Biological Consequences of Eutrophication (Edexcel IGCSE Biology: Double Science)

Water pollution from sewage and water pollution from fertiliser runoff have the same end result (increase in decomposing bacteria leading to a decrease in dissolved oxygen and death of aquatic organisms) but they do not arrive at this point in the same way.You need to learn both and be aware of the differences between them. A common misconception is that sewage pollution also causes growth of water plants and algal blooms – this is very rarely the case, only runoff of fertiliser does this.