Assessment of Soil Pollution by Industrial Effluents
The increasing industrialization has led to the pollution of soil through the discharge of effluents by the industrial units. Each kind of soil has its own individuality. The distinctive feature of this individuality is the soil profile, which consists of series of layers different from one of percolation of the waste water discharged into the land and the subsequent washing down of the pollutants to the successive horizons. The effluents discharged by the industrial units onto land contain many toxic chemicals, mineral acids, bases etc. which over a period of time get deposited in the soil due to their retention and adsorption on the soil particles. The mineral constituents present in trace amounts in the discharged effluent favor the growth of some algal, fungal and bacterial colonies which in turn change the texture of the soil. The micronutrients discharged into the soil through effluents reduce the porosity of the soil resulting in poor yields. Also some of the deposited chemicals may be taken up by the plants/ crops growing in such contaminated soils. Organic effluent with high concentration of biodegradable organic matter discharged into the soil attract the saprophytic soil and air micro flora and thus could proliferate resulting in poor yields or fungal diseases in many cases. Thus there is a need to monitor the soils where waste water is applied for irrigation/plantation purposes The Board is therefore monitoring the soil sample from the fields which are contamination by various pollutants.