Human waste, household & personal care products – These products go into sewage water which pollutes the water in ponds, seas and other water bodies. The heated water disturbs the normal temperature of natural water bodies. Water discharged from urban areas – Many urban areas like parking places, roads, etc., deposit rain water and discharge the heated water back into water bodies. Many industries dispose their livestock waste into water without analyzing upon the hazardous consequences of this act. Livestock waste mixed into water – This is another major cause of thermal pollution. This does not only causes thermal pollution but also makes the water poisonous. Chemical pollutants discharged into water – There are copious factories that discharge their chemical waste directly into natural water bodies. Therefore, thermal pollution is also growing each day. Growing industrial activities – It gives a repenting feeling to know that thermal pollutants are increasing day by day because of the growing industrial activities. This water when mixed up with warm water rivers, lakes or ponds creates a disbalance in the flora and fauna of affected water bodies. Release of cold water – Just as we mentioned before, many industries liberate very cool water from their reservoirs. Thus, the natural water goes through a sudden rise in temperature. These plants use water to cool down their machines and eject back the hot water into water bodies. This kind of activity is mostly done by production manufacturing and power plants. Water used as coolant & ejected back into water bodies – Mainly, the water that is used as coolant and transferred back to natural water bodies is the chief reason for thermal pollution. Thermal pollution is not only caused by the hot water but also by the cold water that is discharged by various industries into the rivers or seas containing warm water. Therefore, thermal pollution c aused in water by spilling back the industrial waste and used water in it, causing adverse effects, is known as thermal pollution.
This in turn, harms the marine life and local ecosystems. The altered water also creates disturbance in the oxygen level of water bodies. This causes sudden increase in temperature of natural water bodies too. Maximum of this water is used as coolant as it is used to cool down the machines of any factory or plant.Īfterwards, this used water with altered and much high temperature is ejected back to the natural resources including lakes, ponds, seas, etc. So how does it happen? Well, numerous industries take water from natural water resources for their industrial purposes. Thermal pollution can be simply explained as the addition of surplus heat to water and ejecting it back to the water bodies. Let us analyze and understand Thermal Pollution in a detailed manner.