Soil Pollution

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Soil Pollution
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Soil Pollution

• Soil pollution
• happens when we destroy the thin layer of
  healthy and productive soil,
• We cannot utilize it for several the purposes
• Healthy soil depends on bacteria, fungi, and
  worms to break down wastes in the soil
• release its nutrients which help plants grow.
• Over use of fertilizers and pesticides can limit
  the ability of soil organisms to process wastes,
  which in turn makes the soil less productive or
  in the worst case scenario useless or even
  poisonous.

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Soil Pollution

• 1.     Pollutants Any external substance,
  biological organism, or energy that can lead to
  soil pollution or groundwater pollution.
• 2. Soil Pollution The introduction of
  substances, biological organisms, or energy into
  the soil, resulting in a change of the soil
  quality, which is likely to affect the normal use
  of the soil or endangering public health and the
  living environment.
• 3. Groundwater Pollution The introduction of
  substances, biological organisms, or energy into
  groundwater, resulting in a change in the quality
  of the groundwater, which is likely to affect the
  normal use of groundwater or endangering public
  health and the living environment.

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Soil pollutants

• Solid waste
• Insecticides and pesticides
• Salinity
• Acidity/Acid rain
• Oil spill
• Radiation

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Sources of soil pollution

• Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW)
• Residential
• Commercial
• Institutional
• Construction and demolition
• Municipal services
• Water wastewater treatment plants, and
  incinerators
• Industrial Solid Wastes
• Agricultural Wastes

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Human Activities

• Poorly drained areas can be flooded.
• Salt deposits can make the soil too salty for
  growing crops.
• Mining operations can leave soil polluted with
  toxic heavy metals.
• Many scientists believe acid rain can also reduce
  soil fertility.

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U.S. Hierarchy in solid waste management

• Prevention/ minimization of waste generation
• through minimum waste generation during product
  manufacture and monitoring of wastes produced
• Recycling/ reuse of wastes
• through recycling of paper, metals, plastic,
  glass, etc. and industrial product reuse
• Transformation of wastes
• through composting/ biogas production/
  incineration/ etc.
• Landfilling
• for inert material and end-products of other
  treatment methods.

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Characterizing soil pollution

• Physical properties
• Density (kg/m3)
• Moisture content ()
• Particle size distribution (mm)
• Field capacity ()
• Hydraulic conductivity (m/d)
• Shear strength (kN/m2)
• Chemical properties
• Proximate analysis (moisture, volatile matter,
  fixed carbon, and ash)
• Ultimate analysis (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
  nitrogen, sulfur, and ash)
• Energy content (discarded/dry/dry ash-free basis)
• Biological properties
• Biodegradability (based on lignin content)

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Key Public Issues and Management Concerns

• Arsenic
• Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
• Ecosystem Restoration Nitrogen Management
• Ground Water-Surface Water Interaction
• Natural AttenuationMTBE
• Fuel Oxygenates
• NAPL Source Zones
• Permeable Reactive Barriers
• Riparian Restoration
• Vapor Intrusion

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Development of Standards

• Extraction of trace elements soluble in aqua
  regia.
• Soil Quality - Sampling
• Guidance on the collection,handling and storage
  of soil
• pH, carbonate, C, CEC Base saturation level, N2,
  P, Earth worms, matter and water content on a
  mass basis, physico-chemical analyses , pore
  water pressure

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Approaches

• Monitoring, control and remediation standards
• Control site
• Remediation site
• Control region
• Stake holders and interested persons

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Approaches

• Prevention and Remediation
• Investigation and Assessment
• Control Measures
• Remediation and rehabilitation
• Financing and responsibility
• Penalties

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Mitigation

• Remediation and containment
• Treatment and destruction
• The SITE Demonstration Program
• Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE)
  

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US regulations on solid waste management

• U.S. Legislation for Solid Wastes
• Solid Waste Disposal Act, 1965
• National Environmental Policy Act, 1969
• Resource Recovery Act, 1970
• Resource conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA),
  1976
• Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) -
  Superfund, 1980
• Public Utility Regulation and Policy Act (PURPA),
  1981