1. Contamination a substance that makes air, water, soil etc. dangerously dirty, and is caused by cars, factories, etc;
2. Pollution the state of being ill;
3. Species the state of being dirty or harmful when chemicals or poison are discharged;
4. Pollutant to make a judgment about a person or situation after thinking carefully about it;
5. Sickness the process of making air, soil, water etc. dangerously dirty and not suitable for people to use;
6. Assess (v) a group of animals or plants whose members are similar and can breed together to produce young animals or plants.
Task 2. Read the text and find answers to the following questions
1. What is water pollution?
2. Under what conditions does water pollution occur?
3. What are some of the consequences of water pollution?
Water pollution
Part 1
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, groundwater).
Water pollution affects plants and organisms living in these bodies of water; and, in almost all cases the effect is damaging either to individual species and populations, and also to the natural biological communities.
Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds.
Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily. An estimated 700 million Indians have no access to a proper toilet, and 1,000 Indian children die of diarrheal sickness every day. Some 90% of China's cities suffer from some degree of water pollution, and nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water. In addition to the acute problems of water pollution in developing countries, industrializedcountries continue to struggle with pollution problems as well. In the most recent national report on water quality in the United States, 45 percent of assessed stream miles, 47 percent of assessed lake acres, and 32 percent of assessed bay and estuarine square miles were classified as polluted.
Diarrheal sickness
Task 3. Read part 2 of the text Water Pollution and decide whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F)
1. Water is considered polluted when it is not suitable for human use.
2. Sources of water pollution are numerous.
3. Point source pollution usually has anthropogenic nature.
4. Non-point source pollution is a consequence of agricultural activities.
5. Urban runoff is considered as point source pollution.
Part 2
Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and either does not support a human use, like serving as drinking water, and/or undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities, such as fish. Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water.
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Water pollution categories
Surface water and groundwater have often been studied and managed as separate resources, although they are interrelated. Sources of surface water pollution are generally grouped into two categories based on their origin.
Point source pollution - Shipyard - Rio de Janeiro
Point source pollution refers to contaminants that enter a waterway through a discrete conveyance, such as a pipe or ditch. Examples of sources in this category include discharges from a sewage treatment plant, a factory, or a city storm drain. The U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA) defines point source for regulatory enforcement purposes. The CWA definition of point source was amended in 1987 to include municipal storm sewer systems, as well as industrial stormwater, such as from construction sites.
Non-point source pollution
Non-point source (NPS) pollution refers to diffuse contamination that does not originate from a single discrete source. NPS pollution is often accumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a large area. The leaching out of nitrogen compounds from agricultural land which has been fertilized is a typical example. Nutrient runoff in stormwater from "sheet flow" over an agricultural field or a forest are also cited as examples of NPS pollution.
Contaminated storm water washed off of parking lots, roads and highways, called urban runoff, is sometimes included under the category of NPS pollution. However, this runoff is typically channeled into storm drain systems and discharged through pipes to local surface waters, and is a point source. However where such water is not channeled and drains directly to ground it is a non-point source
