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Environmental Assessment Of Industrial Water Pollution
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
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As technology improves, scientists are able to detect more pollutants,
and at smaller concentrations, in Earth’s freshwater bodies. Containing
traces of contaminants ranging from birth control pills and sunscreen to
pesticides and petroleum, our planet's lakes, rivers, streams, and
groundwater are often a chemical cocktail. A pollutant can be defined as
a waste material that pollutes air, water or soil. Pollutants, the
elements of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or
naturally occurring contaminants. It can be characterized by chemical
nature, concentration and persistence. Different kinds of pollutants
affect human beings unknowingly because the chronic effects are not
dramatic compared to the acute menaces. The effects of water pollution
are not only devastating to people but also to animals, fish, and birds.
Polluted water is unsuitable for drinking, recreation, agriculture, and
industry. It diminishes the aesthetic quality of lakes and rivers. More
seriously, contaminated water destroys aquatic life and reduces its
reproductive ability. Eventually, it is a hazard to human health. Nobody
can escape the effects of water pollution.
Industry clustered in
urban and semi-urban areas surrounded by densely populated low income
localities continues to pollute the environment with impurity. Chemical
pollution of surface water can create health risks, because such
waterways are often used directly as drinking water sources or connected
with shallow wells used for drinking water. In addition, waterways have
important roles for washing and cleaning, for fishing and fish farming,
and for recreation. Another major source of drinking water is
groundwater, which often has low concentrations of pathogens because the
water is filtered during its transit through underground layers of
sand, clay, or rocks. However, toxic chemicals such as arsenic and
fluoride can be dissolved from the soil or rock layers into groundwater.
Direct contamination can also occur from badly designed hazardous waste
sites or from industrial sites. In the United States in the 1980s, the
government set in motion the Superfund Program, a major investigation
and cleanup program to deal with such sites (U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency 2000).
Industrial pollution is pollution
which can be directly linked with industry, in contrast to other
pollution sources. This form of pollution is one of the leading causes
of pollution worldwide; in the United States, for example, the
Environmental Protective Agency estimates that up to 50% of the nation's
pollution is caused by industry. There are a number of forms of
industrial pollution. One of the most common is water pollution, caused
by dumping of industrial waste into waterways, or improper containment
of waste, which causes leakage into groundwater and waterways. In
developing countries, 70 percent of industrial wastes are dumped
untreated into waters, polluting the usable water supply.
On average,
99 million pounds (45 million kilograms) of fertilizers and chemicals
are used each year Industrial pollution can also impact air quality, and
it can enter the soil, causing widespread environmental problems.
Because of its size and scope, industrial pollution is a serious
environmental problem for the entire planet, especially in nations which
are rapidly industrializing, like Nigeria. It arises from lack of
control of pollutant industries. Industrial pollution hurts the
environment in a range of ways because Pollutants can kill animals and
plants, imbalance ecosystems, degrade air quality radically, damage
buildings, and generally degrade quality of life. Factory workers in
areas with uncontrolled industrial pollution are especially vulnerable. A
growing awareness of factory pollution and its consequences has led to
tighter restrictions on pollution all over the world, with nations
recognizing that they have an obligation to protect themselves and their
neighbors from pollution. It is in this stride, that several agencies
have been set up all over the world for mitigating or reducing to the
barest minimum, environmental pollution. However, industrial pollution
also highlights a growing issue: the desire of developing nations to
achieve first world standards of living and production.
Ideally, the
siting of industries should achieve a balance between socio-economic and
environmental consideration. In Nigeria, the siting of industries is
determined by various criteria, some of which are environmentally
unacceptable and pose serious threats to public health (WHO/UNEP, 1997).
Therefore, the need to control this.
This proposal gives an overview on environmental assessment of industrial water pollution and control as it effects industry.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
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