An In-Depth Look at Water Pollution

Most of the pollution you come in contact with at the beach has nothing to do with six-pack rings and other plastic bits that you find washed up onto the sand. While trash is certainly a factor, the real threat is hidden in clean-looking water, in the form of effluents or other chemicals that have been pumped to the ocean or washed out in rainwater runoff. This pollution can make an otherwise beautiful looking beach unusable for humans, and dangerous for the wildlife that call the coastal zone their home.

Why Beaches Close: Bacteria and Other Pathogens

Measuring the level of dangerous bacteria is one way of looking at the water quality of a certain beach area. High bacteria levels were responsible for 75% of beach closings in 2009. Urban runoff and sewage pollution are the top two effluents that are responsible for high bacteria levels. Wildlife waste comes in as a close third.

  • Urban Runoff: Many of us think of rainwater and snowmelt as washing the landscape clean and renewing it. Unfortunately, perhaps the reason it seems this way is that all the ugly things that blacken the land, like oil and grease, pet feces, and industrial chemicals, wash into storm drains and end up in lakes and rivers which feed into the ocean. Car washes, drained swimming pools, and irrigation can contribute to this runoff pollution even when there is no precipitation. 
  • Sewage: The thought of swimming in a place where human sewage is dumped is pretty disturbing, but in some areas it’s not too far from the truth. While human waste is usually treated before it is let out as runoff, during heavy rainfall, sewer systems can be overtaxed and untreated waste can find its way into lakes and beaches. Sometimes, sewer systems in urban areas are too small for the population they are meant to serve, and they cannot adequately treat all sewage. Sewage line breaks and leaking septic systems are other culprits.  
  • Wildlife Waste: During migrations, large numbers of water birds can gather near the beach, causing a large increase in waste and a high bacteria count in the waters.

The Results of Water Pollution

You can read the seemingly endless list of contributors to water pollution, but what is the real effect of the increased level of bacteria and other pathogens in the water? I’ll tell you this: I wouldn’t want to swim in an affected area. And, besides the health risks associated with this pollution, there is also a significant impact on the U.S. economy.

  • Diseases and Health Effects: Unproperly treated waste poses the biggest threat to human health of the various types of water pollutants. While most of the illnesses that waste-borne pathogens can cause will clear up relatively quickly, some can result in long-term illness or even death. Some of the main symptoms are gastroenteritis, dysentery, and vomiting. More serious pathogens, however, can lead to neurologic infections and even cancer. 
  • Economic Effects: Beaches and coastal areas are hugely dependent on the health of their beach areas for tourist revenue and other recreational spending. Commercial fishers also rely on the health of the water for their economic welfare. Isolated incidents like closed beaches can be directly correlated to loss of income in a particular area. More widespread disasters like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico can result in hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue. 

 

Sources:

Sources of Beachwater Pollution. (2010) National Resources Defense Council.

The Impacts of Beach Pollution. (2010) National Resources Defense Council.