Australia is fortunate enough to be one of the few countries where its residents can just drink water straight from the tap. It might be assumed right away that a country is only capable of providing such a convenient service is due to its clean supply of water. While it is true most of the time, Australia has suffered from quite a few number of water issues and predominantly, one of them is water contamination. I believe the cause of all these all traces back to mankind. Human behaviour is to be blamed of water contamination not just in Australia but in every other country as well.
One of the most common pollutions that affect the water quality in Australia is oil spills and leaks. Oil spill is the discharge of oil into the marine ecosystem due to accidents mostly caused by human errors or natural disaster in some cases. The aftermath of an oil spill is quite catastrophic since it can result in an instantaneous but long-term environment damage that lasts up to a few decades. When oil and water mix, it causes the water to be undrinkable since crude oil contains hydrocarbons which make it toxic. Not only that, oil spills cause a direct problem among the marine organisms since oil creates a layer on top of the ocean which decreases the oxygen availability. Most oil spills are due to accidents involving oil rigs.
The most recent oil spill and leak that affected the Western Australia is known as the Montara oil spill. It happened on the 21st of August 2009 in the Timor Sea and it actually lasted for around 74 days. Not only that, it was estimated that the oil spill went as high as 2000 barrels per day, that is equivalent to 320000 litres per day. Imagine multiplying that amount for 74 days! The aftermath was definitely disastrous. The cause of this was actually later traced back to Halliburton (oil field service company), that did a bad job at closing gaps around the pipelines leading to leaks.
However, that is still not the world’s largest oil spill. The largest oil spill is known as the Gulf war oil spill. As the name implies, the cause of this was due to a war. During the Gulf war that took place in 1991, as the Iraqi forces withdrew from Kuwait, they intentionally opened pipelines and valves of oil wells in order to open fires as a tactic to block the forces of United States from landing in the area.
Secondly, sea dumping is also a common factor which contributes to water pollution. As the name implies, sea dumping literally means waste is being thrown in the ocean either by individuals or by corporate industries. Almost 14 billions of plastic disposable bottles or other form of containers for drinks are being used by Australians per year and over half of them end up in either landfills or even worse, left to wander around in and around the sea or beaches. Industrial waste often contains toxic substances such as mercury and radioactive materials, all of which will definitely pollute the ocean.
Ocean dumping became such a big problem during the 1980s and 1990s in Australia to a point where it urged the Australian government to take legal actions by preventing the situation from becoming so severe that it could never be saved anymore. That was when the government came up with the “Sea Dumping Act’’ which limits the amount of dumping allowed in the ocean. Furthermore, the King River is the most polluted source of water in Australia due to the mining industry. For a period of time, that river was only used for dumping wastes from the debris of the mining. Up until 1995, 1.5 million tons of sulphides and metallic water were being dumped into the King River.
According to statistics, there are five countries which dump more plastic into the ocean than the rest of the world combined. Sadly five of these countries are all being found in Asia, -China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. It is calculated that around 60% of the plastic waste that enters our ocean is contributed by these five countries. Among them, China tops the chart with a swapping amount of 8.82 million tonnes per year of mismanaged plastic.
Third and finally, sediment pollution is also a big problem all across Australia. Sulphate soils are a type of sediment which are contaminated with naturally occurring minerals such as iron sulphide. They aren’t dangerous on their own, however when they are exposed to oxygen or other pollutant chemicals that wash them into water, they have a potential of becoming very hazardous. They can bring upon environmental problems such as disrupting the marine life.
The Great Barrier Reef is the biggest living thing on Earth and needless to say, its bold and ablaze colours attract people from all around the globe. However the impact of sediment on the Great Barrier Reef is causing the coral to slowly deteriorate. Sediment results in turbid water which blocks the sunlight from reaching the photosynthetic algae that gives coral its vibrant colours.
Sediment pollution is also one of the main sources of pollution in the United States. It is estimated that 30% is caused by natural erosion and the remaining 70% is caused by human activity. Out of the 70%, construction activity is the main source of sediment pollution. In reference to Environmental Protection Agency, approximately $18 billion is being lost to environmental damage in the U.S.
To summarize this, it is clear as a bell that human activity is the main culprit in polluting our ocean and something has to be done before it is too late. It is better to prevent pollution from happening in the first place than to do something to reduce the pollution. So I strongly urge everyone to be a better citizen and think clearly before doing anything that might pollute the Earth.