What is soil pollution?
Contamination of soil by a toxic substance harms productivity, as well as changes the texture of the soil and physical, chemical, biological characteristics of the soil; are called soil pollution.
There are two major sources of soil pollution:
- Insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides, fertilizer used in Soils.
- Improper treatment of Industrial waste and other waste
Pesticides:
- Prior to world ware-II, naturally occurring chemicals such as Nicotine from Tobacco plants were used to controlling substances.
- During world ware-II; DDT was used to control Malaria and other insect bore diseases.
- It was used to prevent insects, rodents, weeds; Due to adverse effects on the environment, it has been banned in India.
- Pesticides are synthetic toxic chemical and repetitive use of the same give rise to pest and resistant to a group of pesticides that make pesticides ineffective.
- Other Adrien and Dieldrin used by pesticide industries.
- These persistent pollutants enter the lower trophic level through water and soil and get concentrated at the higher tropic levels.
Herbicides;
- Pesticide industry uses herbicides to control the growth of herbs; These are also not environmentally friendly and it degrades in a few months.
Industrial waste:
Industries discharge two types of pollutants:
- Biodegradable waste from cotton mills and food products.
- Non-biodegradation such as:
- Fly ash
- Slag from blast furnace
- Gypsum
- Chemical drugs
Strategy to control environmental pollutions:
- Proper Waste Management
- Collection and disposal of waste
- Organic farming and the usage of manure instead of fertilizers
- Green Chemistry emphasizes making an environmentally friendly chemical that degrades fastly.
For a detailed explanation, watch the below video:
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