What is one reason lakes, rivers, and other water resources should be kept free of pollution?

While cleaning and restoring a polluted water source is expensive and time-consuming, there are undoubtedly many reasons to keep our waters clean, including the fact that we drink, bathe, brush our teeth, swim in, fish in, and so on.

Pollution may have negative economic effects such as increased costs for restoration, decreased property values in the surrounding areas, decreased revenue from tourism, a decline in the fishing industry, and more.

For instance, the Songhuajiang River in China was destroyed in 2005 due to an industrial chemical spill, for which the economic costs have been estimated at 2263 billion CNY (source).

Between 2012 and 2013, attempts to restore Wisconsin's Sheboygan River cost 80 million dollars.

Water pollution has numerous negative ecological and economic effects that have a domino effect, even if we are not directly dependent on lakes or rivers. We are all linked to the ecosystem services that the water provides.

One reason lakes, rivers, and other water resources should be kept free of pollution is to protect the health of aquatic ecosystems and the organisms that rely on them.