water quality issues

            According to water-technology.com, water pollution is the addition of foreign substances (pollutants) to a water source. Water pollution is damaging streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans all over the world and needs to be greatly reduced. The dire consequences that humans, wildlife, and forests face need to be addressed before it is too late. The causes of poor water quality are due to problems such as, sedimentation, runoff, erosion, and pH.

            Water quality is especially important to the survival of humans because it is a necessity of life. Approximately 66% of the human body is composed of water, therefore, human society would not survive if water quality became extremely poor. Also, the earth is made up of 80% water. Basically, with these high percentages we cannot afford to pollute our water.

The effects of water pollution on wildlife are just as important. The main animals that deal with this environmental problem are fish and other marine organisms. When these marine animals die from contaminated water it disrupts the food chain by either killing off main sources of food or by larger animals eating smaller animals that have been poisoned by lead and cadmium.

As a solution to the growing amount of water pollution not only in the United States, but also throughout the world, I suggest that we educate people on how to better protect our natural freshwater and saltwater habitats. Ways in which we can achieve better water quality habits include practicing smarter agriculture, reducing runoff of pesticides and fertilizers from urban and suburban lawns, driving less, and improving sewage treatment. In order to reach these goals we must reach out to other people for help. The sooner we clean up our water the better.