Causes and possible solutions to water pollution

We almost always talk about air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. However, water pollution is just as or more important. It is reaching limits never seen before and has very negative consequences, both in the marine flora and fauna and in our own health.

For this reason, we will talk about the causes of water pollution, as well as some possible solutions to face this very important challenge.

The Causes Of Current Water Pollution

Water is a basic resource for life. Firstly, because we need it in our daily lives and, furthermore, because a fundamental part of the planet’s biodiversity lives there. Our food, the climatic balance, and even the oxygen we breathe depend on these aquatic ecosystems.

And it is that most of the oxygen does not come from the forests, as is sometimes said, but from the oceans. Specifically, from the photosynthesis of phytoplankton (vegetable plankton) that lives in the sea.

Life on Earth depends on water. However, rivers, seas, and oceans are more polluted than ever, mainly for these reasons:

• The direct discharge of pollutants into the water. The problem of microplastics, in fact, is growing and we seem to have underestimated the amount in our oceans. In fact, some studies suggest that there are up to a million times more than we thought.
• Global warming. That alters the balance of the oceans. This completely changes the ecosystems, produces the disappearance of species, displacement of others that destroy native species, etc.
• Forest deforestation. This causes several negative effects. The main one is the appearance of sediments and bacteria in the water carried by rivers and oceans (due to the fact that the trees do not carry out their balancing work, since they are not there) and that contaminates the water.
• Agricultural pesticides. These pesticides filter through farmland and can reach the groundwater, which ends up reaching rivers and seas with this contaminated water.
• Maritime traffic. From waste thrown into the water to accidental spills, such as those from oil tankers and merchant ships, they cause direct and very harmful contamination of ocean water.

As we can see, and unfortunately, all the causes of current water pollution can be summed up in one: the human being.

The Consequences Of Water Pollution

Water pollution has very harmful consequences. Some of the most important are:

• Pollution of the marine food chain. That affects the species that live in the oceans, but also people. The intake of mercury or accumulated plastics in the marine organisms that we eat is an example.
• The scarcity of drinking water, or the access to poor quality water that many people in the world suffer from. An estimated 663 million people live without access to clean water and 2.4 billion do not have access to purification facilities, according to UNICEF.

Solutions To Water Pollution

It is urgent to solve this water contamination and it is not easy, because it is necessary to put all kinds of measures.

The main solutions go through:

• In order to restore the balance and oxygen level of the seas. This implies accelerating all measures to combat climate change: greater recycling, electrification of transport, promotion of renewable energies, etc.
• Reducing the use of plastic and microplastics that are already in the water. We must reduce plastic (especially single-use) to reduce the waste that ends up in the sea. In the same way, you have to remove the one that is already in the water. Unfortunately, no solution we have now is 100% effective, but new methods of extraction, membrane bioreactors for filtration, or bacteria that feed on plastics are being studied.
• Responsible for the management of fishing and the use of marine resources. So as not to exhaust ecosystems that are already very damaged.
• More sustainable agriculture. That reduces the use of pesticides that end up reaching the water.
• Improve waste management. Eliminating once and for all discharges into water currents.
• Responsible for the management of freshwater. To avoid scarcity and the tensions it produces.
• This machine, for example, financed by the Bill Gates Foundation, allows the conversion of fecal water into drinking water.

In short, life was born in the sea and continues to sustain it today. However, contaminated water is a growing and more urgent problem. The main cause of this water pollution is us, therefore, it is time that we are also the solution.

You may also be interested in 10 ideas to combat marine pollution in the Caribbean