Water quality has been degraded as human activities have altered rivers and streams through rechanneling, using them as sewage and industrial dumping sites, and damming them to create power sources. As a result of such changes, the quality and quantity of fresh water has decreased significantly as have the populations of organisms that depend on those water systems. When a river is altered, all of its associated ecological functions, such as the ability to store nutrients, to reduce erosion of river banks and trap sediments, and to store water, will be impacted in some way.
In order to protect the fresh water that remains, and to reverse some of the consequences that have resulted from human activities, restoration programs are needed to return rivers and streams to their previous conditions. Although restoration projects are underway, the quality of water continues to decline since there is no common criteria for restoration projects, there are no monitoring systems in place to determine the restoration techniques that work most effectively, and overall there are no mechanisms in place to determine the rivers and streams that need restoration
the most. Therefore, all political levels need to take initiative and contribute to the creation of a restoration system that allows for efficient funding, prioritization of rivers and streams in terms of which need the most attention, and to allow for continued monitoring so that techniques of restoration can be recorded and compared.Throughout the Industrial Revolution, societies have dumped their wastes into waterways as a means to dilute and get rid of it. However, now that freshwater shortages are becoming more apparent as the global population’s demand for water increases, people are starting to realize that the lakes, rivers, and streams that were once clean drinking water sources are now contaminated to the point where they are not suitable for human consumption. As a result, shortages are becoming a greater issue.
When surface waters cannot be utilized, communities often rely on groundwater resources. However, groundwater sources are being depleted more quickly than they can be recharged, thus further complicating the water shortage issue. People are dependent on water resources for agricultural irrigation. Therefore, when water is short, food resources are also negatively impacted. Contamination of ground water is increasing as pollutants from the ground surfaces are being drawn down into aquifers through infiltration and percolation of the soil. Land subsidence can occur when the amount of water withdrawn exceeds the rate of recharge.
In the older parts of Winnipeg, storm sewers and raw sewage services both collect in the same area and are transported together to the treatment facility. However, because of increased amounts of runoff due to increased amounts of impervious materials, or asphalt and concrete, as well as an increased number of people utilizing this system, the sewers often become overburdened and discharge excessive amounts of untreated sewage into the Red River. Such discharges become more frequent when there are large amounts of rainfall, thus posing a problem to the natural ecosystem processes in and downstream from the area where such wastes are discharged. Raw sewage requires bacteria to break it down, which then reduces dissolved oxygen in the water, and releases large quantities of nutrients into the water which may cause excessive algae growth. Not to mention, pathogens from the organic materials will increase and pose concern to human health.
Easton T. Classic edition sources: environmental studies. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2009. pp. 113-7.
Related links....
City of Winnipeg. 2009 sewer service interruptions. [Online]. Accessed from: http://www.winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/sewage/service_int2009.stm [2009 Nov 4]
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA restoration center celebrates 10-year anniversary. [Online]. Avail from: http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag204.htm
