Effects of Environmental Pollution: It has been seen that pollutants originate at a point and are then transported to other places by the action of wind or water. Some pollutants are dumped into the soil by human beings. This leads to air, water and soil pollution respectively. If the soil is polluted, the useful microorganisms in it will die and the fertility of the soil will be lost. The production of crops will decrease. If the soil is not fertile; it will have a harmful impact on human society. Similarly, if water is polluted then we have to purify it before drinking. Purification needs resources. Lastly, if the air is polluted, respiration will become an issue and the survival of life will be under threat. Air pollution leads to many respiratory diseases and harms the human body.
WATER POLLUTION Water pollution occurs when harmful substances—often chemicals or microorganisms—contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment.
What Are the Causes of Water Pollution? Water is uniquely vulnerable to pollution. Known as a “universal solvent,” water is able to dissolve more substances than any other liquid on earth. It’s the reason we have Kool-Aid and brilliant blue waterfalls. It’s also why water is so easily polluted. Toxic substances from farms, towns, and factories readily dissolve into and mix with it, causing water pollution.
Types of Water Pollution
Groundwater When rain falls and seeps deep into the earth, filling the cracks, crevices, and porous spaces of an aquifer (basically an underground storehouse of water), it becomes groundwater—one of our least visible but most important natural resources. Nearly 40 percent of Americans rely on groundwater, pumped to the earth’s surface, for drinking water. For some folks in rural areas, it’s their only freshwater source. Groundwater gets polluted when contaminants—from pesticides and fertilizers to waste leached from landfills and septic systems—make their way into an aquifer, rendering it unsafe for human use. Ridding groundwater of contaminants can be difficult to impossible, as well as costly. Once polluted, an aquifer may be unusable for decades, or even thousands of years. Groundwater can also spread contamination far from the original polluting source as it seeps into streams, lakes, and oceans.
ORIGIN OF LIFE The origin of life is one of the great mysteries in the Universe. To determine the origin of life, scientists are investigating the problem in several different ways. Some scientists are studying life on our own planet. Some scientists are seeking out life or fossil life on other planets or moons in our solar system. And other scientists are trying to detect life in other solar systems, either by measuring life's effects on the atmospheres of distant planets or by measuring artificial radiation like radio signals that may be produced by advanced life.
Thus far, the most fruitful approach has been to examine life on our own planet. However, even in our own backyard, it is difficult to determine life's origins because it began at least 3.5 billion years ago. We know that life began at least 3.5 billion years ago, because that is the age of the oldest rocks with fossil evidence of life on earth. These rocks are rare because subsequent geologic processes have reshaped the surface of our planet, often destroying older rocks while making new ones. Nonetheless, 3.5 billion year old rocks with fossils can be found in Africa and Australia. They are usually a mix of solidified volcanic lavas and sedimentary cherts. The fossils occur in sedimentary cherts.