Here are five main types of water pollutants:

Air pollution can directly contaminate the surface of bodies of water and soil. This can kill crops or reduce their yield. It can kill young trees and other plants. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide particles in the air, can create acid rain when they mix with water and oxygen in the atmosphere.

Air pollution is caused by solid and liquid particles and certain gases that are suspended in the air. These particles and gases can come from car and truck exhaust, factories, dust, pollen, mold spores, volcanoes and wildfires. The solid and liquid particles suspended in our air are called aerosols.

The health effects of air pollution are serious – one third of deaths from stroke, lung cancer and heart disease are due to air pollution. Microscopic pollutants in the air can slip past our body’s defences, penetrating deep into our respiratory and circulatory system, damaging our lungs, heart and brain.

EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION In addition, here are some of the other consequences: Destruction of biodiversity. Water pollution depletes aquatic ecosystems and triggers unbridled proliferation of phytoplankton in lakes — eutrophication —. Contamination of the food chain.

• MICROBIAL. Pathogens can be bacteria, protozoa or viruses.
• ORGANIC MATERIAL. Organic materials are things like petroleum, insecticides and herbicides, detergents, disinfecting cleaners, and prescription drugs.
• INORGANIC MATERIAL.
• MACROSCOPIC.
• THERMAL.

Diseases Involving Sewage

• Campylobacteriosis. Campylobacteriosis is the most common diarrheal illness in the United States.
• Cryptosporidiosis. A disease caused by the microscopic parasite Cryptosporidium parvum.
• Escherichia coli Diarrhea.
• Encephalitis.
• Gastroenteritis.
• Giardiasis.
• Hepatitis A.
• Leptospirosis.

Explanation: Contaminated water can transmit diseases such diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio. Contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 485 000 diarrhoeal deaths each year.

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.