Environmental Pollution
The term environment as far as pollution is concerned, includes the air, the water and the land (soil). Pollution, broadly speaking is defined as the addition of harmful constituents or substances to water, air or land, which adversely alter the natural quality of the environment.
The environmental pollution includes air, water and land (or soil) pollution. It is believed that there are various factors, such as population explosion, industrialization, deforestation combined with modem technology, which are responsible for serious environmental crisis. The industries are responsible for adding pollutants in the environment (land, soil, water and air) and thus, cause pollution.Environmental pollution may be natural (which originates from natural processes such as forest fires, natural organic or inorganic decays, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes etc.) or it may originate due to human activities.
2.6.1 Types of Pollution
Most of the environmental pollution arises due to manufacturing processes, various industries, thermal power plants, automobiles, agrochemicals etc. Besides these, we come across noise pollution, thermal pollution and radioactive pollution. As far as environmental pollution is concerned, the worst pollutants are those which are not biodegradable; for example, polymers, plastics, asbestos, mica and some agrochemicals like DDT. Air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution are discussed in subsequent Chapters (see Chapters 4, 6, 7 and 8). The noise pollution has been explained in Chapter 11.
Environmental pollution is responsible for a number of hazards. For details see secs. 4.5, 6.5 and 9.3.
2.7
More on the topic Environmental Pollution:
- Environmental Pollution
- Environmental Auditing
- Management of Environment
- Important Environmental Laws and Acts
- Thermal Pollution
- ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
- CONTENTS
- Agencies and Institutions Involved in the Environmental Management
- Indicators of Soil Pollution
- Introduction to Green Chemistry