Causes and Effects of Water Pollution
Learning Objective
I can describe the causes and effects of water pollution, including identifying point and nonpoint sources.
Key Concepts
Point source pollution comes from a single, identifiable source, such as a pipe, while non-point source pollution comes from diffuse sources, like agricultural runoff.
Wastewater, which includes animal and human waste, is a major water pollutant that can be measured by its biochemical oxygen demand or BOD.
High levels of nutrients from wastewater can cause eutrophication, leading to algal blooms that create dead zones when the algae decompose and deplete oxygen.
Practice Questions
This lesson includes 8 practice questions to reinforce learning.
View questions preview
1. What is water pollution?
2. What is the difference between point and non-point sources of water pollution? Give an example of each.
3. What does BOD stand for, and how is it used to measure water pollution?
...and 5 more questions
Educational Video
Water Pollution
Bozeman Science