Information report (Type of pollution)
Types of pollution
Pollution is the presence of damaging and dangerous substances, mostly a contaminant or toxin, which causes damaging impacts to the living organisms and its surrounding (All-recycling-facts.com, 2011). Pollutions are classified into four major types and they are land pollution, water pollution, sound pollution and air pollution (see Figure 1).
The first type of pollution is land pollution. Land pollution occurs when contaminant or toxin is spread and placed on the land. “Land pollution is mainly caused by poor solid waste management practice” (Anand, n.d.). These contaminants compromise of solid waste and soil pollution. Land pollution is mainly about the contamination and degradation of Earth’s land surfaces. Contamination of soil can affect the growth rate of plants and reduce the fertility of soil (Rodger, 2010). Land pollutions can also happen when pesticides, harmful chemicals and waste from industrial factories are released into the soil without control. There have been many cases of land pollution that happened during the past centuries. For example, U.S. Geological Survey (1997) stated that a massive leak from a military fuel storage facility in Hanahan, South Carolina discharged about 80, 000 gallons of kerosene-based jet fuel into the soil. The contaminated soil reached the nearby residential area after 10 years and caused a serious environmental problem to the residents. Other examples include crude oil spill in Bemidji, sewage effluent in Cape Cod and chlorinated solvents in New Jersey (U.S. Geological Survey, 1997). The major factor that caused these incidents to happen is the lack of precaution and awareness. Fuel tanks, crude oils and other contaminants should be kept safe as leakage of these harmful substances can cause the land to be totally uninhabitable in extreme cases. The main source of soil pollution is the use of chemicals in agriculture such as herbicides to kill weed and pesticides to kill insects and other
Pollution is the presence of damaging and dangerous substances, mostly a contaminant or toxin, which causes damaging impacts to the living organisms and its surrounding (All-recycling-facts.com, 2011). Pollutions are classified into four major types and they are land pollution, water pollution, sound pollution and air pollution (see Figure 1).
The first type of pollution is land pollution. Land pollution occurs when contaminant or toxin is spread and placed on the land. “Land pollution is mainly caused by poor solid waste management practice” (Anand, n.d.). These contaminants compromise of solid waste and soil pollution. Land pollution is mainly about the contamination and degradation of Earth’s land surfaces. Contamination of soil can affect the growth rate of plants and reduce the fertility of soil (Rodger, 2010). Land pollutions can also happen when pesticides, harmful chemicals and waste from industrial factories are released into the soil without control. There have been many cases of land pollution that happened during the past centuries. For example, U.S. Geological Survey (1997) stated that a massive leak from a military fuel storage facility in Hanahan, South Carolina discharged about 80, 000 gallons of kerosene-based jet fuel into the soil. The contaminated soil reached the nearby residential area after 10 years and caused a serious environmental problem to the residents. Other examples include crude oil spill in Bemidji, sewage effluent in Cape Cod and chlorinated solvents in New Jersey (U.S. Geological Survey, 1997). The major factor that caused these incidents to happen is the lack of precaution and awareness. Fuel tanks, crude oils and other contaminants should be kept safe as leakage of these harmful substances can cause the land to be totally uninhabitable in extreme cases. The main source of soil pollution is the use of chemicals in agriculture such as herbicides to kill weed and pesticides to kill insects and other
References: AjaiAnand. (n.d.). Solutions | land pollution | environmental health. Retrieved July 27, 2012, from http://pollution-affecting-us.weebly.com/land--soil-pollution.html. All-recycling-facts.com. (2011). Main types of pollution. Retrieved from http://www.all-recycling-facts.com/main-types-of-pollution.html. Bergman, J. (2011, May 13). Air pollution. Retrieved from http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/airpollution_intro.html. Hassam (2011, December 21). Types and causes of pollution. Retrieved from http://hassam.hubpages.com/hub/Types-And-Causes-Of-Pollution. JiniusJipanin, AlinahAbd. Rahman, Jackson R. Jaimi, & Phua, P. K. (2001). Management of pesticide use on vegetable production: Role of department of agriculture Sabah. Retrieved from http://www.sabah.gov.my/jpas/news/SITE/SITEppr10.pdf. Jonathan, W. (2010, February 9). Chinese farms ‘cause more pollution than factories’ | environment | the guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/09/china-farms-pollution. Land Pollution. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2009, from http://edwin.sjfc.edu/kpoppenberg/e-port/pollutionunit/land1.htm. Lim, L. (2005, March 23). China warns of water pollution. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4374383.stm. Liu, D. H. F. & Roberts, H. C. (1999). Noise pollution. Retrieved from http://uqu.edu.sa/files2/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/files/4300270/2/Chapter%206.%20Noise%20Pollution.pdf. Main type of pollution. (n.d.). Retrieved July 25, 2012, from http://hassam.hubpages.com/hub/Types-And-Causes-Of-Pollution. Pollution. (2012, July 29). Retrieved from http://www.greenstudentu.com/encyclopedia/pollution. Putatunda, R. (2012, March 20). Air pollution facts. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/air-pollution-facts.html. Rogers, C. D. (2010, June 30). Health effects from soil pollution | livestrong.com. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/159831-health-effects-from-soil-pollution/. Thomas, P. (2007, July-Aug). PCBs and the precautionary principle. Utusan Konsumer, p. 19. U.S. Geological Survey. (1997, April 1). Bioremediation. Retrieved from http://water.usgs.gov/wid/html/bioremed.html. Wang, L. K., Pereira, N. C., & Hung, Y. T. (2005). Noise pollution. In J. P. Chambers (Ed.), Advanced air and noise pollution control (pp. 441-452). Totowa: The Humana Press. Water pollution. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2012, from http://www.questia.com/library/water-pollution.jsp. What is water pollution. (n.d.) Retrieved July 23, 2012, from http://www.whatiswaterpollution.org/. Whitney, M. T. (2007). High levels of DDT still present in fish. Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/021527_DDT_water_pollution.html#ixzz21cxjIDl2.