Human pollution of rivers. Waste water pollution - ways to solve the problem

Water pollution is everyone's problem. First of all, the government and local governments should be interested in solving the problem, but each of us can also help. The first step is to become interested in the problem and try to study the issue.

Types of water pollution

Water pollution with nutrients

Wastewater is often contaminated with nutrients (biogens) that, when released into the water, encourage the growth of weeds and algae.

And these plants, in turn, often clog filters, make water unfit for drinking and consume large amounts of oxygen, as a result of which aquatic organisms die due to oxygen starvation.

Surface water pollution

Surface waters include rivers, bays, oceans and lakes. Chemicals entering the water simply dissipate and pollute its volume and surface.

Groundwater pollution

Fertilizers and pesticides from the fields during rains and irrigation sink into deeper layers of the soil and pollute groundwater. When choosing a location for a well or borehole, check the soil for groundwater contamination beforehand; otherwise, the dug well may be a waste of money.

Microbiological contamination

Water may be unfit for drinking even if it has not been chemically contaminated.

Viruses and bacteria that are dangerous to humans live in open sources. Unfortunately, in a number of poor countries, people are forced to drink water directly from rivers without purification, so these countries have a high percentage of illnesses and even deaths due to the poor quality of drinking water.

chemical pollution

Factories and factories dump production waste into rivers, sometimes without proper treatment, sometimes even illegally.

Metals and solvents catastrophically pollute water, these poisons slow down the development of aquatic fauna, can make aquatic inhabitants sterile and even kill them.

Gasoline and oil leak

Oil and gasoline entering the water in one local place spread for kilometers. Oil leads to the death of fish, glues the feathers of birds, from which they lose the ability to fly and become more susceptible to cold.

So, in Australia this year, penguins were affected by the oil spill. But the Penguin Rescue Fund of Australia found a solution to the problem - sweaters were sewn for the penguins, which prevent them from pecking toxic waste from the body and keep the birds warm.

Water pollution control methods

The first step is to protect yourself from the negative effects of polluted water. The reverse osmosis water purification system can help with this, as the most advanced purification technology at the moment. Here are the steps that each of us can take to reduce global water pollution.

Use water wisely

Turn off the faucet when you don't need water, conserve water when bathing and washing dishes. Do not think that you do not have a meter and you will pay a fixed amount for utilities, regardless of the amount of water used.

Think about the fact that in this way you reduce the amount of dirty water, which is then discharged into the Dnieper and other rivers without proper purification, after which the same water is filtered at city stations and returned to your water supply.

Not everything can be thrown down the sink

Avoid throwing chemicals, medicines, paint, and oil down the sink and toilet—these contaminants are the hardest to deal with. Throw all of the above in the trash.

Buy environmentally friendly detergents

There are now more and more sustainable detergents: phosphate-free detergents, dishwashing detergents containing less chemicals and other products for household use. Pay attention to them if you want to contribute to the future of ecology.

Switch to organic fertilizers

If you have your own garden, then try to use less pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Pesticides are one of the major pollution problems in our tap water that chlorine cannot deal with. Pesticides as a result of irrigation of fields get into deeper layers of the soil and mix with underground sources. It is better to use humus and natural fertilizers, which are previously collected in a compost pit or barrel.

Water pollution

Any actions performed by a person with water lead to a change in both its physical properties (for example, when heated) and its chemical composition (in places of industrial effluents). Over time, the substances that have fallen into the water are grouped and remain in it already in the same state. The first category includes domestic and most industrial effluents. The second group includes various types of salts, pesticides, dyes. Let's take a closer look at some of the polluting factors.

Settlements

This is one of the main factors affecting the state of water. Liquid consumption per person per day in America is 750 liters. Of course, this is not the amount that you need to drink. A person consumes water when washing, using it for cooking, using the toilet. The main drain goes to the sewer. At the same time, water pollution increases depending on the number of inhabitants living in the settlement. Each city has its own treatment facilities, in which sewage is cleaned from bacteria and viruses that can seriously harm the human body. The purified liquid is dumped into the rivers. Pollution of water with domestic wastewater is also enhanced because, in addition to bacteria, it contains food residues, soap, paper and other substances that negatively affect its condition.

Industry

Any developed state should have its own plants and factories. This is the largest factor in water pollution. The liquid is used in technological processes, it serves both for cooling and for heating the product, various aqueous solutions are used in chemical reactions. More than 50% of all discharges come from the four main liquid consumers: oil refineries, steel and blast furnace shops, and the pulp and paper industry. Due to the fact that the disposal of hazardous waste is often an order of magnitude more expensive than their primary treatment, in most cases, along with industrial effluents, a large amount of a wide variety of substances is discharged into water bodies. Chemical pollution of water leads to a violation of the entire ecological situation in the whole region.

thermal effect

Most power plants operate using steam energy. Water in this case acts as a coolant, after passing through the process, it is simply discharged back into the river. The temperature of the current in such places can rise by several degrees. Such an impact is called thermal water pollution, but there are a number of objections to this term, since in some cases an increase in temperature can lead to an improvement in the environmental situation.

Oil pollution of water

Hydrocarbons are one of the main sources of energy on the entire planet. The collapse of tankers, gusts on oil pipelines form a film on the water surface through which air cannot enter. Spilled substances envelop marine life, which often leads to their death. Both volunteers and special equipment are involved in the elimination of pollution. Water is a life-giving resource. It is she who gives life to almost every creature on our planet. A negligent and irresponsible attitude towards it will lead to the fact that the Earth will simply turn into a desert scorched by the sun. Already, some countries are experiencing water shortages. Of course, there are projects to use the Arctic ice, but the best solution to the problem is to reduce the overall water pollution.

Water pollution is a serious problem for the Earth's ecology. And it should be solved both on a large scale - at the level of states and enterprises, and on small scales - at the level of every human being. After all, do not forget that the responsibility for the Pacific Garbage Patch lies on the conscience of all those who do not throw garbage in the bin.

Domestic wastewater often contains synthetic detergents that end up in rivers and seas. Accumulations of inorganic substances affect aquatic life and reduce the amount of oxygen in the water, which leads to the formation of so-called "dead zones", of which there are already about 400 in the world.

Quite often, industrial effluents containing inorganic and organic wastes descend into rivers and seas. Every year, thousands of chemicals enter water sources, the effect of which on the environment is not known in advance. Many of them are new compounds. Although industrial effluents are pre-treated in many cases, they still contain toxic substances that are difficult to detect.

acid rain

Acid rain occurs as a result of exhaust gases released by metallurgical enterprises, thermal power plants, oil refineries, as well as other industrial enterprises and road transport into the atmosphere. These gases contain oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, which combine with moisture and oxygen in the air to form sulfuric and nitric acids. These acids then fall to the ground, sometimes many hundreds of kilometers away from the source of the air pollution. In countries such as Canada, the USA, Germany, thousands of rivers and lakes were left without vegetation and fish.

solid waste

If there is a large amount of suspended solids in the water, they make it opaque to sunlight and thus interfere with the process of photosynthesis in water basins. This in turn causes disturbances in the food chain in such pools. In addition, solid waste causes silting up of rivers and shipping channels, resulting in the need for frequent dredging.

oil leak

In the US alone, there are approximately 13,000 oil spills each year. Up to 12 million tons of oil enter the sea water every year. In the UK, more than 1 million tons of used engine oil is poured into the sewers every year.

Oil spilled into seawater has many adverse effects on marine life. First of all, birds die: drowning, overheating in the sun or deprived of food. Oil blinds animals living in the water - seals, seals. It reduces the penetration of light into closed water bodies and can increase the temperature of the water.

Uncertain sources

It is often difficult to identify the source of water pollution - it can be an unauthorized release of harmful substances by an enterprise, or pollution caused by agricultural or industrial activities. This leads to water pollution with nitrates, phosphates, toxic heavy metal ions and pesticides.

Thermal water pollution

Thermal water pollution is caused by thermal or nuclear power plants. Thermal pollution is introduced into the surrounding water bodies by waste cooling water. As a result, an increase in water temperature in these reservoirs leads to the acceleration of some biochemical processes in them, as well as to a decrease in the oxygen content dissolved in water. There is a violation of the finely balanced cycles of reproduction of various organisms. In conditions of thermal pollution, as a rule, there is a strong growth of algae, but the extinction of other organisms living in the water.

Durakhanov Suna Dzhalalovna

The goals of our mini-research are:

Analysis of the state of water objects in the vicinity of our village;

Identification of the causes of irrational use of water;

Possible ways to remedy the situation.

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WORLD WATER DAY

RESEARCH WORK

WASTEWATER POLLUTION:

WAYS TO SOLVING THE PROBLEM

Completed by: Durakhanova Suna Dzhalalovna,

student 9 a class Mikrahskaya secondary school

Dokuzparinsky district of Dagestan

Head: Radjabov Ruslan Radjabovich,

biology teacher Mikrakh secondary school

year 2012

BRIEF SUMMARY

It is useless to talk about the value and significance of water for all life on Earth, everyone knows this. But, even realizing the importance of the role of water in life, people still continue to exploit water bodies, irrevocably changing their natural regime with discharges and waste. In addition, for many living beings, water also serves as a habitat. Water is of great importance in industrial and agricultural production. It is well known that it is necessary for the everyday needs of man, all plants and animals. Population growth, the intensification of agriculture, a significant expansion of irrigated land, improvement of cultural and living conditions, and a number of other factors are increasingly complicating the problems of water use. The demand for water is enormous and is increasing every year. Most of the water after its use for household needs is returned to the rivers in the form of wastewater.

GOALS

The goals of our mini-study are:

1. analysis of the state of water bodies in the vicinity of our village;
2. identifying the causes of irrational use of water;
3. possible ways to remedy the situation.

1. INCREASING WATER CONSUMPTION

According to our calculations, about 70% of all water consumption is used in agriculture. A significant amount of water is used for domestic needs of the population. Most of the water after its use for household needs is returned to the rivers in the form of wastewater.

Fresh water scarcity is already becoming a global problem. But in the mountainous and foothill regions, which include our region, this problem is imperceptible. Firstly, because our nature is quite generous with springs, streams, small rivers and other sources of fresh water. Secondly, their reserves do not run out, as they are fed by atmospheric precipitation, which falls in abundance here, and in summer, by glaciers. But to have does not mean that we should treat this priceless gift of nature recklessly and not in a businesslike manner.

Previously, for a whole family of several people, only a few jugs of water were enough for a whole day. Water, like the labor of the women who brought it, was appreciated. Now the situation has changed. In recent years, every household in the village has been provided with tap water. Baths, swimming pools with motor vehicles were built, car washes were built in the yard. Every year the diameter of water pipes increases, but the culture of water consumption decreases. By the way, having provided themselves with water taps, not many thought about where this water would then drain. As a result, the already unsightly roads and streets turn into an extreme skating rink in winter, and are full of puddles and mud in summer. In our region, the areas covered by moisture-loving crops (primarily cabbage) are constantly increasing. This leads to a significant increase in the consumption of water resources. Therefore, with the beginning of the irrigation season, uncontrolled flows of irrigation water through several channels will literally rush towards the agricultural lands. Withdrawing water from the upper reaches of the Chahichay River, it is lost on thousands of hectares of farmland. As a result, the number of landslides and potentially dangerous areas within the village has increased.

The dramatic situation lies also in the fact that no one is doing anything to solve this problem. For district and local administrations, the absence of complaints from the population and the provision of citizens with drinking and irrigation water, on the contrary, is a matter of pride rather than a problem.

2. POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES

With an increase in the area of ​​irrigated lands, the volume of drainage (waste) waters increases. They are formed as a result of periodic irrigation, when there is an excess flow of water. Large volumes of drainage water are discharged into the Chahichay and Samur rivers. Another problem is soil leaching (desalinization). In these cases, the mineralization of river waters increases. It should be borne in mind that biogenic substances, pesticides and other chemical compounds that have a harmful effect on natural waters are carried out with drainage water that flows into rivers. Many of the impurities in the water are natural and get there with rain or groundwater. Some of the pollutants associated with human activities follow the same path. Smoke, ash and industrial gases, together with rain, fall to the ground; chemical compounds and sewage introduced into the soil with fertilizers enter the rivers with groundwater.

In places with a large concentration of people and animals, natural clean water is usually not enough, especially if it is used to collect sewage and transfer it away from settlements. If not much sewage enters the soil, soil organisms process them, reusing nutrients, and already clean water seeps into neighboring watercourses. But if the sewage immediately enters the water, they rot, and oxygen is consumed for their oxidation. The so-called biochemical oxygen demand is created. The higher this requirement, the less oxygen remains in the water for living microorganisms, especially for fish and algae. Sometimes, due to lack of oxygen, all living things die. Water becomes biologically dead - only anaerobic bacteria remain in it; they thrive without oxygen and in the course of their life they emit hydrogen sulfide - a poisonous gas with a specific smell of rotten eggs. The already lifeless water acquires a putrid smell and becomes completely unsuitable for humans and animals. This can also happen with an excess of substances such as nitrates and phosphates in the water; they enter the water from agricultural fertilizers in the fields or from sewage contaminated with detergents. These nutrients stimulate the growth of algae, which begin to consume a lot of oxygen, and when it becomes insufficient, they die. Organic waste, biogenic substances become an obstacle to the normal development of freshwater ecological systems. But in recent years, ecological systems have been bombarded with huge quantities of absolutely alien substances, from which they do not know protection. Agricultural pesticides, metals and chemicals from industrial wastewater have managed to enter the aquatic food chain with unpredictable consequences. Species at the beginning of the food chain can accumulate these substances at dangerous levels and become even more vulnerable to other harmful effects.

3. WAYS OF SOLVING THE PROBLEM

Polluted water can be purified. The water cycle, this long way of its movement, consists of several stages: evaporation, cloud formation, rainfall, runoff into streams and rivers, and evaporation again. Throughout its path, water itself is able to clear itself of contaminants that enter it - decay products of organic substances, dissolved gases and minerals, and suspended solids. But polluted basins (rivers, lakes, etc.) take much longer to recover. In its endless cycle, water either captures and carries a lot of dissolved or suspended substances, or is cleared of them. Industrial emissions not only clog, but also poison wastewater. And expensive devices for purifying such waters are not yet available.

To purify drainage water, it is necessary to organize their demineralization with simultaneous purification from harmful impurities.

Developing irrigation, it is necessary to lay in its basis a water-saving irrigation technology that contributes to a sharp increase in the efficiency of this type of melioration. But until now, the efficiency of the irrigation network remains low, water losses amount to approximately 30% of the total volume of its intake.

An essential reserve of normalized use of moisture is the correct

selection and rational use of various methods of irrigation of agricultural land. To save water in developed countries, sprinkler irrigation is used, which provides almost 50% water savings.

In order for natural systems to be able to recover, it is first necessary to stop the further flow of waste into rivers. To protect water from pollution, it is necessary to know the nature and intensity of the possible harmful effects of pollution at certain concentrations, and especially the limit of permissible concentrations (MAC) of water pollution. The latter should not be exceeded so as not to disturb the normal conditions of cultural and household water use and not to harm the health of the population located downstream from the place of wastewater discharge.

Wastewater treatment plants are of different types, depending on the main method of disposal of sewage. With the mechanical method, insoluble impurities are removed from wastewater through a system of settling tanks and various kinds of traps. In the past, this method has found the widest application for the treatment of industrial effluents. The essence of the chemical method lies in the fact that reagents are introduced into the wastewater treatment plants. They react with dissolved and undissolved contaminants and contribute to their precipitation in sumps, from where they are mechanically removed. But this method is unsuitable for treating wastewater containing a large number of heterogeneous pollutants.

When cleaning domestic wastewater, the biological method gives the best results. In this case, for the mineralization of organic contaminants, aerobic biological processes carried out with the help of microorganisms are used. The biological method can be used both in conditions close to natural and in special biological treatment facilities.

4. LIST OF USED LITERATURE

1.Avakyan A.B., Shirokov V.M. "Rational use of water resources". Yekaterinburg: "Victor", 1994.

2. Cherkinskiy S.N. Sanitary conditions for the discharge of wastewater into water bodies.

Moscow: Stroyizdat, 1977.

Water is the most valuable natural resource. Its role is participation in the process of metabolism of all substances that are the basis of any life form. It is impossible to imagine the activity of industrial, agricultural enterprises without the use of water, it is indispensable in human everyday life. Everyone needs water: people, animals, plants. For some, it is a habitat.

The rapid development of human life, the inefficient use of resources has led to the fact that e environmental problems (including water pollution) have become too acute. Their solution is in the first place for humanity. Scientists, environmentalists around the world are sounding the alarm and trying to find a solution to the world problem

Sources of water pollution

There are many reasons for pollution, and not always the human factor is to blame. Natural disasters also harm clean water bodies and disrupt the ecological balance.

The most common sources of water pollution are:

Industrial, domestic waste water. Having not passed the system of purification from chemical harmful substances, they, getting into the reservoir, provoke an ecological catastrophe.

Tertiary cleaning. Water is treated with powders, special compounds, filtered in many stages, killing harmful organisms and destroying other substances. It is used for domestic needs of citizens, as well as in the food industry, in agriculture.



- radioactive contamination of water

The main sources that pollute the oceans include the following radioactive factors:

• nuclear weapons testing;

  dumping of radioactive waste;

  major accidents (ships with nuclear reactors, Chernobyl);

  burial at the bottom of the oceans, seas of radioactive waste.

Environmental problems and water pollution are directly related to radioactive waste contamination. For example, French and British nuclear plants have infected almost the entire North Atlantic. Our country has become the culprit of the pollution of the Arctic Ocean. Three nuclear underground reactors, as well as the production of Krasnoyarsk-26, clogged the largest river, the Yenisei. It is obvious that radioactive products got into the ocean.



Pollution of world waters with radionuclides

The problem of pollution of the waters of the oceans is acute. Let us briefly list the most dangerous radionuclides that fall into it: cesium-137; cerium-144; strontium-90; niobium-95; yttrium-91. All of them have a high bioaccumulative capacity, move along food chains and concentrate in marine organisms. This creates a danger for both humans and aquatic organisms.

The water areas of the Arctic seas are heavily polluted by various sources of radionuclides. People carelessly dump hazardous waste into the ocean, thereby turning it into a dead one. Man must have forgotten that the ocean is the main wealth of the earth. It has powerful biological and mineral resources. And if we want to survive, we must urgently take measures to save him.

Solutions

Rational consumption of water, protection from pollution are the main tasks of mankind. Ways to solve environmental problems of water pollution lead to the fact that, first of all, much attention should be paid to the discharge of hazardous substances into rivers. On an industrial scale, it is necessary to improve wastewater treatment technologies. In Russia, it is necessary to introduce a law that would increase the collection of fees for discharges. The proceeds should be directed to the development and construction of new environmental technologies. For the smallest emissions, the fee should be reduced, this will serve as a motivation for maintaining a healthy environmental situation.

An important role in solving environmental problems is played by the upbringing of the younger generation. From an early age, it is necessary to teach children to respect, love for nature. To inspire them that the Earth is our big house, for the order in which each person is responsible. Water must be protected, not poured thoughtlessly, try to prevent foreign objects and harmful substances from getting into the sewer.



Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say that Russian environmental problems and water pollution concern, perhaps, everyone. The thoughtless waste of water resources, the littering of rivers with various garbage has led to the fact that there are very few clean, safe corners left in nature.Ecologists have become much more vigilant, multiple measures are being taken to restore order in the environment. If each of us thinks about the consequences of our barbaric, consumer attitude, the situation can be corrected. Only together will humanity be able to save water bodies, the World Ocean and, possibly, the lives of future generations.