9 Ways to Reduce Water Pollution in the 21st Century

Reduce the Use of Chemicals When Cleaning

Adopt the use of eco-friendly cleaners, cause detergents containing phosphate lead to the death of aquatic organisms and algae bloom. On the other hand, environmentally friendly detergents still do the work of cleaning your clothes while minimizing harm to the rivers and oceans.

Practice Water Conservation

When we pollute water resources, we’re not only causing harm to the water bodies but putting lots of useful resources to waste. For instance, every tonne of domestic water supplied to our homes undergo costly treatment. So, practice water conservation to protect water. Embrace the tradition of taking a shower rather than bathing. Don’t leave your water running. Also, dump the addiction to washing your clothes every day.

Doing all of these won’t merely prevent water scarcity and save aquatic habitat, but will also economize other precious resources.

Dispose of your Medications Properly

Instead of flushing down unwanted medications, consider handing them over to the right authority who can dispose of them properly. It’s essential to do so because pills contain a bit of chemicals that are hazardous to water.

Avoid the Use of Pesticides and Herbicides

While the use of pesticides and herbicides as pests and weeds control might be helpful to your home and agriculture, it’s quite damaging to water bodies. When it rains, these chemicals are sucked by the ground, consequently poisoning groundwater, thus, polluting drinking water and the environment.

Employ other safe means of controlling pests like the use of biological methods that involve using the natural antagonists of these pests.

Avoid Water-Polluting Recreational Activities

If you’re a gun enthusiast, minimize the amount of time you spend at a rifle range. It may feel good to carry around an AR-15 rifle, which you can fold easily to your target practice session, but there’s more to that guilty pleasure. There are many contaminants associated with gun use that can make their way into the groundwater and, in turn, affect human health. So, the lesser you visit these gun ranges, the lazier the contaminants travel.

Avoid Disposing Items into the Toilet

The dumping of household items into the restroom is one bad habit that fosters pollution. For instance, dumping toilet paper into the latrine infects local water with chlorine which is, a chemical that lends tissue paper its white color. So, properly get rid of your tissue paper, rags, and other cleaning disposables after use.

Maintain your Car

Car and other means of transportation lacking proper maintenance spill oil quickly. This oil would then escape into groundwater.

Such a mishap is avoidable if you properly maintain your vehicles. This preventative measure also discourages air pollution, which worsens water pollution.

Carryout these Practices Everywhere

Don’t limit water pollution prevention practices to your home. Inculcate these habits at your workplace or any institution you find yourself.

Check for water pollution practices in your organization and endeavor to curb them. Please don’t do it alone. Collective effort amongst your colleagues, friends, and family would go a long way to minimize water pollution. So, kindly carry everyone along.

For instance, make suggestions to your institution about environmentally friendly cleaners. Furthermore, you can come up with signs as a caveat that deter people from polluting water. You can put up these signs in strategic locations like your school toilet, office toilet, kitchen, and the likes.

Remember, climate change and the exponential global population are always causing water pollution leading to more water-borne diseases. Thus, get more involved in reducing water pollution. The safer the water bodies, groundwater, and aquatic animals, the better our human health in general. So, take it upon yourself to be a doer of these actions. That way, we can have more individuals who don’t contribute to the problem but are a solution.