It can be said that water pollution takes place when dangerous substances such as microorganisms or chemicals contaminate a body of water such as ocean, lake, or river while degrading the water quality and making it harmful to humans. At earth, water is very sensitive to pollution. It is a universal solvent and is capable of dissolving a lot more substances than any other liquid. Actually, it is the reason why there are blue waterfalls and Kool-Aid but it also the reason why water is polluted easily. Harmful materials from factories, towns, and farms dissolve and get into the water which causes pollution of water. In simple words: water pollution is capable of killing. In 2015, it became the cause of deaths up to 1.8 million in accordance with research in The Lancet. Moreover, contaminated water is capable of making people ill. Unsafe water every year makes one billion people sick while communities with low-income are at a risk due to their homes being near to polluting areas and factories (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2018). The aim of this paper is to explain the impacts and sources of pollution of water in the United States.

Water Pollution in the U.S.

        Normally, the lack of water is misinterpreted as the restricted access to water present in the US but when the present bodies of water are polluted, it is the quality that becomes an issue. The pollution of water is the entrance of pollutants in water (Yung-tse, Lawrence, & Nazih, 2012). A report of World Bank states that over 70 % of the water which is used by Latin America is returning to rivers without any type of treatment. Actually, it means that sewage and waste of industries are placed into the sources of rivers and water like lakes and dams. The problem of pollution of water in Latin America is quite a major concern since almost eighty percent of the total population live in the regions close to contaminated rivers. Buenos Aires for example runes closely to the Rio Plata’s river which is polluted (Flint, 2014). An article in The Guardian says that the Erie Lake is the source of water for Toledo and it is polluted with a bacterium of microcystin due to the bloom of algae produced by the phosphorus runoff from farms. For almost seven days, drinking it was prohibited and elderly, children, and pregnant women were told to not shower. Pregnant women were instructed by gynaecologists to not even come in contact with it as their babies will be harmed by it (McGraw, 2019). In Lake Erie, the load of phosphorus is very high.

        For a thriving, healthy ecosystems depend on various complex animals, fungi, and plants that interact with each other in an indirect or direct way. In addition, it is possible to generate a chain effect for damaging any industry or organization which is endangering the aquatic environment. With the algal bloom in the marine environment, the growth of plants and algae is stimulated by the proliferation of nutrients which decreases the level of oxygen in the ocean. It is referred to as eutrophication which suffocates both plants and animals while creating dead areas where there is no life in water (Denchak, 2018). In the top economies, pollution is present among the top worries and in America, half of every possible river is polluted.

        When marine ecosystems are threatened by marine debris, animals can be strangled, starved, and suffocated. It is composed of mostly soda cans and plastic cans which are swept into storm drains from sewers and finally reach the sea. In the US, waterways haven’t been always in the state of compromise. Streaming flowing through the natural filtration have been more likely to be suitable for domestic and agricultural use with acceptable standards for drinking, cooking, and bathing. With the booming populations of immigrants, the resource of water started to be contaminated with every type of waste. It has caused a complete decline in the quality of American water as pristine areas are taken by urban sprawl (Snyder, 2018).

        Just because of the diverse effects and far-reaching of water pollution, the US has suffered a lot. Many sectors including commercial fishing, recreational businesses, tourism, and property values of the US have been suffering which rely on pure water. Nitrates and algal blooms in water increase the treatment cost. Systems in Minnesota that eliminate nitrate have causes an increment in the costs of supply up to almost ten cents per every thousand gallons to more than $4 per every thousand gallons. Billions of dollars are consumed by the cleaning of water which is contaminated and each penny that is spent on the safety of sources of drinking water saves the treatment cost. The loss of tourism is another effect of pollution of water in the US; it is up to a billion dollars annually due to the losses in fishing and boating activities as bodies of water are affected by water pollution and algal blooms. Fish industries and shellfish are hurt by algal blooms since fish is killed and shellfish are contaminated. The annual losses are estimated to reach millions of dollars from the pollution of water. Clean water can increase the value of a close house up to almost 25 percent. The value of the property which is waterfront decreases due to the unpleasant sight and stench of algal blooms (Environmental Protection Agency, 2019).

        A form of pollution of water is nutrient pollution which is quite costly, broad, and issues of phosphorus and the US cause it with the excessive amount of nitrogen in air and water. Both phosphorus and nitrogen are nutrients which are the natural parts of equality environment. With the excessiveness of phosphorus and nitrogen, air and water can be polluted. In America, pollution in the nutrients has affected several coastal bays and water, streams, lakes, and rivers for a long time now causing potential issues about the human health and environment which impact different areas of the nation. Nutrient pollution in groundwater which millions drink can quite be quite harmful at low levels. Additionally, children are vulnerable to nitrates or nitrogen-based compounds. It is the large amount of nitrogen which produces pollutants in the existing atmosphere such as ammonia and ozone, which are capable of harming the breathing of humans, limit visibility, and alter the growth of plants. Soils, waterways, and forest health are harmed by the excessive nitrogen which it gets back to earth from the atmosphere (US Water Alliance, 2017).

        Additionally, the negative externality is caused by water pollution as an economic cost. Recreational facilities are harmed, especially around the lakes of fresh water which can be determined by rent values and attendance loss. The municipal budget is weighed down significantly by the costs of purification of water including treatment and inspection. In infrastructure, heavy investments are needed for securing reliable and pure sources for big cities like waterworks, treatment plants, dams, and pumping stations (Rodrigue, 2019). In addition, the environmental quality is the main asset about which regulators are worried but a problem is faced by environmental quality because of the resources' public nature. Water is good for the public and subjected to simple free riding, private firms don't supply it because of riding and it will not be beneficial for them. Resources which are open access are quite problematic as a resource that is precious and can provide an economic value to the ones that consume it. It is also applied to environmental goods belonging to this branch but areas will be open-access resources which are not owned by a person (Yung-tse, Lawrence, & Nazih, 2012).

         In August 2018, the red algae bloom in the southwest coast of Florida actually created an emergency state and 1.5 million dollars were promised in the funding of emergency. The clean-up red tide efforts among 2004-7 costs between $11,114-250,000 on each every to the state and the admissions in a hospital were raised by fifty percent because of vapors (Achenbach, Furby, & Horton, 2018).

        The industry of food production suffered a lot in America due to the pollution of water when dairy, eggs, and meat product consumption was suggested to be stopped for preventing the blooms. A river is polluted by the production of these products which leads to blooms and dead zones. Acidification pollutes the oceans that rise in carbon dioxide that the oceans absorb from the atmosphere. Scientists estimated that twenty-five percent of the emitted carbon goes into oceans which alter the chemical makeup of water; the level of pH falls which makes the water acidic. Since the 1800s, the level of pH has decreased by almost 0.1 and on the Richer scale, it indicates a thirty percent increment in the acidity. The pollution of water has been harming the industry of shellfish which is equivalent to a hundred billion dollars in America's West Coast. Coral bleaching in the past four decades has increased by five times. In the early 1980s, bleaching took place every 30 years and as of 2016, it takes place every six years approximately. Just as it is highlighted, the level of acidity will be fifty percent higher by 2100 and it is the highest since the Miocene era which was twenty million years back. When it comes to the excessive carbon dioxide, kelp, seagrasses, and algae might prove to be beneficial but the oyster shells, clams, and mussels are eroded by acidity which decreases the food source (Saxer & Rosenbloom, 2018).

        Keeping the above impacts and sources of water pollution in the US, it is important to formulate different constraints for overcoming these problems. The most important key in preventing and cleaning water pollution is actually a change in the economy from the pursuit of growth which is unending. Adjusting the objective towards the maintenance of systems of life-support would alter the business behavior and other institutions as well. In America, it is important to formulate a true-cost economy with the goal of sustainable and equitable well-being instead of continuous growth. In a true-cost economy, the actors would be caring more about the future in a long-run or medium instead of quarterly returns. Chemical companies, for example, would be needed to be engaged in simple green chemistry and utilities will produce renewable energy.

        The rights of property of different resources of water have to be introduced in the US. Issues of water pollution can easily be counteracted by pushing limitations on individuals that use water for their own objectives. The marine ecosystem is being compromised by human exercises. If proper rights are not introduced by regulators, resources will be no more even though anyone can use them. They still have the issue that if it is used by one agent, someone else cannot use it. For instance, the pollution in Pacific where there are plastics, however, it is not the responsibility of anyone to take care of it since it is actually a resource with open-access that will be resulting in a tragedy of commons.

        America’s government must put taxes on the usage of fossil fuels along with other harmful substances so that costs are impossible to be paid. An eco-auditor should be used by companies just like a financial auditor. Companies’ eco-auditors must be accountable for assessing whether costs are being externalized by an organization and whether the life-support systems are being harmed by organizational production. They must also be obligated to show just how water pollution can be avoided. The EPA or Environmental Protection Agency was formulated by the government of the US for addressing the negative externalities which are caused by the pollution of water along with other pollutions (Blackwelder, 2014). 

        Mostly, the basic policies of command-and-control have been implemented for reducing the level of water pollution. It is actually possible by the limitation of types of input permitted for development, keeping the track of actual emissions, and monitoring the process of production. The utilization of voluntary policies is yet another option which is always available as it gives a business an option for minimizing the pollution of water as their own. Development and research can be utilized by businesses to search for efficient and cost-effective ways to decrease the pollution of water. It is possible with the presence of a regulation threat. Additionally, three policies can be utilized by the EPA so to decrease the pollution of water (EconPort, 2019). Following are these tools:

·         Taxes: Taxes concerned with places on polluting industries. For instance, Y should be paid by the company for X amount of chemicals.

·         Subsidies: The payment could be received by the company as a subsidy if the pollution levels in the water are equivalent to or less than the amount which is desired.

·         Tradable Pollution Permits: Permits would be traded by businesses if the costs of these permits are lower than the cost of decreasing pollution for the purchasing organization or if the permit price is over the abatement cost for the organization which is selling (EconPort, 2019)

Conclusion on Water Pollution in the United States of America

        In a nutshell, water pollution has been one of the major contemporary issues in the U.S. and contaminated water is capable of making people ill. A report of World Bank states that over 70 % of the water which is used by Latin America is returning to rivers without any type of treatment. The problem of pollution of water in Latin America is quite a major concern since almost eighty percent of the total population live in the regions close to contaminated rivers. In the top economies, pollution is present among the top worries and in America, half of every possible river is polluted. Many sectors including commercial fishing, recreational businesses, tourism, and property values of the US have been suffering which rely on pure water. The loss of tourism is another effect of pollution of water in the US; it is up to a billion dollars annually due to the losses in fishing and boating activities as bodies of water are affected by water pollution and algal blooms. A form of pollution of water is nutrient pollution which is quite costly, broad, and issues of phosphorus and the US cause it with the excessive amount of nitrogen in air and water.

        Additionally, children are vulnerable to nitrates or nitrogen-based compounds. It is the large amount of nitrogen which produces pollutants in the existing atmosphere such as ammonia and ozone. In August 2018, the red algae bloom in the southwest coast of Florida actually created an emergency state and 1.5 million dollars were promised in the funding of emergency. America’s government must put taxes on the usage of fossil fuels along with other harmful substances so that costs are impossible to be paid. The EPA or Environmental Protection Agency was formulated by the government of US for addressing the negative externalities which are caused by the pollution of water and it has been working hard to control water pollution in the U.S.

 References on Water Pollution in the United States of America

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US Water Alliance. (2017). Addressing Nutrient Pollution in Our Nation's Waters. Water Environment Federation.

Yung-tse, H., Lawrence, W., & Nazih, S. (2012). Handbook Of Environment And Waste Management: Air And Water Pollution Control. World Scientific.