Observation #2

Observation #2 - Water Pollution

My second observation was the amount of water pollution. Water pollution is VERY harmful for the marine life. Heavy metals gather in lakes and rivers and are toxic to marine animals such as fish and shellfish. This is also toxic to people who eat these animals. Industrial waste has several toxic elements that damage the health of the animals and the people who eat them; this can be fatal. Microbial pollutants from the sewage commonly causes infectious diseases. It infects both the marine life and the terrestrial life through drinking water. These are just a few of the reasons why water pollution is extremely dangerous.

What can we do about this?

There are a lot of things you can do to reduce water pollution. One thing you can do is to get rid of toxic chemicals properly. DO NOT flush them down the toilet or pour them down the drain. With millions of people doing this, this is a big problem. See if your community has a local recycling center that will take your old paint, motor oil, etc. Also, DO NOT pour grease and fat down the drain. This will clog your pipes and back up into people's yards and basements. This also contaminates bodies of water. You can cut down on your meat consumption (if you eat meat). Raising the animals for the meat uses up a lot of water and the waste and the antibiotics tend to end up in the groundwater. Instead, you can eat more organic foods. Even though there may still be some chemicals, organic food is made with less synthetic chemicals. Even planting trees will help pollution. Trees reduce erosion, and erosion is the thing that washes pollutants into the water. You can even do the most obvious and simple thing: don't litter! Litter will wash into a body of water because of erosion, if the litter wasn't already in the water. Instead, you can help clean up beaches and rivers, or pick up litter if you see any. All of these things will help reduce water pollution.

What I Learned/Questions I Still Have

I learned that erosion is the cause for most of the litter in bodies of water. I also learned that heavy metal ends up in the water often and is toxic to the marine life. A question I still have is: How did the oil spills a few years ago affect underwater vegetation and coral reefs?