Extremely Issue of Water Pollution - Coursework Example

Running Head: WATER POLLUTION Detailed of the Problem Water pollution can be defined as “the contamination of water bodies such as rivers, lakes, oceans, and underground water. Water covers 71 percent of the earth and making it source of life for both animals and human beings .it has turn to be one of the leading killers in the world, killing 14000 people every day. The human diseases caused by water pollution include cholera, typhoid, dysentery intestinal helminthes, jaundice and f ever. (Tripath A.K, 2009) Nonliving and living factors that contribute to or are affected by the problem Pollution occurs in many ways. First type of water pollutant is putrecible organic materials. These are untreated or poorly treated domestic and industrial waste. Oxygen levels required to decompose this waste is called biological oxygen demand .a large amount of biological oxygen demand is required to decompose industrial wastes and because of their profit maximization motive the opt dispose in water to reduce cost of treatment. The wastes when directed to water bodies always have catastrophic effects on marine and human life. The second type of pollutant is excessive nutrition. This is common in agricultural where agricultural runoffs and non biodegradable detergents contaminate water. This facilitates growth of phytoplankton. The autophication process results in large dissolved oxygen from photosynthesis during the day and over utilization of oxygen for respiratory purposes during the night. This causes deficiency of oxygen in water leading to massive death of aquatic animals. Suspended solids are also another type of pollution in this 21st century. This is prevalent where land has been disturbed by plowing or excavation. Ground up wood fibers can also be classified in this category of suspended solid pollution. There are over 65000 industrial chemicals in use in the modern world .3-5 new chemical s enter the market every day .the major classes of chemicals which are harmful and find their way through to water sources are ammonia, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, and detergents.(Heath A.G,1995) Another type of water pollution is microbiological pollution. This is natural form of pollution caused by microorganisms. They include e bacteria, viruses and protozoa. They are the major cause of illness in human being and animals. (Canter w. L and knot 1985) Positive or negative human impacts Human activities have negative impact and contribute greatly in water pollution. Industrial waste form the largest percentage of water pollution .nuclear waste produced from industrial, medical and scientific process that use radioactive materials can be very harmful when they find they way to water bodies. The major way that makes radioactive material find their way to water bodies is when mining and refining uranium and thorium. Increase in water temperature as a result of global warming causes death of thousand of aquatic organisms and destruct marine habits. The high temperatures also cause coral bleaching around the world. The corals expel microorganisms which are dependent on and hence leading to damage of marine life. Global warming is as a result of green house effect which is caused by burning of fossil fuel and deforestation .the burning of fossil fuel produces green house gasses, for example, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This traps heat from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere consequently leading tom rise in temperatures. (Goel P K, 2006) Evaluation of current sustainability strategies and solutions For development to be both economically and environmentally viable, it should be able to meet the needs of the people know and not in any way jeopardize future generations’ welfare. The currently sustainability strategies have tried to certain extent to minimize water pollution and other ecological disasters, but they are faced with a series of impediments. There is poor integration of environmental sustainability strategies into sector policies. National environmental strategies are usually developed separately from other sectoral strategies and therefore affecting implementation, monitoring and evaluation of these strategies. There is also inadequate institutional capacity, misalignment of goals and poor governance. In many countries ministries of environment lack adequate know how and technology to run their strategies effectively. They are also impended by corruption and poor governance. Market failures can also be attributed to environmental degradation by misaligning the incentives of individuals and organizations that have interest of the community at large .there is also underinvestment in science and technology. It is a very important factor for a country to achieve it sustainable development goals. It improves understanding and monitoring of the country’s environment through developing means that mitigate environmental degradation. Another problem that faces the current sustainable strategies is difficult to attain regional and international cooperation. Every country develop it sustainability strategies in isolation due to inadequate regional and global management. Limited public awareness on consequences of human induced changes to the environment is another impediment in activity environmental. In order to achieve environmental sustainability there is need to change ways in which countries manage biodiversity, production process and consumption. There is also need for direct investment in environmental management and also structural changes to be done at local, regional and international levels top address root cause of environmental problems. Your plan to reach sustainability The best plan in addressing environmental problem is ecosystem-based approach to environmental management, social integration, ecological and economic concern. This approach calls for linkage between human activities and a sustainable functioning of ecosystems. There should be sustainable agricultural techniques that can preserve natural resources, restoring and managing water sources and conserving the surrounding natural habitat. The changes in agricultural production systems will go a step ahead in reducing water pollution and other natural hazards. Land clearing for agricultural purposes and logging should be reduced. This will have a positive effect in reducing water pollution and global warming. There should be increase in real income to people in informal forest sector by 200 percent. This will harness entrepreneurial spirit of the illegal loggers, bush men hunters, wood carvers and traders to venture in other legal businesses. There should be 90 percent integration of ecosystems management of river basin systems. This will help to protect and restore all major forests, shrub land and pasture vegetation types and their biodiversity. Climate change in recent years has lead to increase e in water scarcity in dry areas and floods in wet lands. This threatens households’ subsistence activities, agricultural practices and water ecosystems. Water pollution and salinization pose at threat in both human and aquatic life. To tackle these problems there is need to reduce to reduce demands in cropping systems, maintain pollution levels in surface water and underground water sources are below maximum allowable levels for each pollutant. There should be maximum environmental flow so as to maintain aquatic biodiversity. In recent years there has been increase in marine products and services leading to degradation of inland habitat causing fall in fish stocks, coral reefs and the productivity of aquatic ecosystem. To protect marine reserves there should be proper management of fisheries and constant process of restoring depleted fish population levels. To combat mismanagement of toxic chemicals and poor energy practices which lead to overproduction, overconsumption and mismanagement of ecosystem leading to water pollution. There should be a proper management of disposal systems so as to reduce waterborne diseases. Activities such as fossil fuel combustion and deforestation produce green house gasses leading to world climatic changes. There should be effective investment on cost effective and environmentally sustainable energy sources. This will promote and engage climate friendly carbon and technology markets and enhance adaptation measures. Benefits and challenges of your plan In implantation of this plan there are major challenges that impede the success of the plan. One challenge is lack of strong environmental institutions and proper governance to facilitate effective implementation of this plan. To strengthen these institutions requires heavy direct investment especially in human resources and reforming institutions’ management systems The second challenge is that many countries lack adequate policy instruments at all levels in correcting market failures and distortions. In a way that will realign public and private sector incentives to care for health and welfare of the citizens. Many countries are capitalistic in nature and therefore investors have profit maximization motives and opt to use other methods that don’t factor in social costs. Required government, societal, and global support Therefore to be able to implement this approach and attain sustainable development .government, societal and global support is required. The government should be able to reform and strengthen its institutions and train adequate man power so as to facilitate environmental protection. This requires heavy direct investment that only government and international organizations can provide. The government also should facilitate proper formulation of environmental policy instruments. This will be able to facilitate in addressing market failures and incorporate cost of environmental degradation in account. The government should be able to introduce payments on ecosystem services and tax reforms so as to eliminate environmental harmful subsidies. The government also should strengthen property and land-tenure rights and improve the regulation system. The government and international organizations also should cooperate in mobilizing required science and technology for sustainable development. This involves easy access to scientific and technical knowledge. The government should make sure that there are properly managed research institutions to provide technical solutions to problems related to environment facing the society. In global perspective there should be international agreements that provide excellent work plans and a list of priority of actions. International conventions should support national interventions and provide necessary scientific knowledge and operational practices available to countries. They should participate in enforcement, implementation and design of national programs. (Menlick D, 2005) In conclusion environmental challenges are very unique and complicated. Therefore institutions must be established in both local and international arena to respond to these challenges and provide sustainable solutions. Environmental sustainability is a long term goal and therefore there is need for integration of principals of environmental sustainability in all policies and management practices. This requires structural changes and major reforms and technical interventions form international conventions. Reference Canter L. W and Knox. 1985. Ground water pollution control. CRC Press. Edition illustrated Goel P K . 2006. Water Pollution - Causes, Effects & Control. New Age International Heath A. G. 1995. Water pollution and fish physiology. CRC Press. Edition 2, illustrated Melnick D. 2005. Environment and human well-being: a practical strategy UN Millennium Project. Earthscan. Edition illustrated Tripathy A.K. 2009. Water Pollution. APH Publishing Read More