What is Pollution

Pollution is an undesirable change in the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of our
air land and water that harmfully affecting the human life and the desirable species, or that may
waste or deteriorate our raw material resources.

WHAT IS POLLUTANT?
As per the environment protection act 1986 of India. Environmental pollutants means any solid
liquid gaseous substance present in such concentration as may be, or tend to be injurious to
environment and environmental pollutants means the presence in the environment of any
environmental pollution.

TYPES OF POLLUTANTS.

BIODEGRADABLE POLLUTANTS

There are materials such as sewage that rapidly decomposes by natural processes.

NON BIODEGRADABLE POLLUTANTS

Non biodegradable pollutants are the materials that either do not decompose or
decompose slowly in the natural environment.

WATER POLLUTION
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and
groundwater.
It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without
adequate treatment to remove harmful constituents.

TYPES OF WATER POLLUTION

Surface water pollution.

-

Sources of surface water pollution are generally grouped into two categories based

on their origin.

Point source pollution

-occurs when harmful substances are emitted directly into the body of water.
- Examples : discharges from a sewage treatment plant, a factory, or a city storm
drain directly into a river.

Non-point source pollution

- delivers pollutants indirectly through transport.
- pollution refers to diffuse contamination that does not originate from a single
discrete source.
Example:when fertilizers is carried into stream by rain(i.e. run-off)

Groundwater pollution.
- Groundwater pollution is the pollution of water below the earth surface.
-Groundwater aquifers are susceptible to contamination from different sources.

CAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION

Domestic sewage.
- Various chemical compounds in the sewage discharged from drainage system our
residence regularly find its way to flow into different water bodies like ponds lakes , river
etc. And thus polluting water .
- Discharge of sewage from washing off clothes ,utensils & discharge of waste water
after usage of different household & cleaning products like laundry detergents,
bleaching powder, window cleaning, dust spray, stain remover, shampoo, hair dye,
conditioner , etc flow into the drainage system, finally directly or indirectly mix up with
water bodies & thus increasing harmful chemical substances making water
contaminated.

Industrial sewage.
All major industries release pollutants which ultimately mix with water bodies . For
Example.
MINING INDUSTRIES.
STEEL INDUSTRIES

 CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES
DETERGENTS INDUSTRIES
PAPER INDUSTRIES
FOOD INDUSTRIES
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES.
PETROLEUM INDUSTRIES.
DISCHARGING POLLUTANTS IN DIFFERENT FORMS OF CHEMICAL & THEIR
COMPOSITIONS
Agricultural waste
- Pesticides and weedicides: pesticides and weedicide es are applied to farm fields to
kill unwanted pests and weeds causing harm to both plants and crops . Eventually these
are washed away by rain water into local streams & rivers or drain down into the ground
water and thus ultimately finding their ways to big water bodies endangering the life of
aquatic organism and contaminating water
Other sources

EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION

Drinking polluted water can cause cholera or typhoid infections or diarrhea.

The consumption of highly contaminated water can be harmful for heart and kidneys

Few chemicals are entering to the food chain e.g.lead,arsenic

 Underground water pollution causing threat to drinking water in some parts of northern
India.