We explain what soil pollution is and the contaminating factors. Also, the impact on living beings and more.
What is soil pollution?
Soil pollution It is the alteration of the earth's surface due to the presence of substances and elements that are harmful and that trigger a degenerative process of the land and water.
Soil is made up of a complex mixture of minerals, organic and inorganic matter, water and an enormous diversity of life forms. In a balanced and natural context, the soil is capable of carrying out filtering work in which:
- Purifies water and elements from the surface until reaching the depths of the layers to obtain pure water.
- Processes inert organic matter to obtain fertile soil.
- It processes waste substances so that, as they pass through the various layers and processes of the soil, these substances are disintegrated.
The speed with which the soil is altered destroys its properties and prevents it from regenerating naturally. Soil pollution includes any chemical substance, waste or intentional or accidental human intervention that alters the natural landscape.
Soil formation involves a very slow and complex process. Soil is a finite resource and can only be recovered over the course of a few decades, hundreds of years or even longer. Soil deterioration affects food, water, air, organisms and the rest of the human and non-human animals.
Among the main polluting factors are underground fuel storage tanks, pesticides, sewage waste, chemical waste resulting from industrial production and garbage generated by humanity.
See also: Environmental pollution
Background of soil contamination
Soil contamination is a process that developed gradually and dates back to ancient times and even prehistoric times as human actions became more complex.
Since the discovery of fire in the Paleolithic, forest fires could generate toxic volatile substanceslike ashes. During the Age of Metals, the discovery of the transformation of metals was a process that contributed to the imbalance of soils following the large quantities of discarded metallic substances and elements.
Since ancient times, the development of societies has continued to increase until reaching enormous cities and cosmopolitan cities. Demographic growth, population concentration and industrial activitycontributed to generating a high level of waste that inevitably contaminated the soil, water and air.
However, Until the 1980s, soil contamination was not taken into account as part of environmental issues. There was only talk of air and water pollution, but not of the degradation and irreparable damage to fertile land.
The world began to understand the environmental importance of the impact of soil pollution since the declaration of the “European Soil Charter” developed by the European Community in 1972.
The letter established that soil is one of the most precious assets of humanity, animals and plants, and that it is a limited resource that is easily destroyed. Therefore, it must be protected against erosion, pollution, agricultural and livestock practices and the damage caused by urban development.
The problem acquired greater international weight at the Rio de Janeiro Summit in 1992in which the importance of soil protection and the need for sustainable development was recognized.
However, over the years, the lack of commitment of most nations became evident, although collective awareness is growing and advocates the need to preserve soils and actively participate in reducing pollution.
Soil contaminating factors
Soil contaminating factors can be diverse. The two types of general contaminants that stand out are:
Pollutants from natural watersheds. It is the type of pollution that arises from catastrophes or natural phenomena. For example: the lava that emerges from a volcano and that can contaminate the soil and, gradually, the water in the underground layers.
Pollutants from artificial springs. It is the type of pollution that arises from the impact of intentional or accidental human actions. Among the main factors are:
- The garbage that is thrown anywhere. Urban and industrial areas are at greatest risk of soil contamination, due to the concentration of productive and consumer activities that generate large levels of waste. The lack of regulation and social awareness means that waste is not processed adequately, in order to reduce its negative impact as much as possible. Waste should be recycled where possible and garbage should be separated according to its properties and disposed of in places where it can be processed.
- Pesticides for industrial and domestic use. They are polluting chemical substances, such as arsenic or garden pesticides, that alter the properties of soil and water irreversibly and impact the living beings that feed on them.
- The exploitation of oil. It is an activity that pollutes, both during its extraction and its subsequent use in consumer products. The combustion that occurs in the extraction process and hydrocarbon spills, which can occur accidentally or due to negligence, cause irreversible damage to the ecosystem.
- Factories and industries. They are production systems that encourage the exploitation of natural resources, sometimes indiscriminately, and that generate excess industrial waste and discharges during their productive performance. As a consequence, entire ecosystems are damaged. For example: when implementing a mining industry, the native vegetation of the place is removed, which impacts the survival of animals, explosives are used to access underground and chemicals are used to manipulate minerals. All this waste is deposited in the open, has the risk of spills and leaves irreparable damage.
- Indiscriminate deforestation. It is an activity that is carried out, increasingly, with greater intensity and with insufficient controls. As a consequence, the soils erode and deteriorate due to not having the vegetation that contains the drag of rainwater and the overflow of water channels. These factors, among others, cause a direct impact on global warming and climate change.
- Agricultural exploitation. It is an activity that is constantly increasing at the cost of the deterioration of the nutrients of the fertile soil, which consists of a layer of the Earth's surface that required many centuries for its formation. This surface is destroyed due to large-scale monoculture agriculture, which covers extensive territories with non-native plantations and crops to produce balanced feed for livestock. Furthermore, the rest time of the soil between harvests is not respected. As a consequence, the soils become sterile, that is, poor in minerals and are no longer suitable for agriculture.
- Radioactive or nuclear materials. They are the most dangerous pollutants consisting of radioactive elements that have the ability to emit gamma ray protons and electrons. The main sources of radioactive contamination are in industrial activity, with power plants, and in military activity, with military tests and bombs. To a lesser extent, nuclear energy is also used in small doses in some medical practices.
Impact of pollution on living beings
Soil pollution causes a chain reaction of side effects, such as various problems in animals human and non-human, among which stand out:
- Mutations.
- Infertility.
- Genetic diseases, such as cancer.
- Babies born with malformations.
- Extinction of species.
Soil recovery
Recovering soils or stopping contaminating them is possible as long as appropriate social and environmental policies are applied, in addition to individual change in awareness.
The intensity with which humanity consumes, based on the exploitation of finite natural resources, and the amount of unprocessed waste, resulting from the excessive level of consumption, does not allow us to respect the cycles of nature to assimilate this impact.
Each person has to be aware of the footprint generated by all their actions.. From the product you choose to buy, when many times you don't need it, when you choose to buy one product instead of another, without understanding what they are made of or how they were manufactured, or when you throw waste along with the garbage when it could be recycled.
Legislation, restrictions and obligations are key to regulating the production and exploitation of natural resources. However, that alone is not enough. It is the duty of each person to understand that individual change, despite not transforming reality in the short term, is the first step to achieving long-term improvement for future generations of living beings.
Continue with: Ecology
References
- “Soil contaminant” at https://www.soils.org/
- “Soil pollution is contaminating our future” at http://www.fao.org/
- “Soil contamination” at https://www.tdx.cat/
- “The soil” at http://www.fao.org/
- “Most of the land that is arable worldwide is in Latin America” at https://www.larepublica.co/
- “Radioactive contamination” at https://www.ecologiaverde.com/
