Pollution and its effects on the environment
... that they cannot be seen or tasted and can cause significant health damage and even be fatal. That is the why Minamata in Japan was struck with mercury poisoning in the 1950’s. Suspended solids in the water can also hinder the life of marine animals. They discolor the water making it brown, which will stop light entering the water which some aquatic life need to survive. It clogs fish gills and kills sea grass corals. These materials can be derived from quarries, run off from areas where normal vegetation has been removed, such as construction sites, from landslides and from areas that have been deforested, as in strip-mining operations. These particles end up as sediments in receiving waters, where they settle to the bottom and smother the organisms that feed or breed there. Thermal pollution is the dissipation of waste heat into cooling water. This water is subsequently discharged into nearby waterways by ships which use the water to clean their bilges; the ecosystems are disrupted by the warmer-than-normal water around the discharge pipe. The discharge temperatures can range from 5 to 11 C degrees (9 to 20 F degrees) above ambient water temperatures. More than half of all water consumption, excluding agricultural uses is for cooling or energy dissipation. The discharge of heated water into a waterway often causes ecologic imbalance, sometimes resulting in major fish kills near the discharge source. The increased temperature accelerates chemical-biological processes and decreases the ability of the water to hold dissolved oxygen. Thermal changes affect the aquatic system by limiting or changing the type of fish, plants, and other organisms able to grow or reproduce in the waters. The highest pollution is in the Gulf of Paria. Pollution treaties have been put in place to cut down pollution also government management has helped to stop pollution. We can also help to cut down pollution in our environment by practicing good housekeeping, reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers and by not dumping waste in rivers and waterways. Now we will be looking at noise pollutions effect on the environment. Noise, a pollutant of relatively recent origin, is the subject of frequent complaints, especially in urban environments. City residents are surrounded by a cacophony of sounds from general traffic in the streets, loudspeakers, and a host of other sources. It has long been known that exposure to very loud noises from explosions, for instance can cause hearing loss. Evidence now suggests that noise-related stress also causes a wide range of psychological and physiological problems ranging from irrita...