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Article: Ambient Water Quality
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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AMBIENT WATER QUALITY
Water is a major pathway by which humans and all life-forms can be exposed to chemicals and pathogens. Several different sources of water pollution exist. "Point source" and "nonpoint source" are terms used to describe two such routes of entry.
Point-source pollutants, the most common violators of water quality standards, enter waterways at well-defined locations, such as a pipe or sewer outflow. These discharges are even and continuous. Industrial factories, sewage treatment plants, and storm-sewer outflows are common point sources of water pollution. A reduction of point-source pollutants has been accomplished during recent decades, because the products of these ...