Environmental pollution is a global problem that is inextricably linked

with rapid industrialization and urbanization. Pollution hampers the

environment sustainability and ecosystem services. In this chapter, we
will briefly introduce environmental pollution (now popularly called
pollution science) before the introduction of the theme topic.

Environmental pollution is the unfavourable

alteration of our surroundings, wholly or largely as a by-product of
man’s actions, through direct or indirect effects of the changes in the
energy pattern, radiation levels, and chemical and physical constitution
and abundance of organisms. Environmental pollution is a global
problem and is common to both developed as well as developing
countries, which attracts the attention of human beings for its severe
long-term consequences. The decline in environmental quality as a
consequence of pollution is evidenced by loss of vegetation, biological
diversity, excessive amounts of harmful chemicals in the ambient
atmosphere and in food grains, and growing risks of environmental
accidents and threats to life support systems. Pollution is viewed from
different angles by different people but is commonly agreed to be the
outcome of urban-industrial and technological revolution and rapacious
and speedy exploitation of natural resources, increased rate of
exchange of matter and energy, and ever-increasing industrial wastes,
urban effluents, and consumer goods.

The substances that cause pollution are known as pollutants. A

pollutant can be any chemical (toxic metal, radionuclides, organ
phosphorus, compounds gases) or geochemical substance (dust,
sediment), biological organism or product, or physical substance (heat,
radiation, sound wave) that is released intentionally or inadvertently by
man into the environment with actual or potential adverse, harmful,
unpleasant, or inconvenient effects. Such undesirable effects may be
direct (affecting man) or indirect, being mediated via resource
organisms or climate change. Depending on the nature of pollutants and
also subsequent pollution of environmental components, the pollution
may be categorized as follows:

1.Air Pollution

2.Water Pollution

3.Soil/Land Pollution

4.Noise Pollution

5.Radioactive Pollution

6.Thermal Pollution
1.AIR POLLUTION
Degradation of air quality and natural atmospheric
condition constitute air pollution. The air pollutant may be
a gas or particulate matter.

Air pollution refers to the release of pollutants into the air—pollutants

which are detrimental to human health and the planet as a whole.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year air
pollution is responsible for nearly seven million deaths around the
globe. Nine out of ten human beings currently breathe air that exceeds
the WHO’s guideline limits for pollutants, with those living in low- and
middle-income countries suffering the most. In the United States,
the Clean Air Act, established in 1970, authorizes the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to safeguard public health by regulating the
emissions of these harmful air pollutants.

What Causes Air Pollution?

“Most air pollution comes from energy use and production,” says John
Walke, director of the Clean Air Project, part of the Climate and Clean
Energy program at NRDC. “Burning fossil fuels releases gases and
chemicals into the air.” And in an especially destructive feedback loop,
air pollution not only contributes to climate change but is also
exacerbated by it. “Air pollution in the form of carbon dioxide and
methane raises the earth’s temperature,” Walke says. “Another type of
air pollution, smog, is then worsened by that increased heat, forming
when the weather is warmer and there’s more ultraviolet
radiation.” Climate change also increases the production of allergenic
air pollutants, including mild (thanks to damp conditions caused by
extreme weather and increased flooding) and pollen (due to a longer
pollen season).
2.SOIL POLLUTION
WHAT IS SOIL POLLUTION?
SOIL POLLUTION, this invisible affliction appears when the
concentration of pollutants on the surface becomes so high that
it harms land biodiversity and endangers health, particularly
through food. Activities such as stock breeding and intensive
farming use chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers that pollute
the land, just as happens with heavy metals and other natural
and man-made chemical substances.

Soil pollution is a global threat that is particularly serious in regions

like Europe, Eurasia, Asia and North Africa, as indicated by the Food and
Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The FAO also
affirms that both intense and even moderate degradation is already
affecting one third of the world's soil. Moreover, recovery is so slow that
it would take 1,000 years to create a 1 centimetre layer of arable soil.
CAUSES AND TYPES OF SOIL POLLUTION
Phenomena such as erosion, loss of organic carbon, increased salt
content, compacting, acidification and chemical pollution are the major
causes of current soil degradation. Moreover, the FAO distinguishes
between two types of soil pollution:

 Specific pollution: accounted for by particular causes, occurring in

small areas the reasons for which can be easily identified. Land
pollution such as this is normally found in cities, old factory sites,
around roadways, illegal dumps and sewage treatment stations.

 Widespread pollution: covers extensive areas and has several

causes the reasons for which are difficult to identify. Cases such
as these involve the spreading of pollutants by air-ground-water
systems and seriously affect human health and the environment.

Among the most common causes of soil contamination caused by

human activity, the FAO highlights industry, mining, military activities,
waste — which includes technological waste — and wastewater
management, farming, stock breeding the building of urban and
transport infrastructures.
3.NOISE POLLUTION
Noise pollution, unwanted or excessive sound that can
have deleterious effects on human health, wildlife, and environmental
quality. Noise pollution is commonly generated inside many industrial
facilities and some other workplaces, but it also comes from highway,
railway, and airplane traffic and from outdoor construction activities.

Effects on humans and wildlife

Noise is more than a mere nuisance. At certain levels and durations of
exposure, it can cause physical damage to the eardrum and the
sensitive hair cells of the inner ear and result in temporary or
permanent hearing loss, known as noise-induced hearing loss. Hearing
loss does not usually occur at SPLs below 80 dBA (eight-hour exposure
levels are best kept below 85 dBA), but most people repeatedly exposed
to more than 105 dBA will have permanent hearing loss to some extent.
In addition to causing hearing loss, excessive noise exposure can
raise blood pressure and pulse rates, cause irritability, anxiety, and
mental fatigue, and interfere with sleep, recreation, and personal
communication. Children living in areas with high levels of noise
pollution may suffer from stress and other problems, such as
impairments in memory and attention span. Noise pollution control is
therefore important in the workplace and in the community.

Noise pollution also impacts wildlife. A wide range of animals,

including insects, frogs, birds, and bats, rely on sound for a variety of
reasons. Noise pollution can interfere with an animal’s ability to attract
a mate, communicate, navigate, find food, or avoid predators and thus
can even be an existential threat to vulnerable organisms. The problem
of noise pollution is especially serious for marine animals, particularly
those that rely on echolocation, such as certain whales and dolphins,
and much of the world’s oceans are polluted with chaotic sounds from
ships, seismic tests, and oil drills. Some of the loudest and
most detrimental sounds in the sea are from naval sonar devices,
whose noise can travel hundreds of miles through the water and is
associated with mass stranding’s of whales and dolphins.
4.RADIOACTIVE POLLUTION

Radioactive pollution occurs when there is a presence or depositions of

radioactive materials in the atmosphere or environment, especially
where their presence is accidental and when it presents
an environmental threat due to radioactive decay. The destruction
caused by the radioactive materials is because of the emissions of
hazardous ionizing radiation (radioactive decay) like beta or alpha
particles, gamma rays or neurons in the environment where they exist.

Since the substances are characterized by radiation – because there is

a lot of instability of the particles present in the radioactive materials, it
can seriously affect, alter and even destroy plant, animal, and human
life. The extent of damage or danger posed to the environment depends
upon the radioactive material concentration, the energy emitted by the
radiation, proximity of the radioactive materials to those exposed, and
the radiation type.
Effects of Radioactive Pollution
1. Genetic Mutations

Radiation has adverse effects when it comes to genetics. It leads to

damage to DNA strands leading to the genetic break up over time. The
degree of genetic mutation leading to changes in DNA composition
varies due to the level of radiation one has been exposed to and the
kind of exposure.

2. Diseases

Cancer is the most dominant radiation-related disease. It has developed

over the years and poses a great risk in global health. Others include
leukaemia, anaemia, haemorrhage, a reduction in the life span leading
to premature aging and premature deaths as well as others such as
cardiovascular complications.

3. Soil Infertility

Exposure of radiation to the atmosphere means it is present even in

soils. Radioactive substances in the soil react together with the various
nutrients leading to the destruction of those nutrients, thus rendering
the soil infertile and highly toxic.
5. WATER POLLUTION

Water pollution, the release of substances into

subsurface groundwater or into lakes, streams, rivers, estuaries,
and oceans to the point where the substances interfere
with beneficial use of the water or with the natural functioning
of ecosystems. In addition to the release of substances, such
as chemicals or microorganisms, water pollution may also include the
release of energy, in the form of radioactivity or heat, into bodies of
water.

MAIN CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION

It is sometimes caused by nature, such as when mercury filters from
the Earth's crust, polluting oceans, rivers, lakes, canals and reservoirs.
However, the most common cause of poor quality water is human
activity and its consequences, which are as follows;
 1. Global warming
Rising global temperatures caused by CO2 emissions heat the
water, reducing its oxygen content.

2. Deforestation
Felling forests can exhaust water resources and generate organic
residue which becomes a breeding ground for harmful bacteria.

3. Industry, agriculture and livestock farming

Chemical dumping from these sectors is one of the main causes
of eutrophication of water.

4. Rubbish and faecal water dumping

The UN says that more than 80% of the world's sewage finds its way into
seas and rivers untreated.

5. Maritime traffic
Much of the plastic pollution in

the ocean comes from fishing

boats, tankers and cargo shipping.

MAIN CAUSES OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
The problem of environmental pollution, we face today, is a complex consequence
of forces connected with various interrelating factors. There are clearly a number
of divergent and conflicting views of what could be the basic factors underlying
the environmental crisis. No single cause can be considered as the root cause of
environmental impairment. However, the following causes could be pointed out
as the generally underlying factors though each of these too could be operating
simultaneously and their balance may vary from place to place and through time.

1. Population growth
Modern thinkers consider that growth of population is the root cause for many
human problems. This observation also applies to environmental degradation.
Increase in the population will have a multiplier effect requiring proportionate
increase in all requirements necessary for the existence of human beings.
Population growth requires abnormal exploitation of natural resources to provide
day-to-day essential requirements of life. It results in migration of people and
growth of urban areas, thereby inviting new problems of health, ecology and
human sustenance.

2. Increased General Affluence and Economic Growth

The affluence (i.e. material aspects of per capita consumption of goods and
resources) is an important factor in man-resource- environment relationship.
It is the increasing per capita demand of rich which is absorbing the growth
in output of goods and services in the developed and developing countries and
cause misuse or overuse and pollution of resources, for the affluence unmatched
to the necessary resource consumption and not motivated by human requirements
produce tendency to waste matter and energy. Surprisingly, affluence factor
though, having a great impact on environment, is seldom talked about. On the
other hand, poor and the poverty often get blamed for the destruction of
environment. The notion that poverty or the poor destroy the environment most is
but partially true.

3. Nature of Modern Technology

The nature of productive technology in recent years is closely related to the
environmental crisis. Commoner maintains that sweeping transformations of
productive technology since World War II productive technologies with intense
impacts on environment have displaced less destructive ones. This factor
has been largely responsible for the generation of synthetic and non-
biodegradable substances such as plastics, chemical nitrogen fertilizers,
synthetic detergents, synthetic fibres, big cars, petrochemical and other
environmentally injurious industries and 'disposable culture. Thus, environmental
crisis is the inevitable result of a counter ecological pattern of productive
growth. Ecologically benign technologies did and do exist but they are not utilized,
for they are considered inconsistent with the short-term interests of private profit
maximization.

4. Deforestation
Forests are invaluable property of a nation because they provide raw
materials to modern industries, timber for building purposes, habitats for
numerous types of animals and micro-organisms. Good fertile and nutrient-rich
soils having high content of organic matter, offer protection to soils by binding the
soils through the network of their roots and by protecting the soils from direct
impact of falling raindrops. They encourage and increase infiltration of rainwater
and thus allow maximum recharge of groundwater resources, minimize surface
run-off and hence reduce the frequency, intensity and dimension of floods.
They help in increasing the precipitation; they are natural sink of carbon dioxide
because they use carbon dioxide to prepare their food during the process of
photosynthesis. They provide firewood to millions of people all over the world
and food and shelter to innumerable humans and animals. In fact, forests are
'life line' of a nation because prosperity and welfare of the society directly
depends on sound and healthy forest cover of a nation concerned. Forests are
main component of the biotic components of the natural environmental system
and the stability of the environment and ecological balance largely depend on the
status of the forests of the region concerned.

5. Agricultural Development
Agricultural development means expansion of agricultural land increase in
agricultural productivity and net agricultural production. It is due to development
of modern scientific techniques, advanced technologies, increased production and
use of chemical fertilizers, expansion in irrigational facilities, development of
high-yielding varieties of seeds, etc. This has solved the problem of growing
demand of food due to ever increasing world population on the one hand; it has
also created or is creating hazardous environmental problems of serious concern
on the other hand. Thus modern economic and technological man is at the cross
road of dangers in all directions.

6. Industrial Development
"Rapid Industrial Development has given economic prosperity to human society. It
has also given new dimension to socio-economic structure and has provided
material comfort to the people of industrially developed countries but it has
also created many fold environmental problems. In fact, the glittering
effects of industrialization have affected the mind of the general public that
industrialisation is now being considered as the parameter of modernity and as a
necessary element of socio-economic development of a nation.
The causes for environmental problems are many. The multiplicity of causes
makes it difficult to clearly delineate the causes and consequences of
environmental degradation in terms of simple one to one relationship. The causes
and effects are often interwoven in complex webs of social, technological,
environmental and political factors. However, some of the very common causes of
environmental degradation which can be clearly pointed out are the population
growth, the economic growth associated with the affluence factor and change of
technology. Population is an important resource for development, yet it is a
major cause of environmental degradation when it exceeds the threshold
limits of the support systems. The overriding impact of adverse demographic
pressure ultimately falls on our resources and ecosystems. Combined with it
the conditions of poverty and underdevelopment themselves create a situation
where the people are forced to live in squalor and further degrade their
environment. The process of development itself also leads to damage of the
environment, if not properly managed. Associated with the rapid economic growth,
the extravagant affluence consume far more resources and put far greater
pressure on natural resources. The change of technology causes planned
obsolescence causing the generation of more and more wastes which in turn
prove ecologically harmful. Short-term interests of private profit maximization,
further, hamper the process of replacement of obsolete technologies by the
ecologically benign technologies.