Sources of pollution of surface and ground water

According to the World Health Organization, the main cause of all diseases on the planet is the use of unsanitary, poor-quality and not meeting sanitary and epidemiological requirements of water. In order to determine the sources of water pollution, it is necessary to consider the sources of water supply. They are divided into surface, underground or artificial.

Lucky for those who can afford to use underground pools or aquifers for their needs. Artesian water is of the highest quality, it is protected from contaminants by solid rocks. However, it can be highly mineralized, have high rigidity, unpleasant odor, taste, or even contain substances harmful to the human body. Therefore, it is necessary to perform high-quality water treatment for the home. In its quality, spring water is close to artesian. Artificial sources include desalination plants that are used in countries such as Israel or the United Arab Emirates.

Surface sources are: seas (bays, straits), watercourses (rivers, streams, canals), reservoirs (lakes, ponds, reservoirs, flooded quarries), swamps, natural groundwater outlets (geysers, springs), glaciers and snowfields. For our household and industrial purposes, we most often use water obtained from streams and reservoirs. However, an open surface makes them vulnerable to clogging and pollution from the outside.

All sources of water pollution are of natural origin and man-made, which, one way or another, are a consequence of human activity. Nature copes with natural pollution itself, but it cannot cope with man-made pollution without its help. The degree of pollution of surface sources varies depending on precipitation, melting snow and ingress of pollution.

The main sources of pollution are wastewater, acid rain, municipal solid waste, oil leakage, discharged waste from thermal and nuclear power plants and pollution of other origin, which are difficult to determine, it can be unauthorized harmful emissions from plants or the consequence of agricultural work. The danger of industrial and domestic effluents is that, getting into water, they form new compounds, the effect on the body of which is not yet known.

The discharge of wastewater containing synthetic detergents is especially harmful. The accumulation of inorganic substances negatively affects aquatic inhabitants, reduces the oxygen content and leads to the formation of dead zones. The phosphates contained in the powders, getting into water bodies, begin to act on algae as fertilizers. As a result, they grow, and when they die, they release a huge amount of methane, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, which kill all living things.

Agriculture with its pesticides, mineral fertilizers and chemicals inflict enormous damage to the country's water resources, because with groundwater they fall into water bodies, from where the water goes to household needs. This problem is especially acute in rural areas. 90% of the total rural population uses polluted water.

Pollution prevention and cleaning are the responsibility of a number of utilities. The basis of water treatment is chlorination, which at the moment cannot be replaced by milder methods. However, after it is carried out, hazardous chloride compounds are formed which must be removed by filtration.

Sources of water pollution can even be at our home place - these are water pipes. Few people think about their influence. When passing through them, water reacts with the metal and forms compounds hazardous to the human body. Earlier, black steel pipes were used for the water supply system, but they are very susceptible to corrosion, which negatively affects the quality of the water. They were replaced by galvanized steel pipes, but they proved their effectiveness only in conditions of calcareous -carbon balance. Copper and chromium steel have the highest corrosion resistance, but copper pipes are not suitable for drinking water supply.

Plastic pipes seemed more reliable, but in their production they use organic substances that can get into water. In addition, microorganisms have the ability to multiply in the pores of pipes. Therefore, it is simply impossible to obtain high-quality drinking water without harmful substances and impurities without installing a water purification and water treatment system.