Water pollution: Difference between revisions

'''Water pollution''' (or '''aquatic pollution''') is the contamination of [[Body of water|water bodies]], usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses.<ref name="Von Sperling"/>{{rp|6}} Water bodies include [[lake]]s, [[river]]s, [[ocean]]s, [[aquifer]]s, [[reservoir]]s and [[groundwater]]. Water [[pollution]] results when [[contaminant]]s mix with these water bodies. Contaminants can come from one of four main sources: [[sewage]] discharges, industrial activities, agricultural activities, and urban runoff including [[stormwater]].<ref name=Eckenfelder>{{Cite book |vauthors=Eckenfelder Jr WW |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/0471238961 |title=Kirk‐OthmerKirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-471-48494-3 |doi=10.1002/0471238961.1615121205031105.a01}}</ref> Water pollution is either [[surface water]] pollution or [[groundwater pollution]]. This form of pollution can lead to many problems, such as the [[environmental degradation|degradation]] of [[aquatic ecosystems]] or spreading [[Waterborne diseases|water-borne diseases]] when people use polluted water for drinking or [[irrigation]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 23, 2013 |title=Water Pollution |url=https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ehep/82-2/ |access-date=September 18, 2021 |website=Environmental Health Education Program |publisher=[[Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health]] |location=Cambridge, MA |archive-date=September 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918005228/https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ehep/82-2/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Another problem is that water pollution reduces the [[ecosystem service]]s (such as providing [[drinking water]]) that the [[Water resources|water resource]] would otherwise provide.