Water Pollution Affecting the Water, Carbon, and Nitrogen Cycles by Hannah Callison

The water cycle is a very key “ingredient” in the cake of the world and the environments we live in. The water cycle is the cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.  The water cycle is important for many things, these things are; recycling the water that we use and purifying it in nature’s own special way. It also circulates the water so that the water can be spread evenly everywhere like when it rains the water gets to all the places it needs to be and not just stuck in one place. Other important cycles for the environment are the nitrogen and carbon cycles. The carbon cycle is the circulation of carbon between living organisms and their surroundings which is the process that includes photosynthesis, decomposition, and respiration. This cycle is important because if we didn’t have photosynthesis then the oxygen supply would deficit. The other importance of this cycle is that if we didn’t have decomposers breaking down the carbon and dead carcasses then we would just have dead things lying around and I am pretty sure that, that would not be pleasant. The nitrogen cycle is the natural circulation of nitrogen by living organisms. Nitrates in the soil, derived from dead organic matter by bacterial action, are absorbed and synthesized into complex organic compounds by plants and reduced to nitrates again when the plants and the animals feeding on them die and decay. This is an important cycle because if we didn’t have the nitrogen cycle then all of this useful nitrogen would go to waste. It is important because when an animal dies and the decomposers break it down then the nitrogen gets absorbed into the ground and is used to give the plants energy to grow and prosper then when the plant dies the nitrogen is then absorbed into the environment and reused by living things. Water pollution can affect all of these things immensely.  Water pollution can affect the water cycle because if the water is polluted it can be very hard to evaporate the water and then there would be a lot less water to spread around the rest of the environment. The water could also be affected with something then when it is evaporated the contaminate could be soaked up with the water and then rain the contaminated water all over the environment and harm the plants, animals, humans, and important things like that. Water pollution also affects the other cycles as well. Water pollution affects the carbon cycle as well because if the earth doesn’t get water then how would the plants get the water they need in order to photosynthesize, how would the earth support the decomposers. Nothing would survive without good water. If pollution affects the water then the water contaminate, would spread everywhere or there would be a shortage on good clean water. Water pollution doesn’t really affect the nitrogen cycle because as I stated before the nitrogen cycle is the natural circulation of nitrogen by living organisms. Where the dead carcass is broken down and the nitrogen from the body is recycled into the earth and used by other living organisms. It is very important to protect your environment and your ecosystems in order to have an excellent world to share with everyone. Protect your local lakes and water ecosystems and sooner or later you will change the world.