ABSTRACT
This chapter describes different pollutant sources and analyzes the links between the water cycle and urban activities affecting water quality. Among these, discharges of treated and non-treated wastewater are considered as well as the impacts of landfills, dumping sites, atmospheric pollution, sewers and water main leaks, urban runoff and industries. An ample variety of risks that threaten water sources are discovered, helping to explain the presence of pollutants encountered in water sources. To address this, control measures that go beyond the simplistic approach of building wastewater treatment plants are proposed. Some of them include concepts of cleaner production, the need to avoid producing and using toxic compounds, and above all the need to consider, while planning, that any effluent becomes indirectly a source of water. To put in place the measures proposed, the involvement of all of society and not only the water sector is needed, and thus it is recommended to extend the concept of the integrated water resources management (IWRM) approach to the whole of society, to preserve a clean environment (air, water and soil) as a whole.
