A Catfish Story

A guy who lives at Lake Conroe (50 miles north of Houston) saw a ball bouncing around kind of strangely in the lake and went to investigate. It turned out to be a flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a basketball which became stuck in its mouth!! The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The guy tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry cat fish. You probably wouldn't have believed this,if you hadn't seen the following pictures...

Are there Different Types of Water Pollution?

Water pollution can come from a number of different sources. If the pollution comes from a single source, such as an oil spill, it is called point-source pollution. If the pollution comes from many sources, it is called nonpoint-source pollution.
Most types of pollution affect the immediate area surrounding the source. Sometimes the pollution may affect the environment hundreds of miles away from the source, such as nuclear waste, this is called transboundary pollution.

For More Info, You Can Go to:

http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/

What Causes Water Pollution?

Sewage and Waste Water:
Sewage is the term used for wastewater that often contains faeces, urine and laundry waste. Sewage disposal is a major problem in developing countries as many people in these areas don’t have access to sanitary conditions and clean water.Untreated sewage water in such areas can contaminate the environment and cause diseases such as diarrhoea.Sewage in developed countries is carried away from the home quickly and hygienically through sewage pipes.
Sewage is treated in water treatment plants and the waste is often disposed into the sea.
In developed countries, sewage often causes problems when people flush chemical and pharmaceutical substances down the toilet. When people are ill, sewage often carries harmful viruses and bacteria into the environment causing health problems.

Marine Dumping:

Dumping of litter in the sea can cause huge problems. Litter items such as 6-pack ring packaging can get caught in marine animals and may result in death. Different items take different lengths of time to degrade in water:
Cardboard – Takes 2 weeks to degrade.
Newspaper – Takes 6 weeks to degrade.
Foam – Takes 50 years to degrade.
Styrofoam – Takes 80 years to degrade.
Aluminium – Takes 200 years to degrade.
Plastic packaging – Takes 400 years to degrade.
Glass – It takes so long to degrade that we don’t know the exact time.

Industrial Water:

Industry is a huge source of water pollution, it produces pollutants that are extremely harmful to people and the environment.

Oil Pollution:

Oceans are polluted by oil on a daily basis from oil spills, routine shipping, run-offs and dumping.

Underground Storage Leakage:

A tank or piping network that has at least 10 percent of its volume underground is known as an underground storage tank (UST). They often store substances such as petroleum, that are harmful to the surrounding environment should it become contaminated. Many UST’s constructed before 1980 are made from steel pipes that are directly exposed to the environment. Over time the steel corrodes and causes leakages, affecting surrounding soil and groundwater.

Global Warming:

An increase in water temperature can result in the death of many aquatic organisms and disrupt many marine habitats. For example, a rise in water temperatures causes coral bleaching of reefs around the world. This is when the coral expels the microorganisms of which it is dependent on. This can result in great damage to coral reefs and subsequently, all the marine life that depends on it.

What are the Dangers of Water Pollution?

Virtually all types of water pollution are harmful to the health of humans and animals. Water pollution may not damage our health immediately but can be harmful after long term exposure. Different forms of pollutants affect the health of animals in different ways.

1.Industrial waste often contains many toxic compounds that damage the health of aquatic animals and those who eat them. Some of the toxins in industrial waste may only have a mild effect whereas other can be fatal. They can cause immune suppression, reproductive failure or acute poisoning.

2.Heavy metals from industrial processes can accumulate in nearby lakes and rivers. These are toxic to marine life such as fish and shellfish, and subsequently to the humans who eat them.

3.Microbial pollutants from sewage often result in infectious diseases that infect aquatic life and terrestrial life through drinking water.

4.Organic matter and nutrients causes an increase in aerobic algae and depletes oxygen from the water column. This causes the suffocation of fish and other aquatic organisms.

How to Prevent Water Pollution?

If you want to help keep our waters clean, there are many things you can do to help. You can prevent water pollution of nearby rivers and lakes as well as groundwater and drinking water by following some simple guidelines in your everyday life.

1.Conserve water by turning off the tap when running water is not necessary. This helps prevent water shortages and reduces the amount if contaminated water that needs treatment.
2.Be careful about what you throw down your sink or toilet. Don't throw paints, oils or other forms of litter down the drain.
3.Take great care not to overuse pesticides and fertilisers. This will prevent runoffs of the material into nearby water sources.
Don't throw litter into rivers, lakes or oceans.

4.Help clean up any litter you see on beaches or in rivers and lakes, make sure it is safe to collect the litter and put it in a nearby dustbin.

What is Water Pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater caused by human activities, which can be harmful to organisms and plants which live in these water bodies.Most water pollutants are eventually carried by the rivers into the oceans. Many causes of pollution including sewage and fertilizers contain nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates. In excess levels, nutrients over stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algae. Excessive growth of these types of organisms consequently clogs our waterways, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, and block light to deeper waters. This, in turn, proves very harmful to aquatic organisms as it affects the respiration ability or fish and other invertebrates that reside in water. DO YOUR PART TODAY! STOP WATER POLLUTION!

The Wet Quiz

The Wet Quiz- How Much Do U Know?

Q1. What is water pollution?
a) too much fishes
b) contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater caused by human activities, which can be harmful to organisms and plants which live in these water bodies.
c) clean water

Q2. Who causes water pollution?
a) Chickens
b) Humans
c) SuperMan

Q3. What are corals?
a) mammals
b) marine creature
c) jewellery
d) trash

Q4. What are the dangers of water pollution?
a) water pollution are harmful to the health of humans and animals
b) death of chicken
c) natural disaster

Oh no! Father Earth is coughing due to pollution!

What the public can do for the reef

There are many other alternative ways to save coral reefs, and public help is one of them. The public (which is effectively us) can do many different things to save the reef, and here are some of them:
1.Whenever you visit a coral reef, be sure that you DO NOT POLLUTE the beach/water in any
way (leaving trash on the beach, throwing garbage into the water, etc.)
2.Spread the word about saving the reefs. This will most likely cause more people to care more
for the reef while also doing your part to save it.
3.Conserve water. In this way, less wastewater will make its way into the ocean/sea.
4.You can also support businesses which are reef-friendly or have to do with saving the reef.
5.If you ever go boating near a coral reef, do not use anchors but instead use mooring buoy
systems.

Cool Mad Man's Marine Facts

1.The amount of fish harvested in the world is more than that of cattle, sheep,
poultry or eggs.
2.The blue whale's blood vessels are so big that a full grown trout could swim
through them to its heart, which is the size of a small car.
3.Green turtles can migrate more than 1400 miles to lay their eggs.
4.Horseshoe crabs have existed in the same form for 135 million years.
5.The study of a deep sea community in an area half the size of a tennis
court revealed 898 species. More half these species were new to science.