Alright, budding environmentalists! Dive into the world of water pollution with me. 🌊 Imagine turning on your tap and out pours some sludgy, murky water. Yuck! So, how does the water get this way? It’s all about the pollutants, my friends.

These are the remains of living organisms, like plants and animals.

• Real-world example: Dead leaves or a fish carcass in a pond.

Any solid materials that float, like plastic bags or soda cans.

• Real-world example: Ever seen those heart-wrenching photos of turtles caught in plastic? That's floating debris in action.

Tiny particles that don’t dissolve and make water cloudy.

• Real-world example: Construction site runoff causing muddy water in nearby streams.

This includes spills from ships or leakages from factories.

• Real-world example: The infamous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Sounds fancy, but it’s just nutrients like nitrates and phosphates that can cause excessive algae growth.

• Real-world example: "Algal blooms" in lakes, often caused by fertilizer runoff from farms.