Sustainability and Lake Pollution
- Ecological Sustainability. Lakes are habitats for many organisms like fishes, birds and reptiles. Thus preservation of lakes is highly important if the natural ecological balance is to be maintained. Many food chains depend on the lakes as some predators like eagles get their food from the lake habitats. Therefore any interference in the lake eco-sytem can have a disastrous effect on the local food chains.
- Economical Sustainability. Many lakes like Lake Nakuru (Kenya), Lake Natron (Tanzania), The Great Lakes (USA & Canada) are major tourist attractions and thus should be preserved and taken care of if these countries are expecting to benefit from these lakes. In this criteria lakes are not only attractions due to their aesthetic value but also attract a wide range of animal life like flamingos, pelicans, hippos, antelopes among others. These sites are usually attractions for tourists in a country
- Cultural Sustainability. Major lakes in South America (Lake Titicaca) are viewed as culturally important. The pollution of such lakes would therefore affect the culture of such communities. Some major lakes are also UNESCO world heritage sites like Lake Turkana (Kenya), Lake Baikal (Russia), Willandra Lakes (Australia) gives more evidence of the role lakes play in the cultural advancement of man
Many living organisms depend on lakes as food sources. If these lakes are polluted, the natural food chains are distorted and such animals are faced with death and worse extinction. It is therefore our responsibility to preserve them for sustainability of the natural world.
Source:http://iyms.info/iyms/?page_id=146
LAKE POLLUTION PREVENTION
- Laws and regulations - Governments can impose new taxes and fines on companies that discharge pollutants without treating. This can help reduce chemical pollutants in lake ecosystems
- Better disposal mechanisms - Companies can employ more greener disposal mechanisms. Waste effluents, both liquid and gas, should be treated so as to make them harmless when disposed off. Companies should therefore think of this when designing their production methods.
- Efficient Cleaning methods - Companies should use more greener methods when dealing with spills especially oil spills which can be a problem. Some companies have begun using oil killing microbes when dealing with oil spills
- Using natural methods - Some plants like the papyrus can be used to clean up lakes as they act as natural filters.