The direct impact of water pollution is usually a digestive disorder such as diarrhea or dysentery. As for the long term, pollutants that contaminate the water can accumulate and lead to more serious effects include changes in chromosomes and impaired intelligence.
Compared with biological pollutants such as bacteria and fungi, the source of pollution from industrial waste is usually more dangerous because many can accumulate in the body. Long-term impact due to the accumulation of toxins can also affect the next generation.
If not treated properly, industrial wastes can pollute surrounding waters. Toxins can be absorbed into the soil and contaminate ground water, or if it flowed into the river it could pollute surface water such as lakes or the sea into the river estuary.
The types of toxins in the waste that often pollute the water industry are as follows, as quoted from the water-pollution.org.
Asbestos
Asbestos fibers is one of the most dangerous pollutant because it is a carcinogen or trigger cancer. When inhaled or swallowed with ground water, these compounds can cause asbestosis or respiration tract inflammation due to asbestos, lung cancer, colon cancer and liver cancer.
Lead and Mercury
Both include heavy metals that cannot decompose naturally, making it difficult to clean if it is polluting the waters. For humans and animals, heavy metals can accumulate and disrupt the function of enzymes in the body. Impacts include disruption of physical growth and intelligence problems.
Phosphate and Nitrate
Excessive use of fertilizer in the agricultural industry could trigger phosphate and nitrate pollution in the waters nearby. Impact is a boom in algae due to eutrophication or increase in nutrients that reduce water quality.
Pesticide
Other waste produced by industrial agriculture are pesticides, such as DDT. In addition to accumulating in plant tissue where is, this waste also contaminate groundwater and can lead to chromosomal changes that impact on genetic mutations in the next generation.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Department of Environmental Health School of Public Health University of Indonesia, Dr R Budi Haryanto, SKM, M. Kes, MSc recommend testing this community groundwater quality in order to avoid unwanted risks. According to him, there are many competent institution of such testing as related to the health department or college that has a chemical laboratory analysis.
"The requirement of the Ministry of Health is the water consumed should be free from biological contaminants, chemical and physical. People can test all three laboratories and a package price is probably around 100 thousand," he said.
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