SOIL POLLUTION & IT’S

REMEDIES
 PLANET EARTH

Home to millions of species, including humans. Earth

is the only place in the universe where life is known to exist.
 What is Soil..??
• Soil is the thin layer of organic and inorganic

materials that covers the Earth's rocky surface.

• Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that

have been altered by chemical and mechanical

processes that include weathering and erosion.

• O Horizon –
Organic matter

• A Horizon – Top
soil

• B Horizon –
Subsoil

• C Horizon –
Parent Material
Tom McMillan
 SOIL POLLUTION
• It is defined as the build-up in soils of persistent toxic
compounds, chemicals, salts, radioactive materials, or
disease causing agents, which have adverse effects on
plant growth and animal health.

• Soil pollution is also caused by means other than the

direct addition of xenobiotic (man-made) chemicals
such as agricultural runoff waters, industrial waste
materials, acidic precipitates, and radioactive fallout.
 Causes of Soil Pollution
• Seepage from a landfill

• Discharge of industrial waste into the soil

• Percolation of contaminated water into the soil

• Rupture of underground storage tanks

• Excess application of pesticides, herbicides or fertilizer

• Solid waste seepage

• Deforestation and Soil erosion

Causes of Soil Pollution
  Excess application of
pesticides etc.

Excess use & disposal of Plastics and polyethene wastes

  Industrial seepage

 Solid waste seepage

 How Do We Use Our Land /Soil Today?
We use our land today for several things such as:
Farming, Mining, Recreation, Highways, Building Cities.

- When land is being used for houses, industries, roads, and businesses it is known as urban land.

- Rural land is an area of few people and large open spaces of land. When land is being used for graze livestock
and wildlife, it is known as range land.

- We use land in three major ways; woods in forests, crops in farm, and mineral resources! Weather people live in
rural or urban cities, we all depend on resources that are being produced in the rural areas.

-
The most common chemicals involved in
causing soil pollution are:

• Petroleum hydrocarbons

• Heavy metals

• Pesticides

• Solvents
 Types of Soil Pollution
• Agricultural Soil Pollution

i) pollution of surface soil

ii) pollution of underground soil

• Soil pollution by industrial effluents and solid wastes

i) pollution of surface soil

ii) disturbances in soil profile

• Pollution due to urban activities

i) pollution of surface soil

ii) pollution of underground soil

 Agricultural Soil Pollution
• Plants on which we depend for food are under attack from
insects, fungi, bacteria, viruses, rodents and other animals,
and must compete with weeds for nutrients.
• To kill unwanted populations living in or on their crops,
farmers use pesticides.
• The remnants of such pesticides used on pests may get
adsorbed by the soil particles and contaminate root crops
grown in that soil.
• The consumption of such crops causes the pesticides
remnants to enter human biological systems, affecting
them adversely.
Agricultural effects
• Reduced soil fertility

• Reduced nitrogen fixation

• Increased erodibility

• Larger loss of soil and nutrients

• Reduced crop yield

• Imbalance in soil fauna and flora

Agricultural effects:
 Industrial Soil Pollution
• Large quantity of solid wastes like unused and rejected

chemicals (like sludge, press mud, saw dust, bottles, plastic

materials etc.), unwanted industrial wastes generated during
manufacturing processes are dumped over on the surface of
soil by almost all industries with difference in the degree.

• Larger the production base, larger is the generation of wastes.

• Traditionally, these materials have been dumped around the

factory site or around the entire city. Rarely, they are put to
recycling or safe conversion.
Industrial Soil Pollution
Industrial effects:
• Dangerous chemicals entering underground water.

• Ecological imbalance.

• Release of pollutant gases.

• Increased salinity.

• Reduced vegetation.
 Industrial Effects:

Soil pollution due to industrial waste

Polluted land with dangerous chemicals

 Soil Pollution due to Urbanization
• Urban activities generate large quantities of city wastes
including several Biodegradable materials (like vegetables,
animal wastes, papers, wooden pieces, carcasses, plant twigs,
leaves, cloth wastes as well as sweepings) and many non-
biodegradable materials (such as plastic bags, plastic bottles,
plastic wastes, glass bottles, glass pieces, stone / cement pieces).

• On a rough estimate Indian cities are producing solid city

wastes of 50,000 - 80,000 metric tons every day.

• If left uncollected and decomposed, they are a cause of several

problems.
The human race will be the
cancer of the planet.
Julian Huxley
Urbanization effects:
• Clogging of drains

• Inundation of areas

• Public health problems

• Pollution of drinking water sources

• Foul smell and release of gases

• Waste management problems

Urbanization effects:

Contamination of soil due to waste

water
Some more effects of soil pollution:
• Pollution runs off into rivers and kills the fish, plants and other
aquatic life.

• Crops and fodder grown on polluted soil may pass the pollutants on
to the consumers.

• Polluted soil may no longer grow crops and fodder

• Soil structure is damaged (clay ionic structure impaired.)

• Corrosion of foundations and pipelines

• May release vapours and hydrocarbon into buildings and cellars

• May create toxic dusts

• May poison children playing in the area

Bio magnification
• Process in which certain non-biodegradable substances go on
accumulating in the food-chain. The most common example
is of methyl mercury in fish and mercury in eagles. Not only
does bio magnification put the particular species at risk, it
puts all the species above and below it at risk, and ultimately
affects the food pyramid.
What can be done?
 Methods to control Soil Pollution
• Reducing chemical fertilizer and pesticide use.

• Recycling is another way to reduce and control soil

pollution. Recycling paper, plastics and other materials

reduces the volume of refuse in landfills, another common
cause of soil pollution.

• Reusing of materials

• De-forestation, the cutting down of trees, causes erosion,

pollution and the loss of fertility in the topsoil. Planting

trees--or re-forestation--helps prevent soil erosion and
pollution.
 Methods to control Soil Pollution
• Weeds soak up minerals in the soil. Reducing weed growth

helps reduce soil pollution. One of the more common

methods of reducing weed growth is covering the soil with
numerous layers of wet newspapers or a plastic sheet for
several weeks before cultivation. This prevents light from
reaching the weeds, which kills them.

• Designated pits should be used for the dumping of soil

wastes. These wastes should be treated chemically and

biologically to make them less toxic and hazardous.
 Bioremediation
A treatment process that uses microorganisms (yeast,
fungi, or bacteria) to break down, or degrade, hazardous
substances into less toxic or nontoxic substances (carbon
dioxide and water)
Methods to control Soil Pollution
Disposal of Wastes
• One of the ways of doing this is by separating dry and wet
waste. Dry waste should be recycled or it can be burned. On
the other hand, wet waste should be decomposed.
Disposal of Wastes
• This decomposed waste should be further dumped in pits so
that it can be converted into compost and used for
agriculture. When disposing of waste, the authorities should
treat it with various kinds of chemicals, so that it has a very
low level of toxicity.
Recycling and Reuse

• People should buy and use products that have been recycled.
For instance, plastic bags should be given up; instead, jute
bags should be used. Reusing old items is another good way
to reduce the stress on various resources. Clothes, paper,
glass, everything should be recycled and reused, as far as
possible.
Biodegradable Products
• People should buy
biodegradable products.
Go organic - that's the
mantra for avoiding land
pollution. Organic
farming, lessening the use
of pesticides, buying
organic fruits and
vegetables and other
products, will keep land
pollution in check.
Grow More Trees
• Initiative should be
taken to grow more
trees. Researches show
that trees can actually
fertilize the soil. This
means that by growing
trees, soil will become
fertile, agriculture will
get boosted and land
pollution will greatly
reduce.
Efficient Use of Resources
• There should be minimal wastage. There should be no
littering. Oil and petrol should be used judiciously. So should
all the other products and resources made from glass, plastic,
metal and paper.
 Use organics products

Buy organics products, especially organic cleaners, pesticides,

insecticides and fertilizers. The advantage of using organic
products is that they are biodegradable and friendly to the
environment.
 Proper Waste Management
• Excessive littering is one of most common reasons for land pollution.
• Take initiative to inform others about the harmful effects of littering.
• Organic wastes must be disposed of in areas that are far from human or
animal habitation. Waste like plastic, metals, glass and paper must be
recycled and reused.
• Find land far away from natural environments to dump wastes that
cannot be disposed of and are essential to industrial processes.
 Improve fertility of the land by reforesting

Soil in forested lands are far more fertile than soil without trees,
suggesting that trees have the ability to fertilize land.
Compost garden and kitchen waste
Recycle everything.
When we heal the Earth, we
heal ourselves.

-David Orr
Compost garden and
kitchen waste.
Dispose of trash,
properly.
 "Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by
your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we
borrow it from our Children."
Ancient Native Indian Proverb