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Water pollution could be a dangerous ecological menace to beaches, groundwater, animal and human health. Environmental, human and animal factors may create an infinite array of variables that change the way in which a particular water pollution can be dealt with. According to the World Wildlife Fund (as cited in Association for Sustainable & Responsible in Asia (Carla), 2012) ” , … Controlling pollution is important to conserving biodiversity… “(n. P. ).
This article, therefore, will introduce three methods to ell with water pollution; they are the implementation of taxation, the development of water treatment projects and the enactment of international law. Among three solutions, in my perspective, the international law is the most feasible. 1 . The Implementation of Taxation One of the methods of tackling pollution could be implementing taxation by the “polluter-pays principle”. This means that whoever may cause pollution should have to pay to clean it up, one way or another.
According to EX. Water Framework Directive (WFM) (201 2), they implement the “polluter- says principle” by imposing waste water charges, bills for water supply and sanitation set-vices in order to improve water quality of surface water. It could mean that tanker owners should have to take out insurance that covers the cost of the oil spill settlement. It could also mean that factory owners should have to pay extra cost for sewage treatment. This illustrates the “polluter- pays” taxation may operate in a wide range Of circumstances. A major concern, however, is whether the “polluter-pays” taxation practically applies to domestic water usage.
Under the WED, domestic users ill pay for the water they use and also for the post-use treatment of that water. This is already the case in the JACK, where domestic users have to pay as much for the quantity of waste water they accessed to and as for the sewers, the water they draw from the water supply in the first place (the UK Department for Environment, Rural & Food Affairs, 2012). Additionally, waste water is also metered. Then the usage of water, as a whole, by household is stressed where citizens apparently will not appreciate the additional payments for water usage.
The practicability of taxation is therefore challenged. . The Development of Water Treatment Projects Efficient water projects may sanitize sewage which may alleviate water pollution. Many countries adopted water projects on marine sewage treatment plants. According to Hammertoe, W. (2012), ” Hornwort, the global leader in handling solutions for the marine and oil & gas markets”(n. P. ). This manufacturer of the water sewage treatment projects mainly started with incorporating pumps, blowers and instrumentation in order to remove oil on the ocean.
One of the latest projects they are in progressing is the project in Nigeria to mitigate oil lease. They built the platforms from standard building blocks at Nigeria to deploy the oil mining lease. The platform generates around 45 tones of waste water per day which is very effective in the collection of polluted water. It, however, involves heavily on time and money, though it appears to be a direct method of ceasing polluted water into the ocean. From designing a water project to implementation, then to construction, is a miscellaneous task. It is never a task that can be attained in a-year-time.
Another recent water project in India, Himalaya Pradesh Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project, accentuates on reversing the process of degradation of water base. The World Bank funded US $37 million. And it takes 25 years to maturity (the World Bank, 2012). The cost is up-high. Taken all these costs into consideration, it may cause a time lag to show any results. Hence, the government would less likely to fund sewage treatment plants, as this solution may be infeasible. 3. The Enactment of International Law The enactment of the international law seems a workable method for tackling water pollution.
Legislation is always a direct solution to any social sue; many laws have actually been created to restrict industries from dumping materials into the water. In the United States, the Clean Water Act (CAW) was passed in 1972. It was established to eliminate water pollution from different sources. For instance, the industrial facilities, agricultural facilities on animal feedlots and government facilities on military’ bases (the US Environmental Protection Agency, 2012). In addition, the LOS government enacted other legislations to fill up the ambiguity of the law.
Now, there are eleven different federal government agencies and 21 federal government orgasm. All monitors the quality of water and regulates pollution in the US. They, however, remain weak, considering law is only effective in a restricted geographical location. Water, its trans-boundary nature, would hardly be restricted. Many rivers cross countries, while sea spans continents. Pollution discharged from factories and residential areas in one country with poor environmental standards has a high possibility of deteriorating the water quality of neighboring nations even when they have tougher laws and high environmental standards.
Hence, it is suggested that international laws, n this case the environmental laws, could be a solution to the limitation. At present there are a lot Of environmental laws governing the oceans. Laws such as the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (signed by 120 countries) may able to toughen the restriction as it operates across national and international borders which merges the limits of local laws (the United Nations, 2012). This supports that the enactment of international law may be successful. All in all, there is no prefect solution; each has their pros and cons.
Nonetheless, it is to believe that among the three suggested solutions, the enactment of international law is the most reasonable and is relatively less complicated. Reaching a consensus between countries may be difficult, this process, nevertheless, is attained by many countries which previously in this article has proven. All these factors and proposed ideas generate a conclusion that enactment of international law could be the best solution of where water pollution should be dealt with.