Science provides many practical solutions to minimize the present levels at which pollutants are introduced into the environment and for remediating (cleaning up) past problems. All of these solutions come with some cost (both societal and monetary). In our everyday lives, a great deal can be done to minimize pollution if we take care to recycle materials whose production creates pollution and if we act responsibly with household chemicals and their disposal.
Additionally, there are choices we make each day that can also affect the quantity of pollutants. Heavily packaged foods, for instance, contain boxes, cartons and bottles etc., made with polluting dyes, many of which are released into the groundwater at municipal landfills. Whether we choose to drive to the corner store rather than walk or ride a bicycle will determine how much we personally contribute to acid and hydrocarbon emissions to the atmosphere (and ultimately to global fresh water supplies).
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Since water plays such a vital role in life on the earth, good quality water is a precious resource. Often, water quality is more important than water quantity. The quality of the water affects the use we make of it, but the reverse is also true. Once we have used the water, we affect its quality.
This circular process indicates that the traditional habit of discharging untreated sewage and chemical wastes directly into rivers, lakes, estuaries of oceans for eventual ‘assimilation’ into the environment is no longer acceptable—either technically or morally.
The explosion in human population and industrial activities, and the rate at which new chemicals and products are being developed and used pose a global environmental threat. The natural decay processes in water bodies can no longer cope with these loads.
Regulations:
Ideally, polluting contaminants should be prevented from entering the water. Specific causes which should be controlled to prevent water quality degradation are air pollution, agricultural run-off and seepage containing the residues of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals, industrial pollution, either directly from the facility, or indirectly from the leaching of chemicals from landfills, or pollution from average households in the form of improperly treated municipal sewage.
At the most, in some circumstances, pollutants can be allowed only in low concentrations. In deciding how to prevent or to regulate water contamination, a number of questions have to be asked, including the sources, amounts and effects of various substances, ‘their fate after entering the water’, the concrete possibility to prevent substances to reach the water body or to remote them by treatment. Obviously, prevention is the only regulation method for those chemicals, which cannot be removed by water treatment methods from entering the water system.
Technology:
Technology can be used in many cases to reduce or eliminate substances that may be harmful to the environment. Sewage treatment plants, properly operated and maintained, are the means of removing many toxic substances from wastewater and returning the treated water to a river or a lake without causing harm downstream.
Being a responsible consumer:
All of us, as individuals, can do something to protect the water quality by being responsible consumers. Many daily normal activities as simple as rinsing dishes in the kitchen create wastewater that is contaminated to some degree. Once this water enters the sewer system, it must be treated in a sewage treatment plant.
These facilities are never 100 per cent effective, which means that some water quality deterioration remains after the treatment process. So choosing non-hazardous products, reducing the use of some chemicals, respecting the recycling programs of municipalities, ensuring a proper disposal of waste are important behaviours to maintain water quality.
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