, bacteria, viruses, and parasites. They make water unsafe to drink and can spread diseases such as cholera and typhoid when people use or come in contact with the contaminated water.
2. Inorganic Pollutants: These are non-living, mineral-based pollutants like sand, dust, salt, and harmful metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury). Some may even contain radioactive materials, which are very dangerous to both humans and animals.
3. Organic Pollutants: These are carbon-based chemicals from sources like weedicides, insecticides, fertilisers, sewage, and industrial waste. They mainly come from farms and factories, polluting water and harming fish and other aquatic organisms.

There are many reasons why water gets polluted. 

1. Throwing garbage and plastic into water bodies makes them dirty and unsafe.
2. Factories release harmful chemicals into rivers and lakes, affecting fish, plants, and humans.
3. Wastewater from homes often pollutes rivers when not properly treated.
4. Oil spills from ships harm marine life by spreading over the ocean’s surface.
5. Rain washes pesticides and fertilisers from farms into rivers, contaminating the water.
6. Bathing, washing clothes, and cleaning vehicles in rivers add soap and chemicals, making the water dirty.

1. Natural Reasons

2. Manmade Reasons