Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Water Pollution
We all need clean water. People need it to grow crops and to operate factories, and for drinking and recreation. Fish and wildlife depend on it to survive.
Many different pollutants can harm our rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans. The three most common are soil, nutrients, and bacteria. Rain washes soil into streams and rivers. The soil can kill tiny animals and fish eggs. It can clog the gills of fish and block light, causing plants to die. Nutrients, often from fertilizers, cause problems in lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. Nitrogen and phosphorus make algae grow and can turn water green. Bacteria, often from sewage spills, can pollute fresh or salt water.
You can help protect your water supply:
- Don't pour household products such as cleansers, beauty products, medicines, auto fluids, paint, and lawn care products down the drain. Take them to a hazardous waste collection site.
- Throw away excess household grease (meat fats, lard, cooking oil, shortening, butter, margarine, etc.) diapers, condoms, and personal hygiene products in the garbage can.
- Clean up after your pets. Pet waste contains nutrients and germs.
Environmental Protection Agency
It sits within Poisoning, Toxicology, Environmental Health.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Water Pollution
8 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Canadian Beach Cohort StudyToronto Metropolitan University
- Rural China Electric Kettle Promotion ProgramUniversity of California, Berkeley
- Scalability of a Home Health Navigator Program to Reduce Arsenic, Nitrate, and Lead in Private Well WaterOregon State University
Research already completed
- Rural Appalachia Pilot Water Treatment TrialVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- Evaluation of a Project to Distribute Water Filters and Cook Stoves in Western Rwanda--Phase 1BLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Water Filters and Improved Cookstoves in Western RwandaLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Extended Spectrum Betalactamase Producing Bacteria; Epidemiology and Treatment in Non-hospitalized PatientsVestre Viken Hospital Trust
- S1119 Peruvian H. Pylori Water Contamination StudySWOG Cancer Research Network
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Safe Water and Your HealthNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Prevention and Risk Factors
- Basic Information and Answers to Frequent Questions about Healthy Watersheds ProtectionEnvironmental Protection Agency
- Risk AssessmentEnvironmental Protection Agency
Related Issues
- Agricultural Water and Your SafetyCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Protozoan InfectionsNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Water Pollution. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Water Pollution, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.