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Soil Pollution UPSC | Issues relating to environmental pollution |Contemporary Issues | Geography of India

 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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