Water pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water  bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater). This form of environmental degradation occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds.

Water pollution affects the entire biosphere of plants and organisms living in these water bodies, as well as organisms and plants that might be exposed to the water. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and populations, but also to the natural biological communities.