Causes and Effects of Land Pollution

Know about land pollution

Pollution is a global problem. It has affected the lives of millions of people and caused several deaths and health problems. Land pollution is one of the types of pollution. Land pollution is pollution of our planet’s land surface.

Causes of land pollution:

• Increase in urbanization. Construction uses up forestland. More constructions means increase in demand for raw materials like timber. This leads to the exploitation and destruction of forests. There is more demand for water. Reservoirs are built leading to the loss of land.
• Increase in agricultural land. As the human population grew there was a greater demand for food. This caused more land allocated to agriculture. Forests were cut down for this purpose.
• Domestic waste. Every single day, tons and tons of domestic waste is dumped ranging from huge pieces of rubbish such as unused refrigerator to fish bones. If all these wastes are not disposed of properly, the damage they can do to the environment and humankind can be devastating. While waste collected from homes, offices and industries may be recycled or burnt in incinerators, a large amount of rubbish is neither burnt nor recycled but is left in certain areas marked as dumping grounds. We throw away more things today and there is an increase in the quantity of solid waste. This has given rise to problems as new dumping grounds have to be found.
• Agricultural activities. Besides domestic waste, pesticides and herbicides used by farmers to increase crop yields also pollute the land when they are washed into the soil.
• Industrial activities. Industrial activities also are a contributing factor to land pollution. For example, in open cast mining, huge holes are dug in the ground and these form dangerously deep mining pools. Heaps of mining waste are left behind and these waste often contain several poisonous substances that will contaminate the soil.

Pollution sources include plastics factories, chemical plants, oil refineries, nuclear waste disposal activity, large animal farms, coal-fired power plants, metals production factories and other heavy industry.

Reducing land Pollution

We can take the following steps:-

• encourage organic farming
• proper garbage disposal
• recycle garbage
• reduce use of herbicides and pesticides
• Avoid overpackaged items
• efficient utilization of resources and reducing wastage

Effects of land pollution

• exterminates wild life
• acid rain kills trees and other plants.
• vegetation that provides food and shelter is destroyed.
• it can seriously disrupt the balance of nature, and, in extreme cases, can cause human fatalities.
• pesticides can damage crops; kill vegetation; and poison birds, animals, and fish. Most pesticides kill or damage life forms other than those intended. For example, pesticides used in an effort to control or destroy undesirable vegetation and insects often destroy birds and small animals. Some life forms develop immunity to pesticides used to destroy them.