Water Pollution Water Pollution & Sources, Impacts Water is especially vulnerable to pollution. Water pollution occurs when harmful pollutants, especially chemicals and micro-organisms contaminate water bodies such as streams, lakes, rivers, ocean, degrading water quality. Major sources of water pollution worldwide are: wastewater generated by commercial/industrial, agricultural activities, oil pollution, radioactive waste/substances etc. Water pollution affects human health,and aquatic environments such as groundwater (mostly drinking water), surface water (lakes and rivers) and then ocean. Industrial Wastewater Explained Water discharged from commericial and industrial sources contains various pollutants at high density. Industrial wastewater treatment is a recent phenomenon that only gained attention in recent years after decades of industrialization. For instance, in the USA, it wasn’t until the 1970s that environmental concerns regarding water pollution became a priority, and industry was forced to comply with strict treatment