Land pollution
Land pollution refers to the contamination of soil and land components with harmful substances that can adversely affect human health and the environment. This contamination can arise from a variety of sources, including industrial chemicals, improper waste disposal, littering, and agricultural practices. Urbanization and industrialization contribute significantly to land pollution by generating increasing amounts of waste, which disrupts both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Contaminants can enter the soil through various means, such as chemical runoff, spills, and the decomposition of solid wastes.
The impacts of land pollution are extensive, leading to habitat destruction, reduced soil fertility, and health issues for humans and wildlife. Toxic materials in polluted areas can cause skin and respiratory diseases and have been linked to serious conditions like cancer and birth defects. Control measures to combat land pollution include recycling, proper waste disposal, and adopting organic farming practices. Public education and government regulations also play vital roles in mitigating this issue. As awareness of environmental challenges grows, initiatives like the European Green Deal aim to address and reduce land pollution alongside other forms of environmental degradation.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Land pollution
- DEFINITION: Contamination of soil and other land components with substances that could damage human health or the environment
Land may be polluted by a variety of substances, including industrial chemicals, oils, wastes from water treatment processes, solid wastes, and polluted water. These contaminants, in turn, contribute to the pollution of freshwater sources and the oceans. The problem of land pollution demonstrates the importance of the proper disposal of wastes of all kinds.
Land can result from human activities large and small, from the improper disposal of urban and industrial wastes to individual acts of littering. As urbanization and industrialization have increased, human beings have generated an ever larger array of wastes that promote high levels of land pollution.
Sources
Land can become polluted in many different ways. One common source of land pollution is the improper disposal of wastes of all kinds, including hazardous industrial wastes, municipal solid wastes, construction and demolition debris, and the wastes generated by mining operations. Additional sources of land pollution are sediment pollutants from improperly managed construction sites; salts from agricultural practices; oil from urban and energy production; products deposited by leaking vehicles; from improperly operated septic systems; pet wastes; and ground deposits from air pollution, such as particulate matter produced by power plants, motor vehicle exhaust, forest fires, and some industries, as well as lead, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Land contamination can also be caused by accidental spills that occur during industrial or commercial activities.
Other sources of land pollution are wastes from forestland and agriculture (including animal manure and the residues of chemical pesticides and fertilizers), solids from sewage treatment, (moist, food wastes), and other wastes left behind on land after human activities such as recreation, wastes washed ashore from boats and sewage outlets, and nuclear wastes released on open land. Soil can also become polluted as the result of agricultural practices, such as the use of chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. Agricultural irrigation can result in soil salinization.
Negative Impacts
Among the many negative impacts of land pollution are destruction of the habitats of terrestrial and aquatic animals; reduction of light penetration in rivers, creeks, and lakes from and excessive algal growth; reduction of soil oxygen levels caused by the of improperly disposed of materials (such as cleared vegetation); and acid rain, which damages trees and other plants. Fossil-fuel use and fertilizer runoff on land can lead to the pollution of massive areas in the oceans.
Pollutants from acid mine drainage and other toxic chemicals released by mining activities can damage both land and aquatic wildlife species and their habitats. It has been estimated that more than 405 hectares (1,000 acres) of land are disturbed in some fashion by the average mining operation. The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement reported that by 2010–11, more than 400,000 acres of land disturbed due to closed mining operations had been reclaimed. In 2022, the Office of the Interior announced that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement was making over $122 million available for Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) grants to create economic opportunities for states and American Indian tribes to bring economic and environmental benefits to their communities.
Some of the chemicals in polluted land are potentially toxic to humans and other living organisms and can reduce soil fertility. Exposure to contaminated soils can cause or exacerbate skin and respiratory diseases and has been linked to various kinds of cancers and birth defects. Toxic materials in polluted soils can enter human bodies through direct skin contact, through inhalation of soil particles, through the consumption of fruits and vegetables grown in the soils, and through the consumption of water contaminated by the soils.
Some chemical pesticides and herbicides are not easily biodegradable and can therefore have long-lasting effects on soil. Land-polluting organophosphate insecticides, which include the highly toxic parathion and more than forty other insecticides, are used in agriculture in the United States and around the world. Fungicides may contain copper and mercury, which are toxic to plants and fish. Organomercury compounds, used to kill sedges, can accumulate in the central nervous system; these compounds are difficult to remove from the soil.
Control Measures
Among the measures taken to protect critical land areas and wildlife habitats from pollutants are the recycling and of used materials (such as paper, metals, glass, and plastic) and the proper disposal of domestic as well as industrial waste. The coal combustion by-product fly ash can be added to concrete and cement, for instance. Solid wastes must be properly buried in managed landfills, incinerated in a controlled manner, or recycled.
When soils contain pesticides or metals, off-site disposal is recommended. Soils that are polluted by large amounts of buried construction and demolition debris may need to undergo special screening. Industrial effluents and other forms of industrial and commercial solid and liquid (polluted water and chemicals) must be properly treated and disposed of.
Land pollution can be reduced through the practice of organic farming and gardening, which strictly limits the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Individuals can help to reduce land pollution by buying biodegradable products and products with minimal packaging materials whenever possible; storing all liquid chemicals and chemical wastes in spill-proof containers and disposing of these containers only at designated disposal sites; repairing automobile oil leaks; and disposing of used motor oil at designated sites rather than by dumping it on the ground.
In the United States, government regulations limit the uses of many chemicals and other materials that have been found to be detrimental to the health of humans and other living organisms, and strict laws have been passed to ensure the proper disposal of all kinds of waste in the environment. Additional measures that have been taken to reduce land pollution include educational campaigns aimed at informing the public of the environmental harms caused by the improper dumping of waste. In the US and elsewhere, leaders continued to push for new policies to help combat land pollution, as well as other forms of environmental pollution. Major policy initiatives, such as the European Union's European Green Deal, which was first introduced in late 2019, strive to overcome these challenges.
Bibliography
Boulding, J. Russell, and Jon S. Ginn. Practical Handbook of Soil, Vadose Zone, and Ground-Water Contamination: Assessment, Prevention, and Remediation. 2nd ed., CRC Press, 2003.
Edwards, C. A., ed. Environmental Pollution By Pesticides. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013.
Hilgenkamp, Kathryn. “Land.” Environmental Health: Ecological Perspectives. Jones and Bartlett, 2006.
“Interior Department Announces $122.5 Million for Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization Grants.” U.S. Department of the Interior, 2 Nov. 2022, www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-announces-1225-million-abandoned-mine-land-economic-revitalization. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
"Land and Soil Pollution—Widespread, Harmful and Growing." European Environment Agency, 29 Aug. 2023, www.eea.europa.eu/signals-archived/signals-2020/articles/land-and-soil-pollution. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.
McCauley, Douglas J., et al. "Marine Defaunation: Animal Loss in the Global Ocean." Science, vol. 347, no. 6219, 2015, p. 1255641.
Meyer, Peter B., Richard H. William, and Kristen R. Yount. Contaminated Land: Reclamation, Redevelopment, and Reuse in the United States and the European Union. Edward Elgar, 1995.
Van der Perk, Marcel. Soil and Water Contamination. CRC Press, 2013.
Wise, Donald L., and Debra Trantolo. Bioremediation of Contaminated Soils. CRC Press, 2000.
Zehnder, Alexander J. B. Soil and Groundwater Pollution: Fundamentals, Risk Assessment, and Legislation. Springer, 1995.