The rivers provide us with the variety of ecosystem goods and services. First, they are the source of fresh water that allows life on Earth. They are also the livelihood of diverse flora and fauna that is part of complex trophic chains and, in addition, we cannot fail to mention the scenic beauty they represent and that makes them a place suitable for recreation and sports activities.
In summary, rivers are a valuable resource that we must preserve since they are indispensable for the balance of ecosystems and for human development. For this reason, from ecology, we will talk about How to avoid contamination of rivers and we will provide some tips. From reducing the consumption of plastics and the use of chemicals at home to consuming food from organic farming and correctly discarding waste. Discover more tips and their motives!
Reduce plastics consumption
If you wonder how to avoid the river water pollutionthe simplest answer is decrease the consumption of single -use plastics. The truth is that there are more and more plastics in the rivers: either on the coast, floating on the surface, and even in the river bed. As we know, plastics take hundreds and hundreds of years to degrade and decompose in the form of microplastics that pollute countless liters of water and some aquatic animals confuse them with food.
Therefore, reducing the consumption of plastics will significantly help to avoid contamination of rivers. You can use fabric bags, biodegradable containers or other materials such as glass or metal. If there is no other alternative for the use you need to give it, it is preferable to choose those plastics that can be reused and/or recycled and not those of a single use. When the useful life of these plastics comes to an end, be sure to give a correct final disposal.
Here you can know how to avoid plastic pollution.
Reduce the use of oils and batteries
Oils are highly polluting, it is estimated that A single liter of oil contaminates a thousand liters of water. Meanwhile, batteries and batteries have a toxic composition that, when dissolving in water, can be ingested by fish and other living beings of the affected ecosystem. The use of these elements, and their poor final disposal, contaminates the rivers and, consequently, affects aquatic biodiversity affects the food chain (these pollutants can reach us through food, if we consume fish of said contaminated environment). Therefore, decrease the use of oils and batteries constitutes a good initiative to reduce river pollution.
Reduce the use of chemicals at home
In general, the Cleaning products They are used diluted in water and at the end of their use, they are discarded finally culminating in the rivers and the sea. Except for places where very good water treatment processes are carried out, but it is not yet the most common.
Many of these products, such as detergents and bleaching, present in their composition of chemicals that are extremely toxic to aquatic life. Given this, it is urgent reduce the use of these chemicals If we want to keep the rivers and their biodiversity.
Consume more vegetables than animal products
In case you didn’t know, you can Avoid contamination of rivers from what food you choose for your diet. In fact, ingesting more plant products than animals will help preserve rivers for two reasons. First, thousands of liters of water are required to produce a kilo of vegetables than to produce a kilo of meat. Second, the livestock industry produces a large amount of polluting waste that ends in rivers and other bodies of water.
Consume food from organic farming
In relation to the previous council, you better increase the consumption of food from organic farming. The reality is that the agrochemicals that are used in industrial agriculture, not only persist in our food but that many of them are filtered in groundwater and culminate in the rivers, contaminating them and affecting biodiversity. In this way, by consuming food from organic farming, you will be promoting the production of agrochemical foods and, ultimately, you will reduce the amounts of harmful substances that end in rivers.
Here you can read about what is organic farming.
Correctly discarding waste
Some substances such as paintings or chemicals For pools they can be lethal for the species of flora and fauna of the rivers. For this reason, if you have to use any of these products, make sure they have a adequate final disposal And do not throw them directly into the water or soils, because they are filtered and end in groundwater and rivers.
Pay attention to the origin of the products we consume
Have you ever pay attention to How are the products we consume daily? Get involved in production processes, know if industries are involved in forest deforestation and demand that these industries carry out a correct effluent and waste treatmentwithout a doubt, it will contribute when avoiding the contamination of rivers and other ecosystems and biomes.
Do not waste water
Saving water is an important way to preserve this natural resource. Some of the habits we can incorporate are:
- Take short showers instead of long showers or bathrooms.
- Close the taps when we are not using the water directly.
- Make sure that The taps do not lose water.
- Do not water the grass in excess.
- Rainwater.
In this ecology article, we give you more tips to save water at home.
Raise awareness and educate about river pollution
To end the tips and indicate possible Solutions for river pollutionit is important that we become aware of how important rivers are for the development of our activities and for the proper functioning of ecosystems. Precisely, education is a great tool to raise awareness in the general public and teach what actions we can carry out to preserve rivers and also all natural resources.
In this link you can learn about how we can take care of water and here about the most polluted rivers in the world, which should be seen to have more awareness of the great problem of river water pollution.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to avoid contamination of riverswe recommend that you enter our pollution category.