Name:

Program:
Kinds of Pollutants
Class Schedule:
Pollutants could be either:

} Biodegradable

} Non-biodegradable

Biodegradable Pollutants
The term biodegradable is used to describe materials
that decompose through the actions of bacteria, fungi,
and other living organisms.

- Temperature and sunlight may also play roles in the

Pollution

Learning outcomes:

a) De%ine pollution and its various forms, including

air, water, soil, and noise pollution,
b) Classify pollutants based on their source and
types,
c) Analyze the factors that determine the severity
of pollution, such as concentration, persistence,
and bioaccumulation. decomposition of biodegradable plastics and other
d) Evaluate the speci%ic impacts of different substances.
pollutants on human health, considering both - Common, everyday substances that are biodegradable
acute and chronic effects. include food refuse, tree leaves, and grass clippings.
- Many communities now encourage people to compost
Introduction these materials and use them as humus (an organic-
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a
rich material in soil) for gardening.
natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm
- Because plant materials are biodegradable,
or discomfort to the ecosystem – physical, chemical and
composting is one way to reduce amounts of solid
biological systems.
waste that towns and cities otherwise have to
Pollution can cause changes in these systems. dispose in land%ills.

} Physical (change in appearance)

} Chemical (acid rain, change in odor)
} Biological (mutations, illness, death)
- Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or
energy, such as noise, heat, or light.

Pollutants, the elements of pollution, can be foreign

substances or energies, or naturally occurring.

- A pollutant is a waste material that pollutes air, water

or soil.
- When naturally occurring, they are considered
contaminants when they exceed natural levels.

Three factors determine the severity of a pollutant:

a) its chemical nature c) persistence

b) the concentration

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 Non-biodegradable Pollutants
Non-biodegradable pollutants are the ones that
cannot be decomposed by living organisms and therefore
persist in the ecosphere for long periods of time.

They include bottles, cans, plastics, metal, some

pesticides and herbicides, and radioactive isotopes.

- Non-biodegradable pollutants are dangerous because

living organisms have neither enzymes capable of
processing these pollutants nor defensive systems
against them. - Noise pollution induces hearing loss, high blood
- In addition to that, fat soluble (but not water soluble) pressure, stress, and sleep disturbance.
non-biodegradable pollutants (such as chlorinated
hydrocarbons, benzene etc) are not excreted with urine - Chemical and radioactive substances can cause cancer
but are accumulated in the fat of living organisms and and as well as birth defects
cannot be metabolized.
- Mercury has been linked to developmental de%icits in
- Therefore, the organisms retain 100% of these toxins.
children and neurologic symptoms.
- The toxins are then circulated throughout the food
- Lead and other heavy metals have been shown to cause
chains via the process of biomagni>ication.
neurological problems.
- For example, herbivores will eat intoxicated plants;
carnivores, including humans will eat herbivores and
will absorb the toxins already accumulated in the
herbivores’ bodies.
- This is how humans can get high concentrations of
toxins from their food sources, with all the negative
consequences following such consumption.

Forms of Pollution
The major forms of pollution are listed below:

} Air pollution, the release of chemicals and

particulates into the atmosphere. Common
gaseous air pollutants include carbon monoxide,
sulfur dioxide (causing acid rain),
chloro%luorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrogen oxides
Pollution and Human Health produced by industry and motor vehicles.
- Adverse air quality can kill many organisms including
humans.
- Ozone pollution can cause respiratory disease,
cardiovascular disease, throat in%lammation, chest
pain, and congestion.
- Water pollution causes approximately 14,000 deaths
per day, mostly due to contamination of drinking water
by untreated sewage in developing countries.
- Oil spills can cause skin irritations and rashes.

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} Photochemical ozone and smog are created as herbicides, pesticides and chlorinated
nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react to hydrocarbons.
sunlight. Particulate matter, or %ine dust is
} Radioactive contamination, resulting from 20th
characterized by their micrometer size.
century activities in atomic physics, such as
} Light pollution, includes light trespass, over- nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons
illumination and astronomical interference. research, manufacture and deployment.

} Littering

} Thermal pollution, is a temperature change in

natural water bodies caused by human in%luence,
such as use of water as coolant in a power plant.
} Noise pollution, which encompasses roadway
noise, aircraft noise, industrial noise as well as } Visual pollution, which can refer to the presence of
high-intensity sonar. overhead power lines, motorway billboards, scarred
landforms (as from strip mining), open storage of
} Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are trash or municipal solid waste.
released by spill or underground leakage.

- Among the most signi%icant soil contaminants

are hydrocarbons, heavy metals, MTBE,

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} Water pollution, by the release of waste products and } Carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean
contaminants into surface runoff into river drainage acidi%ication, the ongoing decrease in the pH of
systems, leaching into groundwater, liquid spills, the Earth's oceans as CO2 becomes dissolved.
wastewater discharges, eutrophication and littering.
} (The emission of greenhouse gases leads to global
warming which affects ecosystems in many ways.)

} Invasive species can out compete native species

and reduce biodiversity.

} (Invasive plants can contribute debris and

biomolecules (allelopathy) that can alter soil and
chemical compositions of an environment, often
reducing native species competitiveness.)

} Nitrogen oxides are removed from the air by rain

and fertilize land which can change the species
composition of ecosystems.

} Smog and haze can reduce the amount of sunlight

received by plants to carry out photosynthesis
and leads to the production of tropospheric ozone
which damages plants.

Pollution and the Environment

There are a number of effects of pollution on the
environment:

} Biomagni%ication describes situations where toxins

(such as heavy metals) may pass through trophic
levels, becoming exponentially more concentrated in
the process.

} Soil can become infertile and unsuitable for

plants.

} (This will affect other organisms in the food web.)

} Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can cause

acid rain which lowers the pH value of soil.

Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming

} Carbon dioxide, while vital for photosynthesis, is
sometimes referred to as pollution, because
raised levels of the gas in the atmosphere are
affecting the Earth's climate.

Disruption of the environment can also highlight

the connection between areas of pollution that would
normally be classi%ied separately, such as those of
water and air.

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 - Recent studies have investigated the potential for - In the hierarchy of controls, pollution prevention and
long-term rising levels of atmospheric carbon waste minimization are more desirable than pollution
dioxide to cause slight but critical increases in the control.
acidity of ocean waters, and the possible effects
Pollution Control Methods
of this on marine ecosystems.
Practices

} Reducing

} Reusing

} Recycling

} Respecting

} Responding

Pollution control devices

} Dust collection systems

Global Dimming
} Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the } Baghouses
amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's
surface that was observed for several decades after } Cyclones
the start of systematic measurements in the 1950s.
} Electrostatic precipitators
} The effect varies by location, but worldwide it has } Vapor recovery systems
been estimated to be of the order of a 4% reduction
over the three decades from 1960–1990. } Sewage treatment

} However, after discounting an anomaly caused by the } Activated sludge biotreaters

eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, a very slight
} API oil-water separators[14][33]
reversal in the overall trend has been observed.
} Bio>ilters
} Global dimming has interfered with the hydrological
cycle by reducing evaporation and may have reduced } Dissolved air >lotation (DAF)
rainfall in some areas.
} Powdered activated carbon treatment
} Global dimming also creates a cooling effect that may
have partially masked the effect of greenhouse gases } Sedimentation (water treatment)
on global warming.

- It is thought that global dimming is probably due to

the increased presence of aerosol particles in the
atmosphere caused by human action.

Pollution Control
} Pollution control is a term used in environmental
management.

- It means the control of emissions and ef%luents into air,

water or soil.

Without pollution control, the waste products from

consumption, heating, agriculture, mining, manufacturing,
transportation and other human activities, whether they
accumulate or disperse, will degrade the environment.