Soil pollution, Soil pollutants and ways to protect the soil from pollution

Pollution is very dangerous, There are different kinds of pollution as air pollution, water pollution & soil pollution, pollution is any change in the environment that disturbs its natural balance.

Soil pollution is any change in the soil that disturbs its natural balance and harms its living organisms, The human wrong behaviour causes soil pollution.

Soil pollution affects living organisms, It harms plants, animals and human, soil pollution reduces the ability of the agricultural soil for cultivation, It causes the death of plants and it harms the health of animals and humans.

Soil pollutants

Soil pollutants are materials that cause soil pollution.

There are many soil pollutants as chemical pesticides, chemical fertilizers, industrial wastes and increasing soil salinity.

1. Chemical pesticides are used to kill the pests of agricultural crops, But they contaminate the plants as they leak into the soil, So they harm human and animals’ health when they feed on these contaminated plants.

2. Chemical fertilizers are used to compensate poor soil with the required elements for plant growth and the formation of its food.

    But the great quantities of chemical fertilizers cause the death of living organisms that live in the soil and harm the humans and the animals that feed on the plants as the chemical fertilizers leak into the plants that grow in the soil.

3. Industrial wastes result from industrial activities, and they pollute the air, the water and the soil, They increase soil acidification, and they deprive the plants of the soil salts causing the death of the plants as the soil salts are necessary for the plant’s growth.

4.  The increase in soil salinity is due to the increase in the periods between the irrigation times and the rising level of the groundwater. It causes the loss of cultivated plants and affects the plant’s growth.

Ways to protect the soil from the pollution

• You should improve the drainage of the agricultural lands.
• You have to rationalize the use of various kinds of pesticides and depend mainly on the natural enemies of the insects to feed on the agricultural pests.
• You should rationalize the use of chemical fertilizers and you should use natural fertilizers.
• You should treat industrial waste by following technological methods.
• You should establish the factories far from the agricultural areas.
• You should use technological investments to treat wastewater before draining it in the lakes and rivers.
• You have to recycle agricultural waste to produce useful materials.
• You should irrigate the agricultural lands regularly to prevent soil salinity.
• You should promote environmental awareness among the people, especially in the agricultural areas.

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