1. The “Glow-in-the-Dark” Champ: Nutrient Pollution
Farmers love fertilizer, but too much of it washes into water. This makes algae go bananas. They party, multiply, and create giant green slime layers called algal blooms.
Some of these blooms glow at night! That’s because of bioluminescent bacteria. It looks magical—but it stinks like rotten eggs and kills fish. So, pretty but deadly, like a cranky unicorn.
2. The “Plastic Soup” Chef: Microplastics
Your fleece jacket? It sheds microscopic plastic fibers every time you wash it. Those fibers end up in the ocean. Fish eat them, thinking they’re snacks.
Fun fact: there are 5.25 trillion plastic particles floating in the ocean. That’s more than the number of stars in the Milky Way. And we made them all just by washing our yoga pants.
3. The “Ghost of Toilets Past”: Sewage
Yes, we’re talking poop. When cities overflow or systems fail, raw sewage goes into rivers. It carries E. coli, viruses, and other party crashers.
Water Pollution - Unit - Teach Engineering
In some places, the water is so polluted that fish have evolved to survive in it. They’re basically underground bunker fish. Hardcore, but also kind of sad.
