Pollution of rivers, lakes and seas is a major concern for people who seek to protect the environment. What are the possible causes of water pollution, and what ef ects does this have on animal life and human society?

Water

contamination is a serious form of pollution

,

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and one that can be challenging to rectify. There seem to be two main causes involved, and a variety of damaging

effects

on people and the biosphere, which we will discuss here. Probably the main factor is the issue of emissions from cars, factories and other human activities. These emissions contain damaging pollutant particles which can contaminate rainwater run-off and

thus

enter the

water

cycle, by transferring through the

water

table into aquifers, streams and rivers. Filtration and processing are not really viable options for

such

large volumes of

water

, and so the

water

table remains tainted with these elements over long periods, as we see in Eastern Europe today. In situations where soil erosion and logging have already damaged the local environment, the accumulation can be very serious. The other major cause is accidental or deliberate dumping of waste products in places outside of controlled landfills or waste processing centres. Even small amounts of abandoned waste can enter

water

supplies through the ground, often undetected. The

effects

on animal life can be severe, especially for species which are already endangered by

such

threats as poaching, habitat loss and food chain disruption. Contaminated

water

can lead to dwindling numbers or even potential extinction, as may indeed happen to the Asian tiger populations. The impact on human society can

also

be distressing, including the poisoning of drinking

water

, famine or drought

due to

lack of safe irrigation, and long-term loss of land as we see, for example, after the Bhopal poisoning catastrophe in India.

Such

effects

tend to have an especially grave impact on the very poorest in society, with the least resources to counter the environmental

effects

.

Overall

, we see that emissions and dumping are the main origins of the problem

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and that the

effects

on both humans and animals are exacerbated by the existing environmental, criminal or social problems.