Pollution

Question 1

What is meant by the term Waste Management?

Answer 1

The human population has rapidly expanded in recent decades. Resource use has increased accordingly. This has led to huge amounts of industrial waste and pollution, which is affecting:

Question 2

Affects Water

Answer 2

Sewage and toxic chemicals, which are produced by industrial practices, as well as excess fertiliser from agriculture, all find their way into the Earth’s water sources.

Question 3

Affects the land:

Answer 3

Toxic herbicides and pesticides used in farming, buried nuclear waste and household waste in landfill sites are all land pollutants.

Question 4

Affects the air:

Answer 4

Smoke and gases are being added into the atmosphere constantly, particularly by power stations and cars.

Question 5

Eutrophication meaning:

Answer 5

Eutrophication happens when untreated sewage or excessive fertiliser enters water sources from the land. This causes the availability of nitrates and other ions in the water to increase. The consequences of this are:

Question 6

Increases the rate of decomposition

Answer 6

Eutrophication increases the rate of respiration of decomposers.
This means that producers decompose more quickly.
This leads to a lower level of dissolved oxygen in the water (because decomposers use up the oxygen).
Organisms that need oxygen can’t then respire, so they die.