When the plant material dies and decays it uses up oxygen causing further deterioration in water quality. Phosphates and nitrates may enter the environment from laundries, municipal waste water treatment facilities, feed lots, meat packing, fertilizers, etc. What characteristics made DDT both a good pesticide and an environmental hazard. Very low solubility in water. In general the higher the K ow the more likely the compound is to be bound to organic matter in soils and accumulate in fat tissues.
Detergents are similar to soaps in that they also have long hydrocarbon tails and ionic heads.
The difference is that the heads of detergents are not carboxyl groups but rather sulfonates.