Water pollution is a serious global problem. It has various causes like industrial waste, marine dumping, oil spills, and agricultural runoff. This contamination affects ecosystems, spreads disease, and impacts food safety and access to clean water. Innovative solutions are being developed like the Great Bubble Barrier which uses air bubbles to divert waste in rivers, ferrofluid that binds microplastics magnetically, and devices like the Seabin and Wasteshark that collect floating trash from ports and harbors.

1. Water Pollution
Presented by:
Esther Ng E-Jo
Jordan Teah Hong Yek
Joan Cheah Ern Lin
Teh Wen Paul
Teoh Shu Wei

2. Table of contents
Introduction
What is water pollution?
01
Effects
What effects does water pollution
brings us?
03
Causes
What causes water pollution?
02
Solutions
Is there any inventions to
solve this problem?
04

3. Introduction
About 71% of the Earth's surface is
water-covered, and the oceans hold
about 96.5% of all Earth's water.

4. Nowadays, water pollution had
become one of the most serious
problems over the world.

5. What is water
pollution?

6. Water pollution is a broad term that describes
any kind of contamination of bodies of
water such as rivers, lakes or wetlands with
substances that can pose threats to human
health or the natural environment.

7. What are
microplastics?

8. Microplastic are small plastic pieces less than
five millimeters long.
Plastic in the ocean breakdown into very small
particles by the wind and sunrays, and they are
called Microplastic.
Microplastic is very harmful.
Microplastic contains trace Metals and some
potentially harmful organic chemicals.
Microplastic can have carcinogenic properties.

9. Causes
How does water pollution happen?

10. 1. Industrial Waste
Industries and industrial sites across the world are a
major contributor to water pollution. Many
industrial sites produce waste in the form of toxic
chemicals and pollutants, and though regulated,
some still do not have proper waste management
systems in place. In those rare cases, industrial
waste is dumped into nearby freshwater systems.
When industrial waste is not treated properly , it
can very easily pollute the freshwater systems that
it comes into contact with.

11. 2. Marine Dumping
The process of marine dumping is exactly what it
sounds like, dumping garbage into the waters of the
ocean. It might seem crazy, but household garbage
is still collected and dumped into oceans by many
countries across the world. Most of these items can
take anywhere from two to 200 years to decompose
completely.

12. 3. Oil Leaks and Spills
Water and oil do not mix, and oil does not dissolve
in water. Large oil spills and oil leaks, while often
accidental, are a major cause of water pollution.
Leaks and spills often are caused by oil drilling
operations in the ocean or ships that transport oil.
wildlife.

13. 4. Agriculture
In order to protect their crops from bacteria and
insects, farmers often use chemicals and pesticides.
When these substances seep into the groundwater,
they can harm animals, plants and humans.
Additionally, when it rains, the chemicals mix with
rainwater, which then flows into rivers and streams
that filter into the ocean, causing further water
pollution.

14. Effects
What will water pollution cause?

15. Effects
Contamination of
the food chain.
Fishing in polluted waters and
the use of waste water for
livestock farming and agriculture
can introduce toxins into foods
which are harmful to our health
when eaten.
Lack of
potable water.
The UN says that billions of
people around the world have
no access to clean water to drink
or sanitation, particularly in
rural areas.
Destruction of
biodiversity.
Water pollution depletes aquatic
ecosystems and triggers unbridled
proliferation of phytoplankton in
lakes — eutrophication —.
Disease
WHO estimates that about 2
billion people have no option
but to drink water contaminated
by excrement, exposing them to
diseases such as cholera,
hepatitis A and dysentery.

16. Solutions
Is there any innovations/inventions to solve water pollution?

17. 1. The Great Bubble Barrier
The Netherlands-based Great Bubble Barrier
intercepts waste with the help of a pipe, fitted with
holes, and laid across riverbeds.
When the pipe is pumped full of air, it releases a
dense stream of bubbles that, for plastic, creates an
almost impassable wall across the river. Waste gets
diverted towards the riverbank, where it’s gathered
and recycled.
In early trials in the Netherland’s River IJssel the
bubble screen stopped 86% of waste. It also
increased oxygen levels in rivers, supporting
aquatic life.

18. 2. Ferrofluid
An Irish teenager Fionn Ferreira has won the 2019
google science fair with his project focusing on
extracting microsplastics from water.
Ferreira used a combination of oil and magnetite
powder to create a ferrofluid, a liquid that becomes
magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field,
Global Citizen reported at the time. When
introduced to water, microplastics quickly bind to
the ferrofluid and can then be removed using strong
magnets, leaving only water behind.

19. 3. Seabin
The idea is to distribute plastic-catching “garbage
bins” to harbours, marinas and ports. These bins
move with the tides, filtering seawater and
capturing any floating waste within. It’s a simple
but effective solution, which has grown and grown.
So far there are over 800 Seabins in more than 50
countries. Each one can capture 1.4 tonnes of waste
a year.

20. 4. Wasteshark
From the Dutch company RanMarine, there’s the
WasteShark, an autonomous water drone, about the
size of a canoe, that skims the calm waters of ports,
harbours and marinas and gulps up any floating
trash and polluting oils in its path. The device can
collect half a tonne of waste a day, which is
returned to land to be repurposed. The WasteShark
is also equipped to measure water quality as it puts
around.

21. 5. Hoola One
Hoola One is a Canadian invention to tackle the
huge problem of microplastics embedded in beach
sand. This hoover-like contraption sucks up sand,
then uses a tank of water to separate floating
microplastics from sinking natural material, which
is returned to the beach. Meanwhile, the
microplastics (the machine can capture fragments
as small as 0.05 millimetres) are siphoned off and
contained.

22. Conclusion
Water pollution is abundant for people in
daily life. Water pollution , in general is a
problem that people would not like to deal
with. It causes much damage to human,
animals and plants. Prevention methods
should be initiated so that we will always
have a clean environment.

23. Bibliographical references
● https://www.designboom.com/technology/google-science-fair-winner-fionn-ferreira-cork-
microplastics-08-01-2019/
● https://www.ranmarine.io/#about
● https://seabinproject.com/
● https://thegreatbubblebarrier.com/
● https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/water-pollution
● https://www.netregs.org.uk/environmental-topics/water/preventing-water-pollution/causes-of-
water-pollution/
● https://online.ecok.edu/articles/causes-of-water-pollution/v
● https://www.getaway.co.za/travel-news/teen-uses-magnetic-liquid-to-remove-microplastics-
from-water/
● https://www.buzzonearth.com/blog/2020/10/23/the-11-best-innovations-for-curbing-water-
pollution/