Human activities that add chemicals, disease-causing organisms, sewage, and sediment into the water result in pollution that diminishes water quality. What term describes this pollution?

• A. Eutrophication
• B. Water Pollution
• C. Water Scarcity
• D. Thermal Pollution

Answer: (B)

Water pollution is the broad term for human-caused contamination of water bodies with chemicals, disease-causing organisms, sewage, and sediment, which lowers water quality. This captures the range of contaminants that degrade water by altering chemical makeup, increasing turbidity, introducing pathogens, and loading sediments that can smother habitats. Eutrophication is a specific consequence of nutrient pollution that leads to algal blooms and oxygen depletion, not the general category described here. Thermal pollution concerns changes in water temperature, while water scarcity refers to a lack of usable water, not contamination.