Water pollution

“ Protecting aquatic ecosystems Water is a vital part of the environment and a home for many forms of life on which the well-being of humans ultimately depends. Disruption of flows has reduced the productivity of many such ecosystems, devastated fisheries, agriculture and grazing, and marginalized the rural communities which rely on these. Various kinds of pollution, including transboundary pollution, exacerbate these problems, degrade water supplies, require more expensive water treatment, destroy aquatic fauna, and deny recreation opportunities. ”

“ Certainly any direct drainage into the streams should be cut out, as well as the drainage from barnyards in the immediate vicinity of the point where the water is taken out. Just what percentage of pollution may be eliminated in this way it is impossible to determine, but it is not too much to say that no brook or pond should be used for a water-supply of a house unless every known pollution of an organic nature has been removed. Under the most favorable circumstances there will be enough accidental contamination to make the water at times dangerous, and no added risks ought to be assumed. ”

“ POLLUTION OF WELL WATER.
It is stated that about fifteen millions of the British population live in towns and urban districts. Even if we assume, [39] which is not yet the case, that all these people are supplied by water-works, the remaining twelve millions of county population derive their water almost exclusively from shallow wells, and these are, so far as our experience extends, almost always horribly polluted by sewage and by animal matter of the most disgusting origin. ”

“ Subsoil water is liable to infiltration of solid and liquid wastes emanating from the human system, from leaky drains, sewers, or cesspools, stables, or farmyards; and even deep well water may become contaminated by reason of defects in the construction of the well.
During storage, water becomes contaminated in open reservoirs by atmospheric impurities; a growth of vegetable organisms or algæ often causes trouble, bad taste, or odor; water in open house tanks and in cisterns is also liable to pollution. ”

“ Similarly, inadequate and environmentally unsound practices for the disposal or use of solid waste have created greater amounts of air and water pollution and other problems for the environment and for health; (4) open dumping is particularly harmful to health, contaminates drinking water from underground and surface supplies, and pollutes the air and the land; (5) the placement of inadequate controls on hazardous waste management will result in substantial risks to human health and the environment ”

“ While wholesale river-pollution from any source is utterly inadmissible on any sanitary grounds, so infinitesimal pollution by dilute sewage, indirectly discharged into the water-course, is equally dangerous, and attended with sure though more remote fatal results, "especially if human excreta he present in any form whatever." ”

“ However, just as water links each of our planet's ecosystems, water pollution recognizes no boundaries. All Americans and their representatives in all levels of government must work together to promote wise stewardship of this, our "water planet." ”

“ The almost universal condemnation of surface wells and their frequent pollution are mainly due to the fact that we take our filthy and dangerous liquids through the humus in pipes, and thus ensure at great expense that they cannot be subjected to purification by it. If these underground pipes leak, the mischief caused by pollution of wells may be very far-reaching. It is very probable that foul water continuously thrown on the same spot of ground may in time work its way to a well and thus pollute it. ”

“ In populous districts, in villages, towns, but also near habitations, the soil from which water is obtained must, of necessity, be impregnated with organic waste matter. If, in such a surface well, the level of the water is lowered by pumping, the zone of pollution is extended laterally in all directions. Ordinary shallow well water should always be considered "suspicious water." ”

“ The effect of animal pollution, while it is undesirable and places a load upon water filters, can be dismissed as regards direct effect upon public health and the quality of drinking waters.
The most serious aspect is the storm-water overflow from the city sewers. There is a very serious and heavy pollution, and in the present state of our knowledge it seems to me is one that we have just got to let pass. ”

“ It is well known that many years ago the pollution of the watercourses began to excite public attention in England, and the labors of the several "Rivers Pollution Commissions," and other sanitary committees organized by authority of Parliament, bear testimony in their elaborate and invaluable reports to the truth that humanity can no longer afford to ignore that foul water will breed disease. ”

“ If you take all the men employed on all the boats on the Great Lakes—call it 25,000, if you please—we employ the majority of them, and it must be remembered that they are not depositing their sewage or excretion into the water at any one point, and the idea that they can pollute and contaminate the waters to the same extent that this great city of 700,000 inhabitants can, with the sewers flowing into the river, is simply impossible. ”

“ As fair water is at once a prime necessity and a priceless blessing, so foul water is a scourge and curse; nor will any but a sewage-rectifying enthusiast hesitate for an instant which to choose, provided he has the means of knowing one from the other. Gross pollution is sensible to the sight, the taste, the smell, and we instinctively revolt; lesser pollution, though perhaps not apparent to any of the senses, yields its secret to the chemist's skill ”

“ Indeed, today we know that the health of aquatic ecosystems must be examined holistically, to determine how various forms of human activity affect water quality. We know that we must protect entire watersheds that feed into our rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. We also recognize that, by preventing pollution at the source, we can protect watersheds and avoid the high economic and environmental costs of treating wastes and restoring ecosystems after pollution has already occurred. Moreover, experience has shown us that our actions must be based on sound science. ”

“ Natural hazards: NA Environment - current issues: toxic and hazardous waste disposal is ineffective and poses health risks; water pollution from raw sewage; limited natural fresh water resources; deforestation ”

“ Urban and industrial growth are creating additional sources of pollution while placing increased demands on limited water resources. Contaminated runoff from farmlands as well as city streets is, all too often, degrading our waters and damaging ecosystems. Scientists continue to detect unacceptable levels of pollutants in many bodies of water and in the tissues of finfish and shellfish. All Americans must continue to work together to protect our water resources and the wildlife that depends on them. ”

“ Environment-current issues: air pollution (greenhouse gases, particulates) from the overwhelming use of high-sulfur coal as a fuel, produces acid rain which is damaging forests; water shortages experienced throughout the country, particularly in urban areas and in the north; future growth in water usage threatens to outpace supplies; water pollution from industrial effluents; much of the population does not have access to potable water; less than 10% of sewage receives treatment; deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development ”

“ They must serve for the natural drainage of populous areas, and they must be polluted to a greater or less extent. Furthermore, the city sewage can be treated to almost any condition desired. We can make drinking water out of it if we want to, but the cost would be prohibitive. We can purify it to any degree varying from mere screening up to the drinking-water standard. ”

“ The shallow well, however, rarely supplies enough water for more than a few houses, and being commonly situated near to those houses the water is often seriously polluted. Deep wells owe their comparative immunity from pollution to the circumstances that the larger quantity of water yielded renders it worth while to pump that water and convey it by pipes from comparatively unpolluted areas ”

“ Such water, when it penetrates only to shallow wells still retains a considerable proportion of its polluting organic matter in an unoxidized condition: but when it descends through one hundred feet or upwards of porous soil or rock, the exhausted filtration to which it has been subjected in passing downwards through so great a thickness of material, and the rapid oxidation of the dissolved organic matters in a porous and aerated medium, afford a considerable guarantee that all noxious constituents have been removed.”— (Rivers Pollution Commission, 1874.) ”

“ Pollution by Surface Refuse and Sewage.—This occurs where a large number of people congregate, as in cities, towns, etc., and very seriously contaminates the ground by the surcharge of the surface soil with sewage matter, saturating the ground with it, polluting the ground water from which the drinking water is derived, and increasing the putrefactive changes taking place in the soil. Here the pathogenic bacteria abound, and, by multiplying, exert a very marked influence upon the health by the possible spread of infectious diseases. ”

“ The practice of discharging sewage into fresh-water streams and lakes from which the water supplies of towns are taken has given rise to many of the most perplexing problems that sanitary engineers have had. to deal with. Accordingly, the pollution of streams by sewage and manufacturers' waste and the self-purification of streams thus polluted are among the earliest topics treated in this work, their legal as well as their scientific aspects being duly considered. ”

“ It cannot be asserted that there are no rivers in mountainous districts in which the water is at once clear and free from pollution, and suitable in its natural state for water-supply; but if so, they are not common, least of all in the regions where water-supplies are usually required. The use of river-waters in their natural state or after sedimentation only, drawn from such rivers as the Merrimac, Hudson, Potomac, Delaware, Schuylkill, Ohio, and Mississippi, is a filthy as well as an unhealthy practice, which ought to be abandoned. ”

“ Water supplies drawn from very large bodies of water, like the Great Lakes, are normally safe enough if the intake is set far out from shore, because the diluting power of these vast water areas is sufficient to render harmless even a considerable amount of pollution by sewage discharge. ”

“ Shallow-well water is declared by the Rivers Pollution Commissioners to be the most dangerous of all waters, "whenever the wells are situated, as is usually the case, near privies, drains, and cesspools;" and it is this shallow-well water that Denton refers to when he goes on to say the commissioners declare that "such polluted surface or drainage water (referred to above) is not of good quality for domestic purposes, but it may be used with less risk to health than polluted shallow-well water, if human excrementitious matters do not form part of the manure applied to the land." ”

“ Even if your well is protected below, a very important point to look after is the pollution from the surface. I believe more cases of typhoid fever from wells are due to surface pollution than to the character of the water itself. This is a danger which can, of course, be done away with by protection of the well from surface drainage, by seeing that the surface wash is not allowed to drain toward it and that it is protected by a tight covering from the entrance of its own waste water. If good water cannot be secured in any of these ways, the water must be purified. ”

“ These alternative systems shall include both advanced waste treatment technology and land disposal systems including aerated treatment-spray irrigation technology and will also include provisions for the disposal of solid wastes, including sludge. Such program should include measures to control point sources of pollution, area sources of pollution, including acid-mine drainage, urban runoff and rural runoff, and in place sources of pollution, including bottom loads, sludge banks, and polluted harbor dredgings. ”

“ We are trying to get our filtration plant in. We thought last year that we practically had it.
Mr. Powell. You would look after your water and let the other fellow look after the sewage?
Dr. Macauley. Self-preservation first, always.
Mr. Magrath. Have you any complaints against the pollution of water from this side crossing over to the Canadian side?
Dr. Macauley. I do not know that we have. Examinations made by our local board have shown that for several miles up the river the pollution is practically constant in the raw water. ”

“ The diversity and the population of these organisms reflect how healthy or unhealthy the River may be. Some organisms that are sensitive to pollution are mayflies, stoneflies, riffle beetles, and some caddisflies. A healthy population of these organisms indicates nonpolluted waters. However, if a river contains a large number of pollution tolerant organisms, like sludge worms and leeches, along with few or no pollution sensitive species, then the river water may very well be polluted. ”

“ The pollution of wells, if it exists at all, is usually very pronounced, and it is probably safe to say that, except where buildings, drains, or cesspools have been crowded too close to wells, or where some manifest and gross cause of pollution exists, a well water is safe to drink. ”

“ This danger decreases with increasing size of the water-shed and volume of the water with which any such pollution would be mixed, and also with the population draining into the water, as there is a probability that the amount of infection continually added from a considerable town will not be subject to as violent fluctuation as that from only a few houses. ”