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The Causes and Dangers of Soil Contamination

April 24, 2018

soil contamination, decontamination, plastech

Environmental pollution is a bitter truth in today’s world. Water, air and soil have all been affected adversely. However, soil suffers the most as it has a tendency to absorb collectively. Checking land for soil contamination is becoming quite common, sometimes required by law, to ensure the land is suitable. Whatever your reasons may be, remember to always use only the best environmental drilling products for this purpose.

In this article, we will help you to better understand the causes and risks of soil contamination and the importance of decontamination.  

What Causes Soil Contamination

Soil pollution can be a result of both man-made and naturally occurring factors.

Man-Made or Anthropogenic Contamination

Some of the major elements categorized to contributing to man-made soil contamination would include:

  • Accidental spillage of chemicals, such as during transportation,
  • Mining activities,
  • Agricultural happenings, such as diffusing pesticides on crops,
  • The storage of waste materials in landfills.

Natural Contamination

Alternation in the natural soil environment can result in pollution. Natural processes which influence the release of toxic chemicals in the soil would include:

  • natural accumulation of compounds,
  • leakage of chemicals like chlorine into the subsurface of earth,
  • natural production under specific environmental circumstances.

An example of natural contamination would be the formation of perchlorate in soil due to metallic objects, a chlorine source and the energy released during a thunderstorm.

What are the Risks of Soil Pollution?

There are a vast number of dangers associated with soil contamination. These can be both environmental and health risks.

Environmental Risks

One of the prominent ways in which the environment is affected by soil pollution is that the crops grown in contaminated soil produce a lower harvest than expected. Over a period of time, the lack of plants grown in the land will end in soil erosion. The pollutants will also affect the type of micro-organisms which live inside the earth. As a result, it will upset the entire ecosystem.

Health Risks

The release of harmful gases affects the environment poorly, while radioactive waves can cause health problems. Other problematic areas that could ultimately cause health risks include an increase in salinity, contamination of drinking water, waste management issues and reduced vegetation. 

The Importance of Decontamination

To eliminate the effects of soil contamination, resetting it back to its natural and healthy state, remediation or soil decontamination is needed. There are various methods which can be employed for environmental remediation. To purify contaminated soil, some of the most commonly used strategies include soil scrubbing, chemical fixing, encapsulation, thermal desorption, Phytoremediation (the usage of plants) or Mycoremediation (the usage of fungus).

Soil Contamination can be extremely hazardous for our environment. Therefore, we must do whatever is in our capacity to eliminate the contamination and prevent it from recurring in the future. Here at Plastech Plus, we can help you fulfil your needs while reducing soil contamination. Help us make a safer world today! Visit our online store for any of your drilling needs!

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