Steps to Prevent Water Pollution:
1. Awareness: Creating mass awareness is the foremost step toward preventing and controlling water pollution. People walking along the world’s most polluted beaches often express their resentment and often assemble together to organize themselves in beach cleaning sessions. many NGOs have campaigned against the over-harvesting of fish and pleaded for tough penalties against the industries and factories dispensing effluents in the water bodies. More awareness can surely raise concern bring responsibilities and contribute towards making a positive difference.
2. Legislation: The major problem with water pollution is mainly because of the flowing nature of water that results in transboundary pollution. Most of the rivers cross national boundaries whereas oceans and seas may be continents. The pollutants released by the factories in one nation with pitiable emission standards cause glitches in the neighboring countries. In many a case, the countries that suffer have stringent environmental legislation and elevated environmental standards. Environmental laws make a situation difficult for people to foul, but it is more difficult to make such laws practically operative as they need to be implemented across national and international borders.
3. Economics: Most environmentalists have the opinion of tracking pollution through the polluter pays principle as stated in the Rio Declaration. It would mean that the oil company should have to take the responsibility for oil spill clean-ups or customers have to bear the cost of the grocery bags made of plastics. In 1993, WHO had given guidelines for potable water standards. This acts as an international reference point for setting the standards and safety for potable water.