By Nature Foundation St. Maarten
Welcome back to the Nature Foundation’s series on our natural environment! In this edition of The KIDS Herald, we will be learning about one of Earth’s most precious resources – water!
Earth is covered by 71% water. This includes the oceans, rivers, lakes and icecaps. We live on an island – look at all the water that surrounds the land. While this seems like a lot, a huge portion of this is ocean water (saltwater) and there are 7.7 billion people on Earth. Everyone needs and uses fresh water in their everyday lives. Think about how much water you use in your daily activities and think about how it would be if you did not have access to clean, fresh water like some areas of the world!
It is important to have access to clean, unpolluted fresh water for our daily lives, but it is also essential to the health of our ecosystems. Polluted water or untreated waste water can cause damages to both the marine (water) and terrestrial (land) environment. This is why it is important to make sure that our homes and businesses dispose of waste water and chemicals correctly.
When we use water, the sewage (wastewater) has to go somewhere. This explains why on the sides of the roads you see ditches or drains. Some houses use a septic tank to hold all the wastewater from when you flush your toilet, wash your hands or wash the dishes.
This waste water is often high in nutrients from human waste or chemicals. If water with lots of nutrients in it enters the environment, it can cause a lot of damage. This might sound strange because normally, when we talk about nutrients, they are good things! For example, our bodies need them to thrive. When wastewater high in nutrient levels enters the ocean, however, it has several bad effects.
* High nutrient levels cause algae to grow very quickly. Algae competes with the natural marine environment because it absorbs more oxygen from the water (causing fish to struggle for oxygen), blocks the sunlight (limiting coral growth), and can even overgrow a coral reef!
* In sea turtles, poor water quality can lead to a disease that causes tumours to grow all over their body, sometimes making it hard for them to see, breathe and eat.
* Other marine life will also be more susceptible (likely to catch) to diseases. They can end up smaller, less healthy, and unable to reproduce.
* Humans swimming in contaminated water can catch skin, ear and eye infections!
Now you know why it is very important that we do not allow wastewater to enter the environment! Come back to the next issue to learn how wastewater ends up in our waters and what you can do to help stop it!
In photo: This green sea turtle spotted in the Simpson Bay Lagoon is plagued by tumours. The sickness, called “Fibropapillomatosis” is linked to polluted waters. Photo provided by Nature Foundation St. Maarten.
