Effects,Control and Prevention measures of Noise Pollution

Effects of noise pollution

Human health: Noise pollution disturbs our health and behavior in a number of ways including deafness causing lack of sleep, irritability, indigestion, heartburn, high blood pressure, ulcers, and heart disease.
Annoyance: Sometimes, even low levels of noise are irritating and can be frustrating, and high volumes can be annoying.
Speech interference: Noise more than 50dB can be very difficult to hear and interpret and cause problems such as partial deafness.
Sleep interference: Very high levels of noise can wake people from their sleep with a jerk and keep them awake or disturb their sleep pattern. This could make them irritable and tired the next day.
Decreased work performance: Increased noise levels gives rise to a lack of concentration and accuracy at work, and reduce one’s productivity and performance. Difficult tasks can be impaired, and instructions or warnings difficult to be heard and interpreted, causing accidents.


Control and Prevention of noise pollution

Traffic: Don’t live or work near major intersections or roads, shopping centers and sporting facilities. Valleys and falls are noisier than flat roads.
Barking dogs: As a dog owner, you should take care to see that your dog doesn’t annoy the neighbors with its barking and yowling.
Aircraft: Before buying a home, see how far it is from the local airport.
Neighbors: Be a good neighbor by not annoying those who live next door with your music or lawn mowing.
Solving noise problems: Many noise problems can be prevented by considering others and talking through problems. Be a good and concerned neighbor by discussing a common problem calmly and in a collaborative spirit to find a common solution.

Noise Pollution and Its Causes

Noise pollution is a type of energy pollution in which distracting, irritating, or damaging sounds are freely audible. As with other forms of energy pollution (such as heat and light pollution), noise pollution contaminants are not physical particles, but rather waves that interfere with naturally-occurring waves of a similar type in the same environment.

 In the most narrow sense, sounds are considered noise pollution if they adversely affect wildlife, human activity, or are capable of damaging physical structures on a regular, repeating basis. In the broadest sense of the term, a sound may be considered noise pollution if it disturbs any natural process or causes human harm, even if the sound does not occur on a regular basis.

The prevailing source of artificial noise pollution is from transportation. In rural areas, train and airplane noise can disturb wildlife habits, thereby affecting the manner in which animals in areas around train tracks and airports hunt and mate. In urban areas, automobile, motorcycle, and even entertainment noise can cause sleep disruption in humans and animals, hearing loss, heart disease (as a result of stress), and in severe cases even mental instability.

Prevention and Control measures of water pollution

Water pollution are contributed due to industrial effluents and sewage. The time has came to avert major disaster. Effluent treatment systems have to be incorporated in industry. Industries, where it is already in existence, need to operate their plants regularly without looking for savings.

• New techniques that need no water is highly beneficial. Some of the wet processes is replaced by the dry processes. For example, metal pickling once carried out by acids is replaced by sand blasting in which no liquid effluent is generated.
• Small industries cannot afford treatment plants as they frequently discharge their effluents, near agricultural lands and on roads. It can be avoided by setting up a common effluent treatment plant where industries are located.
• Recovery of chemicals and metals is practiced in most industries. The reclaimed waste water can be reused for industrial processes such as boiler, feeding, cooling, which will help cut down the fresh water needs. And paper mills, sugar industries and distilleries that let out more effluents can be used for irrigation or as fertilizers after proper treatment, without affecting ground water.
• Small industries cannot afford treatment plants as they frequently discharge their effluents, near agricultural lands and on roads. It can be avoided by setting up a common effluent treatment plant where industries are located
  

How does water pollution affect the environment and human beings

The effects of water pollution are far-reaching and affect not only the environment, but human beings and animals as well.Water pollution affects our oceans, lakes, rivers, and drinking water, making it a widespread and global concern. Numerous diseases, health problems, and even fatalities have been associated with water pollution.Water is considered polluted when chemicals, pathogens, or contaminants are detected.  Human beings have the most crucial impact on our water resources.  They also have the ability to control or eliminate water pollution.

Some water pollution effects are recognized immediately, whereas others don’t show up for months or years.Additional effects of water pollution include:
1) The food chain is damaged. When toxins are in the water, the toxins travel from the water the animals drink to humans when the animals’ meat is eaten.
2) Diseases can spread via polluted water. Infectious diseases such as typhoid and cholera can be contracted from drinking contaminated water.  This is called microbial water pollution.  The human heart and kidneys can be adversely affected if polluted water is consumed regularly.  Other health problems associated with polluted water are poor blood circulation, skin lesions, vomiting, and damage to the nervous system.  In fact, the effects of water pollution are said to be the leading cause of death for humans across the globe.
3) Acid rain contains sulfate particles, which can harm fish or plant life in lakes and rivers.
4) Pollutants in the water will alter the overall chemistry of the water, causing changes in acidity, temperature and conductivity.  These factors all have an affect on the marine life.
5) Marine food sources are contaminated or eliminated by water pollution.
6) Altered water temperatures (due to human actions) can kill the marine life and affect the delicate ecological balance in bodies of water, especially lakes and rivers.


 


 

Water pollution and Its causes in the universe

Comprising over 70% of the Earth's surface, water is undoubtedly the most precious natural resource that exists on our planet. Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies.This affects plants and organisms living in these bodies of water and, in almost all cases the effect is damaging not only to individual species and populations, but also to the natural biological communities.It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds.When it is unfit for its intended use, water is considered polluted. 

CAUSES

One of the primary causes of environmental degradation is rapid growth of population, which adversely affects the natural resources and environment.



Polluted river in the United Kingdom

Domestic households, industrial and agricultural practices produce wastewater that can cause pollution of many lakes and rivers.Dumping of litter in the sea can cause huge problems. Litter items such as 6-pack ring packaging can get caught in marine animals and may result in death.Eutrophication is when the environment becomes enriched with nutrients. This can be a problem in marine habitats such as lakes as it can cause algal blooms.A tank or piping network that has at least 10 percent of its volume underground is known as an underground storage tank. They often store substances such as petroleum, that are harmful to the surrounding environment should it become contaminated.

Consequences and prevention measures of land pollution

What are the Consequences of Land Pollution?
Land pollution can affect wildlife, plants, and humans in a number of ways, such as:

• Cause problems in the respiratory system
• Cause problems on the skin
• Lead to birth defects
• Cause various kinds of cancers

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

How can Land Pollution be Prevented?

• People should be educated and made aware about the harmful effects of littering
• Items used for domestic purposes ought to be reused or recycled
• Personal litter should be disposed properly
• Organic waste matter should be disposed in areas that are far away from residential places
• Inorganic matter such as paper, plastic, glass and metals should be reclaimed and then recycled

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What is Land Pollution and its causes

Land pollution basically is about contaminating the land surface of the Earth through dumping urban waste matter indiscriminately, dumping of industrial waste, mineral exploitation, and misusing the soil by harmful agricultural practices. Land pollution includes visible litter and waste along with the soil itself being polluted. The soil gets polluted by the chemicals in pesticides and herbicides used for agricultural purposes along with waste matter being littered in urban areas such as roads, parks, and streets. 

Image of land pollution

Soil Pollution: Soil pollution is chiefly caused by chemicals in pesticides, such as poisons that are used to kill agricultural pests like insects and herbicides that are used to get rid of weeds. Hence, soil pollution results from unhealthy methods of soil management, harmful practices of irrigation methods and the residual matter that remains after fuels are burned.

Land pollution is caused by farms because they allow manure to collect, which leaches into the nearby land areas. Chemicals that are used for purposes like sheep dipping also cause serious land pollution as do diesel oil spillages.

An image showing soil pollution

Causes and Prevention of air pollution

Causess
Carbon dioxide is one the main pollutants that causes air pollution. This is because, although living beings do exhale carbon dioxide, this gas is harmful when emitted from other sources, which are caused due to human activity. An additional release of carbon dioxide happens due to various such activities. Carbon dioxide gas is used in various industries such as the oil industry and the chemical industry. The manufacturing process of most products would require the use of this gas. Scientists have now therefore identified carbon dioxide as one of those elements that have contributed to global warming.
The combustion of fuels in automobiles, jet planes etc all cause the release of several primary pollutants into the air. The burning of fossil fuels in big cities which is seen at most factories, offices and even a large number of homes, it is no wonder that air pollution is increasing at an alarming rate.



Prevention

Always keep your car tuned properly so that it remains in a good condition.

Save energy- Try to use minimum amounts of natural gas and even electricity. Whenever possible, avoid the use of air conditioner and use a fan instead.

Go in for water-based paints instead of varnishes.

.Carpool- This will help to reduce the number of vehicles on the already congested roads.

Avoid the use of firecrackers. You don’t really need it to express your feeling of happiness.

Reuse things such as paper and plastic bags, paper etc. This will contribute a lot towards reducing the effects of air pollution and global warming

Always buy recycled products

If you really cannot avoid using your car, plan your work systematically to reduce air pollution.

How does air pollution affects humans

Air pollution can affect our health in many ways with both short-term and long-term effects. Different groups of individuals are affected by air pollution in different ways. Examples of short-term effects include irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, and upper respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. Other symptoms can include headaches, nausea, and allergic reactions. Short-term air pollution can aggravate the medical conditions of individuals with asthma and emphysema. In the great "Smog Disaster" in London in 1952, four thousand people died in a few days due to the high concentrations of pollution.

Long-term health effects can include chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, or kidneys. Continual exposure to air pollution affects the lungs of growing children and may aggravate or complicate medical conditions in the elderly. It is estimated that half a million people die prematurely every year in the United States as a result of smoking cigarettes. The effects of air pollution on humans are fatal and life threatening.WHO statistics report that over 2 million people succumb to the fatalities attributed to air pollution.

What is air pollution?

Air pollution is actually the addition of any harmful substances to the atmosphere, which causes the damaging of the environment, human health and the quality of life. With the development in industry, came along the increase in air pollution, which occurs inside homes, schools, offices even in the countryside. Consequently there has been an increase in the death rates resulting from various diseases caused by air pollution varying from breathing problem to lung cancer. Air pollution does not only affect people but it also damages the whole ecological system in which plants and animals are harmed as well.

Air pollution has reached such a critical stage where it affects the earth's atmosphere as it lets in more harmful radiation from the sun. Consequently, our polluted atmosphere is becoming a better insulator, thus, preventing heat from escaping back into space. That is why there is a global rise in temperature which scientists refer to as " global warming". As a result of this rise in temperature the world food supply and sea level will be affected, also there is the probability of increase in the tropical disease.