Enlgish 2 ( Water Pollution ) Research Proposal

Enlgish 2 ( Water Pollution ) - Research Proposal Example Water pollution refers to the human-induced changes to water quality. Scholz contends that contamination of ground water, rivers, lakes, wetlands, estuaries, and oceans can threaten the health of humans. Contaminated water has threatened the health of humans for centuries and continues to pose the same threat even today. Water is crucial for the welfare of the humanity and it is the quality of water that matters, not the quantity (Myllyntaus, 2005). Water occupies more than 71 percent of the earth’s surface but only 2.5% of it is fresh water, meant for human consumption. Again, 1 percent of this fresh water is divided into lakes (61%), atmosphere and soil moisture (39%) and the streams make up for less than 0.4 percent (Frank, McClure, Press & Walsh, 2001). The streams including the rivers constitute the smallest percentage of river distribution, most of the water for human consumption is provided by them. Drinking water accounts for even less because much of the fresh water in undrinkable (Myllyntaus, 2005). About 20 percent of the fresh water is stored in fresh water form and this is not a quickly renewable natural resource. Rainwater is the only naturally renewable form of water. Water pollution can be divided into two categories – point-source pollution and non-point-source pollution. When contaminants are discharged from a discrete location, as the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, it is known as point-source pollution (Scholz, 2003). Non-point-source or diffuse pollution refers to all other types of contaminants that polluter the water body. Acid rain is an example of non-point-source pollution. Water pollution poses threats to human health in different ways. The pollutants enter the body via skin exposure or when drinking water or contaminated food is consumed directly (Scholz, 2003). Mercury has been detected in fish tissues that are found in contaminated water bodies and