Water has long been an integral part of the world. Since its creation, it has endured natural catastrophes unharmed and serenely.
It composes at least 70% of both the Earth and the human body, from the most effective water forms like great oceans surrounding the continents, lakes in-between countries, rivers bordering states, and springs bathing forest fauna to small forms that include human extracellular and intracellular fluids.
At the same time, development and progress have also been noted to change phase. With technology constantly upgrading, the Earth has been home to natural and synthetic forms.
As an aftermath of these improvements, pollution has been a no-brainer known globally to take its toll upon us.
The biggest horror is that technology has been a friend and an enemy simultaneously, ready to inject us with the truth that it has been unearthing throughout the years.
These discoveries have included innovations in determining pollution levels in the aquasphere, which has revealed what humans have done to the waters that Mother Nature does not deserve.
According to the National Geographic Channel, water has been inhabited not only by aquatic life but also by petroleum, pesticides, and even remnants of birth control pills. Because of this uprooted information, water has been dubbed a "cocktail of chemicals."
Water has also been an endpoint of biological waste, including untreated human excreta, animal sewage, and rainwater runoff infused with farm and yard fertilizers.
All of these were possible because of the obvious connection between land and water. Freshwater systems were the entry points for biological waste and pollutants slithering from lakes to the oceans.
The result is greatly devastating: aquatic life is destroyed via hypoxia or low oxygen levels within the bodies of water clouded by chemicals and wastes.
One of the world's largest factories, China has been a nest of infrastructures known to contribute greatly to the already depressed Mother Nature.
China's waters have been suffering greatly from being a center of manufactured products chemically concocted, including leather and plastic,
Calculations show that at least 70% of these bodies are contaminated only within the country, with 20% of groundwater used as drinking water in Chinese households.
Furthermore, at least 320 million Chinese residents lack access to the country's remaining safe drinking water.
The oceans are known to have been a dumpsite for plastic materials; fourteen billion pounds of garbage has been determined to be thrown at these vast bodies, and it has taken its toll upon marine life.
Tortoises punctured by plastic straws, dolphins, and even whales dying because of plastic ingestion; these life forms have suffered, and continually do, over time. Aquatic animals have been identified to go into extinction faster than terrestrial life forms, exponentially increasing at least three times faster every year.
The infamous tsunami that wreaked havoc on Japan's coasts also contributed. In 2012, residential lots, commercial buildings, and factories that used radiotoxic materials succumbed to the force of nature.
As a result, at least 11 million liters of toxic waste have been dumped into the Pacific Ocean after the state of emergency. It also threw out 70 kilometers of floating debris to the Pacific Island, debris composed of garbage, toxic wastes, and sadly, even remains of the dead.
In Bangladesh, groundwater has been identified as containing arsenic. Arsenic is a heavy metal known for its poisonous and carcinogenic properties. It is very toxic and comprises 80% of the freshwater sources available to Bangladeshis.
Asia has been a record holder of the most polluted rivers than anywhere else on the planet. Most of the waters are infested by human bacteria from feces and other excreta.
Canada is known to have the ten most polluted rivers in the world, including the Petitcodiac River in New Brunswick, the Okanagan River, which borders Canada and Washington, and the Eastmain River in Quebec.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1.2 trillion gallons of sewage are dumped into US waters annually alone. Forty percent of the continent's lakes and 46 percent of its rivers are polluted, making them unsuitable for swimming and fishing and toxic to aquatic life.
Cruise ships are also sources of pollution. They produced 200,000 gallons of sewage and 35,000 gallons of the oil spill, all left behind the cruise's route.
Earth's waters have been infested with bacteria and viruses from various genera and species. These metrics show the level of bacteria from human excreta and other body wastes alone.
This is why the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted studies on the planet's access to potable water. According to their collated data, around 2.5 billion people worldwide lack safe drinking water.
More than 3000 children under the age of five in developing countries globally die every day, with an estimated death rate each year of the same population each year. The causes of death of these children have been linked to water-ingested conditions, including diarrhea, typhoid fever, and cholera.
Water pollution is rampant worldwide. It has affected the planet's inhabitants, from the creatures that consider water their habitat to the innocent children oblivious to their depressing existence.
Yet, we have not taken action to change the world for the next generation. There are insufficient grounds to show that the damage has already been done. This is not the correct reasoning for not standing up and making changes for the betterment of the world. Start at home; start with yourselves.