The Industrial Age and Water Pollution
Since the beginnings of the Industrial Age in the mid 19th century, the earth has experienced a very rapid increase in the amount of pollutants in the air and the water, due to emissions from automobiles, factories, chemical plants and other manufacturing methods which use fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, to create power. But within the last thirty years or so, the amount of pollution in our air and water has reached what some consider as a tipping point, meaning that pollution is slowly yet surely poisoning not only our air and water but also living environments all over the planet. Many proposals have been put forward concerning ways to decrease pollution and to help slow down global warming, yet the causes and effects of air and water pollution must first be understood before international governments set about creating ways to combat the destruction of our natural environments. Technically, water pollution occurs when "environmental stresses associated with chemicals or heat are intense enough to cause ecological damage," such as the effects of dumping raw sewage in rivers and lakes, acidification and toxic chemicals from coal-burning power plants and the discharge of industrial hot water, especially related to nucl
The impact of these and other pollutants include the following results-first, acid rain, composed of nitrogen oxides, "is one of the key air pollutants that causes acid deposition and results in adverse effects on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems" all over the world. The third type is agricultural operations, such as those found on farms that raise food crops or animals for human consumption, which generate "emissions of gases, particulate matter and chemical compounds. Also, mercury contamination has proven to be a very serious source of pollution for the Great Lakes and other large bodies of water throughout the world. Other adverse effects of air pollution include smog, generated by automobiles and other fossil-fuel burning vehicles, eutrophication, based on "excess nitrogen which causes the accelerated growth of algae, bioaccumulation, or an increase in chemical contaminants in the food chain which can often "change a plant species composition and make species more susceptible to disease, changes in the weather and insect damage" ("Air Pollution," Internet). " Also, acid rain affects the ability of plants like trees to grow and resist disease ("Air Pollution," Internet). coli contamination, water sources may be unfit for drinking, swimming and bathing and in large cities, problems related to domestic sewage may contaminate local lakes and ponds with E. " These sources include volcanic eruptions which emit very dangerous gases into the atmosphere, such as sulfur dioxide; forest and prairie fires, such as those currently burning in the western portions of the U. Since sewage is "an organically-rich material, large quantities of oxygen are needed to create decomposition of these waste materials," and as a result, bodies of water, such as inland lakes, streams and ponds, "are often subject to deoxygenation" or the removal of oxygen from the water (Mabey, 167). " The second type "refers to a source that is capable of moving under its own power," such as automobiles, trucks, buses and aircraft. and especially in California; various plants and trees that emit hydrocarbons, and dust storms that often "create large amounts of particulate matter" usually confined to the ground. The results of this damage commonly include toxicity in organisms, such as water fowl, fish and other marine life, changes in living environments like rain forests and jungles and changes in the processes linked to organism productivity and the decomposition of dead matter. Water that receives untreated sewage is also polluted by pathogenic viruses and bacteria and certain types of parasites which when ingested by humans can result in severe illness or even death. One of the most common types of bacterial pollution is E.
Common topics in this essay:
Industrial Age,
Pollution Internet,
Health Organization,
Internet Lastly,
air pollution,
water pollution,
air pollution internet,
Air Pollution,
air water,
pollution internet,
pollution caused,
acid rain,
effects air,
lakes streams,
power plants,
,
effects air water,
air pollution caused,
living environments,
air water pollution,
|
Acceptance Essays
