Pollution is the contamination of our environment with dirty, poisonous and dangerous or hazardous substances.

It is also defined as the release of waste products or materials into the environment that is harmful to life.

These dirty, poisonous and dangerous or hazardous substances are called pollutants.

Types of pollution

Air pollution
Water pollution
Soil pollution

Air pollution

This is defined as the release of poisonous gases into the air (or atmosphere). Examples of air pollutants are Sulphur (iv) oxide, carbon (ii) oxide, hydrogen sulphide, smoke etc.

Causes of air pollution

In many domestic and industrial processes, air pollutants are released into the atmosphere. The sources of this air pollution differ so also the pollutants emitted into the atmosphere.

	Pollutants	Sources
1	Sulphur dioxide	Burning of fuel
2	Carbon mono oxide	Burning of carbon in gas e.g. car exhaust, exhaust from factory chimney
3	Carbon dioxide exhaust	Exhaust from vehicles and factory
4	Hydrogen sulphide	Industrial processes like mining
5	Dust	Coal mining, quarry activities, site work, untarred roads etc.
6	Smoke	Domestic and industrial burnings, smoking of cigarettes, etc.
7	Smog	Sunlight effect on nitrogen (ii) oxide and nitrogen(iv) oxide
8	Radioactive says nuclear	Nuclear power plants and nuclear reactions.

Soil pollution

Soil pollution is the contamination of the land with poisonous materials. It is a time called land pollution. The major soil pollutants are refuse sewage and agricultural waste.

Water pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies with poisonous substances. This is usually a result of both domestic and industrial activities. These pollutants are;

Refuse and sewage e.g. leftover food, urine, faeces, etc.
Industrial and agricultural waste e.g. chemicals, fertilizers, insecticides, etc.
Oil spillage e.g. breaking of oil pipe.
Thermal or heat source

HOMEWORK

Define pollution.
Mention 3 water pollutants and soil pollutants that you know

ASSIGNMENT

SECTION A

The following are pollutants except? (a) dust (b) trees (c) carbon monoxide (d) smoke
the organization in Nigeria responsible for the protection of the environment is (a) NAFDAC (b) FEPA (c) NDLEA (d) ICPC
Which of these brings about pollution? (a) burning (b) recycling refuse (c) landfill (d) reuse refuse
The following are air pollutants except (a) dust (b) exhaust from cars (c) oil spillage (d) bush burning
Agricultural waste can cause what kind of pollution? (a) noise (b) air (c) land (d) none of the above

SECTION B

What are pollutants?
How many types of pollution do we have? Mention them

Environmenttal Pollution I