Water Pollution Facts

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Water pollution is a serious problem that affects everyone. When it rains the water travels down storm
pipes, over the ground and ditches picking up any pollutants that are on the ground and bringing them
directly into the streams, lakes and rivers. Everything that goes onto the ground has the potential to end up
in the water supply. This includes garbage, oils, paint, wastes, fertilizers, pesticides and household
detergents. Even making small changes can add up to a big difference in overall water pollution. Water
pollution facts are designed to help people get a better understanding as to what attributes to water
pollution and how to combat it. Water pollution fact sheets can be very informative and help people to see
how every little thing counts and can add up to making a very big difference, either to make the water
pollution problem get batter, or worse.
Here are a few water pollution facts:
• Septic systems are failing all around the country causing untreated waste materials to flow freely into
stream, rivers and lakes and polluting the drinking water.
• Soaps and detergents can be harmful to the water supply when they are washed into the rivers and
streams as a result of washing a car. A better place to wash a car is a commercial car wash where they have
a system in place to deal with the watershed and detergents.
• Oil, antifreeze and gasoline leaking from cars contributes to water pollution when it rains and the
rainwater picks up the chemicals and it runs into the nearby streams and river.
• Fertilizers and pesticides from gardens and commercial growers leak into the water system through the
ground water or when it gets washed into storm sewers and drains into the rivers and streams.
• Pet waste adds to water pollution. It is better to bag up animal wastes and throw it in the trash.
• Livestock causes a lot of pollution due to the rain flowing over the wastes produced by the livestock and
being transported into the streams and rivers. Livestock waste is full of bacteria and is very harmful to
humans and causes many diseases.

Knowing about water pollution facts also helps to combat the problems by offering practical solutions that
are easy to follow and implement. By sweeping a driveway clean instead of washing it with water pollutants
are not carried into the water supply. When rivers get too much plant growth it can cause the fish to die due
to lack of oxygen. A good way to prevent this is to make sure that lawn clippings and garden wastes that
may contain fertilizers get used for compost and don’t end up in the streams. By knowing what water
pollution facts are it is easier to find solutions to the problems.