Turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish. This substance lines their stomachs and enables them from absorbing any of the food they consume, which causes them to starve to death. Another main cause of water pollution is rain run off. This is responsible for half of the nations water pollution. The rain run off comes from agricultural pollutants and urban run off.
Agricultural pollution consists of pesticides, sediment, fertilizer, and feedlot wastes.
Urban run off comes from storm sewers that carry street debris directly to rivers. Waste treatment plants can be held accountable for raw sewage, human waste, being dumped untreated into our waters. When there is a heavy rainfall, waste treatment plants are not able to treat the sewage and close down. This allows raw sewage to go directly into our waters. We do not have the technology to effectively treat all the waste.