Before, in our previous articles, we have talked a lot about water pollution or water contamination. However, there are some things that we need to know more about it because this is something serious that still not everyone really understands.

Water contamination may change people’s lives drastically and immediately without us knowing what actually happened. Therefore, we really need to pay close attention to our water quality, especially the water we consume in daily basis.

What are the impacts of water contamination, especially drinking water contamination? Here, in this article we are going to talk about it in more depth.

Disruption in Food Chain because of Water Contamination

A lot of organisms that build our food chain have specific relation with water bodies. Fishes are the most prominent example for this, but it is not limited only to them. Say for example, plants we eat are also watered by using water from water bodies.

When the water we use to water those crops is contaminated with bad things, in example dangerous chemicals, it would affect their growth and nutrients production. The effects of such kind of thing must be related to lack of crops we can consume.

But that’s not even the worst thing that can happen when the water bodies we depend on are contaminated. Plants absorb nutrients from the soil and water it consumes, which means if it is toxic the crops will also develop some toxins.

Therefore, contaminated water can cause harm to us in two separate ways. First is by directly poison us if we drink it, and the second way is by getting into the crops we eat and poison us slowly from the inside when we eat it.

Still thinking it is so far away from us? Then you should understand that water contamination is the reason why many health experts say that fish from the ocean is not always safe to eat for it may be contaminated with heavy metal.

Water Contamination Leads to Biodiversity Destruction

The second impact of water contamination is biodiversity destruction. Biodiversity is one of the greatest features of this planet we live on, and we cannot let it disappear easily. Without biodiversity, everything would be in chaos.

Imagine not having the biodiversity in this planet, and there is only human living on earth. Would we be able to survive up to nowadays and develop even further? Of course not, because we are dependent on other resources to live.

Every living being in the planet is indeed dependent on one another. Look at other planets, and you will not find this basic criterion. Thus, biodiversity might also be the most basic reason why this planet can host life at all.

Water contamination affects the biodiversity of water bodies heavily, because most water organisms cannot stand even the slightest changes in their environment. Some examples are such as eutrophication and algae bloom.

We still want to live the way we are or even better, don’t we? That’s why, we need to protect our planet’s biodiversity or else we would just live in a barren planet that cannot be inhabited by anyone just like Mars.

Water Contamination Leads to Lack of Clean Water

We need water, or we can say clean water, every single day for any purposes. We need water to drink, we need water to wash dishes and cook, we also need water to clean ourselves from germs and viruses such as Covid-19 virus.

Without clean water, we would live in chaos since we highly depend on the presence of water to do the things mentioned above. Imagine we can only drink from dirty water, and eat foods cooked in contaminated water. Possibly, our life span would not be this long.

The effect of consuming contaminated water is more than those, because we would also not be able to live as well as we do nowadays. Constantly consuming contaminated water may cause impairments and nervous problems so that we cannot easily move as well as when we are healthy.

Remember when you were dehydrated and things seemed like always going wrong? Yes, such kind of thing would happen constantly. Not only we are not able to live long, we would also not be able to enjoy the shorter life.

What you should remember is, such kind of thing happen to many people all around the world, especially to those who live in underdeveloped areas. Would you trade your convenient life with them? If not, then try to maintain the water quality in your area.

Diseases and Health Conditions

Water contamination may also cause a lot of diseases and health conditions. In this case, let’s talk about a real example in Camp Lejeune. Problems in Camp Lejeune began in Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, from 1953 to 1987.

The location was flooded with contaminated tap water hundreds to thousands of times the safe level. Of course, it results in bad things to happen such as mentioned above. But people in Camp Lejeune do not give in and fight for their rights.

They file lawsuits to demand for betterment in the area and compensating for the things that have happened. Some known lawsuits are from Laura Jones, Joel Shriberg, and Janey Ensminger Act. Of course, it required a lot of energy.

Those people need to deal with a lot of things including understand the contingency fee agreement to guide the ongoing Camp Lejeune lawsuit. What an unfortunate series of event for them to keep fighting while having ongoing health problems such as cancer, infertility, and myeloma.

The effects of water contamination on the environment are far-reaching and include everything from the disruption of food chains to human health problems. Yes, not only to human, but also to the environment.