The major effects of water pollution are:

• The food chain is damaged. When toxins are in water, the toxins travel from the water to the animals and to humans when the animal's meat is eaten.
• Diseases can spread via polluted water. Infectious diseases such as typhoid and cholera can be extended from drinking contaminated water.
• Acid rain contains sulfate particles, which can harm fish or plant life in lakes and rivers.
• Pollutants in the water will alter the overall chemistry of the water, causing changes in acidity, temperature and conductivity. These factors all have an affect on the marine life.
• Marine food sources are contaminated or eliminated by water pollution.

Altered water temperatures due to human actions can kill the marine life and affect the delicate ecological balance in bodies of water, especially lakes and rivers.