This is a problem particular close to my heart as a kayaker,
you’d be amazed how much waste and rubbish you will come across if you travel
down any river. I’m not just talking about rivers which flow through towns and
cities however; even those which are located a fair distance from urban
populations always end up with some form of waste released into them.
It’s important to remember waste isn’t always visible;
chemicals which are washed into a river via storm drains or run off from
farming can be more destructive than filling the river with waste plastic. The
waste doesn’t even have to be put into the river either, for instance a
landfill near Oxford (UK) releases around 27.5tonnes of ammonium from decaying
waste into the River Thames every year. This ammonium once in the water breaks
down into nitrogen which triggers excessive plant growth, this is not as great
as it sounds. A river is a finally balanced ecosystem and this excessive plant
growth has bad repercussions on other organisms. It encourages large algal
blooms which block other plants from receiving the necessary sunlight they
require, the algae also releases toxins which kill aquatic life such as
invertebrates and even fish by direct methods (poor water quality) or indirect
methods (starvation).
River balances are not just upset from chemicals seeping from
waste sources, deforestation also plays a part. A study conducted in Tasman
showed that an area with underlying granite will produce 7 to 10 times more
sediment once the trees were removed due to the thin unstable top soil being
washed into the river by rains. This sediment reduces the amount light is able
to penetrate the water and so kills of plant and therefore other aquatic life,
it would also be imputing excess nutrients which would disrupt the ecosystem
once the sediment settles and disperses.
I also want you to think about the chemicals you could be
adding to the water system, these generally take the form of cleaning products
which people pour down storm drain after activities such as washing cars. These
chemicals on their own are not a large problem but when you magnify it up for
everyone they being to appear in large quantities. These chemicals and other
things such as heavy metals which are released from mines and production
plants, can go through the food chain and create a problem known as biomagnification or bioamplification. This is a process where
animals low in a food chain absorb or consume these toxic items and then store
in within their body, for instance in the liver. This animal along with others
are then eaten by a larger predator and then a larger amount of the toxic
product is stored. In some cases this can continue until this stored chemical
causes problems.
A famous case of bioamplification is DDT which was
originally used for mosquito control however it was found to be harmful to many
animals and was able to work its way through the food chain up to the apex
predator for those food chains such as the Peregrine Falcon which experienced
thinner egg shells and higher mortality in younger animals.
You can read more about DDT here
Or just have a google search about it.
Right so I’ve talked about some of the bad things which are
going on in the water systems throughout the world. But what can you actually
do?
To start with you can monitor what you release straight into
rivers before treatment, sometimes it’s better to pour chemicals you’ve used down
the shower or toilet so you know the water is treated before it reaches the
environment. Also as always place your rubbish in bins and make sure it’s going
to stay in the bin as lots of lighter items such as plastic bags and crisp
packets are regularly blown out of bin and into rivers. You can also get
involved or start a river cleaning day, these are run everywhere and are
surprisingly good fun if you can get a group of mates together.
Thanks for reading
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