As a result of anthropogenic activity, the environment is susceptible to pollution of various types. This significantly affects not only the lives of people, but also the state of the climate, flora, fauna, and leads to sad consequences. The main source of pollution is the inventions of people:

• cars;
• power plants;
• nuclear weapon;
• industrial enterprises;
• chemical substances.

Everything that is not natural, but artificial, affects human health and the environment as a whole. Even basic necessities such as food and clothing are now in need of innovative developments using chemicals.

To date, many machines and technical means have been invented that create noise during their work. These are transport and special equipment, equipment of enterprises and much more. As a result, cars, trains, machine tools make a huge amount of sounds that irritate the hearing of people and animals. Also, unpleasant noises can be produced naturally - thunderstorms, volcanoes, hurricanes. All this causes sound pollution and affects people's health, causing headaches, cardiovascular problems and hearing aid problems. In addition to hearing loss, this can lead to a stroke or heart attack.

Air pollution

Huge amounts of emissions and greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere every day. Exhaust gases of cars pollute the air most of all, and there are more cars in cities every year. Another source of air pollution is industrial enterprises:

• petrochemical;
• metallurgical;
• cement;
• energy
• coal mining.

As a result of air pollution, the ozone layer of the Earth is destroyed, which protects the surface from direct sunlight. The state of the environment as a whole is deteriorating, since oxygen molecules are necessary for life processes for all living organisms.

Pollution of the hydrosphere and lithosphere

Water and soil pollution is another global problem. It has reached such proportions that not only the waters of rivers and lakes, but the sea and oceans have come into disrepair. The most dangerous sources of water pollution are as follows:

• waste water - domestic and industrial;
• dumping garbage into rivers;
• spill of oil products;
• hydroelectric power plants and dams.

The land is polluted with both water and agrochemicals, products of industrial enterprises. Landfills and landfills, as well as burials of radioactive substances, are a particular problem.

1. POLLUTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT .............................................................. . 4

1.1. Air pollution................................................ ........................... 4

1.2. Soil pollution................................................ ................................... eight

1.3. Water pollution................................................ ................................... ten

2. SCOPE OF THE IMPACT OF NATURAL POLLUTIONS ON THE ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................... .......... fourteen

CONCLUSION................................................. ............................................ sixteen

LIST OF USED LITERATURE ....................................................... 18

APPENDIX................................................. ............................................ nineteen

INTRODUCTION

In my work, I will consider the topic "The main types of pollution of the natural environment."

Environmental pollution has a history almost as long as that of mankind itself. For a long time, primitive man differed little from other animal species and, in an ecological sense, was in balance with the environment. In addition, the human population was small.

Over time, as a result of the development of the biological organization of people, their mental abilities, the human race stood out among other species: the first species of living beings arose, the impact of which on all living things is a potential threat to the balance in nature.

It can be considered that "human intervention in natural processes during this time has increased by at least 5000 times, if this interference can be estimated at all" .

At all stages of its development, man was closely connected with the outside world. But since the emergence of a highly industrial society, the dangerous human intervention in nature has increased dramatically, the scope of this interference has expanded, it has begun to express various manifestations and now threatens to become a global danger to humanity. Man has to intervene more and more in the economy of the biosphere - that part of our planet in which life exists. The Earth's biosphere is currently undergoing increasing anthropogenic impact.

In connection with the importance of the question posed, the author of this work will try, after analyzing the current environmental situation in the world, to consider the main types of natural pollution, their impact and scale of impact on the environment, as well as possible ways to solve the problem under consideration.

1. POLLUTION

Environmental pollution should be understood as "a change in the properties of the environment (chemical, mechanical, physical, biological and related informational) occurring as a result of natural or artificial processes and leading to a deterioration in the functions of the environment in relation to any biological or technological object" . Using various elements of the environment in their activities, a person changes its quality. Often these changes are expressed in an unfavorable form of pollution.

Pollution of the environment is the entry into it of harmful substances that can harm human health, inorganic nature, flora and fauna, or become an obstacle in one or another human activity. Of course, pollution caused by human activities (they are called anthropogenic) must be distinguished from natural pollution. Usually, when talking about pollution, they mean exactly anthropogenic pollution and evaluate it by comparing the power of natural and anthropogenic sources of pollution.

Due to the large amounts of human waste entering the environment, the ability of the environment to self-purify is at the limit. A significant part of these wastes is alien to the natural environment: they are either toxic to microorganisms that decompose complex organic substances and turn them into simple inorganic compounds, or they are not decomposed at all and therefore accumulate in various parts of the environment. Even those substances that are familiar to the environment, entering it in too large quantities, can change its quality and affect ecological systems.

Human influence on nature is felt almost everywhere. Appendix 1 shows a list of the main pollutants of the biosphere according to UNESCO. Next, we will consider in more detail natural pollution that has an extremely negative impact on the biosphere.

1.1. Air pollution

There are two main sources of air pollution: natural and anthropogenic.

The natural source is volcanoes, dust storms, weathering, forest fires, decomposition processes of plants and animals.

Anthropogenic, mainly divided into three main sources of air pollution: industry, household boilers, transport. The share of each of these sources in total air pollution varies greatly from place to place.

It is now generally accepted that industrial production pollutes the air the most. Sources of pollution are thermal power plants, which, together with smoke, emit sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide into the air; metallurgical enterprises, especially non-ferrous metallurgy, which emit nitrogen oxides, hydrogen sulfide, chlorine, fluorine, ammonia, phosphorus compounds, particles and compounds of mercury and arsenic into the air; chemical and cement plants. Harmful gases enter the air as a result of the combustion of fuel for industrial needs, home heating, transport, combustion and processing of household and industrial waste.

According to scientists (1990), every year in the world as a result of human activities, 25.5 billion tons of carbon oxides, 190 million tons of sulfur oxides, 65 million tons of nitrogen oxides, 1.4 million tons of nitrogen oxides enter the atmosphere. chlorofluorocarbons (freons), organic lead compounds, hydrocarbons, including carcinogenic (causing cancer).

The most common atmospheric pollutants enter it mainly in two forms: either in the form of suspended particles (aerosols) or in the form of gases. By mass, the lion's share - 80-90 percent - of all emissions into the atmosphere due to human activities are gaseous emissions. There are 3 main sources of gaseous pollution: combustion of combustible materials, industrial production processes and natural sources.

Consider the main harmful impurities of anthropogenic origin.

Carbon monoxide. It is obtained by incomplete combustion of carbonaceous substances. It enters the air as a result of burning solid waste, with exhaust gases and emissions from industrial enterprises. At least 1250 million tons of this gas enters the atmosphere every year. Carbon monoxide is a compound that actively reacts with the constituent parts of the atmosphere and contributes to an increase in the temperature on the planet and the creation of a greenhouse effect.

Sulfur dioxide. It is emitted during the combustion of sulfur-containing fuel or the processing of sulfurous ores (up to 170 million tons per year). Part of the sulfur compounds is released during the combustion of organic residues in mining dumps. In the United States alone, the total amount of sulfur dioxide emitted into the atmosphere amounted to 65% of the global emission.

Sulfuric anhydride. It is formed during the oxidation of sulfur dioxide. The end product of the reaction is an aerosol or solution of sulfuric acid in rainwater, which acidifies the soil and exacerbates human respiratory diseases. The precipitation of sulfuric acid aerosol from smoke flares of chemical enterprises is observed at low cloudiness and high air humidity. Leaf blades of plants growing at a distance of less than 11 km. from such enterprises, are usually densely dotted with small necrotic spots formed in places where droplets of sulfuric acid have settled. Pyrometallurgical enterprises of non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy, as well as thermal power plants annually emit tens of millions of tons of sulfuric anhydride into the atmosphere.

Hydrogen sulfide and carbon disulfide. They enter the atmosphere separately or together with other sulfur compounds. The main sources of emissions are enterprises for the manufacture of artificial fiber, sugar, coke, oil refineries, and oil fields. In the atmosphere, when interacting with other pollutants, they undergo slow oxidation to sulfuric anhydride.

Nitrogen oxides. The main sources of emissions are enterprises producing nitrogen fertilizers, nitric acid and nitrates, aniline dyes, nitro compounds, viscose silk, and celluloid. The amount of nitrogen oxides entering the atmosphere is 20 million tons per year.

Fluorine compounds. Sources of pollution are enterprises producing aluminum, enamels, glass, ceramics, steel, and phosphate fertilizers. Fluorine-containing substances enter the atmosphere in the form of gaseous compounds - hydrogen fluoride or dust of sodium and calcium fluoride. The compounds are characterized by a toxic effect. Fluorine derivatives are strong insecticides.

Chlorine compounds. They enter the atmosphere from chemical enterprises producing hydrochloric acid, chlorine-containing pesticides, organic dyes, hydrolytic alcohol, bleach, soda. In the atmosphere, they are found as an admixture of chlorine molecules and hydrochloric acid vapors. The toxicity of chlorine is determined by the type of compounds and their concentration. In the metallurgical industry, during the smelting of pig iron and its processing into steel, various heavy metals and toxic gases are released into the atmosphere. So, in terms of 1 ton of pig iron, in addition to 12.7 kg. sulfur dioxide and 14.5 kg of dust particles that determine the amount of compounds of arsenic, phosphorus, antimony, lead, mercury vapor and rare metals, tar substances and hydrogen cyanide.

In addition to gaseous pollutants, a large amount of particulate matter enters the atmosphere. These are dust, soot and soot. Contamination of the natural environment with heavy metals poses a great danger. Lead, cadmium, mercury, copper, nickel, zinc, chromium, vanadium have become almost constant components of the air in industrial centers.

Introduction

Environmental pollution has almost the same long history as the history of mankind. For a long time, primitive man almost did not differ from other animal species and, in ecological terms, was in balance with the environment. In addition, the number was small.

Over time, as a result of the development of people, their mental capabilities, the human race stood out: it became the first species of living beings that carries a potential danger of balance in nature.

We can assume that "human intervention in natural processes during this time has increased by at least 5000 times, if this intervention can be assessed at all" Kormilitsyn V.I. and others. Fundamentals of ecology - M .: INTERSTYL, 1997 ..

At each stage of development, a person was connected with the outside world. But since the emergence of an industrial society, production, human intervention in nature has intensified - it began to threaten to become a global danger to humanity. Man has to intervene more and more in the economy of the biosphere - that part of our planet in which life exists. The Earth's biosphere is currently undergoing increasing anthropogenic impact.

The purpose of the abstract is to determine the types and severity of human anthropogenic impact on the nature of the Earth, the scale of such environmental impacts.

pollution anthropogenic environmental

The concept of environmental pollution

Environmental pollution should be understood as a change in the properties of the environment (chemical, mechanical, physical, bio), occurring as a result of natural or artificial processes and leading to a deterioration in the functions of the environment in relation to any biological or technological object Voytkevich G. V., Vronsky V. A Fundamentals of the doctrine of the biosphere.- M .: Education, 1989.

Applying different components of the environment in their activities, a person changes its property. Often this is expressed in a form unfavorable to the environment.

Environmental pollution is expressed in the entry of harmful substances into it that can harm human health, inorganic nature, flora and fauna, or interfere with one or another human activity Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia.

They recognize natural pollution (volcanic eruption, river flooding) and pollution resulting from human actions (anthropogenic).

A significant part of the waste is toxic to microorganisms or accumulates in various areas of the environment.

Air pollution

Air pollution occurs in two ways - natural and artificial. Various volcanic eruptions, dust storms, fires, decomposition of biomaterial are considered natural sources of environmental pollution.

About the artificial source of atmospheric pollution (and not only the atmosphere, but also the soil and air) we will stop separately and consider in detail.

Artificial sources - they are also called "anthropogenic" - are industry, transport, air heating installations. The volume of each source in total air pollution varies by location.

Industrial production pollutes the air the most. Their stations and equipment emit sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, particles and compounds of mercury and arsenic, chlorine, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen oxides, fluorine, and phosphorus compounds into the air. As well as cement plants. Gases get into the air as a result of burning fuel, heating, waste processing.

According to scientists, every year in the world as a result of human activity, 25.5 billion tons of carbon oxides, 190 million tons of sulfur oxides, 65 million tons of nitrogen oxides, 1.4 million tons of chlorofluorocarbons (freons), organic compounds enter the atmosphere lead, hydrocarbons, including carcinogenic (causing cancer) Khorev B.S. City problems. - M.: Thought, 1975 ..

There are several sources of pollution:

Combustion of combustible materials

Industrial production processes

natural sources.

Consider the main harmful impurities of anthropogenic origin Davidenko I.V. The earth is your home. - M.: Nedra. 1989..

Carbon monoxide. The concentration of carbon monoxide in urban air is greater than any other pollutant. But this gas has no color, no smell, no taste, so our senses are not able to detect it. This gas enters the air with exhaust gases and industrial emissions. Carbon monoxide leads to an increase in the temperature on the planet and the creation of a "greenhouse effect".

Carbon dioxide is a colorless gas with a slightly sour smell and taste. Formed during the combustion of any type of fuel. It has the same effect on the atmosphere as carbon monoxide - it heats the air temperature, which is why the "greenhouse effect" develops on the planet.

Sulfur dioxide is a colorless gas with a pungent odor, easily soluble in water. It is used for bleaching wool, for canning, as a disinfectant, in refrigeration due to its easy condensability. It is emitted during the production of sulfuric acid, during the combustion of sulfur-containing fuel in forges, boiler houses. Causes cough, runny nose, watery eyes, a feeling of dryness in the throat, harms plants. Attacks limestone and some rocks. I.K. Malina, A.A. Kasparov. TSB - 1969-1978

In the USA alone, the total amount of sulfur dioxide emitted into the atmosphere amounted to 65% of the global emission Encyclopedia "I Know the World" (Ecology).

Sulfuric anhydride (or sulfur oxide) is a highly volatile, colorless liquid with a suffocating odor. Wikipedia. As a result of oxidation, a solution of sulfuric acid is formed, which has a negative effect on the soil, exacerbates human respiratory diseases. Plants growing near plants that make such emissions are covered with spots formed by acid droplets.

Pyrometallurgical enterprises of non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy, as well as thermal power plants, annually emit tens of millions of tons of sulfuric anhydride into the atmosphere. Our Planet; Moscow; 1985..

Hydrogen sulfide and carbon disulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas with a characteristic odor of rotten eggs. They come together with other sulfur compounds. The main sources of emissions are enterprises producing nitrogen fertilizers, nitric acid and nitrates, aniline dyes, nitro compounds, viscose silk, celluloid. The amount of such emissions entering the atmosphere is about 20 million tons per year. Monin A. S. Shishkov Yu. A. Global environmental problems. -- M.: Knowledge, 1991.

Nitrogen oxides - a gas, red-brown in color, with a characteristic pungent odor or a yellowish liquid 11. The main sources are fuel power plants, internal combustion engines and in the process of pickling metals with nitric acid. It mainly affects the respiratory tract and lungs, and also causes changes in the composition of the blood, in particular, it reduces the content of hemoglobin in the blood. More often has a state of smog.

Fluorine compounds. Many toothpastes contain fluoride, which is essential for strengthening teeth and gums. The Russian Federation has developed a system of standards for fluorine for drinking water for different climatic zones. Its concentrations for warm and cold seasons were also determined. Despite the apparent benefits, fluorine compounds have a negative impact on the atmosphere. Sources of pollution are enterprises producing various types of enamel, ceramics, aluminum, glass, and phosphorus fertilizers. Fluorine-containing substances enter the atmosphere in the form of gas or dust. The compounds are characterized by a toxic effect.

Chlorine compounds. More common as an admixture of the molecule of chlorine and hydrochloric acid. Occurs in the chemical production of hydrochloric acid, pesticides, dyes, soda.

Per 1 ton of pig iron, in addition to 12.7 kg of sulfur dioxide and 14.5 kg of dust particles, which determine the amount of compounds of arsenic, phosphorus, antimony, lead, mercury vapor and rare metals, tar substances and hydrogen cyanide, Danilov-Danilyan V. AND. "Environmental problems: what is happening, who is to blame and what to do?" M.: MNEPU, 1997.

In addition to gaseous pollution, the atmosphere is constantly replenished with a large number of solid particles - dust, soot and soot. Pollution of the environment with heavy metals poses a considerable threat. Lead, mercury, copper, cadmium, nickel and many others are constantly present in the air of industrial centers E. A. Kriksunov, V.V. Pasechnik, A.P. Sidorin "Ecology" Publishing House "Drofa" 2005.

The greatest danger to the Earth's atmosphere is aerosols - liquid and solid particles in the air. Aerosol particles are particularly dangerous to organisms and cause disease in humans. Outwardly, such pollution presents itself in the form of smoke, fog.

According to environmental studies, about 1 cubic meter annually enters the Earth's atmosphere. km of aerosol particles during the production activities of people.

The sources of aerosol pollution are most often TPPs using high-ash coal, metallurgical, cement, carbon black plants. Another way for the appearance of aerosol pollution of the atmosphere is industrial dumps - "a dump, an artificial mound of waste rocks extracted during underground mining of coal deposits and other minerals, a mound of waste or slag from various industries and the combustion of solid fuels." Wikipedia

Naturally, everyone also remembers freons, which are used as refrigerants in everyday life, in solvents, etc. It is their scientists around the world who consider the cause of the formation of ozone holes in the atmosphere. This entails an increase in human skin cancers, because ozone is known to absorb the sun's ultraviolet radiation.

Environmental pollution should be understood as "a change in the properties of the environment (chemical, mechanical, physical, biological and related information) occurring as a result of natural or artificial processes and leading to a deterioration in the functions of the environment in relation to any biological or technological object." Using various elements of the environment in their activities, a person changes its quality. Often these changes are expressed in an unfavorable form of pollution.

Pollution of the environment is the entry into it of harmful substances that can harm human health, inorganic nature, flora and fauna, or become an obstacle in one or another human activity.

Due to the large amounts of human waste entering the environment, the ability of the environment to self-purify is at the limit. A significant part of these wastes is alien to the natural environment: they are either toxic to microorganisms that decompose complex organic substances and turn them into simple inorganic compounds, or they are not decomposed at all and therefore accumulate in various parts of the environment.

Human influence on nature is felt almost everywhere. Appendix 1 shows a list of the main pollutants of the biosphere according to UNESCO. Next, we will consider in more detail natural pollution that has an extremely negative impact on the biosphere.

Air pollution

There are two main sources of air pollution: natural and anthropogenic.

The natural source is volcanoes, dust storms, weathering, forest fires, decomposition processes of plants and animals.

Anthropogenic, mainly divided into three main sources of air pollution: industry, household boilers, transport. The share of each of these sources in total air pollution varies greatly from place to place.

It is now generally accepted that industrial production pollutes the air the most. Sources of pollution are thermal power plants, which, together with smoke, emit sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide into the air; metallurgical enterprises, especially non-ferrous metallurgy, which emit nitrogen oxides, hydrogen sulfide, chlorine, fluorine, ammonia, phosphorus compounds, particles and compounds of mercury and arsenic into the air; chemical and cement plants. Harmful gases enter the air as a result of the combustion of fuel for industrial needs, home heating, transport, combustion and processing of household and industrial waste.

According to scientists (1990), every year in the world as a result of human activities, 25.5 billion tons of carbon oxides, 190 million tons of sulfur oxides, 65 million tons of nitrogen oxides, 1.4 million tons of nitrogen oxides enter the atmosphere. chlorofluorocarbons (freons), organic lead compounds, hydrocarbons, including carcinogenic (causing cancer).

The most common atmospheric pollutants enter it mainly in two forms: either in the form of suspended particles (aerosols) or in the form of gases. By mass, the lion's share - 80-90 percent - of all emissions into the atmosphere due to human activities are gaseous emissions. There are 3 main sources of gaseous pollution: combustion of combustible materials, industrial production processes and natural sources.

Consider the main harmful impurities of anthropogenic origin.

- carbon monoxide. It is obtained by incomplete combustion of carbonaceous substances. It enters the air as a result of burning solid waste, with exhaust gases and emissions from industrial enterprises. At least 1250 million tons of this gas enters the atmosphere every year. Carbon monoxide is a compound that actively reacts with the constituent parts of the atmosphere and contributes to an increase in the temperature on the planet and the creation of a greenhouse effect.

- Sulfur dioxide. It is emitted during the combustion of sulfur-containing fuel or the processing of sulfurous ores (up to 170 million tons per year). Part of the sulfur compounds is released during the combustion of organic residues in mining dumps.

- Sulfuric anhydride. It is formed during the oxidation of sulfur dioxide. The end product of the reaction is an aerosol or solution of sulfuric acid in rainwater, which acidifies the soil and exacerbates human respiratory diseases. The precipitation of sulfuric acid aerosol from smoke flares of chemical enterprises is observed at low cloudiness and high air humidity. Pyrometallurgical enterprises of non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy, as well as thermal power plants annually emit tens of millions of tons of sulfuric anhydride into the atmosphere.

- Hydrogen sulfide and carbon disulfide. They enter the atmosphere separately or together with other sulfur compounds. The main sources of emissions are enterprises for the manufacture of artificial fiber, sugar, coke, oil refineries, and oil fields. In the atmosphere, when interacting with other pollutants, they undergo slow oxidation to sulfuric anhydride.

- Nitrogen oxides. The main sources of emissions are enterprises producing nitrogen fertilizers, nitric acid and nitrates, aniline dyes, nitro compounds, viscose silk, and celluloid. The amount of nitrogen oxides entering the atmosphere is 20 million tons per year.

- Fluorine compounds. Sources of pollution are enterprises producing aluminum, enamels, glass, ceramics, steel, and phosphate fertilizers. Fluorine-containing substances enter the atmosphere in the form of gaseous compounds - hydrogen fluoride or dust of sodium and calcium fluoride. The compounds are characterized by a toxic effect. Fluorine derivatives are strong insecticides.

- Chlorine compounds. They enter the atmosphere from chemical enterprises producing hydrochloric acid, chlorine-containing pesticides, organic dyes, hydrolytic alcohol, bleach, soda. In the atmosphere, they are found as an admixture of chlorine molecules and hydrochloric acid vapors. In the metallurgical industry, during the smelting of pig iron and its processing into steel, various heavy metals and toxic gases are released into the atmosphere. So, per 1 ton of pig iron, in addition to 12.7 kg of sulfur dioxide and 14.5 kg of dust particles, which determine the amount of compounds of arsenic, phosphorus, antimony, lead, mercury vapor and rare metals, tar substances and hydrogen cyanide, are released.

In addition to gaseous pollutants, a large amount of particulate matter enters the atmosphere. These are dust, soot and soot. Contamination of the natural environment with heavy metals poses a great danger. Lead, cadmium, mercury, copper, nickel, zinc, chromium, vanadium have become almost constant components of the air in industrial centers.

Aerosols are solid or liquid particles suspended in the air. The solid components of aerosols in some cases are especially dangerous for organisms, and cause specific diseases in humans. In the atmosphere, aerosol pollution is perceived in the form of smoke, fog, mist or haze. A significant part of aerosols is formed in the atmosphere when solid and liquid particles interact with each other or with water vapor. The average size of aerosol particles is 1-5 microns. About 1 cubic meter enters the Earth's atmosphere every year. km of dust particles of artificial origin. Information about some sources of technogenic dust is given in Appendix 3.

The main sources of artificial aerosol air pollution are thermal power plants that consume high-ash coal, enrichment plants, metallurgical, cement, magnesite and carbon black plants. Aerosol particles from these sources are distinguished by a wide variety of chemical composition. Most often, compounds of silicon, calcium and carbon are found in their composition, less often - metal oxides.

Permanent sources of aerosol pollution are industrial dumps - artificial mounds of redeposited material, mainly overburden, formed during mining or from waste from processing industries, thermal power plants.

The source of dust and poisonous gases is mass blasting. So, as a result of one medium-sized explosion (250-300 tons of explosives), about 2 thousand cubic meters are released into the atmosphere. m. of conditional carbon monoxide and more than 150 tons of dust.

The production of cement and other building materials is also a source of air pollution with dust. The main technological processes of these industries - grinding and chemical processing of semi-finished products and products obtained in hot gas flows are always accompanied by emissions of dust and other harmful substances into the atmosphere.

The main air pollutants today are carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. (Annex 2).

We must not forget about freons, or chlorofluorocarbons. Freons are widely used in production and in everyday life as refrigerants, foaming agents, solvents, as well as in aerosol packages. Namely, with a decrease in the ozone content in the upper atmosphere, doctors attribute an increase in the number of skin cancers. It is known that atmospheric ozone is formed as a result of complex photochemical reactions under the influence of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. Ozone, absorbing ultraviolet radiation, protects all life on earth from death. Freons, getting into the atmosphere, under the influence of solar radiation, decompose into a number of compounds, of which chlorine oxide most intensively destroys ozone.

Soil pollution

Almost all pollutants that are initially released into the atmosphere end up on land and water. Settling aerosols may contain toxic heavy metals - lead, cadmium, mercury, copper, vanadium, cobalt, nickel. Usually they are inactive and accumulate in the soil. But acids also get into the soil with rain. By combining with them, metals can turn into soluble compounds available to plants. Substances that are constantly present in soils also pass into soluble forms, which sometimes leads to the death of plants. An example is aluminum, which is very common in soils, the soluble compounds of which are absorbed by the roots of trees. Aluminum disease, in which the structure of plant tissues is disturbed, is fatal for trees.

On the other hand, acid rains wash out the nutrient salts necessary for plants, containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which reduces soil fertility. The increase in soil acidity due to acid rain destroys beneficial soil microorganisms, disrupts all microbiological processes in the soil, makes it impossible for a number of plants to exist, and sometimes turns out to be favorable for the development of weeds.

All this can be called unintentional soil pollution.

But we can also talk about deliberate pollution of the soil. Let's start with the use of mineral fertilizers applied to the soil specifically to increase crop yields.

It is clear that after harvesting the soil needs to restore fertility. But excessive use of fertilizers is harmful. It turned out that with an increase in the dose of fertilizers, the yield first grows rapidly, but then the increase becomes less and less and there comes a point when a further increase in the dose of fertilizers does not give any increase in yield, and in an excess dose, mineral substances can be toxic to plants. The fact that the increase in yield is sharply reduced indicates that the plants do not absorb excess nutrients.

Excess fertilizer is leached and washed off the fields by melt and rainwater (and ends up in land waters and in the sea). Excess nitrogen fertilizers in the soil break down, and gaseous nitrogen is released into the atmosphere, and the organic matter of humus, which is the basis of soil fertility, decomposes into carbon dioxide and water. Since organic matter is not returned to the soil, humus is depleted and soils degrade. Large grain farms that do not have livestock waste (for example, in the former virgin lands of Kazakhstan, the Cis-Urals and Western Siberia) suffer especially hard.

In addition to disturbing the structure and depletion of soils, an excess of nitrates and phosphates leads to a serious deterioration in the quality of human food. Some plants (eg spinach, lettuce) are able to accumulate nitrates in large quantities. "Eating 250 grams of lettuce grown in a fertilized garden bed, you can get a dose of nitrates equivalent to 0.7 grams of ammonium nitrate. In the intestinal tract, nitrates turn into poisonous nitrites, which can later form nitrosamines - substances with strong carcinogenic properties. In addition, in the blood, nitrites oxidize hemoglobin and deprive it of its ability to bind oxygen, which is necessary for living tissue. As a result, a special type of anemia occurs - methemoglobinemia.

Pesticide- insecticides against harmful insects in agriculture and in everyday life, pesticides against various pests of agricultural plants, herbicides against weeds, fungicides against fungal diseases of plants, defoliants for dropping leaves in cotton, zoocides against rodents, nematocides against worms, limacides against slugs have become widely used since the end of World War II.

All of these substances are poisonous. These are very persistent substances and therefore they can accumulate in the soil and persist for decades.

The use of pesticides has undoubtedly played a significant role in increasing crop yields. Sometimes pesticides save up to 20 percent of the crop.

But very negative consequences of the use of pesticides were soon discovered. It turned out that their action is much broader than their purpose. Insecticides, for example, act not only on insects, but also on warm-blooded animals and humans. By killing harmful insects, they also kill many beneficial insects, including those that are natural enemies of pests. The systematic use of pesticides began to lead not to the eradication of pests, but to the emergence of new races of pests that are not susceptible to the action of this pesticide. The destruction of competitors or enemies of one or another of the pests led to the appearance of new pests in the fields. I had to increase the doses of pesticides by 2-3 times, and sometimes ten or more times. This was also driven by the imperfection of the technology for the use of pesticides. According to some estimates, because of this, up to 90 percent of pesticides in our country are wasted and only pollute the environment, causing damage to human health. It is not uncommon for pesticides to literally fall on the heads of people working in the field due to the negligence of chemical agents.

Some plants (particularly root crops) and animals (eg common earthworms) accumulate pesticides in their tissues at much higher concentrations than soil. As a result, pesticides enter the food chain and reach birds, wild and domestic animals, and humans. According to estimates in 1983, in developing countries, 400,000 people fell ill and about 10,000 died each year from pesticide poisoning.

Water pollution

It is clear to everyone how great is the role of water in the life of our planet and especially in the existence of the biosphere.

The biological need of man and animals for water per year is 10 times higher than their own weight. Even more impressive are the household, industrial and agricultural needs of man. So, "to produce a ton of soap, 2 tons of water are required, sugar - 9, cotton products - 200, steel - 250, nitrogen fertilizers or synthetic fiber - 600, grain - about 1000, paper - 1000, synthetic rubber - 2500 tons of water."

The water used by man is eventually returned to the natural environment. But, apart from evaporated water, it is no longer pure water, but domestic, industrial and agricultural wastewater, usually not treated or treated insufficiently. Thus, freshwater reservoirs are polluted - rivers, lakes, land and coastal areas of the seas.

Modern methods of water treatment, mechanical and biological, are far from perfect. almost 100 percent salts of toxic heavy metals".

There are three types of water pollution - biological, chemical and physical.

biological pollution It is created by microorganisms, including pathogens, as well as organic substances capable of fermentation. The main sources of biological pollution of land and coastal waters of the seas are domestic effluents that contain feces, food waste, wastewater from food industry enterprises (slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, dairy and cheese factories, sugar factories, etc.), pulp and paper and chemical industry, and in rural areas - the effluents of large livestock complexes. Biological contamination can cause epidemics of cholera, typhoid, paratyphoid and other intestinal infections and various viral infections, such as hepatitis.

chemical pollution created by the introduction of various toxic substances into the water. The main sources of chemical pollution are blast furnace and steel production, non-ferrous metallurgy, mining, chemical industry and, to a large extent, extensive agriculture. In addition to direct discharges of wastewater into water bodies and surface runoff, it is also necessary to take into account the ingress of pollutants onto the water surface directly from the air.

In recent years, the entry of nitrates into the surface waters of land has increased significantly due to the irrational use of nitrogen fertilizers, as well as due to an increase in atmospheric emissions from vehicle exhaust gases. The same applies to phosphates, for which, in addition to fertilizers, the increasing use of various detergents serves as a source. Dangerous chemical pollution is created by hydrocarbons - oil and products of its processing, which enter rivers and lakes both with industrial discharges, especially during the extraction and transportation of oil, and as a result of washing off the soil and falling out of the atmosphere.

To make wastewater more or less usable, it is subjected to multiple dilutions. But it would be more correct to say that at the same time, pure natural waters that could be used for any purpose, including drinking, become less suitable for this, polluted.

Dilution of wastewater reduces the quality of water in natural reservoirs, but usually does not achieve its main goal of preventing harm to human health. The fact is that harmful impurities contained in water in negligible concentrations accumulate in some organisms that people eat. First, toxic substances enter the tissues of the smallest planktonic organisms, then they accumulate in organisms that, in the process of breathing and feeding, filter a large amount of water (molluscs, sponges, etc.) and, ultimately, both along the food chain and in the process of breathing concentrated in the tissues of fish. As a result, the concentration of poisons in the tissues of fish can become hundreds and even thousands of times greater than in water.

Dilution of industrial effluents, and even more so solutions of fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural fields, often occurs already in the natural reservoirs themselves. If the reservoir is stagnant or slow-flowing, then the discharge of organic matter and fertilizers into it leads to an overabundance of nutrients and overgrowth of the reservoir. At first, nutrients accumulate in such a reservoir and algae grow rapidly. After their death, the biomass sinks to the bottom, where it is mineralized with the consumption of a large amount of oxygen. Conditions in the deep layer of such a reservoir become unsuitable for the life of fish and other organisms that need oxygen. When all oxygen is exhausted, oxygen-free fermentation begins with the release of methane and hydrogen sulfide. Then there is a poisoning of the entire reservoir and the death of all living organisms (except for some bacteria). Such an unenviable fate threatens not only lakes into which domestic and industrial waste is discharged, but also some closed and semi-enclosed seas.

physical pollution water is created by the discharge of heat or radioactive substances into them. Thermal pollution is mainly due to the fact that the water used for cooling at thermal and nuclear power plants (and, accordingly, about 1/3 and 1/2 of the energy produced) is discharged into the same reservoir. Some industries also contribute to thermal pollution.

With significant thermal pollution, the fish suffocates and dies, as its oxygen demand increases, and the solubility of oxygen decreases. The amount of oxygen in the water also decreases because thermal pollution leads to the rapid development of unicellular algae: the water "blooms" with subsequent decay of the dying plant mass. In addition, thermal pollution significantly increases the toxicity of many chemical pollutants, in particular heavy metals.

Pollution of the oceans and seas occurs as a result of the entry of pollutants with river runoff, their precipitation from the atmosphere, and, finally, due to human economic activity directly on the seas and oceans.

With river runoff, the volume of which is about 36-38 thousand cubic kilometers, a huge amount of pollutants in suspended and dissolved form enters the oceans and seas. According to some estimates, more than 320 million tons of iron, up to 200 thousand tons of lead, enter the ocean every year. , 110 million tons of sulfur, up to 20 thousand tons of cadmium, from 5 to 8 thousand tons of mercury, 6.5 million tons of phosphorus, hundreds of millions of tons of organic pollutants.

Atmospheric sources of ocean pollution for some types of pollutants are comparable to river runoff.

A special place is occupied by the pollution of the ocean by oil and oil products (see Fig. Appendix 4).

Natural pollution occurs as a result of oil seepage from oil-bearing layers, mainly on the shelf.

The greatest contribution to the oil pollution of the ocean is made by sea transportation of oil. Of the 3 billion tons of oil currently produced, about 2 billion tons are transported by sea. Even with accident-free transport, oil is lost during its loading and unloading, flushing and ballast waters (which fill tanks after oil is unloaded) into the ocean, as well as during the discharge of so-called bilge waters, which always accumulate on the floor of the engine rooms of any ships.

But the greatest damage to the environment and the biosphere is caused by sudden spills of large amounts of oil during tanker accidents, although such spills account for only 5-6 percent of the total oil pollution.

In the open ocean, oil occurs mainly in the form of a thin film (with a minimum thickness of up to 0.15 micrometers) and tar lumps, which are formed from heavy fractions of oil. If resin lumps primarily affect plant and animal marine organisms, then the oil film, in addition, affects many physical and chemical processes occurring on the ocean-atmosphere interface and in the layers adjacent to it:

First of all, the oil film increases the share of solar energy reflected from the ocean surface and reduces the share of absorbed energy. Thus, the oil film affects the processes of heat accumulation in the ocean. Despite the decrease in the amount of incoming heat, the surface temperature in the presence of an oil slick increases the more, the thicker the oil slick.

The ocean is the main supplier of atmospheric moisture, on which the degree of moistening of the continents largely depends. The oil film makes it difficult to evaporate moisture, and with a sufficiently large thickness (about 400 micrometers) it can reduce it to almost zero.

Smoothing out wind waves and preventing the formation of water splashes, which, evaporating, leave tiny particles of salt in the atmosphere, the oil film changes the salt exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere. It can also affect the amount of atmospheric precipitation over the oceans and continents, since salt particles make up a significant part of the condensation nuclei needed to form rain.

Many countries with access to the sea carry out sea burial of various materials and substances (dumping), in particular soil excavated during dredging, drill slag, industrial waste, construction debris, solid waste, explosives and chemicals, radioactive waste. The volume of burials amounted to about 10% of the total mass of pollutants entering the World Ocean.

The basis for dumping in the sea is the ability of the marine environment to process a large amount of organic and inorganic substances without much damage to the water. However, this ability is not unlimited.

During the discharge and passage of the material through the water column, part of the pollutants goes into solution, changing the quality of the water, the other is sorbed by suspended particles and goes into bottom sediments. At the same time, the turbidity of the water increases. The presence of organic substances often leads to the rapid consumption of oxygen in water and often to its complete disappearance, the dissolution of suspensions, the accumulation of metals in dissolved form, and the appearance of hydrogen sulfide.

When organizing a system of control over waste discharges into the sea, the determination of dumping areas, the determination of the dynamics of pollution of sea water and bottom sediments is of decisive importance. To identify possible volumes of discharge into the sea, it is necessary to carry out calculations of all pollutants in the composition of the material discharge.

The impact of environmental pollution on human health

In recent decades, the problem of preventing the adverse effects of environmental factors on human health has moved to one of the first places among other global problems.

This is due to the rapid increase in the number of factors different in nature (physical, chemical, biological, social) factors, the complex spectrum and mode of their influence, the possibility of simultaneous (combined, complex) action, as well as the variety of pathological conditions caused by these factors.

Among the complex of anthropogenic (technogenic) impacts on the environment and human health, a special place is occupied by numerous chemical compounds widely used in industry, agriculture, energy and other areas of production. Currently, more than 11 million chemicals are known, and in economically developed countries over 100 thousand chemical compounds are produced and used, many of which actually affect humans and the environment.

The impact of chemical compounds can cause almost all pathological processes and conditions known in general pathology. Moreover, as knowledge about the mechanisms of toxic effects deepens and expands, new types of adverse effects (carcinogenic, mutagenic, immunotoxic and other types of actions) are revealed.

There are several fundamental approaches to the prevention of the adverse effects of chemicals: a complete ban on production and use, a ban on entry into the environment and any impact on humans, replacement of a toxic substance with a less toxic and dangerous one, limitation (regulation) of the content in environmental objects and the levels of impact on workers and the general population. Due to the fact that modern chemistry has become a determining factor in the development of key areas in the entire system of productive forces, the choice of a prevention strategy is a complex, multi-criteria task, the solution of which requires analysis as a risk of developing immediate and long-term adverse effects of a substance on the human body, its offspring. , the environment, and the possible social, economic, medical and biological consequences of the ban on the production and use of a chemical compound.

The determining criterion for choosing a prevention strategy is the criterion of preventing (preventing) a harmful action. In our country and abroad, the production and use of a number of hazardous industrial carcinogens and pesticides is prohibited.

Water pollution. Water is one of the most important life-supporting natural environments formed as a result of the evolution of the Earth. It is an integral part of the biosphere and has a number of anomalous properties that affect the physicochemical and biological processes occurring in ecosystems. These properties include very high and maximum medium liquids, heat capacity, heat of fusion and heat of evaporation, surface tension, dissolving power and dielectric constant, transparency. In addition, water is characterized by an increased migration capacity, which is important for its interaction with adjacent natural environments. The above properties of water determine the potential for the accumulation in it of very high amounts of a wide variety of pollutants, including pathogenic microorganisms. In connection with the continuously increasing pollution of surface waters, groundwaters are practically the only source of household and drinking water supply for the population. Therefore, their protection from pollution and depletion, rational use are of strategic importance.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that potable groundwater lies in the uppermost, most polluted part of artesian basins and other hydrogeological structures, and rivers and lakes make up only 0.019% of the total water volume. Water of good quality is required not only for drinking and cultural needs, but also for many industries. The danger of groundwater pollution lies in the fact that the underground hydrosphere (especially artesian basins) is the ultimate reservoir for the accumulation of pollutants of both surface and deep origin. Long-term, in many cases irreversible nature is the pollution of inland water bodies. Of particular danger is the contamination of drinking water with microorganisms that are pathogenic and can cause outbreaks of various epidemic diseases among the population and animals.

The most important anthropogenic processes of water pollution are runoff from industrial-urbanized and agricultural territories, precipitation of anthropogenic products with atmospheric precipitation. These processes pollute not only surface waters, but also the underground hydrosphere, the World Ocean. On the continents, the upper aquifers (ground and confined), which are used for domestic and drinking water supply, are most affected. Accidents of oil tankers, oil pipelines can be a significant factor in the sharp deterioration of the environmental situation on the sea coasts and water areas, in inland water systems. There has been a trend towards an increase in these accidents in the last decade. On the territory of the Russian Federation, the problem of pollution of surface and groundwater with nitrogen compounds is becoming increasingly important. Ecological and geochemical mapping of the central regions of European Russia has shown that the surface and ground waters of this territory are in many cases characterized by high concentrations of nitrates and nitrites. Regime observations indicate an increase in these concentrations over time.

A similar situation develops with the contamination of groundwater with organic substances. This is due to the fact that the underground hydrosphere is not capable of oxidizing a large mass of organic matter entering it. The consequence of this is that the pollution of hydrogeochemical systems gradually becomes irreversible.

Pollution of the lithosphere. As you know, land currently makes up 1/6 of the planet, that part of the planet on which man lives. That is why the protection of the lithosphere is very important. Soil protection from humans is one of the most important human tasks, since any harmful compounds in the soil sooner or later enter the human body. First, there is a constant leaching of pollution into open reservoirs and groundwater, which can be used by humans for drinking and other needs. Secondly, these contaminants from soil moisture, groundwater and open water bodies enter the organisms of animals and plants that consume this water, and then again enter the human body through food chains. Thirdly, many compounds harmful to the human body have the ability to accumulate in tissues, and, above all, in bones. According to researchers, about 20-30 billion tons of solid waste enters the biosphere annually, of which 50-60% are organic compounds, and about 1 billion tons in the form of acidic agents of a gas or aerosol nature. And all this is less than 6 billion people! Various soil pollution, most of which are anthropogenic in nature, can be divided according to the source of these pollution entering the soil.

Atmospheric precipitation: many chemical compounds (gases - oxides of sulfur and nitrogen) that enter the atmosphere as a result of the operation of the enterprise, then dissolve in droplets of atmospheric moisture and enter the soil with precipitation. Dust and aerosols: Solid and liquid compounds in dry weather usually settle directly as dust and aerosols. With direct absorption of gaseous compounds by the soil. In dry weather, gases can be directly absorbed by the soil, especially wet soil. With plant litter: various harmful compounds, in any state of aggregation, are absorbed by leaves through stomata or settle on the surface. Then, when the leaves fall, all these compounds enter the soil. Soil pollution is difficult to classify; in different sources, their division is given in different ways. If we generalize and highlight the main thing, then the following picture of soil pollution is observed: garbage, emissions, dumps, sedimentary rocks; heavy metals; pesticides; mycotoxins; radioactive substances.

Thus, we see that the protection of the natural environment today is one of the most acute and painful. The solution to this problem can no longer be postponed, urgent measures must be taken to eliminate it. In the practical part, we will present possible measures to improve the ecological state of the natural environment.



Human pollution of nature is one of the most ancient problems in the history of civilization. Man has long considered the environment mainly as a source of resources, seeking to achieve independence from it, to improve the conditions of his existence. As long as the population and the scale of production were not large, and the natural spaces were so vast, then in order to achieve their goals, people were willing to sacrifice part of the untouched nature, as well as some degree of frequency of air and water.

But, obviously, this process in our relatively closed, non-boundary world cannot continue indefinitely. As the scale of production has grown, its environmental impacts have become more severe and widespread, and natural spaces have been continuously reduced. Expanding the scope of its activities, man began to create an artificial habitat - the technosphere, in exchange for the natural environment - the biosphere. However, any sphere of human practical activity requires knowledge of the laws of nature. Power engineers designing hydroelectric power plants have faced problems of preserving spawning grounds and fish stocks, disruption of natural watercourses, climate change in the area of ​​reservoirs, and the exclusion of fertile lands from economic use. Drainage of swamps in order to expand the area of ​​agricultural land in many cases led to the opposite effect - a decrease in the level of groundwater, the death of pastures, forests, and the transformation of vast areas into areas covered with sand and peat dust. Enterprises, especially chemical, metallurgical, energy, with their emissions into the atmosphere, discharges into rivers and water bodies, solid waste destroy the flora and fauna, cause diseases in people. The desire to get higher yields led to the use of mineral fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. However, their excessive use leads to a high concentration of harmful substances in agricultural products, which can cause poisoning of people. Before talking about specific examples of pollution of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere, it is necessary to consider their definition and nature.

Let's start with ecology. Ecology is the science of the relationship of living organisms with each other and with the environment. The term "ecology" was first introduced by the German biologist Haeckel in 1869. It is formed from two Greek words: "oikos", which means house, dwelling, "logos" - study or science. Thus, literally ecology means something like the science of the environment.

A section of human ecology, or social ecology, has been formed, where the patterns of interaction between society and the environment, practical problems of environmental protection are studied. The most important section of ecology is industrial ecology, which considers the impact of industrial, transport and agricultural facilities on the natural environment - and, conversely, the impact of environmental conditions on the operation of enterprises of their complexes and technosphere regions,

The ecological system (ecosystem) of our planet or its separate region is a set of equal species of organisms living together and the conditions of their existence, which are in a regular relationship with each other. An imbalance in an ecosystem that causes irreversible changes in it and its gradual disruption (death) is called an ecological crisis.

An ecological catastrophe is a relatively fast-paced chain of events leading to irreversible natural processes (severe desertification or pollution, infection), making it impossible to manage any type of economy, leading to a real danger of serious illness or even death of people.

And now we turn to the interaction of the biosphere and man. At present, human economic activity is acquiring such a scale that the basic principles of the natural structure of the biosphere are violated: the energy balance, the existing circulation of substances, the diversity of species and biological communities is reduced.

According to the concept of the outstanding Russian scientist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, the biosphere is a shell of the Earth, including both the area of ​​distribution of living matter and this substance itself.

Thus, the biosphere is the lower part of the atmosphere, the entire hydrosphere and the upper part of the Earth's lithosphere, inhabited by living organisms.

The biosphere is the largest (global) ecosystem on Earth.

The biosphere exists on the principle of circulation: practically without waste. Man, on the other hand, uses the planet's matter very inefficiently, generating a huge amount of waste - 98% of the natural resources used, and the resulting useful social product is no more than 2%. Polluting the biosphere, a person becomes a consumer of the most contaminated food products.

Moreover, substances have appeared that change the normal structure of genes - mutagens. Mutagenesis - changing genes under the influence of the environment - constantly occurs in every organism. This process is natural in itself, but in conditions of increasing environmental pollution, it gets out of control of natural mechanisms, and the task of a person is to learn how to manage their health in a real environment.

Types of pollution of the biosphere:

1. Ingredient pollution - the entry into the biosphere of substances that are quantitatively and qualitatively alien to it. Substances polluting the biosphere can be gaseous and vaporous, liquid and solid.

2. Energy pollution - noise, heat, light, radiation, electromagnetic.

3. Destructive pollution - deforestation, disturbance of watercourses, quarrying of minerals, road construction, soil erosion, land drainage, urbanization (growth and development of cities) and others, that is, representing a change in landscapes and ecological systems as a result of the transformation of nature by man.

4. Biocenotic pollution - which consists in the impact on the composition, structure and type of a population of living organisms.

Air pollution.

The atmosphere is the gaseous shell of the Earth, consisting of a mixture of many gases and dust. Its mass is very small. However, the role of the atmosphere in all natural processes is enormous. The presence of an atmosphere around the globe determines the general thermal regime of the surface of our planet, protects it from cosmic radiation and ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. Atmospheric circulation affects local climatic conditions, and through them, "relief formation processes.

The modern composition of the atmosphere is the result of a long historical development of the globe. Air consists by volume of nitrogen - 78.09%, oxygen - 20.95%, argon - 0.93%, carbon dioxide - 0.03%, neon - 0.0018% and other gases and water vapor.

Currently, human activities have a great influence on the composition of the atmosphere. A significant amount of impurities appeared in the air of settlements with developed industry. The main sources of air pollution include enterprises of the fuel and energy complex, transport, and industrial enterprises. They cause pollution of the natural environment with heavy metals. Lead, cadmium, mercury, copper, nickel, zinc, chromium, vanadium are almost permanent components of the air in industrial centers. A modern HPP with a capacity of 24 million kW consumes up to 20 thousand tons of coal per day and emits 120-140 tons of solid particles (ash, dust, soot) into the atmosphere.

In the vicinity of the power plant emitting 280-360 tons of CO2 per day, the maximum concentrations on the leeward side at a distance of 200-500, 500-1000 and 1000-2000 m are 0.3-4.9, respectively; 0.7-5.5 and 0.22-2.8 mg/m2.

In total, about 25 million tons of pollutants are annually emitted into the atmosphere by industrial facilities in Russia.

Currently, according to the data given in the comments to the Law of the Russian Federation "On the Protection of the Environment", more than 70 million people breathe air that is five or more times higher than the maximum permissible pollution.

An increase in the number of cars, especially in large cities, also leads to an increase in emissions of harmful products into the atmosphere. Vehicles are among the moving sources of pollution in residential and recreational areas. The use of leaded gasoline causes air pollution with toxic lead compounds. About 70% of the lead added to gasoline with ethyl liquid enters the atmosphere in the form of compounds with exhaust gases, of which 30% settles on the ground immediately after the cut of the car's exhaust pipe, 40% remains in the atmosphere. One medium-duty truck emits 2.5 - 3 kg of lead per year.

Over 250,000 tons of lead worldwide is emitted annually into the air with car exhaust gases, which account for up to 98% of lead released into the atmosphere.

Cities with a stable high level of air pollution include: Bratsk, Grozny, Yekaterinburg, Kemerovo, Kurgan, Lipetsk, Magnitogorsk, Novokuznetsk, Perm. Usolye-Sibirskoye, Khabarovsk, Chelyabinsk, Shelekhov, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

In cities, there is a certain relationship between the content of dust in the outdoor air and the air of living quarters of modern city apartments. In the summer season, at an average outside temperature of 20°C, more than 90% of the chemicals in the outside air penetrate into the living quarters, and in the transitional period (at a temperature of 2 - 5°C) - 40%.

Soil pollution

The lithosphere is the upper solid shell of the Earth.

As a result of the interaction of geological, climatic, biochemical factors, the upper thin layer of the lithosphere has turned into a special environment - the soil, where a significant part of the exchange processes between animate and inanimate nature takes place.

As a result of unreasonable human economic activity, the fertile soil layer is destroyed, it becomes polluted and its composition changes.

Significant land losses are associated with intensive human agricultural activities. Repeated plowing of land makes the soil defenseless against winds, spring floods, as a result, accelerated wind and water erosion of the soil, its salinization occurs.

Due to wind and water erosion, salinization and other similar reasons, 5-7 million hectares of arable land are lost annually in the world. Only accelerated soil erosion over the last century on the planet has led to the loss of 2 billion hectares of fertile land.

The use on a large scale of fertilizers, chemical poisons to control pests and weeds predetermines the accumulation of substances unusual for it in the soil. Finally, huge areas of soil are lost during mining operations, during the construction of enterprises, cities, roads, and airfields.

One of the consequences of the increasing technogenic load is the intense contamination of the soil cover with metals and their compounds. About 4 million chemicals have been introduced into the human environment. In the process of production activity, a person disperses the reserves of metals concentrated in the earth's crust, which then accumulate again in the upper soil layer.

Every year, at least 4 km3 of rocks and ores are extracted from the bowels of the earth, and the increase is about 3% per year. If in ancient times man used only 18 elements of the periodic table, by the 17th century - 25, in the 18th century - 29, in the 19th - 62, then all the elements known in the earth's crust are currently used.

Measurements show that of all the metals classified in the first hazard class, soil pollution with lead and its compounds is the most widespread. It is known that during the smelting and refining of lead, up to 25 kg of this metal is released into the environment for each ton produced.

Due to the fact that lead compounds are used as additives to gasoline, vehicles are almost the main source of lead pollution. Therefore, you can not pick mushrooms, berries, apples and nuts along roads where there is heavy traffic.

Mining metallurgy enterprises, wastewater from mines are the most massive sources of soil pollution with copper. Soil contamination with zinc occurs from industrial dust, especially from mines, and through the use of superphosphate fertilizers, which include zinc.

Radioactive elements can get into the soil and accumulate in it as a result of precipitation from atomic explosions or during the removal of liquid and solid radioactive waste from industrial enterprises and research institutions involved in the study and use of atomic energy. Radioactive isotopes from soils enter plants and organisms of animals and humans, accumulating in certain tissues and organs: strontium - 90 - in bones and teeth, cesium -137 - in muscles, iodine - 131 - in the thyroid gland.

In addition to industry and agriculture, residential buildings and household enterprises are sources of soil pollution. Here, among the pollutants dominated by household waste, food waste, feces, construction waste, worn-out household items, garbage thrown out by public institutions: hospitals, hotels, shops.

Self-purification of soils practically does not occur or occurs very slowly. Toxic substances accumulate, which contributes to a gradual change in the chemical composition of soils, from where toxic substances can enter plants, animals, people and cause undesirable consequences.