Concepts taken from paper by Dr. Ken Rubin, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Geology & Geophysics, Univ. of Hawaii.

Passaic County Office of Natural Resource Programs
1310 Route 23 North
Wayne, New Jersey   07470
Phone: 973-305-5738
Fax: 973-305-5737

In Cooperation with the
Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders

Updated: 3/24/01

There are many causes for water pollution, but there are two (2) general categories:

Direct and Indirect (or Non-point Source) pollution sources.

• Direct sources include fluid releases from factories, refineries, waste treatment plants and so forth, that emit pollutants directly into urban water supplies.  In the United States and other countries, these practices are regulated, although this doesn't mean that pollutants can't be found in these waters.
   

• Indirect (or Non-point Source) pollution sources include contaminants that enter the water supply from soils and groundwater systems and from the atmosphere through rain water. Soils and groundwater contain the residue of agricultural practices (fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) as well as improperly disposed of industrial wastes.  Atmospheric contaminants are also derived from human practices, such as gaseous emissions from automobiles and factories.

The effects of water pollution are varied. They include:

• poisoning drinking water,

• poisoning food animals from what’s called bioaccumulated toxins – pollutants from the environment over the animals life span,

• unbalanced river and lake ecosystems that can’t  support full biological diversity any more,

• deforestation from acid rain, and many others.  

Science has given us a number of practical solutions to minimizing the current level of pollutants introduced into the environment and for remediating (cleaning up) of past problems.  All of these solutions come with some cost (both societal and monetary).  

In our everyday lives, a great deal can be done to minimize pollution if we take the time to recycle materials, where their actual production creates pollution, and acting responsibly with household chemicals and their disposal.  

Additionally, there are choices we make each day that also can affect the quantity of pollutants our actions will introduce into the environment.  

• Heavily packaged foods contain boxes, cartons, bottles and so forth made with polluting dyes, many of which are released from groundwater at municipal landfills.

• Whether we choose to drive to the corner store rather than walk or ride a bicycle will impact how much we personally contribute  to acid and  hydrocarbon emissions to the atmosphere (and  ultimately to global fresh water supplies).  

In the end, there are many choices on the personal and societal level that we make (consciously or not) that affect the amount of pollution we will be forced to live with. Our standard of living and very way of life is based on practices which are inherently "dirtier" than those of our distant ancestors, even though they also polluted their environment to some extent.  

Without taking a step backward in terms of our standards of living, the answer seems to be a combination of many small changes in our daily practices and paying a little bit more for goods and services, so that manufacturers will install cleaner devices for their activities that will help to preserve our precious water.  The choices really are yours.