Contaminants and pollutants in air, water, and soil harm living things and disrupt food chains. Major air pollution sources include fossil fuel combustion and toxic garden bonfires, releasing soot, sulfur dioxide, and heavy metals like lead that damage lungs, plants, and human health.
Contaminants: Substances like bacteria and viruses that occupy air, water, or soil and harm living organisms.
- Health Impact: High concentrations cause severe illness or death.
- Food Chain Disruption: Pollutants spread through ecosystems, spoiling plants and animals, ruining food supplies like fish, and creating foul odors.
Atmospheric Pollution Causes and Effects
- Fossil Fuel Combustion: Burning coal, oil, and vehicle fuel releases carbon dust and gases.
- Plant Damage: Dust coats leaves, blocking sunlight to stop photosynthesis and clogging stomata to limit growth.
- Acid Rain: Sulfur dioxide reacts with water vapour to form sulfuric acid, destroying building stonework, plant leaves, and human lungs.
- Hazardous Bonfires: Burning household rubbish like plastic and polystyrene produces cancer-causing chemicals up to 300 times higher than cigarette smoke, alongside cyanide, lead, and dioxin.
- Vehicle Emissions: Petrol and diesel engines release nitrogen oxides and lead compounds that accumulate in the human brain and body, as the excretory system cannot remove lead.
Water Pollution (Aquatic Contamination)
- Primary Sources: House and farm sewage, industrial and agricultural chemical waste, and spilt oil.
- Treatment Need: Sewage requires proper treatment to become harmless and prevent widespread aquatic ecosystem damage.