Pollution is the process of introduction of contaminants in the environment. These contaminants lead to a negative impact to the living things in the environment. The original condition of the environment is made harmful to the living things. Pollution can be of different forms. The main pollution forms are the air, water and soil pollution. The intent of this paper is to discuss the air and water pollution, elaborating on their causes or pollutants and description of their effects on living things. Specifically, the paper will discuss the air and water pollutants and their possible remedies. The air and water pollutants exist in many forms. These forms are discussed below.
Air pollutants.
The main air pollutants are gas emission by industries and locomotives. Air is a mass of moving gases. It forms a key element of life. This means that, when the air is polluted, the life of living things is endangered. The emission of gases from industries is composed of combination of harmful gases. These gases affect the distribution of air components in the atmosphere. The main air components are oxygen, carbon dioxide and Nitrogen, where nitrogen has the largest percentage in terms of volume. The gases emitted are mainly carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which their impact on the environment is not desirable. The other air pollutant is gas emission from locomotives. The increase in the number of locomotives in the world has contributed to an increase of dangerous gas emission. These gases are mainly from incomplete fuel combustion by these locomotives. Due to industrialization and locomotive manufacture, the is a considerable increase in the level of air pollution. Therefore, industrialization and locomotive manufacturing forms the main air pollutants.
Water pollutants.
The main water pollutants are the industrial effluents which are not treated and channeled to the water bodies and poor agricultural practices. Untreated industrial effluents lead to contamination of water if channeled to the rivers. This makes water not suitable for aquatic life and human consumption. Poor agricultural practices lead to run of agricultural chemicals to the water bodies in rainy duration. The chemicals carried by running water accelerates aquatic plant growth which reduces the level of oxygen in the water. This causes the death of aquatic animals as well as illness in human beings. Water contamination is mostly in areas where the level of industrial and agricultural practices are high. Untreated sewerage is another form of water pollutants.
Effects of air and water pollution.
The both air and water pollution have negative effects of the living things. They lead to illness such as diarrhea in human beings, death of aquatic life and low agricultural production. This is due to bio-accumulation of chemicals in living things. Air pollution has led to depletion of the ozone layer in the atmosphere. The layer is used to prevent penetration of harmful sun rays to the earth. Due to this depletion, ultraviolet rays reach the earth service, causing cancerous diseases in human beings. The climatic condition has also changed due to this air pollution.
The possible remedies of these two types of pollution are; use of legislative policies. Every industry should pay an amount of tax to the authority when it pollutes the environment. Proper agricultural practices should be improvised in the farms. Use of public transport will greatly reduce the level of fuel emission by locomotives. It should be the responsibility of every individual in the world to prevent pollution. This will reduce the pollution level in the entire world.
References
Agarwal, S. K. (2005). Water Pollution. New Delhi: APH Publishing.
Reitze, A. W. (2001). Air Pollution Control Law: Compliance and Enforcement (abridged ed.). Washington: Environmental Law Institute.
