Water Pollutants

Water Pollutants

Water pollutants mainly classified into five class. These are-
1. Organic pollutants
2. inorganic pollutants
3. Suspended solids and sediment
4. Radio active material
5. Heat

1. Organic pollutants
Organic pollutants may be further categorized as follows
A. Oxygen demanding wastes: these include domestic and animal sewage biodegradable organic compounds and industrial waste, food processing plants, slaughter-houses, paper and pulp mills, tanneries etc. as well as agricultural run-off. All these wastes under degradation and decomposition by bacterial activity in presence of dissolved oxygen.


B. Disease causing waste: These include pathogenic microorganism in which may enter the water along with sewage and other wastes and may cause tremendous damage to public health. These microbes comprising mainly of virus and bacteria can cause dangerous water-born diseases such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, polio and infections hepatitis in humans.


C. Synthetic organic compound: These are the man-made materials such as synthetic pesticides, synthetic detergent, food-additives, pharmaceuticals, insecticides, paints, synthetic fibers, elastomers, solvents, plasticizers, plastic and other industrial chemicals. Most of these chemicals are potentially toxic to plants, animal and human.


D. Sewage and agricultural run-off: Sewage and run-off from agricultural landssupply plant nutrients, which may stimulate the growth of algae and aquatic weeds in the receiving water body. This unwidely plant-growth results in the degradation of the value of the water body intented for reactional and other uses. Further, the water body loses all its Dissolved Oxygen in the long run up as a dead pool of water.


E. Oil : Oil pollution may take place because of oil spills from cargo oil tankers on the seas, losses during off-shore exploration and production of oil, accidental fires in ships and oil tankers, accidental or intentional oil slicks and leakage from oil pipe line, crossing water ways and reservoirs.



2.Inorganic pollutants

These comprise of mineral acids, inorganic salts, finely devided metals or metal componds, trace elements, cyanides, sulphates, nitrates, organometallic compounds and complexes of metals with organic compound present in the natural water. The trace element include Hg, As, Cd, Pb, Sb, Se etc.

3. Suspended solids and sediment: It denotes the particles floating, immersed and sedimented in the water and water body.


4. Radio-active element: The radio-active water pollutants may originate from anthropogenic activities:

A. Mining or processing of ores e.g., Uranium tailing.
B. Increasing the use of radioactive isotopes in the research, agricultural, industrial and mechanical application.
C. Radioactive material from nuclear power plant and reactor.
D. Radioactive material from testing and use of nuclear weaponry.


5. Heat: Waste heat is produced in all process iin which heat is converted into mechanical work. Thus consideration thermal pollution results from thermal power plants, particularly nuclear power based electrically plants.