In the most common usage pollution refers to contamination of water by chemical, biological, or other harmful substances. Some water pollution laws view the concept much more broadly; the United States Clean Water Act defines pollution as the man made or man induced alteration of chemical, physical, biological integrity of the nation’s water (Adler, n.d.).
Common law approaches were created through gradual accumulation of judicial decision in individual cases which set malleable precedents for future cases and conduct and can be distinguished from water pollution control statutes enacted by legislative bodies (Adler, n.d.). Some types of water pollution laws focus on activities of individual sources of water pollution, while other attempt to define the desired level of ambient environmental quality and to ensure that aggregate pollution sources do not cause violation to these standards (Adler, n.d.). Water pollution control laws can be distinguished on the mechanism or combination of mechanisms used to change conduct that causes water pollution some systems rely on blanket prohibition on certain forms of conduct, such as the release into water sources of particularly harmful substances, or substances in quantities that cause prescribed forms of harm (Adler, n.d.).
Some systems rely on ethical dictates and other persuasive mechanisms, such as education and information sharing, to induce voluntary changes in behavior designed to reduce pollution; communication approaches to pollution attept to appeal to the ethical sensibilities of people and businesses in a position to choose among practices that cause varying levels of pollution (Adler, n.d.).
No mater what pollution laws there is against polluting fresh water, people will still end up doing it because not everyone has the knowledge of the laws that pertain to pollution. I think the best way to combat pollution is to educate the public and I feel the same way on a lot of different