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Water Pollution in the Pacific Northwest |
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by Harrison Wang | 27-03-2022 08:27
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While water pollution may not be a significant issue to others in other parts of the world, it is considered one of the most important issues here in the Pacific Northwest. To properly understand this problem, one must first understand the causes. Some important causes of water pollution would be runoff, groundwater contamination, and the dumping of chemical waste.
In the pacific northwest, runoff is one of the main causes of pollution in water sources. Runoff is defined as rain and snow melt that runs off surfaces. In doing so, it can pick up pollution such like oil, fertilizers, waste, and other chemical products. This runoff is then carried into lakes, rivers, and eventually oceans. This is particularly harmful in Washington, as agriculture and are major industries. This means that pollutants such as waste and fertilizer can easily be picked up by runoff and pollute the water if not properly managed. Groundwater pollution is a much lesser known cause of water pollution in the ocean specifically. This is because while it is less than one percent of the total amount of water that flows from land to sea, it can be very rich in nutrients in the pacific northwest specifically. Due to high rainfall and steep coastal ranges, groundwater in the pacific northwest is very rich in nitrates. Nitrates can contribute to algae blooms, which means that algae grows rapidly and produces a toxin. As fish and other animals consume this, it causes bioaccumulation, which leads to birds and sea lions being poisoned. Furthermore, algae blooms can take away oxygen in ocean waters that marine life need for survival. Other than the environmental factors, this also disrupts fishing industries, which is exactly what happened on the west coast a couple years ago. Another important cause is chemical waste, which can significantly affect marine life and humans if introduced into water sources. Chemical waste is often not properly disposed of and filtered, which causes it to end up into the water supply. Especially in the Puget Sound, a sound located in the Pacific Northwest, chemical waste can often leech into the water source due to major cities not properly filtering out chemical waste.
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3 Comments
Thank you for such useful information!
Posted 02-08-2022 06:46
Hello Harrison, this is your mentor Chelwoon.
This article shows that you have a clear understanding of the causes of water pollution. Runoff is one of the most fatal forms of pollution. It is harmful, as a nonpoint pollution source that is harder to deal with than other pollution sources. It leads to much more cost and effort to deal with nonpoint pollution sources.
Although groundwater takes a small portion of the total amount of water, it can serve as drinkable water. As the oil price has been skyrocketing, the demand for shale gas will be increasing, and it will cause adverse effect on groundwater.
Thank you for the article!
Regards,
Chelwoon
Posted 30-03-2022 01:27
Hello Harrison, this is your mentor Joon.
Well mentioned reasons causing water pollution, which people often miss out! runoff seems to be a good influence towards fresh streams, yet it pick ups all the wastes and chemical substances spread on ground. If the influx is made, then there is not much we could change. This is much serious as we cannot control such influxes compared to those released on industrial factories. Groundwater pollution is another source and also a type of water pollution, which is mostly due to chemical released on landfills or agricultural plots. What can we do to solve such problems? Please have some time to think about it.
Well read your article, and let's keep up!
Best,
Joon
Posted 27-03-2022 16:43