River pollution facts

River pollution is form of water pollution that refers to the contamination of rivers. River pollution occurs when waste and different other pollutants are discharged into river without being properly treated.

River pollution has negative effect on aquatic ecosystems. The negative impact on plants and animals often leads to decline in species, and sometimes even to extinction of entire species (Yangtze River dolphin).

River pollution also leads to decrease in freshwater resources because rivers are among most important sources of freshwater in the world. This means that the excessive river pollution could easily lead to global water shortage.

Excessive river pollution could also lead to many waterborne diseases.

China and India are countries notorious for excessive water pollution. This however doesn't mean that other countries aren’t affected with river pollution issue.  

Yangtze and Ganges are world's most polluted big rivers.

It has been estimated that up to 80 % of India's urban waste ends up in its rivers.

The holy river Ganges has become an international symbol for excessive river pollution. The recent measuring of pollution in Ganges showed that in some places the level of pollution is 3,000 percent higher than what is considered safe for bathing.

Citarum River in Indonesia is also notorious for pollution because of the combination of untreated household sewage, solid waste and industrial effluents.

Many developed countries are also experiencing worrying levels of river pollution. In Germany, for instance, the river pollution is increasing in its major rivers: the Elbe, Weser, Aller and Ems, mostly because of pesticides and industrial chemicals (study from University of Koblenz-Landau).

In order to tackle river pollution issue people need to show more care for our environment in general. There also needs to be better and far more frequent monitoring of rivers as well as strict punishments for polluters. The data needs to become live, and real-date, as well as being available to general public.

The worst affected countries should create funds and start cleaning their rivers because having polluted river doesn't only mean huge environmental but also huge economic damage. We must not forget that rivers provide us with many important services.

Improving water quality of our rivers is certainly very important task that needs to be addressed properly on all levels - local, regional, national as well as international. Healthy rivers mean healthy environment, and healthy environment means healthy life.

Cadmium causing huge pollution in Chinese river

Over the last couple of decades China has become one of the symbols for excessive pollution and Chinese are certainly doing their part in prolonging their notoriously poor environmental record with the latest proof coming in form of 20 tons of discharged cadmium poisoning China's Longjiang River.

The authorities still do not know the exact source and the time of the discharge that could poison close to 4 million people that live in the city of Liuzhou.

One of the main downstreams of Longjiang River is Liujiang River that provides drinking water for the 3.7 million residents of the city of Liuzhou.

The city authorities still say that drinking water in Liuzhou is safe for drinking despite having cadmium levels 80 times higher than what is described as the safe limit.

The authorities are trying to tackle cadmium pollution by dumping hundreds of tons of aluminum chloride into the Longjiang River in an effort to dissolve the cadmium but so far less than half of discharged cadmium has been dissolved and neutralized.

Cadmium is a toxic metal heavily used in batteries. Exposure to cadmium can cause adverse health effects by damaging kidneys, and can also cause diarrhea, stomach pains and severe vomiting, reproduction issues and even cancer.

This is just another example of how difficult is for Beijing to improve environmental condition throughout the country with many local authorities choosing to sacrifice environment by giving pollution industries a helping hand in order to boost its economic development.

Agriculture is increasing pollution of Europe's streams

According to the latest study by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research European streams are becoming increasingly polluted with the excessive use of insecticides in agriculture. An insecticide is a type pesticide used against insects.

The researchers believe that there will be around 40% of Europe's surface area in which streams will no longer have a good ecological status due to agricultural pesticides with most affected areas being Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and the Central Europe.

The climate change will play major role in the increased use of pesticides. The expected warmer temperatures will result in an increase in the rate of development of insects and their rate of survival in winter which means that agriculture will have to use even more insecticides to protect crops from many pest insect species.

Under the current scientific scenario the use of insecticides will more than double in Europe by 2090 compared to 1990 levels causing huge pollution of Europe's streams.

The possible solutions to tackle this issue do not only include using fewer insecticides but also the creation of so called buffer zones along the streams which would reduce the exposure of insecticides to streams.

The large quantity of pesticides is being washed by rain from the fields and into rivers and buffer zones could stop these pollutants entering streams. They could also serve as some sort of refuge camp for threatened species, from where they can recolonize.

The modern agriculture is unthinkable without the use of insecticides and insecticides are no doubt one of the major factors behind the increased agricultural productivity in the last 100 years.

However, there is also a major downside of using insecticides as they can irreversibly alter ecosystems, and especially because many of them are toxic to both human and animals.

There are some scientists who also believe that the increased use of insecticides and pesticides in general is the main reason behind the recent huge loss of bees. The loss of bees that pollinate plants will cause a significant reduction in crop yields.

German rivers experiencing increased pollution

Germany is one of the most industrialized nations in the world and one of the global economic leaders. Huge industrialization and advanced agriculture can however have very negative environmental impact and this has also lead to an increased pollution in four German major rivers the Elbe, Weser, Aller and Ems.

The German scientists were analyzing the concentrations of toxic chemicals and other pollutants in river water by analyzing data from official monitoring spanning from 1994 until 2004.

The scientists discovered that Germany won't be able to attain by 2015 the good chemical and ecological status of water bodies as defined by the EU Water Framework Directive mostly because of significant concentrations of pesticides and industrial chemicals in major German rivers.

The amount of pesticides and industrial chemicals in German rivers is so high that river ecosystems will very likely suffer toxic impacts which could lead to significant decline of many aquatic species.

Ralf B. Schäfer, an assistant professor at the Institute for Environmental Sciences at the University of Koblenz-Landau said that "in some cases we found worrying concentrations of substances at levels which under laboratory conditions would kill 50 per cent of water fleas and could lead to the significant decline of the algae population."

The scientists also pointed to the fact that Germany still lacks regular official monitoring which is currently being carried out only 2 or three times a year.

Some scientists like Dr von der Ohe also pointed out that the actual pollution levels might be even bigger because the monitoring data were collected using point water grab sampling which may not include all pollutants, particularly pesticides since they are in most cases released into water bodies episodically.

In order to successfully tackle river pollution (and water pollution in general) issue the scientists must first find their exact sources and to do so the official monitoring needs to be done more thoroughly and what is also important more frequently.

River pollution – Definition and meaning

River pollution is a form of water pollution which refers to the introduction of different chemicals and other pollutants such as sewage, food waste and farm effluents into rivers.

Rivers are among the most important sources of freshwater on our planet and this is one of the most important reasons why we have to address river pollution issue very seriously. Even now, there are many places in the world suffering from the water shortage issue, and in years to come things will be much more difficult because human population is set for massive growth in the next couple of decades.

Polluted rivers have extremely harmful effect on river ecosystems mostly because water pollution causes significant drop in oxygen levels, and many animals are not able to tolerate low levels of oxygen in rivers.

Polluted river can also become a source of disease and animals that drink this water can even pass this disease to people after people eat an infected animal. There have been several cases in Africa where people caught different waterborne diseases by drinking untreated polluted water directly from the river.

River pollution has become particularly serious issue in fast developing countries such as China and India. Ganges and Yangtze, for instance, are amongst world's most polluted rivers.

The easiest sign to spot water pollution is seeing dead fish floating on the river or noticing that the water has strange color or it smells bad.

Cleaning up dirty rivers requires lot of efforts and of course large funds, particularly in cases where large river water bodies are being polluted. As in many other cases it is wiser to prevent river pollution than cleaning it afterwards. Therefore make sure to do your part and don't be one of those people who deliberately throw rubbish into the river.

Ireland facing river pollution problem

Ireland, famous as the green island, looks to be anything but green when talking about the river pollution problem. The latest studies have shown that pollution levels in rivers and streams in Ireland have hugely increased in the last two decades, mostly as a result of increased housing development and intensive agriculture and forestry. Mostly affected are north-western regions.

The major new study has also revealed that water quality of many wells and springs have also significantly declined mostly due to contamination by animal and human faeces, and this water is the source of quarter of drinking water supplies in Ireland.

According to these latest studies water quality in Ireland 2007- 2008 data shows the percentage of rivers considered to be largely pollution-free rivers – has decreased to 17 percent in 2006-2008, down from 30 percent in the period 1987-1990, with the largest numbers of pollution-free sites in less densely populated and less intensively farmed parts of the country, mostly in the southwest and west.

Forestry, agriculture and housing are major factors for lower water quality as these factors have dramatically reduced water quality by different nutrient inputs, siltation and acidification.

Dr Jim Bowman, programme manager of the aquatic environment programme at the EPA said that "the dramatic decline in the number of high ecological quality river sites during the past 20 years, largely due to low-level enrichment and siltation in upland areas, is unacceptable and will have to be addressed, and it would be a huge challenge to protect the remaining high-quality sites and restore those that had degraded."

As you can see river pollution is not just problem in India and China like some think it is.

Rivers in Ireland are also facing pollution problem.

Ganges river becoming more salty

Ganges river is the largest river in India, and home of many unique ecosystems. However these ecosystems could soon come under great threat because rising sea levels are causing salt water to flow into India's biggest river. This is happening because sea levels in some parts of the Bay of Bengal were rising at 3.14 mm annually against a global average of 2 mm, and if temperatures continue to rise not only Ganges will become more salty but also large number of population in Indian subcontinent will be severely hit with more frequent and more powerful natural disasters such as floods and storms, which will very likely result in more disease and more hunger.

Ganges river, the largest river in India, does not only have problem with pollution but is also becoming more salty because of sea levels rise.

Indian university in the city of Kolkata that published this study was very surprised with the discovery of the mangrove plants, a rare phenomenon along the Ganges river belt, that usually live 100 km (60 miles) away in the swampy Sundarban archipelago spread over a 26,000 sq km (10,000 sq mile) area on the world's largest delta region. They also spotted more saline water fish in the river as Ganges river is becoming more and more salty. It looks like Ganges river does not only have problem with pollution but also with salinity.

Citarum river - Heavy pollution

Citarum river in Indonesia that supports a population of 28 million people, delivers 20% of Indonesia's gross domestic product, and provides 80% of water to Indonesia's capital Jakarta is one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Urbanization in the last three decades was followed by rise in untreated household sewage, solid waste and industrial effluents. The more waste enters the river there are more chances for spreading diseases, and already now there are many fishing families that are starving because of tremendous decrease in fish population due to heavy pollution.

Citarum river in Indonesia is one of the world's most polluted rivers

In order to start cleaning pollution as soon as possible Indonesian government will get a loan package of $ 500 million over the next 15 years that should be enough for restoration of Citarum's river basin by supporting different sanitation projects and construction of waste treatment plants in the river basin in order to ensure safe water supply to millions of people.

Water resources problem is one the biggest problems not only in Indonesia but in many other countries in Asia like for instance China (Yangtze) and India (Ganges). With the vast number of people that live in these areas these countries are facing serious problem of not only water shortage but possible pandemic level of waterborne diseases. Therefore, successful water management is one of the key questions that needs to be answered. The lives of millions of people in Asia are at stake.

Yellow River heavily polluted

Yellow River is the second longest river in China, and is like many other rivers in China heavily polluted. According to the results of the newest scientific study one third of China's Yellow river is heavily polluted, not safe for normal use, mainly because of China's rapid economic boom followed by vast number of industrial waste. What is even worse is the fact that this river supplies water to millions of people in northern China, so it is really only matter of time before we see rapid increase in waterborne diseases in this part of China.

This region was always among top industry regions in China, now more than ever before, but it has also been known for being chronically short of water. Samples taken from this river showed that 33.8 percent of the river is worse than level 5, meaning not only that this water is unsafe for drinking but also for industrial use and agriculture. Only 16.1 percent of the river samples reached level 1 or 2 — which is level when water is considered safe for household use.

China's Yellow River is heavily polluted

China's main problem is really in local governments that put very little (somewhere almost no) effort to monitor waste disposal process of firms located in their area. What is even worse these polluting firms are protected because they give job to many local workers. In this enchanted circle there is only one result, namely river is treated as a dumping site.

On one hand China is showing signs of tremendous economy growth but the price that Chinese had to pay for this growth was too high. Environmentally speaking China is probably the poorest country in the world, with many different ecological and environmental problems that are becoming bigger and bigger. Levels of water and air pollution are increasing each year, and if local governments continue with their "all goes" rule for industry firms China will very soon experience environmental catastrophe of gigantic proportions.

Pollution in India - River and air pollution

India just like China too has serious problem with pollution. Unfortunately not only country's economy has growing trend but also country's pollution and mostly affected are rivers as they have almost become garbage dumps.

About 80 % of urban waste in India ends up in rivers where it destroys river ecosystems and it also makes bodies of water unfit for human use, not to mention the fact that many river species population are falling rapidly and if this trend continues this rivers could soon become dead rivers.

Untreated sewage often ends up in rivers and testing of the water from the Ganges River near Varanasi showed that levels of fecal coliform, a dangerous bacterium that comes from untreated sewage, were about 3,000 percent higher than what is considered safe for bathing. This is of course causing many illnesses. It also has to be said that India invested lots of money in clean-up efforts, especially in area of New Delhi, but that isn't enough considering rapid growth of population in India and it hasn't resulted with cleaner water. The worst fact is that water-borne diseases are India's leading cause of child mortality

Air is also polluted in India almost as much as in China and some experts believe that smog from India and China could even change weather patterns in North America. Even the famous Taj Mahal is becoming more and more yellow because of tremendous air pollution.

India is already facing massive environmental damage and environment isn't the only victim of this story. Many deaths and diseases of human population are already caused as the result of air and water pollution and many more will follow unless something is done. But what can be done, what is the right solution? Hard to say, maybe to try lifting ecological conscience and awareness of population, but that's very hard to achieve among rural and uneducated population. It's really now or never for Indian government to come up with the plan to save something before it goes out of their reach. But that is unfortunately almost an impossible mission.

Pollution grows in India