Water Pollution: Definition, Types, Sources, Effects, and Prevention

Water pollution
Definition
 This is the contamination of water in the water bodies(Shiva, 2016).
 This occurs when contaminants find their way into these water bodies.
 A contaminant is any foreign substance in water.
 This could be radiological, chemical, physical or biological substance.
 Contaminants could either be natural or due to human activities.

Types of water pollution
 Water pollution could be categorised into three. These are:
 Surface water pollution- This is the pollution of water in rivers lakes and other surface water bodies.
 Marine water pollution- This is the pollution of water in seas and oceans. The major cause of marine water
pollution is river water pollution (Vimanand Fleşeriu, 2010)
 Ground water pollution. This is the pollution of water in aquifers. This could result from surface water
pollution.

Water pollution sources classifications
 The water pollution sources are categorised into two. Namely:
 Point water pollution sources- This is the situation whereby the contaminants that get into the water bodies through
one single sources that can be easily identified. This include sewage and industrial waste deposition into the water
bodies(Schaffner and Scheidegger 2009).
Point source water pollution

 Non point pollution sources- This is a situation whereby the contaminants get into the water bodies from diverse
sources such as leaching of agrochemicals into the ground water(Huangand Cai, 2011).
Natural causes of water pollution
 Natural water pollution are the water pollution causes the natural processes that lead to deposition of water
contaminants into water bodies.
 These include
 Siltation- Water runoffs causes soil erosion which is deposited into the water bodies
 Decomposition of biodegradable materials in the water bodies such as aquatic plants leading to reduction of
dissolved oxygen.