Radioactive contamination, resulting from 20th century activities in atomic physics, such as nuclear

power generation and nuclear weapons research, manufacture and deployment. (See alpha emitters and
actinides in the environment.)

Thermal pollution, is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused by human influence, such as
use of water as coolant in a power plant.

Visual pollution, which can refer to the presence of overhead power lines, motorway billboards, scarred
landforms (as from strip mining), open storage of trash, municipal solid waste or space debris.

Water pollution, by the discharge of wastewater from commercial and industrial waste (intentionally or
through spills) into surface waters; discharges of untreated domestic sewage, and chemical
contaminants, such as chlorine, from treated sewage; release of waste and contaminants into surface
runoff flowing to surface waters (including urban runoff and agricultural runoff, which may contain
chemical fertilizers and pesticides; also including human feces from open defecation – still a major
problem in many developing countries); groundwater pollution from waste disposal and leaching into
the ground, including from pit latrines and septic tanks; eutrophication and littering.

Pollutant
A pollutant is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effects, or
adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. A pollutant may cause long- or short-term damage by
changing the growth rate of plant or animal species, or by interfering with human amenities, comfort,
health, or property values. Some pollutants are biodegradable and therefore will not persist in the
environment in the long term. However, the degradation products of some pollutants are themselves
polluting such as the products DDE and DDD produced from the degradation of DDT.

Different types of pollutants in nature

Pollutants, towards which the environment has low absorptive capacity are called stock pollutants.[1]
(e.g. persistent organic pollutants such as PCBs, non-biodegradable plastics and heavy metals). Stock
pollutants accumulate in the environment over time. The damage they cause increases as more pollutant
is emitted, and persists as the pollutant accumulates. Stock pollutants can create a burden for the future
generations, bypassing on the damage that persists well after the benefits received from incurring that
damage, have been forgotten.[1]
Notable pollutants

Notable pollutants include the following groups

Mercury Hg

Persistent organic pollutants POPs

Ozone Ozone

Particulate matter PM

Environmental Persistent Pharmaceutical Pollutants EPPP

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs

Volatile organic compounds VOCs

Fund pollutants
Fund pollutants are those for which the environment has the moderate absorptive capacity. Fund
pollutants do not cause damage to the environment unless the emission rate exceeds the receiving
environment's absorptive capacity (e.g. carbon dioxide, which is absorbed by plants and oceans).[1]
Fund pollutants are not destroyed, but rather converted into less harmful substances, or
diluted/dispersed to non-harmful concentrations.[1]

Light pollutant
Light pollution is the impact that anthropogenic light has on the visibility of the night sky. It also
encompasses ecological light pollution which describes the effect of artificial light on individual
organisms and on the structure of ecosystems as a whole.