Soil Pollution

Soil pollution is defined as the contamination of soil and/or the degradation of the quality of soil in any environment. Soil can be polluted both by natural and manmade reasons.

 Here are some of the leading soil pollution causes.

• Ignorance towards soil management and related systems.
• Land filling and dumping of harmful wastes leads to contamination of soil.
• Unscientific method of farming, use of excessive chemical fertilizers and pesticides results in degradation of soil, rendering it polluted.
• Slash and burn agriculture practised by tribes also lead to the deterioration of quality of soil.
• Leakages from sanitary sewage.
• Acid rains, when fumes released from industries get mixed with rains.
• Deforestation results in loosening of the soil which makes it more vulnerable to floods and high velocity winds.
• Floods and natural calamities wash the soil away which causes depletion of soil at one place and accumulation at another. This causes soil pollution.
• Fuel leakages from automobiles, that get washed away due to rain and seep into the nearby soil.
• Unhealthy waste management techniques, which are characterized by release of sewage into the large dumping grounds and nearby streams or rivers.

The effects of pollution on soil are quite alarming and can cause huge disturbances in the ecological balance and health of living creatures on earth. Some of the most serious soil pollution effects are:

• Decrease in soil fertility and therefore decrease in the soil yield.
• Loss of soil and natural nutrients present in it. Plants also would not thrive in such soil, which would further result in soil erosion.
• Disturbance in the balance of flora and fauna residing in the soil.
• Increase in salinity of the soil, which therefore makes it unfit for vegetation, thus making it useless and barren.
• Crops cultivated in polluted soil will be harmful and unfit for human consumption.
• Creation of toxic dust is another potential effect of soil pollution. High velocity winds carry this dust and enter the respiratory tracts of animals and humans causing respiratory problems.
• Polluted soil cannot be cultivated. Toxins present in the soil enter the food chain and cause diseases to flora and fauna.
• Foul smell due to industrial chemicals and gases might result in headaches, fatigue, nausea, etc., in many people.
• Soil pollution causes alteration in the soil quality and structure. This results in the decrease of native organisms thriving in the soil. This in turn leads to the loss of native biodiversity of the area due to breakage of the food chain.