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Both inland and coastal wetlands act to buffer surges in runoff and
to filter pollutants from runoff and flows. Yet it has been standard
practice in the US (and many other countries) to allow development
concerns to almost always trump the value of "nature's services."
It's time to get serious about preserving wetlands.
• Drive less.
If the toilet in your house were spewing its contents onto your
bathroom floor, you would make it a very high priority to get the
situation corrected. As societies, we should place the same priority
on upgrading out-of-date or under-capacity sewage treatment plants
that sometimes spew their contents into our waterways. It's also
important to ensure that homeowners with septic fields are installing
and maintaining their systems in a way that does not contaminate
nearby groundwater or surface water.
STOPPING DEFORESTATION
A healthy forest acts like a sponge to soak up the rains when they
come, holding the water and filtering it before it makes its way to
nearby streams, lakes, and rivers. When all the trees are cut down—
clear cutting is still logging companies' preferred method of
operation—the forest ecosystem dies and can no longer perform this
service. Rain water rushes directly into streams, flowing over
exposed soil, picking up and carrying sediment pollution into nearby
waterways.
While it's true that a large amount of oil naturally seeps into the
ocean from underground geological sources, marine life in the areas
where this occurs have had eons to adapt to the conditions. Human-
caused petroleum pollution invariably happens in much more
sensitive areas, often with disastrous consequences.
It's a real shame that we have let global mercury pollution get so
bad that wonderful fish like albacore tuna and swordfish are polluted
to the point where they aren't safe to eat, at least not in any
significant quantities.
In terms of water pollution, there are two main threats from global
warming:
1. Ocean Acidification — As atmospheric CO2 levels have
risen, ocean CO2 levels have risen even more, thus
increasing the acidity level of the ocean. At a minimum, this
trend will negatively affect organisms with shells, which may
dissolve or become malformed if the pH drops low enough.
2. Ocean Temperature — As the planet warms, so does the
ocean. All organisms in nature have limits to the temperature
range in which they can exist. Increasing the temperature of
the oceans will have varying—but likely negative—effects on
ocean creatures.
There are plenty more ways in which global warming will impact
water; for instance, less mountain snow pack and smaller glaciers
will result in lower river flows for many regions during summer,
and melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will change
salinity levels and ocean flows, and will raise ocean levels,
inundating coastal properties and ecosystems. But since we're
focusing on water pollution solutions in this article, we will leave
such effects for another time.