Land pollution is caused by improper waste disposal and misuse of land resources through activities like agriculture, mining, and deforestation. Solid waste, agricultural waste, chemicals, and mining practices all contribute to land pollution by contaminating soils. This can harm humans through direct contact with polluted land or consumption of contaminated crops, and can also pollute groundwater. Preventing land pollution requires reducing waste production, reusing materials, recycling, choosing biodegradable and organic options, safely disposing of chemicals, and educating the public.

1. LAND POLLUTION

2. What is land pollution?
 Land pollution is the destruction of the
earth’s land surface, often directly or
indirectly as a result of man’s activities
and their misuse of land resources
 It occurs when waste is not disposed off
properly, or can occur when humans
throw chemicals into the soil in the form
of pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers
during agricultural practices.
 Exploitation of minerals (mining
activities) has also contributed to the
destruction of the earth’s surface.

3. CAUSES OF LAND
POLLUTION

4. Solid Waste:
 These include all the various kinds of
rubbish we make at home, school,
hospitals, market and work places.
 Things like paper, plastic containers,
bottles, cans, food and even used cars
and broken electronic goods, broken
furniture and hospital waste are all
examples of solid waste. Some of these
are biodegradable
 Because these do not easily decay,
they pile up in landfills (a place where
all the city’s rubbish are sent), where
they stay for thousands of years.
 These bring great harm to the land and
people around it.

5. Agricultural sources:
 These include waste matter produced by crop, animal manure, and farm
residues. They also include the chemical left over of all pesticides, fertilisers
and insecticides used for agricultural activities.
 Many farming activities engage in the application of fertilizers, pesticides
and insecticides for higher crop yield.
 This is good because we get more food, but can you think of what happens
to the chemicals that end up on the crops and soils? Sometimes, insects
and small animals are killed and bigger animals that eat tiny animals (as in
food chains) are also harmed.
 Finally, the chemicals may be washed down as it rains and over time, they
end up in the water table.

6. Chemicals:
 Chemical and nuclear power plants produce waste materials that
have to be stored somewhere.
 Fertilizer, insecticides, pesticides, pharmaceuticals manufacturers
also produce lots of solid and liquid waste.
 In many cases they are stored in an environmentally safe way, but
there are some that find their way into landfills and other less safe
storage facilities.
 Sometimes they also find their way into leaking pipes and gutters.
 They end up polluting soils and making crops harmful to our
health.

7. Deforestation:
 This is when trees are cut down for economic purposes, mining, farming
and construction. In forests areas, trees absorb and reflect about 20% of
the intense heat from the sun, protecting and preserving its surface soils.
Cutting down trees mean that the land is exposed to direct sunlight and
rain, resulting in soil erosions, desertification and land degradation
 Trees absorb carbon dioxide (a green house gas) from the air and enrich
the air with Oxygen, which is needed for life.
 Trees also, help replenish soils and help retain nutrients being washed
away.
 This is a major cause of land pollution.

8. MINING & INDUSTRIES:
 Mining and forestry activities that clear the land surfaces (clear-cutting)
and use 'skid trails' often leave the land unrestored.
 The surface is exposed to erosion which destroys the quality of the land.
 Additionally, iron and other chemicals such as copper, mercury and lead
from mining practices leach into the soil, polluting it and leaving it exposed
to water bodies as well.
 These also include paints, chemicals, metals and aluminium, plastics and so
on that are produced in the process of manufacturing goods.

9. Effects of land pollution.

10. Contaminated lands and
environments can:
 Cause problems in the human respiratory system.
 Cause problems on the skin.
 Cause various kinds of cancers.
 There can be catastrophic consequences of land pollution in
relation to humans, animals, water and soils. The effects are
even worse if the garbage is not separated into organic, re-
usable and recyclable waste.

11. The toxic materials that pollute the soil can
get into the human body directly by:
 Coming into contact with the skin.
 Being washed into water sources like reservoirs and rivers.
 Eating fruits and vegetables that have been grown in polluted soil.
 Breathing in polluted dust or particles.

12. Dump sites and landfills also come with
serious problems like
 Very bad smell and odour in the town.
 Landfills breed rodents like rats, mice and insects, who in-turn
transmit diseases.
 Landfills in towns do not attract tourists to the town. The town will
loose revenue.
 Many landfills are always burning and they cause further air
pollution.

13. SOIL CONTAMINATION

14. What is soil contamination?
 Soil contamination, degradation and pollution mean different things even
though we often use these terms to mean one thing. Here is the difference:
 Soil pollution is when humans introduce harmful objects, chemicals or
substances, directly or indirectly into the soil in a way that causes harm to
other living things or destroys soil or water ecosystems.
 Soil contamination is when the concentration of chemicals, nutrients or
elements in the soil becomes more than it normally or naturally is, as a
result of human action. If this contamination goes on to harm living
organisms, we can call it pollution.
 Soil degradation is when the soil looses its value (in terms of nutrients,
chemical make-up etc. ) as a result of over-farming, over-grazing or
erosion. For example, if a bush fire wipes out the vegetation on a piece of
land thereby exposing the soils, and nutrients in the soil gets dissolved by
rain water run-off, the ability of the soil to support plant life is reduced. We
can call this soil degradation.

15. What causes contamination?
 Pesticides and herbicides (and other farming chemicals) often end up
contamination soils.
 Direct discharge of wastewater by industries can also cause that.
 Leakages in sewage systems, underground storage tanks and leaching of
soluble substances from landfills can also result in contamination.
 Rainwater or floods from other polluted lands and water bodies spread
contaminants to soils in other locations.

16. The effects of soils contamination
 Soil contamination can result in soil and land pollution, and affect the health
of plants that depend on them.
 It can also harm living organisms in the soils and humans that come into
contact with them by touching, breathing or eating crops from
contaminated soils.
 Contaminants in soils can also get infiltrated into ground water and pollute
them.
 Depending on the extent and volume of soil contamination, it can be
remedied by
1. Digging out the soils for treatment and disposal
2. Containing it to prevent it from spreading, by placing large plastic
materials over the affected area.
3. Treating the soils with some safe chemicals to neutralize the contaminant.

17. PREVENTION / SOLUTIONS

18. How to prevent land pollution
 Like many other challenges, the best way to solve problems is to
understand it. This means learning about it (like what you are doing now) is
the greatest step forward.
 Here are a few other tips on how you can help reduce land pollution:
1. People should be educated and made aware about the harmful effects of
littering. Discuss with friends and family and talk about it.
2. Buy biodegradable products.
3. Store all liquid chemicals and waste in spill-proof containers.
4. Eat organic foods that are grown without pesticides. Look out for fertilizer or
pesticide free products when you go to the market.
5. Don’t use pesticides if you can.

19. Cont.
 Reuse any items that you can. Items like clothing,
bottles, wrapping paper and shopping bags can be
used over and over again, rather than buying new
things.
 The greatest prevention to land pollution is in the three
‘R's’ …
Reduce Waste, Re-use things and
Recycle things. This is true even for governments. They
can also use the three ‘R’ rule to minimize the amount
of waste that ends up in landfills. After the three 'R's,
remember to turn the rest of the garbage into compost.

20. Cont.
 Personal litter should be disposed properly. We can separate
household waste at home for recycling.
 More than half of our household waste could be recycled or
re-used but once it is mixed up, it becomes more difficult to
separate different components for recycling.
 This is also true for waste we make at school or hospitals.
 Use a drip tray to collect engine oil.
 Buy products that have little packaging.
 Don’t dump motor oil on the ground.
 Governments can also ensure that there are incentives for
people to recycle and re-use things.

21. SOURCES:
 WWW.GRINNINGPLANET.COM
 WWW.GREENLIVING.COM
 WWW.NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM
 NATIONAL TOXICOLOGY PROGRAM.