By: Maggie Holl

Interesting Facts Water Pollution is the contamination of water, so that it cannot

be used.

Did you know, that storm

water is not cleaned before it enters our waterways? If the water goes into a storm drain or a ditch, it goes straight to our lakes, streams, or bays. The water picks up small contaminants from our yards, and may end up in our water sources!

80% of water pollution in seas or in oceans, come from land-based activity.

Interesting Facts 40% of our rivers are too polluted to fish, swim, or have

any aquatic life. Even worse, 46% of our lakes, are too

polluted to fish, swim, or have any aquatic life.

Every year about 25% of beaches in the US, have been

under advisories, or have been closed, because of water

pollution.

Pollution of our fresh drinking water, is a problem for

almost half of the worlds population.

Lesson LearnedI learned that, trash causes pollution in our lakes and

streams. I also learned, that if one person turned off the sink

while brushing their teeth, they would save up to 1.5 gallons

of water every time they brush their teeth! That is a lot of

water being saved! One of the saddest things I learned was,

that every 8 seconds a kid dies from water borne disease. That

means that some peoples’ water is so polluted, that they can

die from drinking it! Also I learned that, some big factories get

rid of water waste by dumping it into our lakes and streams!

Spreading the WordI can spread the word by:

Making posters to display at popular stores.

Giving people in my neighborhood flyers about Water

Pollution to remind them.

Sending emails to people to remind them about saving

water and remind them about the facts of water pollution.

Getting on the Radio to talk about Water Pollution.

My PledgeI pledge to clean my yard of dog waste and other things,

So that they cannot get into storm drains and enter our

waterways. When I see litter I will pick it up so when a storm

comes it cannot follow the water to our lakes and streams.

Also, whenever I go to the beach, I will transfer any litter

near the water to a local garbage can to make sure it can’t get

into the water.