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Hong Kong Marine Water Pollution Causes Although marine water in the worldwide is exposed to lots of similar causes of pollution, for example. Industry pollutants dump, sewage, acid gas and etc, special factors such as landfill are influencing the quality of sea water in Hong Kong too. Air Pollution–Acidification Air pollution and ocean pollution are inextricably linked. Pollution from automobiles and factories is translated into acid rain, which falls into the ocean and mingles with its waters.
For instance, oceans and coastal ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon cycle and have removed about 25% of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities between 2000 and 2007 and about half the anthropogenic CO released since the start of the industrial revolution. Because the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are increasing, the oceans are becoming more acidic. New land from the sea – Dredging for reclamation is now posing much more of a threat to Hong Kong eaters than ever before. The new airport project requires marine sand for reclamation of land, from the sea.
This sand is either buried beneath, or mixed with, fine mud and as the dredgers remove sand, the mud is washed back into the sea causing large sediment plumes to cloud the water and follow the tides, choking fish and smothering coral reefs and other marine animals. To make matters more serious, the hole, left on the sea bed, once the sand has been removed, is then back-filled with mud or waste materials from another site. All these factors add up to increased degradation in marine water quality and lower ability to sustain life.
Changes in the coastline, as a result of reclamation, also affect water movement and may worsen pollution effects. Dumping–Toxins A portion of the billions if not trillions of tons of trash produced each year finds its way into ocean waters. Trash is often dumped from ships and offshore drilling rigs directly into the sea. Aside from trash, industrial waste is one of the major issues when it comes to ocean dumping. Examples of persistent toxins are Pubs, EDT, pesticides, furans, dioxins, phenols and radioactive waste.
Heavy metals are metallic chemical elements that have a relatively high density and are toxic or poisonous at low concentrations. Examples are mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic mandamus. These toxic chemicals, including radioactive chemicals, are a death sentence for ocean life forms. Sewage Animal waste and human wastewater from toilets and other household activities such as bathing and laundering as well as food preparation are often washed directly into the ocean from coastal communities.
Untreated sewage contains microbes or pathogens that precipitate disease when infected seafood is consumed or skin contact occurs. In some cases, solid sludge from treated sewage is also dumped into the oceans.