Why are industries polluting our water resources?

To make something (a pencil, for example), you want to maximize your price and minimize your expenses.

Costs include those related to labor, equipment, electricity, your building, etc.

Your sales equal your profit.

Now consider your workflow: you require water in your factory to make pencils, but after you use it, the water becomes contaminated. To treat the water, you must purchase a wastewater treatment unit. "Who will cover the cost of installing and maintaining a wastewater treatment unit?

To maintain the same profit margin, you must raise the unit price of a pencil in order to run your wastewater treatment unit.

When a price increase is announced, most customers will become irate and look for alternatives (cheaper goods, like pencils).

Another option is to keep running your wastewater treatment system even if you don't want to raise prices, but your profit will be smaller.

Furthermore, the "WORST" option is "doing nothing"—continue running your company as usual, pay no attention to environmental quality, don't purchase a wastewater treatment system, and if you already have one, don't use it.

We (often) ignore "the environment" because industries rarely want to pay for environmental services (for a greener future); instead, they want to maximize their profits.

Industries may pollute water resources due to inadequate waste disposal practices, lack of environmental regulations enforcement, cost considerations, and prioritizing profit over environmental concerns.