While water pollution may not be a significant issue to others in other parts of the world, it is considered one of the most important issues here in the Pacific Northwest. To properly understand this problem, one must first understand the causes. Some important causes of water pollution would be runoff, groundwater contamination, and the dumping of chemical waste.
In the pacific northwest, runoff is one of the main causes of pollution in water sources. Runoff is defined as rain and snow melt that runs off surfaces. In doing so, it can pick up pollution such like oil, fertilizers, waste, and other chemical products. This runoff is then carried into lakes, rivers, and eventually oceans. This is particularly harmful in Washington, as agriculture and are major industries. This means that pollutants such as waste and fertilizer can easily be picked up by runoff and pollute the water if not properly managed.
Groundwater pollution is a much lesser known cause of water pollution in the ocean specifically. This is because while it is less than one percent of the total amount of water that flows from land to sea, it can be very rich in nutrients in the pacific northwest specifically. Due to high rainfall and steep coastal ranges, groundwater in the pacific northwest is very rich in nitrates. Nitrates can contribute to algae blooms, which means that algae grows rapidly and produces a toxin. As fish and other animals consume this, it causes bioaccumulation, which leads to birds and sea lions being poisoned. Furthermore, algae blooms can take away oxygen in ocean waters that marine life need for survival. Other than the environmental factors, this also disrupts fishing industries, which is exactly what happened on the west coast a couple years ago.
Another important cause is chemical waste, which can significantly affect marine life and humans if introduced into water sources. Chemical waste is often not properly disposed of and filtered, which causes it to end up into the water supply. Especially in the Puget Sound, a sound located in the Pacific Northwest, chemical waste can often leech into the water source due to major cities not properly filtering out chemical waste.