Which pollutant is listed as an example that raises water temperature?

• A. Heat
• B. Pesticides
• C. Sediment
• D. Trash

Answer: (A)

Thermal pollution is about pollutants that raise water temperature. Heat does this directly when warmer water or heated effluent is discharged into a water body, such as cooling water from a power plant. Elevating temperature reduces the water’s ability to hold dissolved oxygen and can disrupt aquatic life by speeding up metabolism and stressing species adapted to cooler conditions. Pesticides, sediment, and trash affect water quality in other ways—toxicity, turbidity and habitat smothering, or debris problems—rather than reliably increasing temperature. So, heat is the pollutant that raises water temperature.