Environmental Science

& Green Technology

MANJU MATHEW

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Lecture Objectives
Introduce the concept of environmental pollution

Revisit the various spheres of natural resources

Pertain into the details of pollution of the sphere of water resources

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Environmental pollution
 Pollution is the introduction of harmful or contaminated matter (pollutants) into the
environment

 Most vital change in the environment that is introduced by the undesirable human
interventions on earth.

 Pollution stands as the basic cause of other environmental changes like global warming,
ozone depletion etc

 Pollution is analysed based on its degree of impact on various natural resources

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 Natural resources
Earth is the only planet in the solar system known for existence of life.

The unique resources of earth provide the opportunity to create and support ‘life’
upon it.
These natural resources are designated as the ‘spheres of earth’ that weave the
web of life
 Atmosphere
Hydrosphere
Lithosphere
Biosphere

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Atmosphere
The source of Oxygen for all living organisms and plants

Forms the protective shell of Earth

Subdivided into different layers based on

• thermal characteristics (temperature changes)
• chemical composition
• movement
• density

Layers are
Troposphere , Stratosphere
Mesosphere , Thermosphere
Exosphere
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 A Bird View
Troposphere - Reason for life and weather, temperature falls
with height, provides path for aeroplanes

Stratosphere – Ozone Layer, temperature increases with height

track for jets, 19% of atmosphere’s gases

Mesosphere - temperature falls with altitude

only rocket fired aircrafts can reach

Thermosphere - lowest part is ionosphere

International Space Station is located

Exosphere - merges with solar wind at the top

https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmosphere/layers-of-atmosphere 6
Hydrosphere
Total amount of water on a planet forms its hydrosphere
◦ Water in the form of solid, liquid or gas
◦ Water on the surface, under the ground and in the atmosphere

Earth is abundant in water that covers 67% of its surface.

Sources of water beneath the ground are termed as aquifers

Water cycle maintains the equilibrium of hydrosphere

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Lithosphere
• The solid outer part of the planet that comprises of continental crust ,ocean crust and
upper brittle

portion of mantle
• Span of up to a depth of 100km

• Oceanic part is denser than that of continental

• Top part of the crust contains the fertile soil that

supply micronutrients for plants to grow

• Crust is a treasure of various types of minerals, stones and sand

• Interaction between the huge plates of lithosphere is called tectonic activity

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Biosphere
 Sphere of ‘life’

All living organisms including microbiome

Biosphere is linked to all other spheres and depends on them for the existence
and growth of living organisms

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Types of pollution
Biosphere

Hydrosphere Lithosphere

All spheres
Atmosphere

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Water Pollution
Definition:

Contamination of hydrosphere or degrading the quality of water by the

introduction of pollutants

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Sources of water pollution
Can be classified into three

Point source – If the contamination originates from a single source

Eg. sewage pipe from a factory/residential or commercial

building

Dispersed source – a broad unconfined area from which pollutants enter into the
water resource.

Eg : fertilizer and pesticide run off from agricultural lands,

acidic run off from

mining areas

Transboundary - contamination by the disposal of waste by another country, oil

spills etc 12
Classification
Groundwater pollution

Surface water pollution

◦ Freshwater pollution
◦ Marine water pollution

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 Types of water pollutants
a. Inorganic plant nutrients

b. Oxygen depleting wastes

c. Inorganic chemical wastes

d. Sediment of suspended matter

e. Organic chemical wastes

f. Oil

g. Radioactive pollutants

h. Disease causing agents

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Inorganic plant nutrients
These are water soluble nitrates and phosphates

Causes for excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants

( eutrophication)

Changes the odour and taste of water

May develop organic matter thereby reducing the amount

of oxygen in water

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Oxygen depleting wastes
Organic waste of plants and animals

Aerobic bacteria tries to decompose organic waste and they

use up the available oxygen in water

The amount of oxygen required for breaking up a specific

organic matter is called Biochemicall Oxygen Demand (BOD) and

is a measure of quality of water

High BOD causes the death of oxygen dependent aquatic species

Anaerobic bacteria acts upon these dead remains and develop

foul smell and toxic chemicals in water

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Inorganic chemicals
Water is the best known solvent

Chemical waste from industry are rich in acids, salts and compounds of toxic metals.

Many of them are soluble in water and contaminates the water.

Danger for both aquatic and human life

Chemical waste from agriculture ( fertilizers and pesticides) contains many harmful water soluble
compounds

These type of pollutants affect both surface water and ground water resources

Triple super phosphate, ammonium sulphate, potassium nitrate, endosulfan are some examples

Fertilizers cause eutrophication ( excess growth of aquatic plants or bloom of algae)

Pesticides cause bio accumulation and bio magnification in aquatic ecosystems

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Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification

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Detrimental effects of heavy
metals

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Experimental dataset1

http://www.cwejournal.org/vol3no1/a-study-of-heavy-metals-in-sludge-sewage-and-industrial-waste-water-
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of-different-districts-of-haryana
Experimental dataset2

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Concentrations-of-heavy-metals-in-wastewater-
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before-and-after-treatment-at-economic_tbl1_334172956
Organic Chemicals
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Trichloro ethylene, tetra chloro ethylene, benzene, toluene, formaldehyde
Enters into air and water from dry cleaning industry, gas engines, painting and coating facilities or
factories

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, fluoranthene, pyrene
Sources : petroleum spills, road run off, industrial waste water, fossil fuel combustion

PFO (perflurooctane sulfonate)s, PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) s

Perfluorochemicals (PFCs) are a group of chemicals used to make fluoropolymer coatings and
products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water
Sources : Industrial waste or domestic waste

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Examples

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Detrimental Effects
 VOC s are proven carcinogens, can cause irritation to nose, eyes and kidney
issues
 PAH s causes reduced lung function, cardio vascular diseases, can cause cancer,
reduces

immunity
PFOs and PFOAs cause elevated cholesterol, changes in liver function, changes in
thyroid hormones and reduced immunity

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Detrimental Effects

Lebanese lake Philippines sea shore

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Oil
Oil pollution seriously affect marine ecosystem

 50 percent of oil pollution is due to the daily spill from automobiles, factories and
urban areas
One third is due to legal and illegal discharge from shipping industry

About 10 percent is due to oil tanker spills

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Detrimental Effects
Oil spills are harmful to marine birds, sea turtles, mammals, fish and shellfish
 destroys the insulating ability of fur bearing mammals – leads to hypothermia

Water repelling ability of birds’ feathers – may cause drowning

Many marine creatures swallow oil while they try to clean themselves or through food chain

- cause death or becoming sick

Fish and shellfish digest oil - causes impaired reproductive ability and stunted growth,

Fish eggs and larvae, as well as bird eggs, are sensitive to toxins and can be damaged
by oil

spills

https://www.impactlaw.com/international-catastrophic/oil- 27
Detrimental Effects

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Disease causing agents
Water pollution can increase the amount of pathogens ( bacteria, virus, protozoa)
in a water body

Enter into water through domestic sewage or untreated human or animal waste

Human waste contain large amount of coliform bacteria

Presence of coliform bacteria in small number is not harmful

Large amount causes gastro intestinal diseases –, hemorrhoids, stenosis

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Radio active particles
Oceans and seas are the natural repositories of naturally occurring uranium

Nuclear power plants placed at the coastal regions add to the radiological
contaminants in the marine water by releasing atomic wastes
Percolation of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) from the soil
sediments to the aquifer causes groundwater contamination
Ground water is more prone to radioactive pollution.

As per Environmental Protection Agency, USA, drinking water can have only
• 5 picocuries per litre for combined radium
• 30 micrograms per litre for uranium
• 15 picocuries per litre for gross alpha emitters
• 4 millirems per year for gross beta emitters
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/water/radioactive-pollution-in-water-a-global-concern-for- 30
human-health-80637
 Nuclear Waste disposals
Chart

able showing the direct measurement of nuclear waste disposal of certain countries during 1945 -1993
over a total of 100 oceanic sites

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Detrimental Effects
For Human Life
◦ Causes changes in DNA structure, genetic / hereditary disorders
◦ Acute cancer problems
◦ Bone marrow fatality, tuberculosis, pneumonia
◦ Dysentery and cholera

For Marine Life

◦ Radio active particles enter into the marine food chain through plankton and kelp
◦ Can cause illness as in the case of human being
◦ Adversely affect the bio diversity of marine eco system
◦ Radio activity effects in the ocean is less compared to that of atmosphere as water
absorbs radiation

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 Detrimental effects

Fukushima disaster in Japan (2011)

Chernobyl disaster in Russia (1986)

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Suspended sediments
When soil erodes from land

Wide variety of soil and stone particles are insoluble in water

They may remain suspended in water for long periods

◦ Reduces photosynthetic activity of aquatic plants
◦ Reduces the speed of river flow

Suspended particles after sometime will settle down at the bottom of the water
body 

Destroys feeding and

spawning grounds of fish

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References
1.
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2919/earths-atmosphere-a-multi-layered-cake/#:~:
text=Earth's%20atmosphere%20has%20five%20major,%2C%20mesosphere%2C
%20thermosphere%20and%20exosphere
.

2. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/hydrosphere

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