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  What are the causes of river pollution? Suggest some ways to overcome them?    Or Analyse the causes that result into river pollution. Or Mention any three causes of increasing pollution in rivers.                         Or Why the water pollution is a significant danger? Explain.

Answer:

                  Water pollution is a great concern of contemporary world. Water pollution in rivers cause significant danger to human health. Human beings depend on rivers for many daily activities and neccessities like drinking water. Apart from this water pollution affects plants and organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases, the effect is damaging not only to individual species and population, but also to natural biological communities. In a nutshell, water pollution in rivers cause a havoc on ecological balance of the Earth. Over 97 per cent of all the water on Earth is salty and saline and most of the remaining three per cent is frozen in the polar icecaps.  The  atmosphere,  rivers,  lakes  and underground store holds less than 1 per cent of all freshwater. This tiny amount has to support fresh water needs of the Earth's population. Fresh water is a precious resource and the increasing pollution of our rivers and lakes is a cause for alarm. 1.                   Causes of River Pollutions The Causes of River Pollutions are Untreated Sewage The discharge of untreated sewage in rivers is the single most important cause for pollution of rivers. (ii) Agricultural Wastes If the large amount of fertilisers or farm waste drain into a river, the concentration of nitrate and phosphate in water increases considerably. Algae use these substances to grow and multiply rapidly turning the water green. The massive growth of algae called eutrophication, leads to pollution. When the algae dies, they are broken down by the action of bacteria which quickly multiply, using up all the oxygen in water which lead to the death of many animals. (iii) Industrial Waste Chemical waste products of industrial    processes    are    sometimes accidentally discharges into rivers. These substances may enter the water in such high concentrations that fish and other animals are killed immediately. Sometimes pollutants enter a food chain and accumulate until they reach toxic levels eventually killing birds, fish and mammals. These chemical causes many diseases to human beings like Cancer, Diarrhoea, etc. (iv) Oil Pollution If oil enters a slow-moving river, it forms a rainbow coloured film over the entire surface preventing oxygen to enter the water. This cause death of many water organisms. (v) Many human activities like throwing domestic and food wastes or throwing dead bodies in river also causes river pollution. 2.                   Ways to Overcome Water Pollution Ways to overcome water pollution are (i) Various "action plans" have been started to clean rivers. Example the Ganga Action Plan, the Yamuna Action Plan, etc. (ii) Emphasis is on going for technologies reducing the wastage of water and promoting recycling, improvement of water quality, etc. (iii) Measures are being taken to divert raw sewage of effluents flown into the river to other locations for treatment and conversion into energy sources and chemicals. (iv) The degradable and non-degradable wastes should be disposed in separate garbage bins for treatment.