Freshwater is the water we drink, wash our clothes and dishes in, and swim. Yet we choose to ignore the pollution that is happening right in front of us. Here are 10 things that pollute our freshwater
1. Dumping paint down your drain
By dumping paint, or any chemicals for that matter, those chemicals will travel through your pipes and are deposited in our freshwater lakes and rivers. Then your fun day at Lake Michigan turns into swimming in chemicals.
2. Heat
With heat comes a lot of things like summer, barbecues and beach days. But for freshwater, it brings excesses bacteria and algae. Climate change can make lakes and rivers a danger zone due to the dangerous bacteria growing in the water.
3. Birth control
As if women have not had enough to be knocked down for. There it is. Unfortunately the environment has to take the toll for all women who use birth control. For women on birth control, every time they use the bathroom, they release those chemicals. For the most part sewage is then disposed of and the water filtered out back in freshwater. But that is not always a foolproof plan because, how many times have you peed in the lake?
4. Pesticides
You can’t buy organic water. Pesticides are not only bad for us to eat and bad for the surrounding plants. But they also end up back in our drinking water.
5. Sunscreen
We really just can’t win when it comes to the sun. Yes, sunscreen has chemicals and maybe we shouldn’t wear it, but if we don’t we are exposed to the sun’s harmful rays. Also, if you enter the water with sunscreen on, you are putting those chemicals into your freshwater. That can cause sickness to marine life.
6. Fracking
As we saw in Flint, Michigan, this is a dangerous game. As human beings all alike we need to put an end to it.
7. Heavy Metals
Big industries and mining sites who use these metals can end up in the freshwater. The metals become toxic to aquatic life that humans consume.
8. Nutrients
This comes from agricultural sites and some urban areas that run into the industrial discharges. This overstimulates the growth of algae in freshwater lakes and rivers.
9. Litter
Do not dump your garbage in any body of water. Do not dump your garbage in any body of water. You know why you shouldn’t. Don’t be a litterbug.
10. Acid rain
Acid rain comes from air pollution. This is rain that contains nitric and sulfuric acid, and has been known to occur in some parts of Asia. The chemicals in this rain will obviously fall into the sources of freshwater. This brings up big problems, such as then finding a new source of clean water to drink.
