What is Water Pollution?
Water pollution is when humans dump trash and harmful or toxic chemicals into waterways like oceans, streams, rivers, and ponds. This trash and chemicals can cause problems for marine life. This trash can also come back to humans! When humans drink water, the water MAY be polluted! This is also a very big problem in the world.
An example of water pollution is lead contamination. Lead (pronounced l-e-d) contamination is when Lead, a poisonous chemical gets into the water that we drink or take baths in. Water can dissolve materials very easily. This is bad because Lead in our pipes leaks into the water. Some pipes that bring water into our homes are made out of Lead. Normally, that is okay because the pipes have special chemicals that line them that prevent the Lead from leaking in the water. Sometimes, those chemicals get worn out and Lead starts seeping into our water. Lead contamination has only been found in faucet water. In the recent years, Lead contamination has skyrocketed! Remember, not all homes have Lead pipes, only some do.