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Water Pollution Essay

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Heavy pollution can be found all across China, though it is more concentrated in the east than anywhere else. But where does all of this pollution come from? Many people would assume that it is generated only urban or industrial areas(This is also true for air pollution); however, farmers play a big role in polluting the water. With a fast-growing population and economy farmers are required to produce more crops every year. This has led them into using organochlorine pesticides which was heavily used in the 1950s to the 1970s to control agricultural and get rid of mosquitoes. According to Farmers continue to use harmful chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls which is used for lubrication on farming equipment such as tractors, air compressors, pumps, and other agricultural machinery however it was later found to be harmful to the environment and cause cancer to animals (ATSDR). The list continues on with polybrominated diphenyl ethers which is a flame retardant, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins which is used as a herbicide, and ammonium perfluorooctanoate which is a pesticide. With all of these chemicals in the water it puts China at one of the highest polluted countries on earth. Due to the high amount of pollution in the water it makes China's water resources very limited as it has been quoted that only 20-25% of China's water is actually consumable or usable for agriculture/industrial use. In fact in 2005 research shows that out of the 515 rivers surveyed 60 were

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