At all stages of development, man was closely connected with nature. But as the emergence and formation industrial society increasingly a problem modern world becomes pollution environment.

The types of pollution are quite diverse in terms of their impact and are characterized by the danger of spreading in airspace, as well as in the water element and with the help of the soil.

natural causes

There are two types of sources harmful emissions into the atmosphere - natural and anthropogenic. These are its main types. the diagram of which is given below - important problem that needs a solution.

The first type is in no way connected with the activities of people and occurs according to certain laws of nature. It should be noted that pollution of this type took place long before mankind appeared, so the environment copes with such "garbage" perfectly.

This is due to the fact that evolution has already incorporated natural disasters(storms, volcanic eruptions, Forest fires, decomposition of dead animals and plants). Natural pollution can be considered as biological pollution of the environment. Types of pollution of this kind include, first of all, the waste products of nature itself as a whole.

Natural pollution can be illustrated by the following examples:

Death Valley. At the foot of the Kikhpinych volcano (Kamchatka) there is a valley filled with volcanic hydrogen sulfide gases. In the absence of wind above ground level, gas accumulates, and all animals and birds that fall into given area. Scientists involved in the study of Death Valley, not only study this phenomenon, but also clear the territory of corpses. This is necessary due to the fact that scavengers do not come to the valley, which can harm not only living animals, but also spread the infection from the dead. In this way, given type pollution has quite clear signs that similar types have environmental pollution environment.

- Red Tide. A brown coating forms on the surface of the seas, strongly resembling blood. This happens due to the reproduction of a certain type of algae, which are very toxic in nature. Poisonous substances enter food chain into the inhabitants of the sea, which is why the latter perish.

There are cases when the crews of ships passing in such areas received severe poisoning by eating fish or shellfish caught in "poisonous" places. Scientists attribute the appearance of toxic algae to a large amount of chemical releases into the ocean waters.

Anthropogenic sources

The saturation of nature with harmful substances by man deserves special attention, since it is not limited to decomposition or fires through the fault of people. The classification of types of environmental pollution in this case may be as follows:

Fallout;

Inorganic water pollution;

organic;

Thermal views;

Soil pollution;

Saturation with pesticides;

- (as a result of the relationship with the water cycle in nature).

All of the above methods are types anthropogenic pollution environment, that is, the result human activity.

Aerosol emissions

In the atmosphere, in connection with the functioning of mankind, there is a mass of impurities that can be called technogenic dust. It is expressed in the form of fog, haze or ordinary smoke. As a result of the combustion of certain substances in production, toxic fumes and carcinogenic compounds are released into the environment.

The main sources of technogenic dust are metallurgical plants, oil refineries, soot and other similar plants that use heat treatment of raw materials. Also, the main types of environmental pollution by aerosol include the release of dust and toxic substances in the mining industry.

During the formation of artificial embankments (dumps) from overburden during the extraction of minerals, great amount processing results. Harmful particles are released into the environment and during blasting.

For example, during an explosion of medium power, up to 2 thousand cubic meters carbon monoxide and about 150 tons of dust. During the technological processes of processing semi-finished products for the production of cement, a lot of chemicals and technological dust are also released into the air.

Aerosol can also be called types of environmental pollution by transport. As a result of the combustion of a substance (gasoline or diesel fuel), gases are released: carbon oxides, hydrocarbons and nitrogen. The duration of these mixtures in the atmosphere before their natural decomposition ranges from several hours to several years.

Photochemical fog

Smog is formed by combining chemically harmful emissions into the atmosphere with solar radiation energy. As a result, there photochemical reaction oxides of nitrogen, hydrocarbons and others harmful substances.

Fog, thus, represents such a category of saturation with harmful substances, which is contained in the types of chemical pollution of the environment.

The chain reaction of converting nitrogen dioxide into nitrogen oxide and atomic oxygen should result in ozone (a combination of molecular and atomic oxygen). The reaction of nitrogen oxidation with this compound should give molecular oxygen and, as a result, nitrogen dioxide. However, ozone, when it occurs, immediately reacts with exhaust gases in the atmosphere, resulting in the formation of a certain number of combined oxygen atoms and molecules.

This compound, reacting with impurities in the air, forms oxidants and free radicals that are characteristic of smog. The compounds with which the air is literally saturated have an extremely negative impact on the circulatory and respiratory systems of residents, as a result of which a person may die.

Fallout

This type of pollution is the most dangerous for mankind and for all living things in the world. Precipitation, which contains radioactive particles, is atmospheric moisture and dust.

The heaviest particles of radioactive elements immediately settle on the surface of the earth, while lighter ones tend to linger in the atmosphere and be transported over fairly long distances.

Due to the radionucleotides contained in the air, they fall to the ground in the form of rain, snow or fog.

When such precipitation gets on human skin, radioactive atoms penetrate into the body, destroying it gradually from the inside.

Inorganic types

Types of environmental pollution are also represented by inorganic "methods".

In connection with the development of industry, wastes that are generated during the activities of factories and enterprises for the harvesting and processing of timber, during the performance of work in mines, in mines, as well as as a result of the use of transport, enter the water.

For example, in Wastewater ah, which then fall into the reservoirs, contains a large number of residues of synthetic detergents. These elements, getting into the water treatment system, are not removed and returned to the water supply.

Types of chemical environmental pollution include this case wastewater pollution by compounds of such elements as cadmium, arsenic, lead, mercury and other equally dangerous substances.

These compounds are absorbed by low-organized inhabitants of water bodies and are transferred along the food chain to highly organized organisms.

Chemical pollution tends to change the pH of water to such a state that inhabitants cannot live and breed in such water. aquatic environment.

However, many invertebrate organisms inhabiting water element, capable of accumulating radioactive elements and poisons. That is why they serve as an indicator of what the main types of environmental pollution caused the pollution of the reservoir.

Despite the fact that water has the property of self-cleaning, due to the ingress of a large amount of chemical compounds, organisms that provide cleansing die. Accordingly, it is required additional methods separation of harmful particles from water, but, unfortunately, this is not enough.

Organic "garbage"

Types of environmental pollution, human environment, include their organic nature. These include oil, consisting mainly of saturated hydrocarbons.

In the presence on the surface of the water, the inhabitants of the seas, as well as animals and plants coastal zone are dying.

This is due to the fact that oil, falling on fish or waterfowl, envelops them with a thin black-brown film, in connection with which the natural streamlining of the surface of the plumage of birds (or fish scales) is disturbed.

Long before people learned how to extract this natural resource, oil also hit the surface of the water. However, in the seas and oceans, there are microscopic bacteria that can process "black gold", feeding on it. Gradually, the stain disappears from the surface, and the bacteria become food for highly organized creatures.

The difficulty today in the natural destruction of stains is the huge amount of oil that spills out during the collapse of tankers or accidents on platforms. Bacteria do not have time to process it, and a combustible substance can get into other water bodies over the course, spreading through the oceans.

thermal type

Emissions of thermally unstable wastewater into rivers and lakes by power plants - this example illustrates such a category as types of energy pollution of the environment.

At first glance, a small increase in water temperature should not harm the ecosystem as a whole. However, the amount of such runoff and the constant change and instability of the temperature of the liquid in reservoirs leads to an artificial limitation of water exchange between the surface and the bottom.

Since there is a violation of the circulation necessary for the rational functioning of phytoplankton and algae, the species constancy of the water structure changes.

Soil pollution

The earth's soil is essential component biosphere. This shell accumulates not only organic matter, but also energy. The existence of soil as an element of the biosphere is one of the important links in its functioning. Therefore, pollution problems earth's surface chemicals (organic and inorganic), as well as a special kind of substances (pesticides) require special attention by scientists.

Pesticide pollution

Since special pesticides for plant treatment are produced and used by man, it can be said that contamination of the soil with these elements can illustrate the types of environment.

Although this group chemicals is important element in agriculture for the large-scale cultivation of plant foods, such poisons pose a huge danger to the soil.

Pesticides tend to accumulate in the body into which they have entered and, like radioactive elements, destroy human health from the inside, and also lead to the death of many microorganisms. Violation of the natural flow evolutionary process occurs, among other reasons, also due to the fact that environmental pollution is observed.

Types of pollution, which include saturation with pesticides, cause an imbalance and, as a result, natural selection. Along the food chain, chemicals penetrate the human body and are found not only in the internal organs of adults, but also in newborns. This means that pesticides accumulated in the course of life can be transmitted vertically from mother to child.

To date, such chemicals are being developed and tested, which, after application, having had the necessary effect, independently decompose into safe elements. It is important to follow the order chemical reaction, excluding the presence of such catalysts that could disrupt the natural course of decomposition of harmful substances into elemental ones.

acid rain

As a result of human functioning, a large amount of oxides is released into the atmosphere. chemical elements which causes environmental pollution. Types of pollution can be conditionally defined as domestic and industrial.

When burning combustible materials intended for domestic and industrial needs, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur, carbon and hydrogen sulfide are released. When interacting with moisture contained in the atmosphere, these mixtures degenerate into acids, which then fall out as precipitation.

With the threat of such anomalies, it is necessary to be extremely careful, since the effect of acid on people, even in small concentrations, causes a chemical burn. Falling under acid rain, a person can not only lose part of his hair or ruin his headdress, but also get a face or whole body burn.

Acid, falling out, harms not only people, but also the soil, that is, it causes environmental pollution. Types of pollution that are associated with the characteristics of the circulation of water in nature cause a glut of the earth with these compounds. The soil in the future is not able to retain useful natural properties. In the event that vegetation appears on such soil, which is then taken as food, it can be detrimental to human health.

In addition, acid rainwater, penetrating deep into the soil, enters the The groundwater. It is they who spread chemical compounds over long distances, which in the future can harm even those areas that are quite far from the area where acid precipitation fell.

Noise pollution

A person cannot live in absolute silence, as well as with rather loud sounds. This imbalance changes intracranial pressure and can lead to disruption of the entire body.

In connection with these features of human essence, it is possible to single out the environment, which cannot be seen.

The noise produced by numerous factories, machinery, trains, cars affects residents big cities or people who are forced to be close to such "noisy" achievements of mankind, is extremely negative.

The impact of such sounds disrupts the natural functioning of internal organs, blood vessels, etc., which in worst case can lead to premature aging and death.

Ways to fight

The types of sources of environmental pollution are quite diverse. However, it can be noted that all of them are associated with human activity. Some sources directly pollute the atmosphere, soil or water with toxic substances, while others only disrupt the natural course of events in nature. At the same time, the system often weakens, important food and other chains break, mutations occur.

Genetically modified organisms are individuals that are fully adapted to survive in conditions of severe environmental pollution. With each attack by pesticides, the cells changed so much that they could (already in future generations) withstand the destructive action of the most powerful substances.

But do not forget that our Earth is not adapted to absorb the "conveniences" of civilization, therefore, today, not new chemically hazardous substances are being developed, but their neutralizers.

The latest preparations or cultures of microorganisms are designed not only not to cause harm, but also to contribute to the fastest decomposition into safe elements of those substances that are planned to be used.

Sakhalin buckwheat

The natural properties of plants and organisms are identified and used in the struggle for the purity of the planet. For example, Sakhalin buckwheat has an excellent property - it can germinate and bloom on soil that is saturated with heavy metals.

According to the results of numerous experiments, such plants can “pick up” up to 1 kg of cadmium, 24 kg of lead and 322 kg of zinc from the soil in just 1 year. And the experiment at one of the military training grounds, where they tested chemical weapon, showed that 2 years after planting buckwheat in the soil, the soil was completely clean.

Environmental pollution.

Pollution of the environment is a physical and chemical change in the composition of a natural substance (air, water, soil), which threatens the health and life of a person surrounding him. natural environment. Pollution can be cosmic - natural, which the earth receives in significant quantities from space, from volcanic eruptions, and anthropogenic, committed as a result of human economic activity. Consider the second type of pollution committed by the will of man.

Anthropogenic pollution of the environment is divided into several types. These are dust, gas, chemical (including soil pollution with chemicals), aromatic, thermal (changes in water temperature), which adversely affects the life of aquatic animals. The source of environmental pollution is human economic activity (industry, agriculture, transport). Depending on the region, the share of one or another source of pollution can vary significantly. So, in cities, the largest share of pollution comes from transport. Its share in environmental pollution is 70-80%. Among industrial enterprises, metallurgical enterprises are considered the most "dirty". They pollute the environment by 34%. They are followed by energy companies, primarily thermal power plants, which pollute the environment by 27%. The remaining percentages fall on enterprises of the chemical (9%), oil (12%) and gas (7%) industries.

In recent years, agriculture has taken the lead in pollution. This is due to two circumstances. The first is an increase in the construction of large livestock complexes in the absence of any treatment of the generated waste and their disposal, and the second is an increase in the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides, which, together with rain flows and groundwater, enter rivers and lakes, causing serious damage to the basins. major rivers, their fish stocks and vegetation.

Every year, more than 20 tons of waste falls on one inhabitant of the Earth. The main objects of pollution are atmospheric air, water bodies, including the World Ocean, soils. Every day, thousands and thousands of tons of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur and other harmful substances are emitted into the atmosphere. And only 10% of this amount is absorbed by plants. Sulfur oxide (sulphurous gas) is the main pollutant, the source of which is thermal power plants, boiler houses, and metallurgical plants.

The concentration of sulfur dioxide in nitrogen oxides generates acid rain, which destroys crops, vegetation, and adversely affects the state of fish stocks. Along with sulfur dioxide, a negative impact on the state of the atmosphere has carbon dioxide, which is formed as a result of combustion. Its sources are thermal power plants, metallurgical plants, transport. For all previous years, the share of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 20% and continues to increase by 0.2% per year. If such growth rates are maintained, by the year 2000 the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will increase by 30-40%.

Such a physicochemical change in the atmosphere can lead to the phenomenon of the greenhouse effect. Its essence is that the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the upper layers of the atmosphere will interfere with the normal process of heat exchange between the Earth and Space, will restrain the heat accumulated by the Earth as a result of economic activity and due to certain natural causes, for example, volcanic eruptions.

The greenhouse effect is expressed in temperature increase, weather and climate change. We are already seeing similar phenomena. With modern anthropogenic loads, the temperature will rise by 0.5° every 10 years. The consequences of such a change in temperature are expressed in the rise in the level of the World Ocean and the flooding of part of the land, settlements. I must say that in 100 years the level of the World Ocean has risen by 10-12 cm, but with the greenhouse effect, such a rise can be accelerated by 10 times.

Another consequence of the greenhouse effect may be an increase in land desertification. Already, 6 million hectares of land annually turn into desert.

The state of the Earth's ozone layer is associated with atmospheric pollution, the main function of which is to protect humans and the Earth's natural environment from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation from space. Under the influence of ozone-depleting substances - fleron, freon, chlorine, carbon emitted by refrigeration units, cars, etc., this layer is gradually destroyed, in particular, in some places over densely populated areas, its thickness has decreased by 3%. It is known that the reduction of the ozone layer by 1% leads to an increase in the incidence of skin cancer by 6%.

Others no less important objects pollution are reservoirs, rivers, lakes, oceans. Billions of tons of liquid and solid waste are dumped into the oceans every year. Among these wastes, oil that enters the ocean from ships, as a result of oil production in the marine environment, and also as a result of numerous tanker accidents, excels. An oil spill leads to the formation of an oil film in the ocean, the death of the living resources of the sea, including algae, plangton, which produce oxygen.

Oxygen in the atmosphere is replenished from two sources - vegetation (about 40%) and the oceans (60%). In the oceans, oxygen is produced by the smallest organisms - plangton. The death of plangton under the oil film reduces the ability of the ocean to replenish the Earth's atmosphere with oxygen reserves. As a result of oil and other pollution of the World Ocean, such negative phenomena are observed as the reproduction of unicellular golden algae, which, in the process of its development, absorbs oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. She is very prolific and develops at lightning speed. Usually its belt is up to 10 km wide and 35 m thick; speed of 25 km per day. In the process of movement, this mass of algae destroys all living life in the ocean - both plant and animal. Such phenomena are observed in the North Sea, in the south of Scandinavia.

In addition, pollution of the oceans leads not only to a reduction in food resources, fish stocks, but also to their contamination with substances harmful to humans. It was found that, for example, Baltic cod has up to 80 milligrams of mercury per 1 kg of weight, i.e. 5-8 times more than in a medical thermometer.

Chemicals used in agriculture have become a massive source of environmental pollution: mineral fertilizers, pesticides, growth stimulants. Over 5 million various kinds of chemicals and compounds are now distributed on the planet. The toxicity of their action is little studied (about 40 thousand substances).

These and other consequences of environmental pollution ultimately have a negative impact on the physical health of a person, on his nervous, mental state, and on the health of future generations. Some data: 20% of the population is constantly exposed to allergies as a result of the harmful effects of environmental pollution; every day on the globe 25 thousand people die due to bad water, i.e. water, which contains concentrations of harmful substances in large doses; 35% of the population of industrial cities systematically suffer from various kinds of diseases caused by environmental pollution.

Depletion and destruction of the natural environment.

As a result of economic activity, there is a gradual depletion of the natural environment, i.e. the loss of those natural resources that serve as a source of human economic activity. We have already spoken about deforestation. The loss of forests is not only the loss of oxygen, but also of the most important economic resources necessary for a person for further activities.

At the current rate of consumption, the proven reserves of coal, oil, natural gas and other minerals are spent more than rapidly than it was before, and the number of these reserves is catastrophically reduced. True, society has the prospect of using other, new types of energy, in particular, atomic energy, hydrogen energy, the reserves of which are inexhaustible. But use atomic energy for peaceful purposes, on a large scale, is hampered by the unresolved problem of the disposal of waste from the nuclear industry. The development of hydrogen as an energy source is theoretically permissible and possible, but practically, more precisely, technologically, this problem has not yet been solved at the level of industrial production.

The rate of consumption of fresh water is increasing, which leads to the depletion of non-renewable water resources. For example, we can cite the following data: for all needs per day, one person spends an average of 150-200 liters of water; metropolitan 200-300 l; a resident of Moscow consumes 500-600 liters per day. Some countries are completely deprived of fresh water and use imported water. An attempt to solve the problem of providing fresh water by transporting icebergs from northern countries to the south, in particular Africa, was not successful. Recycling sea ​​water is taking place in the city of Shevchenko in the Caspian Sea, but so far this problem of industrial desalination of sea water has not been widely developed not only in our country, but throughout the world. There are some difficulties here: for consumption, desalinated water needs to be diluted with ordinary water, and only in such a mixture can it be used for its intended purpose.

Depletion and pollution of the natural environment lead to the destruction of ecological ties, the formation of areas and regions with a completely or partially degraded natural environment that is not capable of exchanging substances and energy. The most striking example of such degradation is the Aral, which is slowly dying due to the lack of the necessary water flow from two powerful Central Asian rivers. The steppes of Kalmykia have been degraded as a result of the irrational use of land, overloading with grazing, which completely deprived the soil of vegetation that held the soil cover.

Pollution of the Earth's atmosphere- bringing in atmospheric air new uncharacteristic for him physical, chemical and biological substances or a change in their natural concentration.

Types of pollution

According to the sources of pollution, there are two types of air pollution

natural

anthropogenic

According to the nature of the pollutant, air pollution can be of three types:

physical - mechanical (dust, solid particles), radioactive (radioactive radiation and isotopes), electromagnetic (various types electromagnetic waves, including radio waves), noise (various loud sounds and low-frequency vibrations) and thermal pollution (for example, emissions of warm air, etc.)

chemical - pollution by gaseous substances and aerosols. To date, the main chemical air pollutants are: carbon monoxide (IV), nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons, aldehydes, heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr), ammonia, dust and radioactive isotopes

biological - mainly microbial contamination. For example, air pollution by vegetative forms and spores of bacteria and fungi, viruses, as well as their toxins and waste products.

Sources of pollution

The main sources of air pollution are:

Natural (natural pollutants of mineral, vegetable or microbiological origin, which include volcanic eruptions, forest and steppe fires, dust, plant pollen, animal excretions, etc.)

Artificial (anthropogenic), which can be divided into several groups:

Transport - pollutants generated during the operation of road, rail, air, sea and river transport;

Industrial - pollutants formed as emissions during technological processes, heating;

Household - pollutants caused by the combustion of fuel in the home and the processing of household waste.

The composition of anthropogenic sources of air pollution can also be divided into several groups:

Mechanical pollutants - dust from cement plants, dust from coal combustion in boiler houses, furnaces and furnaces, soot from oil and fuel oil combustion, abraded tires, etc.;

Chemical pollutants - dusty or gaseous substances capable of entering into chemical reactions;

radioactive contaminants.

Major pollutants

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless gas also known as carbon monoxide". It is formed as a result of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) in conditions of lack of oxygen and at low temperatures. When inhaled, carbon monoxide due to the presence in its molecule double bond forms strong complex compounds with hemoglobin in human blood and thereby blocks the flow of oxygen into the blood.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) - or carbon dioxide - is a colorless gas with a sour smell and taste, a product of the complete oxidation of carbon. It is one of the greenhouse gases.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) (sulfur dioxide, sulfur dioxide) is a colorless gas with a pungent odor. It is formed during the combustion of sulfur-containing fossil fuels, mainly coal, as well as during the processing of sulfur ores. It is primarily involved in the formation of acid rain. The global SO2 emission is estimated at 190 million tons per year. Prolonged exposure to sulfur dioxide on a person first leads to a loss of taste sensations, shortness of breath, and then to inflammation or edema of the lungs, interruptions in cardiac activity, impaired blood circulation and respiratory arrest.

Nitrogen oxides (nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide) are gaseous substances: nitrogen monoxide NO and nitrogen dioxide NO2 are combined by one general formula NOx. In all combustion processes, nitrogen oxides are formed, mostly in the form of an oxide. The higher the combustion temperature, the more intense the formation of nitrogen oxides. Another source of nitrogen oxides are enterprises producing nitrogen fertilizers, nitric acid and nitrates, aniline dyes, nitro compounds. The amount of nitrogen oxides entering the atmosphere is 65 million tons per year. Of the total amount of nitrogen oxides emitted into the atmosphere, transport accounts for 55%, energy - 28%, industrial enterprises - 14%, small consumers and the household sector - 3%.

Ozone (O3) is a gas with a characteristic odor, a stronger oxidizing agent than oxygen. It is considered one of the most toxic of all common air pollutants. In the lower atmospheric layer, ozone is formed as a result of photochemical processes involving nitrogen dioxide and volatile organic compounds.

Hydrocarbons are chemical compounds of carbon and hydrogen. These include thousands of different air pollutants found in unburned gasoline, dry cleaning fluids, industrial solvents, and more.

Lead (Pb) is a silvery gray metal that is toxic in any known form. It is widely used for the production of paints, ammunition, printing alloy, etc. About 60% of the world's lead production is consumed annually for the production of acid batteries. However, the main source (about 80%) of air pollution with lead compounds are exhaust gases. Vehicle that use leaded gasoline.

Industrial dusts, depending on the mechanism of their formation, are divided into the following 4 classes:

mechanical dust - is formed as a result of grinding the product during the technological process;

sublimates - are formed as a result of volumetric condensation of vapors of substances during cooling of a gas passed through a technological apparatus, installation or unit;

fly ash - the non-combustible fuel residue contained in the flue gas in suspension, is formed from its mineral impurities during combustion;

industrial soot - solid highly dispersed carbon, which is part of industrial emissions, is formed during incomplete combustion or thermal decomposition hydrocarbons.

The main sources of anthropogenic aerosol air pollution are thermal power plants (TPP) that consume coal. The combustion of coal, the production of cement and the smelting of pig iron give a total emission of dust into the atmosphere equal to 170 million tons per year.

Consequences of pollution of the Earth's atmosphere

The consequences of land pollution include the greenhouse effect, acid rain, smog and the ozone hole. Astronomers claim that the transparency of the atmosphere has decreased over recent times. It has also been found that at least 1.3 million people die each year due to air pollution.

Pollution of the hydrosphere.

Brief description of pollution of the hydrosphere.

The 20th century is characterized by the intensive development of industry, and as a result, severe pollution of the hydrosphere (rivers, lakes, seas and the ocean as a whole). Natural waters are polluted by wastewater from various enterprises and households. Substances enter these waters, having a harmful effect on the flora and fauna of water bodies, for example, oil, dust emissions from the construction industry, the food chemical industry and other sectors of the national economy. So in the 60s of the XX century, commercial fish disappeared in the waters of the Moscow River (within the city).

A large polluting effect on natural waters has water transport, both due to the disposal of waste from household and industrial activities in them, and due to fuel leakage and corrosion processes on ships. Due to the ingress of various chemical compounds into fresh waters, these waters lose their consumer qualities and require more expenses for their purification.

stock of quality fresh water on Earth is constantly decreasing. Great damage to the hydrosphere is caused by accidents at enterprises located on the banks of rivers. The hydrosphere is also heavily polluted by agricultural enterprises, especially large livestock complexes and agro-industrial complexes for the cultivation and processing of agricultural products. Irrational use of fertilizers, plant and animal protection products, additives that increase productivity Agriculture, degrades the quality of natural waters, makes these waters unsuitable for use without special treatment. In addition to chemical pollution, biological pollutants-microorganisms, including pathogens, which, under favorable conditions, multiply intensively and are a source of epidemics, enter the waters of reservoirs.

One of the most dangerous water pollutants is oil. It has been established that 1% of all transported oil enters the world's oceans. One ton of oil covers 12 sq. km. surface, making it unsuitable for the life of plankton. Light fractions of oil form a mobile film, medium fractions (by weight) form a suspended emulsion, and heavy fractions (fuel oil) settle to the bottom and have a toxic effect on benthic forms of aquatic organisms.

The most dangerous pollutants of the hydrosphere are radioactive substances that enter the waters of the ocean during accidents of submarines with nuclear warheads, due to accidents in nuclear reactors and as a result of underwater nuclear explosions. Unfortunately, the waters of the ocean are used for the disposal of hazardous waste, including nuclear. Substances with radioactivity are dangerous because their negative effect is long-term, leads to deformities due to mutations, etc.

Great damage to natural waters is caused by wastewater from the pulp and paper industry, which changes the reaction of the environment (pH), introduces various organic substances into the water, which have a toxic effect on aquatic organisms, and also combine natural waters oxygen through oxidation.

A negative role is played by the wastewater of the thermal power plant due to the fact that they increase the temperature of natural reservoirs, at which there is a more intensive reproduction of organisms, including pathogens.

Strong biological pollution of the hydrosphere occurs due to the ingress of domestic wastewater containing feces into it. In addition, with these waters, synthetic detergents (SMC) that are poorly decomposed under natural conditions also enter.

Storm and flood runoff from urban areas, polluted with salts and household waste, enters the waters of rivers and lakes. Hundreds of thousands of objects float in the waters of the seas that do not break down in the natural environment (glass bottles and containers made of artificial polymers and other objects).

Significant clogging and pollution is caused by mole rafting of the forest, since the masses of floating forest inflict injuries on fish, block their way to spawning grounds; Due to the extramization of substances contained in wood, water is polluted with these substances.

Contaminants entering water can enter the human body through the food chain, especially through fish. An impressive example of the danger that human health and life is exposed to due to water pollution is the so-called Minamata disease. On the shores of Minamata Bay, in southern Japan, formerly considered the "Sea Garden" due to the richness and diversity of marine organisms, in 1956. For the first time, a previously unknown disease was noted. It was expressed in a violation of vision, hearing and touch in a person, as well as in switching off his behavior. Until the end of 1972, 292 cases of the disease were discovered, of which 62 ended in death. Only in 1969 was it finally possible to prove that the cause of the disease was methylmercury compounds, which for many years entered the bay from the sewage ditch with the waters of the Nippon Chisso (Japanese nitrogen) factory. poisonous substance came with small marine organisms and small fish to larger fish that were caught local residents and used for food. The disease affected mainly poor fishermen who ate fish every day.

Harmful substances from polluted water bodies can enter our body not only through the food chain. Swimming in heavily polluted lakes, rivers and seas can be harmful.

“Sim is proclaimed that tomorrow from early morning all residents are forbidden to shit in the stream, because our glorious magistrate ordered to brew beer the day after tomorrow.” This inscription in the rough but juicy language of the "Good Old Time" can be read on an old engraving. It testifies to how the removal of domestic wastewater from the city was organized in past centuries. Is this business better organized today? In many places, yes, but not everywhere. So, on the way of the Egyptian port of Alexandria to Cairo, one can often observe tables on the banks of canals and ditches in oases, on which, with the help of vivid drawings of the locality, the population explained that it was impossible to direct their natural needs to water bodies.

One of the reasons for the ban is schistosomiasis, a disease called her bilharzia, after the name of the sender, the German physician Theodor Bielharz. When a person works, swims or just bathes in water where there are pathogens of this disease, he runs the risk of getting sick with it: the pathogen easily penetrates the skin. Schistosomiasis is estimated to affect over 200 million people worldwide.

Vernadsky's doctrine of the biosphere and the concept of the noosphere.

According to Vernadsky's ideas, the biosphere consists of several heterogeneous components. The main and main one is living matter, the totality of all living organisms inhabiting the Earth. In the process of life, living organisms interact with non-living (abiogenic) - inert matter. Such a substance is formed as a result of processes in which living organisms do not take part, for example, igneous rocks. The next component is a biogenic substance created and processed by living organisms (atmospheric gases, coal, oil, peat, limestone, chalk, forest litter, soil humus, etc.). Another component of the biosphere - bioinert substance - is the result of the joint activity of living organisms (water, soil, weathering crust, sedimentary rocks, clay materials) and inert (abiogenic) processes.

Inert matter sharply prevails in mass and volume. Living matter by mass makes up an insignificant part of our planet: approximately 0.25% of the biosphere. Moreover, "the mass of living matter remains basically constant and is determined by the radiant solar energy of the planet's population." At present, this conclusion of Vernadsky is called the law of constancy.

IN AND. Vernadsky formulated five postulates relating to the function of the biosphere.

The first postulate: “From the very beginning of the biosphere, the life included in it should have been already complex body, and not a homogeneous substance, since the biogeochemical functions associated with life, in terms of diversity and complexity, cannot be the lot of any one form of life. In other words, the primitive biosphere was originally characterized by rich functional diversity.

The second postulate: “Organisms do not appear singly, but in a mass effect ... The first appearance of life ... should have occurred not in the form of the appearance of any one kind of organisms, but their combination, corresponding to the geochemical function of life. Biocenoses should have appeared immediately.

The third postulate: "In the general monolith of life, no matter how its constituent parts change, their chemical functions could not be affected by morphological change." That is, the primary biosphere was represented by "sets" of organisms such as biocenoses, which were the main "acting force" of geochemical transformations. Morphological changes in "sets" were not reflected in " chemical functions» these components.

The fourth postulate: “Living organisms ... by their breathing, their nutrition, their metabolism ... by the continuous change of generations ... give rise to one of the grandest planetary phenomena ... - the migration of chemical elements in the biosphere”, therefore, “throughout the past millions years, we see the formation of the same minerals, at all times there were the same cycles of chemical elements that we see now.

Fifth postulate: "Without exception, all the functions of living matter in the biosphere can be performed by the simplest unicellular organisms."

Developing the doctrine of the biosphere, V.I. Vernadsky came to the conclusion that the main transformer of cosmic energy is the green matter of plants. Only they can absorb energy solar radiation and synthesize primary organic compounds.

Noosphere- sphere of reason; the sphere of interaction between society and nature, within the boundaries of which reasonable human activity becomes the determining factor in development (this sphere is also referred to by the terms "anthroposphere", "biosphere", "biotechnosphere".

The noosphere is supposedly a new, higher stage in the evolution of the biosphere, the formation of which is associated with the development of society, which has a profound impact on natural processes. According to V. I. Vernadsky, “in the biosphere there is a great geological, perhaps space force, the planetary action of which is usually not taken into account in ideas about the cosmos ... This force is the mind of man, his striving and organized will as a social being "

Soil pollution

Soil is a natural formation with a number of living and inanimate nature. The depth does not exceed 20-30 cm, on chernozems it can reach about 100 cm.

The soil is in organic matter, mineral compounds, living organisms; Every soil has its own genotype.

Humus is the main and indispensable condition for the soil's cereal content; it is a complex organo-mineral complex. Under conditions of the best farming, in natural conditions, a positive balance of humus is maintained.

Sources of environmental pollution can be divided into two categories: natural and artificial. Pollution is the entry into the environment of any element unusual for it. The history of the origin of the Earth and the changes taking place on it can also be attributed to pollution. Pollution is an external influence. The environment reacts to it and changes. That is, pollution causes change. One such change was the emergence of life on Earth. I wonder what kind of pollution it was caused by?

It is generally accepted that for the environment natural springs pollution is the waste products of organisms, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, sandstorms, and so on. Is it so? Is it possible to consider as pollution of the system what the system itself produces? Or can pollution occur only when an unusual and unfamiliar element enters the system? Yes, as a result of these natural phenomena there is an excess or deficiency of any substances. For example, combustion products after fires, sulfur, ash and excess heat after volcanic eruptions, water after excessive precipitation or floods, and so on. And outwardly, all this can be mistaken for pollution. In any case, according to external signs. But all these phenomena, firstly, are the result of the activity of the planet or its biosphere. And secondly, in the process of this “activity”, no new, previously unknown elements and substances are produced on the planet. And only “alien” can pollute.

They call him an agent. It is not included in the system and its internal structure, and therefore is unusual for it. Such for the Earth is solar radiation. Some of its spectra, like ultraviolet, are still detrimental to the biosphere. She developed a whole system of protection against it, reducing the penetration and influence of these rays.

The Earth from the beginning of its existence has always been exposed to various cosmic processes and objects. And from many of them she found protection. But the "attacks" did not stop, and this is quite natural. penetrating through protective layer atmosphere, meteorites, and these should be initially quite large space objects, cause not only visible destruction. They bring extraterrestrial substances to Earth. Can this be considered pollution? Of course yes. It is difficult to assess the extent of such pollution and the consequences they may cause. Only destruction is visible immediately after the fall of a meteorite, which occurs at the atomic level, can only become known after a significant period of time. It is no coincidence that supporters of the theory of the extraterrestrial origin of life, that is, bringing it from space, including on meteorites or others that fell to Earth space objects, lots of.

And the increasing impact of solar radiation on the Earth is happening every day, and we are witnessing it. The atmosphere has recently undergone such changes that it can no longer perform its protective functions as before. We are talking about the warming of the planet's climate, caused by the appearance of " ozone holes and the greenhouse effect. The amount of ultraviolet radiation, as a result of a decrease in the amount of ozone in the atmosphere, penetrates more into the areas of the planet inhabited by living organisms. This kind of light spectrum carries the largest number energy and detrimental to some types of microorganism. " Greenhouse effect” is associated with an increase in the amount of another light spectrum - infrared. it thermal radiation originating from objects on the Earth's surface. It returns to the atmosphere and is delayed by it. If the heat did not linger in the lower layers of the atmosphere, then sharp temperature drops would be inevitable, at which the existence of living organisms is impossible.

The definition of the biosphere says that living organisms affect the environment and transform it. They secrete waste products, which, probably, can be mistaken for clogging. However, the biosystem is built in such a way that if this "pollution" did not exist, then the system itself would not exist. Yes, and the products produced by living organisms are agents within the system and are characteristic of it. Any kind of natural or internal pollution is inherent and obligatory element the existence of the biosphere as an integral, unified and self-regulating system.

Internal “pollution” was useful until another component and a living organism of the biosphere, a person, began to actively interfere in the process. He invented new way pollution and new pollution elements previously unknown to nature. That is, now the definition of the biosphere has sounded fully. Impact, change and transformation has become full and tangible. In the course of his life, or rather, to ensure his life, a person began to create such forms and methods of such provision, which resulted not only in an increase in the volumes and concentrations of elements known to nature, but also in the creation of new, artificial, and therefore unknown, named xenobiotics. The form of human impact on the biosphere was called anthropogenic, and the type of pollution was called artificial, that is, it did not appear as a result of natural phenomena or processes.

Types of artificial pollution

In order to live, a person must work, that is, engage in certain types activities. Firstly, it is the provision of water for consumption and industrial needs. Secondly, meet the requirements in food. The remaining activities are aimed at solving household needs for housing and clothing. For these purposes, they are mined and processed Natural resources and minerals, transportation and transportation are carried out, additional energy. In the struggle for life or improving its quality, a person expands the space for his existence, for which he conducts military operations, engages in science, explores space, and so on. All these activities are the main sources of environmental pollution, because they lead to the production of industrial and domestic waste.

Sources of environmental pollution, as a rule, correspond to industries. The greatest danger to nature is the extraction of oil and gas, metallurgy and chemical industry, transport, agriculture, energy.

Waste is generated not only at the end of the production cycle or after the complete processing of manufactured products. They are also produced during technological process. Waste itself is a source of pollution, as a result of accumulation, improper storage, lack of processing and disposal, and so on. All types of environmental pollution can be divided into three main ones. Physical, chemical and biological pollution. The physical includes dust, ash and other products of combustion, radiation, electromagnetic fields, noise, and so on. To the chemical - substances and compounds, such as heavy metals, salts, acids, alkalis, aerosols and the like. Biological is contamination by bacteriological or microbiological materials.

Each source, with its waste, pollutes several types of the natural environment at the same time. That is, its pollution is complex. For example, any industrial production for its needs consumes water, which, having fulfilled its functions, is discharged back into the reservoir. At the same time, passing through the stages of the technological process, it is “enriched” with substances and elements involved in production. Returning back, it mixes with the waters of a river or lake and "shares" these substances. As a result, both the water itself and all organisms involved in the food chain this biocenosis.

Production is usually an energy consumer. For these needs are used different kinds fuels - peat, coal, fuel oil or gas. Burning, these substances transfer energy to production units and mechanisms, setting them in motion, and the products released as a result of combustion enter the atmosphere. Exhaust gases, ash, suspended particles, and so on with air enter the respiratory system Living creatures. In addition, over time, these substances with precipitation fall on the soil and water. And again they move along the food chain. Products manufactured by enterprises are delivered to consumers, after which waste is generated. In addition, the products themselves may fall out of their consumer circulation and into ready-made get into the waste. Both products and their waste contain substances that are unusual for nature, either in terms of qualitative composition or quantitative concentration. Waste, even after disposal, the global percentage of which is very small, accumulates in landfills and landfills. There they are not recycled, but rot and burn. The products of decay and combustion, and these are pollutants, enter the soil, water and air in the ways already described and begin their circulation.

Types of sources and their features

Some sectors of the economy have their own specifics. For example, agriculture, the oil and chemical industry, the military complex and energy.

The specificity of agriculture lies in the fact that in order to intensify production and increase crop yields, a large amount of pesticides and mineral fertilizers are introduced into the soil. Studies have shown that up to 10% of the introduced substances are productively used. That is, it is precisely such a small amount that is absorbed by plants and affects pests. Mineral fertilizers, pesticides, plant protection products, pesticides are substances with a high content of nitrogen and phosphorus. Wherever these substances are located, in storage areas, in fields or landfills, the substances they contain different ways get into the environment. This mainly occurs during the period of floods, heavy rains, snowmelt or blown by the wind. In the full sense of the word, nitrogen and phosphorus cannot be called pollutants, because they can be almost completely consumed by plants. In this case, too rapid growth of green mass has a negative impact on the natural environment. Filling almost the entire volume of the biome with it and squeezing out the rest of the living world. In such places animal world dies or leaves it, plants significantly reduce their species diversity, water resources gradually disappear, giving way to organic deposits.

Chemical industry. Its main originality is the synthesis of elements, substances and compounds unknown to nature. This means that there is no organism capable of converting such a substance into a "suitable" for inclusion in trophic chain. Xenobiotics, without decomposing and not being processed, accumulate in various natural environments and animal organisms. They cause various types of diseases, up to changes in the gene structure.

The oil industry, which must include all its stages from extraction to refining. This industry deals a double polluting blow to the environment. First, oil itself is in its physical and chemical properties, a substance close to poisonous. Secondly, the process of its extraction, transportation and processing is extremely dangerous for nature. For example, during exploration and production of hydrocarbons, forests are cut down, soils are destroyed. At this stage of work, as well as during transportation, spills of oil and oil products are frequent. This is where the harmful qualities of the oil itself come into play. Processing of hydrocarbons is a process associated with the use and production of flammable, poisonous substances of this kind, which, by themselves and when used in other industries, emit chemical substances negatively affecting the atmospheric air, soil and water resources.

Energy. The main sources affecting the environment of this branch of human activity are: water with elevated temperature discharged after being used for cooling the technological equipment of stations and hydraulic structures regulating river flows. In these cases, no specific chemical substances enter nature, but warm water and a regulated flow are such that they cause deep changes in the ecosystems of the regions, up to their destruction.

. Its peculiarity is that in the presence of almost all types of production, including weapons mass destruction, chemical, bacteriological and nuclear, it is closed to external checks. In addition, in a number of countries with a powerful military potential, the maintenance of this complex is not enough to carry out sufficient measures to protect the environment, modernize treatment and control equipment, as well as dispose of hazardous substances and store them.

Transport and, above all, automobile. With the invention of the engine internal combustion and the desire of man to live in cities, the nature of settlements has changed dramatically. First of all, it concerns air. In some major cities to share road transport accounts for up to 90% of all pollutant emissions. Urbanization and enlargement of cities only contributes to the worsening of the situation. Exhaust engine gases contain more than 280 types of various harmful substances. The main ones are: benzapyrene, oxides of nitrogen and carbon, lead, mercury, sulfur, soot and hydrocarbons. In addition, transport companies, car repair shops and private cars are also thousands of tons of various rubber products, waste oils and lubricants, scrap metal, glass, polluted water after washing vehicles and sites for its repair and storage. All this flows into the water, gets into the soil and air. Most car engines use fuels with a high lead content. Exhaust gases from diesel engines are much more toxic than gasoline engines.

. Both the first and the second are a concentrated accumulation of all possible pollutants. More and more surface-active additives, which are part of washing powders and detergents, are getting into municipal drains. And the distinctive quality of landfills is that absolutely most of them are unauthorized and are formed randomly. This makes it impossible to control the composition of the substances contained in the waste, which means the degree and danger of their influence on the world and human health.

For the environment, the sources and types of pollution can be listed indefinitely. Name the types of production, the formulas of chemical compounds and their quantities, the consequences that they cause in living organisms and the harm that brings human health. You can also enumerate legislative acts, regulatory bodies, hosted events and conferences. But who has not heard, does not know or does not understand? Why, then, do we leave garbage after resting in the forest, or throw plastic bottle further into the river or pouring used oil into a nearby ravine? And so on. The main, first and main source of environmental pollution is not an industrial enterprise, but we are with you and each of us. And here you don’t have to be clever, but just try to do it right at least once.

Video - Life after people

The simplest definition of pollution is the introduction or emergence of new pollutants into the environment or the excess of the natural long-term average level of these pollutants.

Environmental pollution is divided into natural, caused by some natural causes: volcanic eruption, faults earth's crust, natural fires, dust storms, etc. and anthropogenic, arising in connection with human economic activity.

Among the anthropogenic pollution are the following types pollution: physical, mechanical, biological, geological, chemical.

To physical pollution include thermal, light, noise, vibration, electromagnetic, radioactive.

Sources of soil temperature increase are underground construction, laying of communications. An increase in soil temperature stimulates the activity of microorganisms, which are agents of corrosion of various communications.

light pollution- Violation of natural light environment. It leads to a violation of the rhythms of the activity of living organisms. The increase in water turbidity in water bodies reduces the flow of sunlight to the depth and photosynthesis of aquatic vegetation.

Noise pollution– an increase in the intensity and frequency of noise above the natural level. Noise refers to serious environmental pollutants, adaptation to which organisms are practically impossible. Sources of noise pollution are automobile, rail, air transport, industrial enterprises, household appliances.

Noise pollution has a negative impact on the hearing organs, the nervous system (up to mental disorders), the cardiovascular system and other organs.

Vibration pollution - arises as a result of the operation of different types of transport, vibration equipment, can lead to soil subsidence, deformation of buildings and structures.

Electromagnetic pollution– change in the electromagnetic properties of the environment. Sources of electromagnetic pollution are power lines, radio and television centers, radars. This type of pollution has a significant impact on living organisms: on metabolism, blood composition, and the cardiovascular system.

Nuclear pollution - excess of the natural radioactive level of the environment. Sources of radioactive contamination of the environment are nuclear explosions, radioactive waste disposal, accidents at nuclear power plants and etc.

Mechanical pollution - pollution of the environment by materials that have only a mechanical effect without chemical consequences. Examples are: siltation of water bodies with soil, dust in the atmosphere, construction waste dump on land plot. At first glance, such pollution may seem harmless, but it can cause a number of environmental problems, the elimination of which will require significant economic costs.

biological pollution divided into bacterial and organic. Bacterial contamination - the introduction into the environment of pathogens that contribute to the spread of diseases, such as hepatitis, cholera, dysentery and other diseases.

Sources may be insufficiently disinfected sewage discharged into a water body.

Organic pollution - pollution, for example, of the aquatic environment with substances capable of fermentation, decay: waste from food, pulp and paper industries, untreated sewage.

To biological pollution also refer animal relocation into new ecosystems where their natural enemies are absent. Such relocation can lead to an explosion in the number of relocated animals and have unpredictable consequences.

geological pollution - stimulation under the influence of human activities of such geological processes as flooding, drainage of territories, the formation of landslides, landslides, subsidence of the earth's surface, etc.

Such violations occur as a result of mining, construction, leakage of water and sewage from communications, as a result of the vibrational impact of transport and other influences. The given impacts must be taken into account when designing in construction (choosing the design characteristics of soils, in calculating the stability of buildings and structures).

chemical pollution - change in the natural chemical properties of the environment as a result of emissions by industrial enterprises, transport, agriculture of various pollutants. For example, atmospheric emissions of hydrocarbon fuel combustion products, soil pollution with pesticides, and untreated wastewater discharges into water bodies. Some of the most dangerous pollutants are heavy metals and synthetic organic compounds.

Heavy metals are chemical elements that high density(> 8 g ​​/ cm 3) for example, lead, tin, cadmium, mercury, chromium, copper, zinc, etc., they are widely used in industry and are very toxic. Their ions and some compounds are easily soluble in water, can enter the body and have a negative effect on it. The main sources of waste containing heavy metals are ore beneficiation, metal smelting and processing, and electroplating industries.

Synthetic organic compounds are used to produce plastics, synthetic fibers, solvents, paints, pesticides, detergents, and can be absorbed by living organisms and disrupt their functioning.

Heavy metals and many synthetic organic compounds are bioaccumulative. Bioaccumulation- this is the accumulation of pollutants in living organisms when they enter from the external environment in small doses that seem harmless.

Bioaccumulation is exacerbated in the food chain, i.e. plant organisms assimilate pollutants from the external environment and accumulate them in their organs, herbivorous animals, eating vegetation, receive large doses, predatory animals receive even larger doses. As a result, in living organisms at the end of the food chain, the concentration of pollutants can be hundreds of thousands of times greater than in external environment. This accumulation of a substance as it passes through the food chain is called bioconcentration.

The dangers of bioaccumulation and bioconcentration became known in the 1960s when population declines were found for many birds of prey, animals at the end of the food chain.