Get premium membership and access revision papers with marking schemes, video lessons and live classes.

Processing. Please wait.

Meaning of land pollution and its causes

Answer Text:
Land pollution.
- Land pollution is any physical or chemical alteration to land which causes change in its use and renders it capable of beneficial use without treatment.
- This involves misuse and chemical contamination of land.
- Land is polluted when solid and semi-solid waste from industries, commercial, medical and domestic buildings is left on the land surface.
- Such industrial waste corrodes or degrades the land surface and makes it unproductive.
- Garbage heaps in urban areas are an eye-sore and spoil the beauty of the environment.
- They contain dangerous contents like broken glasses which may cause injury.
- Again, the garbage heaps is a breeding ground for disease transmitting insects.
- The rotting garbage produces foul smell and acts as hiding place for muggers and thieves, thus making the place uninhabitable.
- Some of the dumped waste causes obstruction and may cause accidents especially at night.
- Land pollution also occurs through the use of chemicals such as fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides which make the land acidic and eventually infertile.
- When chemical substances enter the natural cycles and ecosystems, they affect the food, health and life of animals, plants and human beings.