Soil Pollution: A covered reality

 

“The Nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself”. This famous quote by Franklin D Roosevelt, US president is now becoming a reality in our country. India being an agrarian economy is totally dependent on its soil. Agriculture in India contributes more than 18% of the GDP and provides employment to more than 50% of its population who are directly or indirectly linked with agriculture. In accordance with a report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 95% of our food comes from the soil.

  

Soil pollution is the degradation of soil due to the presence of chemical substances at a higher concentration. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the complete ecosystem all are affected by soil pollution. So, what’s contributes the soil pollution? Any idea?? Noo !!

Dumping of solid and hazardous wastes, discharging of industrial effluents, excessive uses of pesticides are some of the major contributors to soil pollution.

 

One cannot deny the economic impact of soil pollution apart from the environmental impact as the decrease in crop yield, poor quality of crops is accounted every year during crop harvesting. Rapid growth in population and industrialization in India during the last two decades has put tremendous pressure on land for developing industries, buildings, roads, and other recreational purposes. Though the increase in industrialization is a matter of pride for our nation, parallelly the surge in environmental pollution is posing a serious threat to the ecosystem. Every now and then, a matter of environmental pollution is being voiced out by the citizens either slowly or loudly. 

 

Reports and literature on soil pollution in the Indian context are very unevenly distributed. According to a report given by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), there are 291 contaminated sites covering 21 states throughout India. Out of these 291 contaminated sites, 116 sites are confirmed while the remaining 175 sites are probably contaminated that are subjected to assessment. CPCB in consultation with MoEF&CC has developed a Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) to classify industrial clusters into Critically Polluted Areas (CEPI>70) and Severe Polluted Areas (CEPI score between 60 and below 70).

All these contaminated sites pose a multi-dimensional risk on human health & the environment and need to be investigated. Knowingly or unknowingly the human population residing in these zones are getting exposed to pollutants by several means. Proper measures of remediation and management of contaminated soil can only be done once the level and background concentration of pollutants are quantified, which requires a meticulous and thorough study about the source and level of the contaminant.   

We cannot deny from the fact that a major portion of soil gets contaminated due to anthropogenic activities, so it’s our prime duty to make and adopt necessary changes which assure less pollution and a healthy ecosystem in the coming future.  It is a matter of fact that, it almost takes more than 1000 years to form one centimeter of topsoil. So, once it gets contaminated, it cannot be restored within our lifespan. Seeing the rise in the global population, it is estimated that by the year 2050, the population will cross 9 billion which is a big question on food security globally.

 Management strategies!! how and by whom??

Its high time to think and opt for sustainable methods like composting, waste segregation, recycling which will reduce the burden on our soil. Unfortunately, soil management is a subject that is always being ignored at the national level in our country due to a lack of comprehensive knowledge in this area. Poor coordination among various National levels agencies, Political unwillingness, and impoverished knowledge in locals and farmers are the areas that need to be looked upon. Regular monitoring of the pollutants, polluters pay, spreading awareness for adopting better agricultural practices are areas that need to be prioritized and to be looked upon. A common platform (nationally/regionally) needs to be framed where peoples from all the sections of society, researchers, policymakers can interact with each other and can share their thoughts and bring necessary steps for implementation.

It is our prime duty to look after our soil which provides us food for a healthy future. So, contributing to a healthy environment is better than Polluting it. “Don’t SPOIL the SOIL”.