Water pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (like oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, aquifers,
and groundwater) usually caused due to human activities. Water pollution is any change in the
physical, chemical or biological properties of water that will have a detrimental consequence
to any living organism.
Properties of water
Water is a simple molecule consisting of one oxygen atom bonded to two hydrogen atoms.
Because of the higher electronegativity of the oxygen atom, the bonds are polar covalent (polar
bonds). Water is amphoteric: it has the ability to act as either an acid or a base in chemical
reactions. Due to hydrogen bonding, water exhibits the following unique properties:
1. Water is the universal solvent
2. Exists in nature as a solid, liquid, and gas
3. The density of ice is less than liquid water
4. Water exists as a liquid at room temperature
Earth’s oceans contain 97% of the planet’s water, so just 3% is fresh water, water with low
concentrations of salts. The majority of the Earth's water can be classified as being saline (or
salt containing). Most freshwater is trapped as ice in the vast glaciers and ice sheets of
Greenland. A storage location for water such as an ocean, glacier, pond, or even the atmosphere
is known as a reservoir.
Drinking water, also called Potable Water, is the water that is considered safe enough for human
and animal consumption. This is water that is generally used for drinking, cooking, washing,
crop irrigation, etc. These days chemicals, bacteria, and other pollutants are even affecting our
drinking water.
Water Pollution Sources
Water can be contaminated by various human activities or by existing natural features, like
mineral-rich geologic formations, Agricultural activities, industrial operations, landfills,
animal operations, and small and large scale sewage treatment processes etc. All can potentially
contribute to contamination. As water runs over the land or infiltrates into the ground, it
dissolves material left behind by these potential contaminant sources. The risks and type of
remediation for a contaminant depend on the type of chemicals present.
Point source pollution can be attributed to a single, definable origin.
For example, animal factory farms raise a large number and high density of livestock such as
cows, pigs, and chickens. Combined sewer systems that have a single set of underground pipes
to collect both sewage and storm water runoff from streets for wastewater treatment can also
be major point sources of pollutants.
Nonpoint source pollution is from multiple dispersed sources. The whole of the contribution
of pollutants is harmful, but the individual components may not reach harmful concentrations.
Nonpoint sources of pollution include agricultural fields, cities, and abandoned mines. Rainfall
runs over the land and through the ground, picking up pollutants from throughout
the watershed (including areas of land and smaller streams that drain into a particular body of
water). These pollutants might include herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizer from agricultural
fields and lawns; oil, antifreeze, animal waste, and road salt from urban areas; and acid and
toxic elements from abandoned mines.
Water pollutants are categorized according to whether they arise from chemical,
biological, or physical processes.
Chemical Pollutants
Chemical pollution from agriculture, industry, cities, and mining threatens global water quality.
Air pollutants from these activities can also enter bodies of water (and become water pollutants)
through dry deposition, precipitation, and runoff. Some chemical pollutants have serious and
well-known health effects, whereas many others have poorly known long-term health effects.
• Organic Pollutants

Organic pollutants include herbicides and pesticides, pharmaceuticals, fuel (such as oil spills),
industrial solvents and cleansers, and synthetic hormones associated with pharmaceuticals.
These synthetic hormones can act as endocrine disruptors. Many are persistent organic
pollutants (POPs), which are long-lived in the environment, biomagnify through the food
chain, and can be toxic.
• Inorganic Pollutants

Inorganic pollutants include nutrients like nitrate (NO3-) and phosphate (PO43-), heavy metals,
chloride (Cl-), and radioactive isotopes released from mining or nuclear accidents (such as
cesium, iodine, uranium, and radon gas).
Biological Pollutants
Pathogens (infectious microorganisms or viruses) enter water primarily from human and
animal fecal waste due to inadequate sewage treatment. In many underdeveloped countries,
sewage is discharged into local waters either untreated or after only rudimentary treatment. In
developed countries untreated sewage discharge can occur from overflows of combined sewer
systems, poorly managed livestock factory farms, and leaky or broken sewage collection
systems.
Physical Sources of Pollution
Trash, sediments, and thermal pollution arise from physical sources of pollution. Excess
sediments enter bodies of water when various land uses, such as mining, deforestation, and
agriculture increases erosion. Sediments can carry toxins or excess nutrients with them, and
they cloud the water (resulting in turbidity. High temperature disrupt aquatic organisms for
several reasons; one is that warmer waters cannot hold as much dissolved oxygen
Water treatment and purification technologies
Wastewater treatment involves the following processes:
1. Preliminary treatment—The velocity of the wastewater from the sewer lines is
reduced as it enters the treatment plant. This allows sand, gravel and other heavy
materials to settle out into grit tanks. Mechanical cleaning bar screens then remove
rags, sticks, plastic and other foreign objects from the Wastewater.
2. Primary treatment—The screened wastewater flows into a primary settling tank
where it is held for several hours allowing solid particles to settle to the bottom of the
tank. Fats, oil and grease (FOG) are skimmed from the tanks, dried and sent to the
landfill.
3. Secondary treatment—Secondary treatment is a biological treatment process. The
principal requirement of a biological treatment process are an adequate amount of
bacteria that feed on the organic material present in wastewater, oxygen and some
means of achieving contact between the bacteria and organics. The organic matter is
metabolized to more stable inorganic forms.
Several methods are used:
the activated sludge system, biological film system, Rotating biological contactor,

4. Tertiary or Advanced Wastewater Treatment

If Water produced is required to be of higher water quality Standards (in case the water
to be put to some direct reuse) then advanced wastewater treatment is carried out.
A wide variety of methods are used in advanced waste treatment, which include the
removal of
(a) Suspended solids.
(b) BOD).
(c) Plant nutrients, (d) Dissolved solids and (e) toxic substances.

5. Final treatment—The wastewater that remains can be disinfected to kill harmful

micro-organisms before being released into receiving waters. Although there are
many methods available to kill these micro-organisms, ultraviolet disinfection,
ozonation and chlorination are few of them.
6. Solids processing—Primary solids from the primary settling tank and secondary solids
from the clarifier are sent to digesters for solids processing. During this process, micro-
organisms use the organic material present in the solids as a food source and convert
it to by-products, such as methane gas and water. Digestion results in a 90% reduction
of pathogens and the production of a wet soil-like material called "biosolids" that
contain 95-97% water. In order to remove some of this water, mechanical equipment
such as a belt filter press or centrifuge are used to squeeze water from biosolids,
reducing its volume prior to being used in soil amendment or composting.
Treatment with Chlorine and/or Chloramine Most communities use either chlorine or
chloramines. Some communities switch back and forth between chlorine and chloramines at
different times of the year or for other operational reasons.
Ozone Disinfection Ozone disinfection, or ozonation, is an unstable molecule which readily
gives up one atom of oxygen providing a powerful oxidizing agent which is toxic to most
waterborne organisms. It is an effective method to inactivate harmful protozoa that form cysts.
It also works well against almost all other pathogens..
Ultraviolet Disinfection Ultraviolet disinfection of water is a purely physical, chemical-free
process. Even parasites such as Cryptosporidium or Giardia, which are extremely resistant to
chemical disinfectants, are efficiently reduced. UV disinfection does not remove dissolved
organics, inorganic compounds or particles in the water.
Fluoridation The mineral fluoride occurs naturally on earth and is released from rocks into the
soil, water, and air. All water contains some fluoride. Usually, the fluoride level in water is not
enough to prevent tooth decay; however, some groundwater and natural springs can have
naturally high levels of fluoride. Fluoride has been proven to protect teeth from decay. Water
fluoridation prevents tooth decay by providing frequent and consistent contact with low levels
of fluoride.
 Soil pollution
Origin and nature of soil
Soil is defined as a dynamic natural body on the surface of the earth in which plants grow,
composed of mineral and organic materials and living forms. The soil is made-up of broken-
down rock material of varying degree of fineness and changed in varying degrees from the
parent rocks by the action of different agencies such that the growth of vegetation is made
possible.
COMPONENT OF SOIL (VOLUME BASIS):
The soil consists of four major components (Fig.1.1) i.e. mineral matter (45%), organic matter
(5%), soil air (20-30%) and soil water (20-30%).

Weathering is a natural process of breakdown and transformation of rocks and minerals into
unconsolidated residues, called regolith. In other words, the process of transformation of solid
rocks into soils is known as weathering.
Weathering processes are two types:
(1) physical weathering brought about by the mechanical action of the various weathering
agents, is designated as disintegration, and
(2) chemical weathering is designated as decomposition.
Sources of Soil Pollution:-
- “Any change in the physical, chemical & biological properties of soil due to natural or
man-made activities is known as soil-pollution.
- The main cause of this degradation is overgrazing deforestation & agricultural
activities.
 Various Sources
A) Natural Sources:- Some of the natural sources are -
- Landslides, earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes & floods.
- Such natural disasters cause severe damage to the composition of soil.
- Man – Made Sources:-
1) Industrial Wastes:-
- Contain different kind of toxic, flammable and non-biodegrable substances that may
persist in the soil for a long time and destroy the composition of soil such as Mercury,
Zinc , Iron and Cd etc.
2) Mining:-
- Mining activities leave behind heap of mining wastes containing several toxic
substances and contaminate the soil.
3) Agricultural Wastes :-
- Non judicious use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides and fumigants remain
in the soil for long percale of without degradation causes soil pollution.
4) Domestic Wastes:-
- Kitchen and food wastes, paper etc are biodegradable but glass, plastic materials, metal
cans etc are non-biodegradable. Improper disposal of hazardous domestic wastes such
as batteries, paints, medicines, glass bulbs, spray cans etc contribute greatly to soil
pollution.
5) Radioactive Waste:-
- Radioactive substances from nuclear power plants are released in to the soil.
- Strontium gets deposited in the bones and tissues instead of calcium.
6) Biological agents:-
- Soil gets large quantities of human and animal excreta which constitute the major part
of land pollution.
- In addition to these excreta faulty sanitation, municipal garbage, waste water and
wrong methods of agricultural practices also induce heavy soil pollution.
- Pathogens exerted by human and animals such as bacteria and parasitic worms
contaminate the soil.
- Pathogenic soil bacteria like salmonella typhus causes infections of intestinal tract.
 Soil pollution and plant growth

Soil pollution, a significant environmental concern, poses a direct threat to plant growth
and agricultural productivity. It occurs when harmful substances such as heavy metals,
pesticides, and industrial waste accumulate in the soil, disrupting its natural properties
and hindering the growth and development of plants.
Soil pollutants disrupt the delicate ecological balance of crop systems. Each plant
requires a specific soil type for optimal growth. However, most plants struggle to adapt
to alterations in soil chemistry, resulting in stunted growth or diminished crop yields.
Moreover, essential soil microorganisms like bacteria and fungi, crucial for soil
cohesion, decline in the presence of toxic elements, exacerbating soil erosion and
reducing fertility, rendering land unsuitable for agriculture.
Some effects on plant growth
• The balance of ecological system is affected due to contamination of the soil.
• Plants are mostly unable to adapt to the change in the chemistry of the soil in short
time period.
• The microorganisms found in the soil decline and create additional problems of soil
erosion. • Fertility of the soil decreases due to soil pollution, making it unsuitable for
agriculture and local vegetation to survive.
• Soil pollution is hazardous to health.
• Polluted lands cannot support most forms of life.
The chemicals present in the soil due to pollution are toxic and can decrease the fertility
of the soil, thereby decreasing the soil yield. Agriculture on contaminated soil produces
fruits and vegetable that lack quality nutrients. Consumption of these may be poisonous
and cause serious health problems to people consuming them.

Soil Remediation techniques

 Physical Processes: Physical processes refers to the immobilization or withdrawal of
contaminants from the soil or sediment by some physical means. The main technologies
used include:
• Surface Capping: This technique simply covers the contaminated site with a low
permeability material.
• Vapor Extraction: This technology is applied in-situ to remove volatile and
subvolatile organic contaminants from the soil, usually in unsaturated soils.
• Electrokinetic Remediation: A low-density electrical current is applied in the
soil through electrodes and this induces the migration of the cations from the
soil to the cathode and the anions to the anode through the established electrical
field.
Chemical Processes Chemical processes are the main methods used to remove
contaminants, and their mechanisms include adsorption, retaliation, load exchange,
oxidation, reduction, or a combination
• Solidification and Stabilization: This technique, also known as chemical
immobilization, captures or immobilizes contaminants in-situ or ex-situ by
introducing chemical agents to convert mobile pollutants into hasty forms or
strongly adsorbed. This technology does not remove contaminants from the soil;
it only prevents them from moving.
• Soil Washing: This ex-situ technology uses aqueous solutions to extract
contaminants from the environment. The excavated soil is mixed with the
solution that will make the extraction and is then agitated. After washing, the
clean soil can be reseated at the place of origin and should be made the treatment
of the extraction solution.
Biological Processes Biological processes involve environmental decontamination by
living things, such as plants, animals or micro-organisms These methods include
adsorption processes, transformation, or degradation of contaminants.
Thermal Processes Thermal processes involve the heating of the subsurface, leading
to the mobilization, volatilization, or destruction of contaminants in the soil or
sediment. Heating methods include conductive heating, electric resistance heating,
steam heating, and radio frequency heating
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