Pollution Isn’t Right

By: Isla Bauer

Have you ever wondered if you could get sick just from drinking water? Well, about one billion people each year get sick from drinking polluted water. Not only do humans get affected by polluted water, but so do animals.

        Wildlife was affected largely by the BP Oil Spill in 2010. This devastating event started on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig spilled petroleum (a type of oil) into the ocean, which spread over 57,000 miles, until the rig was finally capped. The unfortunate rig was capped on July 15, 2010. 

        There had to be many cleaning efforts done. The National Response Team organized the clean up. The groups that helped with the oil cleanup were the U.S. Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, Transocean, and many more groups. In the end, over 40 billion dollars went into cleanup and recovery. For those who were affected by the spill, they received a fund of 20 billion dollars. 

        Later, after some investigating, a report was released by BOEMRE and the U.S. Coast Guard. In the report, it stated that BP and Transocean were both responsible for the oil spill even though there was a different company who installed the rig. There was inaccurate testing by BP. Also, BP and Transocean both ignored signs of problems from the start of the installation. 

        In 2020, there was still an investigation on the event. However, the U.S. Department of Justice finally came to a conclusion. They sued BP, Anadarko, and Transocean for violating both the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act. 

        As you can see, in the end there was a collection of funds that went to the spill, which could have gone to something more important, and loads of time was taken up from investigating and cleaning. So, do you still want polluters like this to pollute our ocean?

        Oil was the polluter in the BP Oil Spill. However, major water polluters include agriculture, sewage and wastewater, dumping of radioactive substances, and motor oil. There are also many other polluters like garbage, electric waste, rubbish, construction debris, and demolition waste. “Just recently, there was an oil spill in Geneva and is being cleaned up now by the DEC,” stated a member of Seneca Lake Pure Waters. So as you can see, many, not all, but many of these polluters are from human waste. 

        Agriculture is one of the world's worst polluters at this time. Even though agriculture is the worst polluter, it also needs the most water. Fertilizers and pesticides are one of the major uses in agriculture, and also, they are major reasons that agriculture is a polluter. Fertilizers, pesticides, and gases can go into the waterways, and most of those waterways are going into our oceans. One of the top fertilizers that pollutes is nitrogen based fertilizers. Animal waste can go into waterways, too. This can lead to animal waste going into the ocean. A member of Seneca Lake Pure Waters stated, “ Farmers should use best practices; this includes soil conservation, no till farming, and preventing field run off and livestock runoff.” There are many reasons why agriculture is one of the world's worst polluters. 

        Many people suffer from water pollution, including sickness and hair loss. About one billion people each year get sick just from drinking water, which is a basic need of living. Fresh water is already in demand, but in 2050 fresh water demand is going to be a third greater than now. Addison Mason, a member of The Seneca Lake Pure Waters and Seneca Lake Deep Water Testing, said, “There are 100,000 people that rely on Seneca Lake for drinking water.” This may not seem like a lot, but it is. If you accidentally drink polluted water you could have digestive problems, cholera, dysentery, theypoid, hepatitis A, and polio. Not all of this can happen just from consuming water, but also washing with or entering contaminated water can cause all of those diseases. So, there has to be something we can do, right?

        Well yes, there is. Here are a few things we can do. We can be mindful of what we are disposing of. We can recycle, reuse, and reduce plastic. As a community, we can clean up animal waste.  Also, we can reduce littering and not blow debris in roads. Instead of littering, you can find the closest garbage can or keep it with you until you get home. Rather than pouring motor oil down the drain, you can bring it to your local auto parts shop, and they will take care of it. You can make an impact just by doing those simple things. We may not stop it, but we can reduce it substantially.

        As you can see, pollution is a huge problem that needs to be reduced quickly because it is only going to get worse. More people will be getting more sick, including you and your loved ones. However, if we all join together, we can help stop pollution just by doing the simple things. So, are you going to help stop pollution?