Pollution

 Waste: waste is any unwanted or undesired material or substance resulting

from industrial, commercial mining, and agricultural operations, and from
community activities.
 Biodegradable waste: are those substances which can be broken down by
microorganisms into harmless and non-toxic substances. Eg: dung,leaves.
 Non-Biodegradable waste: are those substances that cannot be broken
down by microorganisms. Eg: glass, electronics.
 Pollution: is the addition of any such constituent to air, water or land which
deteriorates the natural quality of the environment.
 Pollutant is any such constituent which causes pollution.
 Air pollution means degradation of the air quality which harmfully affects
the living organisms as well as certain objects.
- Gaseous pollution: harmful gases given out from variety of sources.
- Particulate pollution: particles of dust, smoke, stone drilling.
- Sources
- Natural source: Ash from burning volcanoes, dust from storms and
forest fires.
- Man-made sources: industries, garbage, brick kilns.
- Vehicular air pollution: vehicles are mostly running on diesel and
petrol. The exhaust given out contains CO2, SO2, and CO.
- Industrial Air pollution: the chief industrial gaseous pollutants consist
of CO2, SO2, and CO and also oxides of nitrogen. The smoke released
by factory chimneys into air contains lot of particulate pollutants. Stone
drilling and mining produces fine particles which pose serious health
hazards to the labors involved.
- Burning garbage: on burning the garbage releases CO2 and some other
harmful gases. The smoke given out adds out adds to the particulate air
pollution.
- Brick Klins: are fire-heated enclosures for making construction bricks.
Raw moist clay bricks are arranged in heaps with firewood in between
and then covered by layer of some special mud mixture to contain the
burning flames inside. The waste produced are large quantities of ash and
broken brick bits.
 Water pollution: means any change in the water quality which makes it
unsuitable for use by humans and by other living organisms.
- Sources of water pollution:
- Household Detergents
 - Sewage: is liquid waste from domestic activities. It consists of kitchen
waste, toilet and other household waste water is directly released into the
nearby water bodies or rivers (which pollute clean water).
- Industrial Waste: a large no of industries produces waste water which
contains various types of chemical pollutants (is called effluent). And is
discharged into the river.
- Oil spills: are the accidental discharge of petroleum in oceans or
estuaries. Oil spills kills a lot of marine life.
- Thermal pollution: thermal power plants use water for cooling their
machinery. This hot water is released into nearby streams, rivers and sea
causes warming. This harmfully affects the animals and harms the plant.
 Soil Pollution: Sources
- Industrial waste: industries give out much solid wastes. These wastes
are in the form of chemical residues, flyash, metallic ash etc.,
- *Sanitary landfills: are the places where the waste are dumped in a
ground depression and covered with dirt every day.
- Chemical fertilizers: these fertilizers are slowly washed by rainwater, to
reach lakes and ponds. This leads to faster growth of bacteria which
consumes lot of oxygen in water resulting in death of fish and other
animals.
- Biomedical waste: eg:needles, syringes waste which are discarded by
hospitals often reach the soil and may cause harm to soil organisms.
- Pesticides: such as DDT, used in agriculture to destroy pests alter the
basic structure of the soil, kills microorganisms in it and may even reach
human body through food grown in such soil.
- Radiation: is a form of energy consisting of high particles. It is being
used extensively in the field of medicine and generating electricity in the
nuclear power plants.
 Noice Pollution is defined as any unpleasant/loud undesired sound
interfering with one’s hearing and concentration.
- Harmful effects:
- Interference in communication.
- Disturbs sleep and leads to nervous irritability.
- Measures to minimize:
- Prohibiting of blowing of horns.
- Not to burn firecrackers.
 Effects of various types of pollution:
 Effects on climate and environment:
- Acid rain: due to increasing industrialization there is lot of emission of
CO2, and SO2 and oxides of nitrogen which gets dissolved in the rain
drops falling on earth as rain. This is acid rain.
- Harmful effects:
- Decay of building material and paints.
- Damage to vegetation by pollution of the soil.
- Green house effects and global warming: with increased
industrialization, burning of fuels in homes, and rising population more
CO2 is released. On other hand, the decreasing vegetation and
deforestation is leading to less CO2 utilization in photosynthesis. Thus,
overall rise in CO2 is leading to greater retention of the solar radiation in
the atmosphere causing global warming.
- Ozone depletion: it prevents the harmful type of ultraviolet rays coming
down from the sun. Certain compounds such as CFCs released from
refrigerators rise into the atmosphere. They break down into chlorine
atoms which in turn breakdown ozone (O3) into oxygen (O2) and O. The
reduced ozone cannot prevent the entry of harmful UV-B rays to earth.
 Effects on human health:
-Air pollution: causes respiratory problems, lung disorder. Particulate lead
may cause blood cell shortage. Smog leads to Asthma and poor visibility.
-Water pollution: cholera, jaundice, and typhoid.
-Soil pollution: pesticides-food-human health
 Control of pollution:
- Setting up of sewage treatment plants.
- Greater use of compost instead of chemical fertilizers.