Soil pollution Soil pollution is caused by a number of factors; however, most of them are human induced. In simple words soil pollution refers to the contamination of the soil when some unwanted external compound gets mixed with it. This compound could be in the form of soluble chemicals or non bio degradable compounds like plastic. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides used in farming are some of the causes of soil pollution. Harmful chemicals get mixed with the soil and make it infertile. Also, waste from the urban areas, if not disposed of properly, reaches the soil and pollutes it. There are several other factors causing soil pollution such as acid rain, industrial accidents, road debris, nuclear waste etc.
Long and Short Essay on Soil Pollution in English
We have provided below short and long essay on soil pollution in English for your knowledge and information.
The essays have been written in simple yet effective English to let you know about the causes, effects and meaning of soil pollution.
After reading the essays you will know what soil pollution is, what causes soil pollution, what could be done to prevent soil pollution etc.
These soil pollution essay will be extremely helpful to you in your school and college assignment and speech giving and debate, essay writing competitions.
Soil Pollution Essay 1 (100 words)
Soil is the natural resource on the earth which directly supports the life of plants and indirectly of animals since the origin of life on the earth. It is very important complex substance available everywhere on the earth. Productive soil is a soil useful to grow crops. As a human being, we need to keep our land safe and secure and away from all the impurities. However, it is not possible because of the technological advancement.
Soil is getting polluted through the toxic substances released by the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, industrial wastes, etc which are badly affecting the fertility of land. Soil pollution depletes the soil nutrients because of the availability of heavy concentration of undesirable foreign elements into soil through chemicalization.
Soil Pollution Essay 2 (150 words)
Polluted soil is the low quality soil by various actions of man and natural processes which makes soil unfit for the crop production. Increasing human population and advancement of the human lives is causing soil pollution to a great extent. Main cause of the soil pollution are excessive soil erosion, forest fires, use of chemical fertilizers to improve crop production, pesticides (insecticides and herbicides), biocides (malathion, D.D.T., dieldrin, endrin, aldrin, lindane) to get control over insects, urban and industrial wastes, leaching, drought, untreated industrial water irrigation, water logging, over irrigation, deforestation, etc. It is increasing day by day at a faster rate in the rural and urban areas of the country.
According to the statistics, it is noted that consumption of chemical fertilizers by the farmers has been increased by 5.5 million tons from 1980-81 and by 18.07 million tons from 1999-2000 in order to increase crop production. Such toxic chemicals enter the human body through food chain and harm by causing physical deformities, neural tube defect in the new born babies.
Soil Pollution Essay 3 (200 words)
Soil pollution is the polluted soil because of the presence of toxic chemicals (also called pollutants or contaminants) in very high concentration to the soil of fertile land. Some of the contaminants occur naturally however most of them are due to the industrialization and human activities. Soil pollutants are generally of two types called as organic and inorganic whether released naturally and man-made. The main reasons of soil pollution are human activities including accidental leaks, spills, manufacturing processes, dumping, etc. Human released toxic chemicals are increasing the overall soil toxicity level.
All the soil contaminants get mixed to the fertile land and causes variety of health disorders directly or indirectly such as respiratory illness, bronchitis, asthma, cancer, etc. Kids are more prone to the polluted soil than the adults as they play into it and gets attacked by many diseases especially respiratory disorders. Increasing human population need more grains thus in order to fulfill this requirement people use highly concentrated fertilizers to improve the crop production which ultimately affects health through the food chain. Soil pollution is the gradual process of soil poisoning of the toxic soil contaminants.
Soil Pollution Essay 4 (250 words)
Soil pollution is the contamination of the soil of fertile land which is gradually increasing day by day mainly because of the use of fertilizers and industrialization. Soil pollution has become a major challenge to the whole human fraternity in modern time. Soil is the most important natural resource highly required to maintain the healthy life here. It is the home for many small animals, it is the life of plants and used by the human beings to produce variety of crops to continue life cycle here. However, increasing human population increases the need of crops production and other technological resources to live life comfortably. There are many highly effective fertilizers available in the market proving their best to improve crop production however getting more toxic and polluting the whole fertile soil when sprinkled over crops.
Varieties of other pesticides (like insecticides, fungicides, etc) are also getting used by the farmers to save their crops from the insects and fungus. Such type of pesticides are also very toxic and spreading their side effects to the environment by polluting the land and air. Other ways of soil pollution are acidification, agrochemical pollution, salinization, and contamination by metalliferous wastes. Acidification is a common natural cause associated with long term leaching and microbial respiration which gradually decomposes the organic materials of soil (like humic and fulvic acids) which again stimulates leaching. Use of inorganic fertilizers on the fertile lands has increased the level of soil pollution by decreasing the soil fertility at a faster rate.
Soil Pollution Essay 5 (300 words)
Soil pollution is the contamination of the fertile soil which reduces the productivity of soil because of various toxic pollutants. Toxic pollutants are very dangerous and adversely affect the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. Variety of pollutants such as pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, chemicals, radioactive wastes, organic manure, discarded food, clothes, plastics, paper, leather goods, bottles, tins-cans, carcasses, etc gets mixed to the soil and cause soil pollution. Other released chemicals by various means like iron, mercury, lead, copper, cadmium, aluminium, zinc, industrial wastes, cyanides, acids, alkalies etc are the toxic chemicals causes soil pollution. Acid rain is a natural cause also affects soil fertility directly.
Earlier, the soil were very much fertile without the use of any fertilizers but now-a-days all the farmers have started using very strong fertilizers in order to increase crop production because of high demand of food by the increasing population. Improper, unnecessary and continuous use of variety of strong organic or inorganic insecticides (DDT, benzene hexa chloride, aldrin, etc), herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, etc in order to secure crops from insects, pests, fungus, etc are gradually toxifying the soil. All types of such chemicals have very dangerous effects directly on the plants growth (inhibits growth, reduces production and reduces size of fruit) and indirectly on the human health. Such chemicals slowly get absorbed by the soil and then plants which ultimately reaches to the animals and human beings body through the food chains.
Other radioactive wastes from the sources like mining and nuclear processes reach to the soil through water and affects the soil and ultimately to the plants, animals (through grazing) and human (through food, milk, meat etc). Eating such type of food causes growth retardation and abnormal growth of the animals and human. Increasing industrialization in the modern world creates huge heap of wastes on daily basis which directly or indirectly gets mixed to the soil and contaminate it.
Soil Pollution Essay 6 (400 words)
Soil pollution is the contamination of fresh and fertile soil which adversely affects the health of crops, plants, animals, human beings and other organisms living in it. Addition of variety of unwanted substances and toxic chemicals from many sources to the soil in the odd proportion causes whole land pollution. Once the pollutants gets mixed to the soil remains in direct contact with soil for long period of time. Increasing industrialization and increasing consumption of various effective fertilizers in the fertile land is continuously changing the soil composition and complexion of earth strata which is very dangerous indication to the future of life on the earth.
All the fertile land on the earth is getting heavily polluted gradually day by day through the mixing of toxic materials released by the industries and domestic circles. Major sources of the soil pollution are industrial wastes, urban wastes, chemical pollutants, metallic pollutants, biological agents, radioactive pollutants, wrong agricultural practices, etc. Industrial wastes released by the industrial processes contain organic, inorganic and non-biodegradable materials which have ability to change physiochemical and biological characteristics of the soil. It totally disturbs the level of texture and mineral, bacterial and fungal colonies of the soil.
Urban wastes are solid wastes include commercial and domestic wastes which make a huge heap on the soil and contribute to the soil pollution. Chemical pollutants and metallic pollutants are the industrial wastes from the textile, soap, dyes, synthetic, detergents, metal, and drugs industries which are dumping their hazardous wastes continuously in the soil and water. It directly affects the living organisms of the soil and reduces fertility level of soil. Biological agents (such as bacteria, algae, fungi, protozoan and microorganisms like nematodes, millipedes, earthworms, snail, etc) also disturb the physio chemical and biological atmosphere of soil and cause soil pollution.
Some radioactive pollutants from the sources like nuclear reactors, explosions, hospitals, scientific laboratories, etc go very deep to the soil, remain there for long time and cause soil pollution. Wrong agricultural practices using advance agro-technology means use of huge quantities of toxic fertilizers including herbicides, weedicides, pesticides, etc enhances soil fertility however gradually declines the physio-chemical and biological property of the soil.
Other sources of the soil pollution are municipal garbage heap, food processing wastes, mining practices, and many more. Soil pollution is very hazardous to the health because toxic chemicals enter to the body through food chain and disturbs whole internal body system. In order to reduce and restrict the soil pollution, all the effective control measures including environment protection laws should be followed by the people especially industrialist. Recycling and reuse of the solid wastes and maximum possible tree plantation should be promoted among people.
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