Sources of Water Pollution 👷

Sewage Pollution

Latest figures show that raw sewage discharge into rivers and seas accounted for more than 3.6 million hours last year, an increase of 105% on the previous 12 months. Raw sewage contains a plethora of bacteria and toxins from human households. Fecal indicator bacteria like E. Coli and Entererococci are used in water tests to determine how sewage-puluted a lake, river or coastline is. Measuring

All storm overflows (aka CSO) in England are now fitted with monitoring devices generating data about the number of spills and the duration of each spill. Data coverage in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is much more patchy. The data is then provided by the water companies to the Environment Agency and published once a year in spring.

There are several web sites which summarise this data in maps and graphs:

• Top of the Poops
• The Rivers Trust
• Greenpeace Unearthed

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Agricultural Pollution

Water po

Intensive poultry sheds and other livestock units result in high levels of polluting run off from their poo. Farm slurry waste, insecticides and fertilizer run off

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Microplastic Pollution

Fishing nets and lines dumped in water, degraded plastic containers resulting in polluting microplastic beads on coasts and on land.

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Chemical Pollution

Toxic chemical waste dumped on land which gets into waterways. Waste from industry and house building. Road run off from tyres and petro chemicals.

including medical /drugs pollution

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Radioactive Pollution

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