“As Earth’s population continues to grow, people are putting ever-increasing pressure on the planet’s water resources. In a sense, our oceans, rivers and other inland waters are being “squeezed” by human activities – not so they take up less room, but so their quality is reduced. Poorer water quality means water pollution” (Woodford, 2015)
“Water pollution happens when toxic substances enter water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans and so on, getting dissolved in them, lying suspended in the water or depositing on the bed. This degrades the quality of water.” (WWF,2016)
Based on the above texts, I have come to my own conclusion of what water pollution is. I define water pollution as the poor quality of water, brought about mainly from
Testing salts concentration in the world. This will be effective as to determine which kind of water is safe for drinking, and safe for aquatic and non-aquatic use.
3. Testing the pH of water. The test measures the amount of hydroxide ions in water. Acidic or very basic water is dangerous for human usage and can harm aquatic life.
4. Testing the nitrite ion concentration in water. The test will investigate the nitrite concentration in the water, high concentrations result in harmful effects to humans and aquatic life
5. Determining the concentration of orthophosphate ions in the water. Although the phosphates are important in providing food for plants, high levels may cause an increase in blue-algae growth, which in turn produce poisons. High concentrations could also have very little oxygen in it. Phosphates could possibly exist in the dam by Bankenveld as a result of fertilizer runs.
6. Measuring the turbidity of the water. These measures how muddy the water in a river or dam. Very turbid water may have serious affects on aquatic life (clogging gills of aquatic animals) and could have high concentrations of viruses and bacteria in it.
I believe these test will be most effective in determining water quality as each of the tests are very closely linked to determining the quality of