 Water pollution is the contamination of streams, lakes, underground water or the sea by substances harmful to living things. The major water pollutants are chemical, biological or physical materials that degrade water quality.
The main responsibility for pollution of waters lies with the Environment Agency; however, we have some involvement in controlling the sources of discharges to water - we enforce drainage legislation (detailed on subsequent pages) and other legislation relating to the prevention of nuisance.
Water pollutants can result from many human activities, for example:
- residential communities
contribute mostly sewage, mixed with traces of household chemicals
- industrial pollutants
may enter water sources from the outfall pipes of factories or may leak from pipelines and underground storage tanks
sometimes industries discharge pollutants into city sewers, increasing the variety of pollutants in urban areas;
- mines and natural underground contamination
polluted water may flow from mines where the water has leached through mineral-rich rocks or has been contaminated by the chemicals used in processing the ores
- agricultural
pollutants from farms and pastures are animal wastes, agricultural chemicals and sediment from erosion.
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