Soil pollution is a big issue for our planet. We know that the soil offers us our food, because it is the place where everything grows. The plants take their minerals and vitamins from it, but nowadays we find it difficult to have clean areas to plant, grow and harvest our crops.
Soil pollution has many causes, such as:
– heavy metals (such as lead and mercury, at excessively high amounts) in the soil can make it very poisonous to humans.
– coal production, automobile emissions, cigarette smoke, and shale oil extraction are all sources of PAHs in the soil.
– industrial Waste Soil contamination can come from the dumping of industrial waste into soils.
– pesticides are chemicals (or chemical mixes) that are used to kill or prevent pests from reproducing.
When the soil is contaminated, the effects are bad for us and for the environment. For example, regular use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides will decrease the fertility of the soil at a rapid rate and destroy the structure of the soil. It will increase the exposure to toxic and harmful chemicals causing health problems. After contamination, the water is not good for human as well as animal use due to the presence of toxic chemicals. Soil pollution can negatively impact the lives of the living organisms and can result in the gradual death of many organisms. It can cause health threats to animals grazing in the contaminated soil or microorganisms residing in the soil.
In order to reduce the soil pollution, we can:
– use of correct farming techniques
– recycle and reuse products
– use of organic fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
– plant new trees and plants to prevent deforestation.
10th grade from Technological High School of Services “Sfântul Apostol Andrei” Ploiesti