Pollution Aspect: Effects and Controls Of Pollution

Pollution can be regarded as the introduction of unwanted or contaminated material into the environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can also be in form of energy or chemical substances, those chemical substance or energy that are in form of pollution are noise, heat or light. Pollutants are the agent of pollution, the pollutant can be either energy or naturally occurring contaminant.
Pollution is also the direct or indirect alteration of the physical, thermal, biological or radioactive properties of any part of the environment in such a way as to create hazard or danger to health, safety or welfare of any living species.
To simplify what a pollution means, pollution is the release of any harmful substances into the environment.
Pollutant can also be class under the following headline. (a) Biodegradable (b) Non-biodegradable and (c) Poisons.
(a) Biodegradable: These are natural or organic materials that are broken down by natural process
(b) Non-biodegradable: These are the materials that cannot be broken down. like cans, scraps of metals, glass etc.
(c) Poisons: These are the heavy metals and their salts like mercury, fertilizers, lead, fungicides etc

Types of Pollution, Effects and their Control
1. Air Pollution

This is mainly occurs when the air contains gases(carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxde, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, hydrogen sulphide) dust, fumes or odour in harmful amounts. Air pollutant are pumped into the atmosphere and pollute the air directly through some processes. e.g. carbon monoxide, ash etc. while the  secondary air pollutants are the resulted from the reactions of the primary pollutants. Example: photochemical smog.


Effects of Air Pollution
(a) It can cause silicosis and also bronchitis
(b) It can cause eye and nose irritation (e.g smoke)
(c) It can poison the blood forming carboxyhaemoglobin(i.e CO)
(d) Nitrogen oxide irritate the lungs
(e) Can cause green house effect (too much of CO in atmosphere)
(f) Lead poisoning can affect children's intelligence quotient
(g) It can also cause Pneumonia, Heart Attack, Premature Mortality, Asthma, Difficulty in Breathing, Cardiopulmonary Disease, Wheezing and Coughing, etc.

Control of Air Pollution
1. Leaving far from industrial areas
2. Passing of wastes through filters and absorbers
3. The use of lead-free fuels
4. Avoid cars that are not well maintained

2. Land Pollution
This is the destruction of the earth’s surfaces, often directly or indirectly as a result of man’s activities and their misuse of land resources. This can be cause due to improper dispose of waste product, agricultural sources, industrial sources, deforestation, oil refineries, mining sources and so on. Most of the air pollutants also pollute the land at the same time. Examples of land pollutants are lead compounds, tins, cans, bottles, fungicides, herbicides, old cars etc.


Effect of Land Pollution

(a) Poor crop yield.

(b) It can cause cancers, skin problem or lead to problem in human respiratory system

(c) Bad smell and odour in the town also can lead a whole community to be poisoned

Control of Land Pollution

1. Efforts should be made on recycling wastes 

2. Buying of biodegradable products.
3.People should be educated on the result of land pollution 

4. Incessant dumping of refuse should be discouraged

5. Refuse should be incinerated 

3. Water Pollution

This is the contamination of water bodies e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, and so on which is mostly done be human activities. Fresh water is polluted through the discharge of sewage and other wastes from farms and at times from industries. Marine pollution is mostly caused by oil spillage, industrial wastes and agricultural wastes. Water pollution is called by sulphur, oil, sewage and waste water, lead and mercury, nitrates and phosphates etc.

Effects of Water Pollution

(a) Sewage can contaminate drinking water

(b) Death of aquatic life

(c) Damage of the ecosystem

(d) People hardly use water for recreational purposes.

(e) Odours emanating can be embarrassing 

(f) Excessive use of pesticides or fertilizers can drain into rivers to kill the animals 

Control of Water Pollution

1. Adequate oxygen should be deposited along side any sewage to be dumped (Biochemical oxygen demand B. O. D.)

2. Sewage, industrial and municipal waste disposal should be developed

3. Detergents may be used in checking oil spillage 

4. A task force to monitor water pollution should be set up.

5. Resources management is very important

6. Avoid throwing of chemicals, oils, paints and medicines down the sink drain, or the toilet.

7. Sewage should be properly treated before discharge.