water pollution

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groundwater pollution

Gitanjali Rao explains the fight for clean drinking water

water pollution point source

sewage pollution

What causes algae blooms?

toxic Euglena bloom

Video thumbnail image shows a large amount of plastic trash collected from the ocean.

A white woman in blurry focus holds up a small piece of plastic called a nurdle, highlighted with a blue circle.

plastic pollution breakdown into microplastics

The video thumbnail image shows a person's hand holding small fragments of colorful plastic.

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water pollution summary

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Fireboat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in the Gulf of Mexico, April 21, 2010. A Coast Guard rescue helicopter document the fire, searches for survivors of the 126 person crew. BP spill

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Workers pressure cleaning rocks coated in oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, March 1990. In the intertidal zone, Prince William Sound, Alaska. pollution disaster

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Community service - volunteers picking up garbage in a park during a spring cleanup. Environmentalism

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Illustration for Demystified "How Dangerous is Quicksand"

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Dancers at a Cinco de Mayo festival at the Mission District, San Francisco, California. (Photo dated 2019.) holidays

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Queen Elizabeth II addresses at opening of Parliament. (Date unknown on photo, but may be 1958, the first time the opening of Parliament was filmed.)

All 119 References in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Explained

The Fortune-Teller, oil on canvas by Georges de La Tour, probably the 1630s; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. (101.9 x 123.5 cm.) (The Fortune Teller)

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Panoramic view at sunrise of moai, Ahu Tongariki, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile

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The Belgian pride parade 2017. People marching through Brussels streets with LGBT flags and posters.

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Turtle, tortoise, reptile. Uses assets 88582 & 89606

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water pollution: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 23, 2025

Photos and Videos

groundwater pollution

water pollution point source

sewage pollution

toxic Euglena bloom

plastic pollution breakdown into microplastics

Gitanjali Rao explains the fight for clean drinking water

What causes algae blooms?

Video thumbnail image shows a large amount of plastic trash collected from the ocean.

A white woman in blurry focus holds up a small piece of plastic called a nurdle, highlighted with a blue circle.

The video thumbnail image shows a person's hand holding small fragments of colorful plastic.

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

dispersed-source pollutant point-source pollutant thermal pollution oil spill slick hydrosphere Minamata disease pollution air pollution noise pollution land pollution pollution in India plastic pollution light pollution

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Key People

Henry Edward Armstrong

British chemist

Frankland

Sir Edward Frankland

British scientist