Drink Only Distilled Water

Water pollution is a large set of adverse effects upon water bodies (lakes, rivers, oceans, groundwater) caused by human activities. It is a serious problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of death and disease, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily. Drinking water currently available around the world is severely carcinogenic.

Principal sources of water pollution are:

1. Industrial discharge of chemical wastes and byproducts
2. Discharge of poorly-treated or untreated sewage
3. Surface runoff containing pesticides
4. Slash and burn farming practice, which is often an element within shifting cultivation agricultural systems
5. Surface runoff containing spilled petroleum products
6. Surface runoff from construction sites, farms, or paved and other impervious surfaces e.g. silt
7. Discharge of contaminated and/or heated water used for industrial processes
8. Acid rain caused by industrial discharge of sulfur dioxide (by burning high-sulfur fossil fuels)
9. Excess nutrients added by runoff containing detergents or fertilizers
10. Underground storage tank leakage, leading to soil contamination, thence aquifer contamination.

Contaminants may include organic and inorganic substances.

Some organic water pollutants are:
1. Insecticides and herbicides, a huge range of organohalide and other chemicals
2. Bacteria, often is from sewage or livestock operations;
3. Food processing waste, including pathogens
4. Tree and brush debris from logging operations

Some inorganic water pollutants include:
1. Heavy metals including acid mine drainage
2. Acidity caused by industrial discharges (especially sulfur dioxide from power plants)
3. Chemical waste as industrial byproducts
4. Fertilizers, in runoff from agriculture including nitrates and phosphates
5. Silt in surface runoff from construction sites, logging, slash and burn practices or land clearing