Definition and types of pollution Flashcards
Ecologist’s view on pollution?
”..the introduction of foreign materials into the environment should be kept at a level at which no detectable biological change results.”
Economist’s view on pollution?
“Discharge or other action which occasions economic damage to man.”
Holdgate’s definition of pollution (1979)?
introduction by man into the environment of substances or energy liable to cause hazards to:
- human health
- living resources and ecological systems
- structures or amenity
- legitimate uses of the environment
U.S. president advisory committee on environmental pollution (1965)?
- wholly or largely as a by-product of man’s actions
- direct or indirect effects of the change of energy patterns, radiation levels, chemical and physical constitution and the abundance of organisms
- affect man directly or through his supplies of water and agricultural or other bodies, his physical objects or his opportunities to recreation and appreciation of nature
U.S.A environmental protection agency definition?
Any substances in water, soil, or air that:
- degrade the natural quality of the environment
- offend the senses of sight, taste, or smell - cause a health hazard
The usefulness of the natural resource is usually impaired by the presence of pollutants and contaminants
Which 4 characteristics do all pollution events have in common?
- pollutant
- source
- transport medium
- target
Example of transport medium?
Air, water, and/or soil
Example of target?
Organism, ecosystem or object [receptor]
Holdgate’s pollution model (1979)?
.
3 ways to classify pollution?
- source
- media affected or travelled through
- nature & properties of pollutant
Example of pollution classified by source?
agriculture
Example of pollution classified by media?
air/water/land
Example of pollution classified by its nature & properties
heavy metal/organic material/sewage
Two types of sources of pollution?
- point sources [discrete]
- diffuse sources [non-point]
Example of point sources?
- sewage effluent pipes
- industrial wastewaters
Example of diffuse sources?
acid rain/fertilizers/pesticides
Two types of properties of pollutants?
- effect-generating properties
- pathway-determining properties
Example of effect-generating properties?
toxicity in living organisms/corrosion of metals
Pathway-determining properties?
determine distance & rate of dispersion in environment
Primary pollutants?
exert harmful effects in the form in which they enter the environment
Secondary pollutants?
synthesized as a result of chemical processes in environment
often but not always from less harmful precursors
Example of secondary pollutants in Holdgate’s pollution model?
chemical transformations in environmental media
