Summary of Study Session 17
In Study Session 17, you have learned that:
- Water pollution is any contamination of water with substances that are detrimental to human, plant or animal health.
- Water pollutants can be of point or non-point source depending on whether substances are discharged directly into a body of water or indirectly from diffuse sources.
- There are various types of water pollution including organic and inorganic sediments, nutrients, biological and chemical pollutants.
- Biological pollutants include bacteria, viruses, protozoa and helminths. They enter the water from human faeces from infected people and are the cause of many water-related diseases.
- The effects of water pollution on an aquatic ecosystem depend on the type of pollutant and the type of water body.
- Ideally pollution control should take place at the point of origin, i.e. pollution should be prevented at source.
- There are specified procedures to follow when taking a water sample for analysis to ensure the sample is representative.
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17.8.3 Sampling procedure from dug wells and similar sources