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Articles on Water pollution

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Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary. Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

As climate change amplifies urban flooding, here’s how communities can become ‘sponge cities’

US cities are doing green infrastructure, but in bits and pieces. Today’s climate-driven floods require a much broader approach to create true sponge cities that are built to soak up water.
The cut flowers could pay for themselves and even turn a profit. Margi Rentis

Flowers grown floating on polluted waterways can help clean up nutrient runoff and turn a profit

Phosphorus and nitrogen contribute to water pollution and cause harmful algal blooms. New research shows how mats of floating flower beds can take advantage of these nutrients while cleaning the water.
Cities should be planned around existing natural resources. Stephen Appiah Takyi

Ghana: Kumasi city’s unplanned boom is destroying two rivers – sewage, heavy metals and chemical pollution detected

The inability of city authorities to enforce land-use regulations has allowed people to carry out ecologically unfriendly activities along the water bodies.
A school of grunts on a sunken World War II German submarine in the Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina. Karen Doody/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images

Shipwrecks teem with underwater life, from microbes to sharks

When ships sink, they add artificial structures to the seafloor that can quickly become diverse, ecologically important underwater communities.
Residents queue for water after municipal supply became contaminated with cholera. Felix Dlangamandla/Daily Maverick/Gallo Images via Getty Images

Water crisis in South Africa: damning report finds 46% contamination, 67% of treatment works near to breaking down

This year’s Blue Drop Audit report of water quality in South Africa has found that 46% of water supply systems are contaminated and over two thirds of wastewater treatment plants are close to failure.
One symptom of arsenic poisoning is the growth of plaques on the skin called arsenical keratosis. Anita Ghosh/REACH via Flickr

Arsenic contamination of food and water is a global public health concern – researchers are studying how it causes cancer

Millions of people worldwide are exposed via soil and water to arsenic, whether naturally occurring or related to pollution. Chronic exposure is linked to the formation of cancer stem cells.

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