Water pollution can be damaging to the economy as it can be expensive to treat and prevent contamination. Waste that does not break down quickly accumulates in the Earth's waters and eventually makes its way to the oceans.
Water pollution can be prevented by stopping pollutants from contaminating nearby waters. There are a number of water treatments to prevent pollution such as:
- Biological filters
- Chemical additives
- Sand filters
These simple techniques cost money to maintain, but prevention is much cheaper than cleaning up water pollution that has already occurred. The cost of a pollution clean-up depends on many factors:
- The location of the pollution is important in determining how much the clean-up will cost. If the contamination is in an area that is easy to get to, then the clean up cost will be cheaper.
- The contamination size also needs to be considered, the larger the area of contamination, the more expensive the cost of the clean-up.
- The type of pollutant may also have an effect on the clean-up cost, some pollutants are more difficult to clean up than others, and therefore more expensive.
