Laundry Detergent: the Effect of Pollution on Lakes and Rivers

By Judi Anne Turner
Published on November 1, 1970
1 / 2

Nearly everyone is aware of the smog we breathe, the oil fouling our beaches and the mountain of
Nearly everyone is aware of the smog we breathe, the oil fouling our beaches and the mountain of "one-way" containers filling the canyons, all the major ecological problems.
2 / 2

List of detergent products and their phosphate content.
List of detergent products and their phosphate content.

Reprinted with permission from the Los Angeles Free Press.

Nearly everyone is aware of the effects of pollution: the smog we breathe, the oil fouling our beaches and the mountain of “one-way” containers filling the canyons, all the major ecological problems. As desert residents, however, we have less contact with a problem which has reached gigantic proportions in the lakes and rivers of the East and the Midwest–eutrophication. Many lakes are dead or dying, and they are being killed by our “cleaner than clean” clothes, dishes and homes. California, for its scarcity of lakes, is not immune.

Laundry Detergent and the Effect of Pollution

In 1965, detergent manufacturers began producing “bio-degradable” products. This changeover eliminated a major pollution eyesore–detergent foam on rivers, but biodegradability is not enough. We must now be concerned with the effects of the elements into which the new biodegradable detergents decompose.

Eutrophication

When the growth of aquatic plants is overstimulated they seasonally die and rot, using up the oxygen dissolved in the water. Game fish die of oxygen deficiency and are for a time replaced by scavengers. As the plant growth cycle periodically repeats, the lake loses all aesthetic value. Finally the water itself is displaced by the accumulating vegetation and its decay products. The lake first becomes a bog; later dry land. This process occurs naturally as lakes mature, age and die. It has been estimated, however, that the eutrophication which has occurred in the past few decades because of man’s pollution would require thousands of years under “natural” conditions.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368