WATER POLLUTION
Preventing or reducing water pollution protects our water quality and is essential to maintaining the health of our environment and our own quality of life. Everyone can help reduce water pollution.
- Water is becoming more polluted in developed western countries as well as in the developing countries.
- Every year, polluted water kills more than 24 million people in developing countries; most are children.
- Industry, sewage treatment plants, households, streets and footpaths are all sources of water pollution.
- Individuals pollute water by littering (including cigarette butts), pouring oils down the sink, and using fertilisers and other chemicals on their gardens. These pollutants are then washed or blown into stormwater drains and waterways.
Your role
We can all take steps to reduce water consumption and contribution to water pollution.
- Ensure your waste does not end up in waterways
- Reduce your waste and use of chemicals
- Become a 'green consumer'
Stormwater
Substances put in stormwater drains flow untreated directly to the local river or creek.
Don’t put the following items into stormwater drains: Oil, chemicals, paint, thinners, radiator coolants, pesticides, poisons, swimming pool backwash waters, leaves, grass and garden clippings, animal droppings, plastic, polythene, plastic bags, bottles and paper.
Sewage
Don’t place the following items into sewers: Solvents, oils, paints, varnish, thinners, paint strippers, pesticides, poisons, fertilisers, acids and solid objects which are likely to cause blockages. The sewerage system can’t treat many of these substances, and their presence in sewage may also prevent proper treatment of other pollutants.
Garden
Use fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides sparingly. Make sure runoff doesn’t carry these chemicals into the stormwater drain or your local waterway.
Litter
Place rubbish in garbage bins or take it home with you to recycle or dispose of with household rubbish. Rubbish often finds its way into waterways through stormwater drains. This pollution, particularly plastics, can also choke and kill animals living in waterways and oceans.
Oils
Don’t put your used car motor oil down the sewer or stormwater drain. Oil forms a film on water which reduces oxygen transfer from the atmosphere to water. Dissolved oxygen is essential for fish and other aquatic life. Oil also coats birds' feathers, making it difficult for them to fly.
Minimise your use of cooking oil. To dispose of large amounts of used cooking oils, pour the oil into a small hole in the garden and mulch. Oil washed down your drain is not effectively treated by sewerage treatment and often ends up being discharged to waterways or the ocean.
Detergents
Buy detergents, cleaning agents and washing powders which are low in phosphates. Phosphates in detergents flow into the sewerage system and increase treatment costs. Excess phosphate in waterways can cause rapid algal growth. Algae rob water of dissolved oxygen, essential for aquatic life.
Washing the car
Reduce the water and detergent you use; wash on the lawn so soaks in rather than runs down the stormwater drain.
Household maintenance
Save water by fixing dripping taps; turn off the tap when brushing your teeth; install a dual-flush toilet or water-conserving tap restrictors and shower nozzle; sweep paths and driveways rather than hosing.
Cleaning agents
Use 'environmentally friendly’ natural alternatives and avoid unnecessary use of cleaning agents. Commercial cleaning agents contain phosphates and chemicals which can pollute waterways.
Avoid commercial toilet cleaners and substances used to freshen toilets. Vinegar and bicarbonate of soda is as effective. Toilet fresheners contain chlorine and hydrocarbons which can be dangerous to aquatic animals.
Paints and solvents
Avoid placing paint and solvents down sinks, sewers, gutters, or stormwater drains. Petroleumbased paints and solvents can kill aquatic life. Water-based paints cloud water. Paints and solvents coat plant and animal life in waterways and cause visual pollution.