An analysis of River Derwent pollution and its impacts

As the major water catchment in Hobart city, the River Derwent provides water services to Hobart residents; however, water quality of the River Derwent is becoming unreliable. The aims of this paper are to identify the major water issues in the river and to reveal its impacts on Hobart residents and ecosystem. A methodology of secondary data analysis has been involved; which covers a wide range of existing dissertations. Through all the analysis of data, heavy metals, contaminated sediment and overload nitrogen can be regarded as three main causes of the water pollution. Moreover, the impacts of the water pollution are proved to be significant and perennial. On the basis of the analysis result, water pollution tends to be a tough issue that requires a great amount of time and efforts to deal with.