Question

Which of the following is a non-point source of water pollution?
A. Road runoffs
B.Oil Wells
C. Thermal power plants
D. Underground coal mines.

Answer 1

Hint: Unlike point source of pollution, which comes from a single place, Non-point sources of pollution are difficult to identify and it is the pollution that comes from many places. It generally includes land runoffs, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, drainage, and so on.

Complete answer: Unlike pollution from industrial, sewage treatment plants, non-point source (NPS) of pollution results from many different sources.
It is hard to recognize and treat, and hence becomes a leading cause of water quality issues. These pollutants have harmful effects on drinking water supplies, fisheries, and wildlife. Rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground generally causes NPS or non-point sources of pollution.
These runoffs carry away with the natural and man-made pollutants and eventually deposit them in natural water resources such as lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and ground waters and pollute them.

Therefore, the correct answer is Road runoff
Note: Few other non-point pollution include:
Excess fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides.
Toxic chemicals from urban runoffs.
Sediments from various construction sites, crop and forest land.
microbes from livestock.
Atmospheric deposition and hydromodification etc.
An oil well is like a boring Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil up to the surface.
A thermal power plant is used to convert heat energy into electrical energy.
Underground coal mines are used to extract coal from the ground which can be used as a source of energy.