EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -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-2: -Runoff is generally associated with nonpoint source pollution, as water is emptied into streams or rivers after accumulating contaminants from sources like gardens, parking lots or construction sites.

Detailed explanation-3: -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.

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.” Factories and sewage treatment plants are two common types of point sources.

Detailed explanation-5: -Industrial plants/factories (e.g., oil refineries, pulp and paper mills, chemical manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, food processors, pharmaceutical manufacturers) Pollutants: oil, thermal pollution, toxic chemicals, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals. Sewage Treatment Plants.