EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Nonpoint source pollution is difficult to control because it comes from many different sources and locations. Most nonpoint source pollution occurs as a result of runoff. When rain or melted snow moves over and through the ground, the water absorbs and assimilates any pollutants it comes into contact with.

Detailed explanation-2: -Point-source pollution is easy to identify. As the name suggests, it comes from a single place. Nonpoint-source pollution is harder to identify and harder to address. It is pollution that comes from many places, all at once.

Detailed explanation-3: -Nonpoint source pollution comes from oil, pet waste, pesticide, herbicide, fertilizer, road salt, bacteria, sediment, and any other contaminant that ends up on the ground naturally or from human activity.

Detailed explanation-4: -The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines point source pollution as “any single identifiable source of pollution from which pollutants are discharged, such as a pipe, ditch, ship or factory smokestack.”

Detailed explanation-5: -Easily identified source or place of pollution is called a point source, e.g.– municipal and industrial discharge pipes, where pollutants enter the water source. Non–point sources of pollution are those where a source of pollution can not be easily identified, e.g.– agricultural runoff, acid rain, etc.