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Articles related to water pollution in the United States, the contamination of water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater.
Topsoil runoff from farm, central Iowa (2011). Water pollution in the United States is a growing problem that became critical in the 19th century with the development of mechanized agriculture, mining, and manufacturing industries—although laws and regulations introduced in the late 20th century have improved water quality in many water bodies. [1]
Nonpoint sources are the most significant single source of water pollution in the United States, accounting for almost half of all water pollution, [1] and agricultural runoff is the single largest source of nonpoint source water pollution. [2] This water pollution has a number of detrimental effects on human health and the environment.
A practical definition of water pollution is: "Water pollution is the addition of substances or energy forms that directly or indirectly alter the nature of the water body in such a manner that negatively affects its legitimate uses." [1]: 6 Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants.
Usually, permitted point sources of water pollution, such as wastewater treatment plants, have high discharge treatment costs, whereas nonpoint sources of water pollution, such as agriculture, have low costs of pollution reduction. Therefore, it is generally assumed that most trades would take place between point sources and nonpoint sources. [54]
A map of Superfund sites as of October 2013. Red indicates currently on final National Priority List, yellow is proposed, green is deleted (usually meaning having been cleaned up).
The city's wastewater is collected through an extensive grid of sewer pipes of various sizes and stretching over 7,400 miles (11,900 km). The Bureau of Wastewater Treatment (BWT) operates 14 water pollution control plants treating an average of 1.3 billion US gallons (4,900,000 m 3) of wastewater a day; 96 wastewater pump stations: 8 dewatering facilities; and 490 sewer regulators.
A Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) is a United States regulatory term for a periodic water pollution report prepared by industries, municipalities and other facilities discharging to surface waters. [ 1 ] : 8–14 The facilities collect wastewater samples, conduct chemical and/or biological tests of the samples, and submit reports to a state ...