ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

Lecturate
Unit 1:
Environmental Pollution

Presented By
Husnain Afzal
Executive Engineer (Civil), WAPDA
Presentation Sequence

 Types and Sources of Pollution

 Priority Pollutants
 Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP)
 Environmental Mobility of Pollutants
Environmental Pollution
 Developmental activities such as construction,
transportation and manufacturing not only deplete the
natural resources but also produce large amount of wastes
that leads to pollution of air, water, soil, and oceans; global
warming and acid rains.
Types and Sources of Pollution
The following are the types of pollution perceived
in our environment:
 Water pollution
 Air pollution
 Soil and Land pollution
 Radiation Pollution
 Noise pollution
Water Pollution
 Water pollution is the introduction of chemical,
physical, or biological material into fresh surface
water reserves or ground waters that degrades the
quality of the water and affects the organisms
living in it.
Source:
 Direct input of human wastes, rapid urbanization,
untreated industrial and sewerage waste etc
Air Pollution
 Air pollution is the accumulation in the atmosphere of
certain substances that, in sufficient concentrations,
endanger human health or produce other measured effects
on living matter.
Sources
 Power and heat generation, the burning of solid wastes,
industrial processes, transportation etc.
 The six major types of pollutants are carbon monoxide,
hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, particulates, sulphur
dioxide, and photochemical oxidants.
Soil and Land Pollution
 Land pollution is the degradation of the earth's
land surface through misuse of the soil by poor
agricultural practices, mineral exploitation,
industrial waste dumping, and indiscriminate
disposal of urban wastes.
 Urbanization resulting in deforestation presents
additional soil-erosion problems; sediment loads
in streams increase manifold.
Radiation Pollution
 Radiation Pollution results from the detonation of nuclear
devices and the controlled release of energy by nuclear-
power generating plants. Other sources of radiation include
fuel reprocessing plants, by-products of mining operations,
and experimental research laboratories.
 Increased exposure to medical X-rays and to radiation
emissions from microwave ovens and other household
appliances, although of considerably less magnitude, all
constitute sources of environmental radiation.
Noise Pollution
 Any noise that is unwanted by the recipient.
 Noise level is measured in terms of decibels (dB). W.H.O.
(World Health Organization) has prescribed optimum
noise level as 45 dB by day and 35 dB by night. Anything
above 80 dB is hazardous.
 Sources of Noise Pollution include noise in industries such
as stone cutting and crushing, loudspeakers, shouting by
hawkers, movement of heavy transport vehicles, railways
and airports etc.
Priority Pollutants
 The priority pollutants include a list of 126
pollutants that include certain toxic substances
which have been assigned a high priority by
International Environmental Agencies for
development of water quality criteria and effluent
limitation guidelines because they are frequently
found in wastewater.
Priority Pollutants
 Heavy Metal in the water treatment field refers to heavy,
dense, metallic elements that occur only at trace levels in
water, but are very toxic and tend to accumulate.
 Arsenic
 Cadmium
 Chromium
 Lead in industry or in households
 Mercury
 Zinc
Priority Pollutants
 Pesticides comprise a large class of compounds of concern.
Typical pesticides and herbicides include DDT, Aldrin,
Chlordane, Endosulfan, Endrin, Heptachlor, and Diazinon.

 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons include a family of

semi-volatile organic pollutants such as naphthalene,
anthracene, pyrene. There are typically two main sources
of PAHs: spilled or released petroleum products (from oil
spills or discharge of oil production) and combustion
products that are found in urban runoff
Persistent Organic Pollutants
 Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic chemicals
that adversely affect human health and the environment
around the world. Because they can be transported by wind
and water, most POPs generated in one country can and do
affect people and wildlife far from where they are used and
released.
 They persist for long periods of time in the environment
and can accumulate and pass from one species to the next
through the food chain.
What are POP’s
POP’s can be categorized into two types.
1) Intentionally produced chemicals
2) Mostly used in agriculture, disease control,
manufacturing, or industrial processes. Examples include
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which have been
useful in a variety of industrial applications (e.g., in
electrical transformers and large capacitors, as hydraulic
and heat exchange fluids, and as additives to paints and
lubricants) and DDT used on agricultural crops and
control mosquitoes that carry malaria in some parts of the
world.
What are POP’s
 Unintentionally produced chemicals, such as
dioxins, that result from some industrial processes
and from combustion (for example, municipal and
medical waste incineration and backyard burning
of trash).
How Do POP’s Affect People
Reproductive, developmental, behavioral,
neurologic, endocrine, and immunologic adverse
health effects have been linked to POPs. People
are mainly exposed to POPs through contaminated
foods, drinking contaminated water and direct
contact with the chemicals.
Environmental Mobility of Pollutant
Effect of Pollutants on Soils
 Some soil degradation processes are derived from
anthropogenic activities like salinization, contamination,
use of harmful pesticides in agricultural practices,
industrial activities, urban and industrial development.
These processes can lead to a decrease in soil fertility, loss
of biodiversity, a reduced ability to retain water, an
alteration in nutrient cycles.
 Soil degradation has a direct effect on water and air
quality and on climate changes. It can also influence
human health and present a danger in terms of food safety
THANK YOU!!