WATER POLLUTION

Discharge of harmful substances into the sea, rivers and lakes

• Agrochemicals – fertilizers and pesticides, damage aquatic ecosystems mainly by eutrophication

• Sewage – wet waste from houses, factories. When dumped into rivers can kill aquatic organisms
and harm human health

Agrochemicals

Pesticides – kill bugs (herbicides, insecticides, fertilizer: nitrates + phosphates)

• Washed or blown into rivers and lakes

Sulphur dioxide in the air can dissolve in water to form acidic solutions (from burning fossil fuels)\

Sewage

Untreated sewage gets into rivers, microorganisms decompose it. Use oxygen for aerobic respiration –
so less oxygen dissolved in water, aquatic organisms unable to survive. Bacteria can be pathogenic.

• Sewage treatment - oxygen is provided , allows microorganisms to break down waste

completely

Eutrophication

• When fertilizers are washed off the land into rivers and lakes
• Increase of nitrates and phosphates encourages algae growth
• Prevents sunlight reaching other plants, which die
• Bacteria break down dead plants and use up oxygen so lake left completely lifeless

Deforestation

• Cutting down trees

• Adds C02 into the atmosphere – contributing to global warming
• Affects biodiversity, destroys habitats
• Rainforests act as a carbon sink – absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere – removing rainforests
means removing the sink – extra carbon released back into the atmosphere
• Tree roots hold soil together - stops erosion - nutrients leached into the water – less fertile
environment
• Weather affected – less evapotranspiration – less water in the atmosphere – reduced rainfall