Angela Ferr
03.13.11
3:30pm
Water pollution has been a problem around the world for centuries. People get sick because of water pollution as well as diseases get spread and animals that live in the water die. One example I want to talk about is in Kashmir, India. In this area, the fish there are becoming extinct due to unchecked use of pollution-causing herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers that are being dumped into the waters. The use of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers is not going down either, if anything it has increased enormously in recent years. These types of dumping are not just seen in India but all over the world, including in our own state of North Carolina. A recent survey conducted showed that over 40 million liters of untreated liquid waste from Srinagar city alone, as well as 350 metric tons of solid waste get dumped into Kashmir’s bodies of water.
The dumping of pesticides and other harmful material isn’t the only way that water is being polluted there. Accelerated deforestation over the last decades are leading to mass quantities of eroded soil that is entering the upper reaches of the streams, which has given the fish no grounds to breed. Also because of global warming, the rapid melting of glaciers in the spring is another factor of the decline in their fish. This is because the streams are full because of the melting ice and the fish go as upstream as possible to lay their eggs in shallow areas. But since the water recedes once the melting stops, the shallow areas dry up and the fish ultimately perish.
One way to stop the amount of bad waste going into the water is actually something that our own city of Greensboro does. Where there are bodies of water, they plant a lot of trees and plants at the edges of the water, so that if there is a runoff of polluted water or pesticides, it gets soaked into the soil where the trees are before it gets the chance to ever make it to the water. It is a great idea because when the water is soaked through the soil, it gets cleaned out naturally so it is not bad for the soil. It also keeps the water clean.
2 comments:
The question is when are people going to learn? This issue of pollution arises over and over again and not just with water. If we do not start treating our planet better then there will be serious consequences in the future. Some of these consequences are already presenting themselves as you pointed out with global warming and the melting of glaciers.
true on all accounts.The water bodies these days become a dumping ground for all factories and even human uses.They forget the food chains and the health issues linked to the same.
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