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Regulation and monitoring

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Textile industry

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Socially optimal level

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Pollution (disambiguation).
"Environmental pollution" redirects here. For the journal, see Environmental
Pollution (journal).

Part of a series on

Pollution

Air pollution from a factory

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Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause
harm.[1] Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy
(such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the components of pollution, can
be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants.

Although environmental pollution can be caused by natural events, the word pollution
generally implies that the contaminants have a human source, such
as manufacturing, extractive industries, poor waste management, transportation
or agriculture. Pollution is often classed as point source (coming from a highly
concentrated specific site, such as a factory, mine, construction site), or nonpoint
source pollution (coming from a widespread distributed sources, such
as microplastics or agricultural runoff).

Many sources of pollution were unregulated parts of industrialization during the 19th
and 20th centuries until the emergence of environmental regulation and
pollution policy in the later half of the 20th century. Sites where historically polluting
industries released persistent pollutants may have legacy pollution long after the source
of the pollution is stopped. Major forms of pollution include air pollution, water
pollution, litter, noise pollution, plastic pollution, soil contamination, radioactive
contamination, thermal pollution, light pollution, and visual pollution.[2]

Pollution has widespread consequences on human and environmental health, having

systematic impact on social and economic systems. In 2019, pollution killed
approximately nine million people worldwide (about one in six deaths that year); about
three-quarters of these deaths were caused by air pollution.[3][4] A 2022 literature review
found that levels of anthropogenic chemical pollution have exceeded planetary
boundaries and now threaten entire ecosystems around the world.[5][6] Pollutants
frequently have outsized impacts on vulnerable populations, such as children and the
elderly, and marginalized communities, because polluting industries and toxic waste
sites tend to be collocated with populations with less economic and political power.
[7]
This outsized impact is a core reason for the formation of the environmental justice
movement,[8][9] and continues to be a core element of environmental conflicts, particularly
in the Global South.

Because of the impacts of these chemicals, local and international countries' policy
have increasingly sought to regulate pollutants, resulting in increasing air and water
quality standards, alongside regulation of specific waste streams. Regional and national
policy is typically supervised by environmental agencies or ministries, while international
efforts are coordinated by the UN Environmental Program and other treaty bodies.
Pollution mitigation is an important part of all of the Sustainable Development Goals.[10]

Definitions and types

The term "pollution" in the modern environmental sense was rare before the 1860s. The
old sense referred to the desecration of something sacred. According to Adam Rome:

To describe what we now call air pollution--i.e., the gaseous, chemical, and metallic by-
products of combustion and industrial processes--people usually talked of "the smoke
nuisance." There were several variations of that term --"the smoke problem," "the
smoke evil," even "the smoke plague."[11]
Various definitions of pollution exist, which may or may not recognize certain types,
such as noise pollution or greenhouse gases. The United States Environmental
Protection Agency defines pollution as "Any substances in water, soil, or air that
degrade the natural quality of the environment, offend the senses of sight, taste, or
smell, or cause a health hazard. The usefulness of the natural resource is usually
impaired by the presence of pollutants and contaminants."[12] In contrast, the United
Nations considers pollution to be the "presence of substances and heat in
environmental media (air, water, land) whose nature, location, or quantity produces
undesirable environmental effects."[13]

Smog in the center of Moscow, Russia in August

2010
The major forms of pollution are listed below along with the
particular contaminants relevant to each of them:
 Air pollution: the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere.
Common gaseous pollutants include carbon monoxide, sulfur
dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrogen oxides produced by industry and
motor vehicles. Photochemical ozone and smog are created as nitrogen oxides
and hydrocarbons react to sunlight. Particulate matter, or fine dust is characterized
by their micrometre size PM10 to PM2.5.
 Chemical pollution: the introduction of novel entities (NEs) in the environment is one
of the planetary boundaries. In August 2022, scientists concluded that the (overall
transgressed) boundary is a placeholder for multiple different boundaries for NEs
that may emerge, reporting that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
pollution, informally referred to as "forever chemicals", is one such new boundary. [14]
 Electromagnetic pollution: the overabundance of electromagnetic radiation in
their non-ionizing form, such as radio and television transmissions, Wi-fi etc.
Although there is no demonstrable effect on humans there can be interference with
radio-astronomy and effects on safety systems of aircraft and cars.
 Light pollution: includes light trespass, over-
illumination and astronomical interference.
 Littering: the criminal throwing of inappropriate man-made objects, unremoved, onto
public and private properties.
 Noise pollution: which encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise, industrial
noise as well as high-intensity sonar.
 Plastic pollution: involves the accumulation of plastic products and microplastics in
the environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, or humans.
 Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are released by spill or underground
leakage. Among the most significant soil contaminants are hydrocarbons, heavy
metals, MTBE,[15] herbicides, pesticides and chlorinated hydrocarbons.
 Radioactive contamination, resulting from 20th century activities in atomic physics,
such as nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons research, manufacture and
deployment. (See alpha emitters and actinides in the environment.)
 Thermal pollution, is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused by
human influence, such as use of water as coolant in a power plant.
 Visual pollution, which can refer to the presence of overhead power lines,
motorway billboards, scarred landforms (as from strip mining), open storage of
trash, municipal solid waste or space debris.
 Water pollution, caused by the discharge of industrial wastewater from commercial
and industrial waste (intentionally or through spills) into surface waters; discharges
of untreated sewage and chemical contaminants, such as chlorine, from treated
sewage; and releases of waste and contaminants into surface runoff flowing to
surface waters (including urban runoff and agricultural runoff, which may contain
chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as human feces from open defecation).[16]
[17][18]

Natural causes
Air pollution produced by ships may alter clouds, affecting global temperatures.
One of the most significant natural sources of pollution are volcanoes, which during
eruptions release large quantities of harmful gases into the atmosphere. Volcanic gases
include carbon dioxide, which can be fatal in large concentrations and contributes
to climate change, hydrogen halides which can cause acid rain, sulfur dioxide, which is
harmful to animals and damages the ozone layer, and hydrogen sulfide, which is
capable of killing humans at concentrations of less than 1 part per thousand.[19] Volcanic
emissions also include fine and ultrafine particles which may contain toxic chemicals
and substances such as arsenic, lead, and mercury.[20]

Wildfires, which can be caused naturally by lightning strikes, are also a significant
source of air pollution. Wildfire smoke contains significant quantities of both carbon
dioxide and carbon monoxide, which can cause suffocation. Large quantities of fine
particulates are found within wildfire smoke as well, which pose a health risk to animals.
[21]

Human generation

Deaths caused as a result of fossil fuel use (areas of

rectangles in chart) greatly exceed those resulting from production of renewable
energy (rectangles barely visible in chart).[22]
Motor vehicle emissions are one of the leading causes of air pollution.[23][24]
[25]
China, United States, Russia, India,[26] Mexico, and Japan are the world leaders in air
pollution emissions. Principal stationary pollution sources include chemical plants, coal-
fired power plants, oil refineries,[27] petrochemical plants, nuclear waste disposal activity,
incinerators, large livestock farms (dairy cows, pigs, poultry, etc.), PVC factories, metals
production factories, plastics factories, and other heavy industry. Agricultural air
pollution comes from contemporary practices which include clear felling and burning of
natural vegetation as well as spraying of pesticides and herbicides.[28]

About 400 million metric tons of hazardous wastes are generated each year.[29] The
United States alone produces about 250 million metric tons.[30] Americans constitute less
than 5% of the world's population, but produce roughly 25% of the world's CO2,[31] and
generate approximately 30% of world's waste.[32][33] In 2007, China overtook the United
States as the world's biggest producer of CO2,[34] while still far behind based on per
capita pollution (ranked 78th among the world's nations).[35]
 An industrial area, with a power plant, south
of Yangzhou's downtown, China
Chlorinated hydrocarbons (CFH), heavy metals (such as chromium, cadmium—found in
rechargeable batteries, and lead—found in lead paint, aviation fuel, and even in certain
countries, gasoline), MTBE, zinc, arsenic, and benzene are some of the most frequent
soil contaminants. A series of press reports published in 2001, culminating in the
publication of the book Fateful Harvest, revealed a widespread practise of recycling
industrial leftovers into fertilizer, resulting in metal poisoning of the soil.[36] Ordinary
municipal landfills are the source of many chemical substances entering the soil
environment (and often groundwater), emanating from the wide variety of refuse
accepted, especially substances illegally discarded there, or from pre-1970 landfills that
may have been subject to little control in the U.S. or EU. There have also been some
unusual releases of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, commonly called dioxins for
simplicity, such as TCDD.[37]

Pollution can also occur as a result of natural disasters. Hurricanes, for example,
frequently result in sewage contamination and petrochemical spills from burst boats or
automobiles. When coastal oil rigs or refineries are involved, larger-scale and
environmental damage is not unusual. When accidents occur, some pollution sources,
such as nuclear power stations or oil ships, can create extensive and potentially
catastrophic emissions.[38]

Plastic pollution is choking our oceans by making plastic gyres, entangling marine
animals, poisoning our food and water supply, and ultimately inflicting havoc on the
health and well-being of humans and wildlife globally. With the exception of a small
amount that has been incinerating, virtually every piece of plastic that was ever made in
the past still exists in one form or another. And since most of the plastics do not
biodegrade in any meaningful sense, all that plastic waste could exist for hundreds or
even thousands of years. If plastic production is not circumscribed, plastic pollution will
be disastrous and will eventually outweigh fish in oceans.[39]
 Historical and projected CO2 emissions
by country (as of 2005).
Source: Energy Information Administration.[40][41]
Raised levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are
affecting the Earth's climate. Disruption of the environment can also highlight the
connection between areas of pollution that would normally be classified separately,
such as those of water and air. Recent studies have investigated the potential for long-
term rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to cause slight but critical increases in
the acidity of ocean waters, and the possible effects of this on marine ecosystems.

In February 2007, a report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC), representing the work of 2,500 scientists, economists, and
policymakers from more than 120 countries, confirmed that humans have been the
primary cause of global warming since 1950. Humans have ways to cut greenhouse gas
emissions and avoid the consequences of global warming, a major climate report
concluded. But to change the climate, the transition from fossil fuels like coal and oil
needs to occur within decades, according to the IPCC's final 2007 report.[42]

Effects
Human health
Further information: Soil pollution § Health effects, Toxic hotspots, List of pollution-
related diseases, and Air pollution § Health effects
 Overview of main health effects
on humans from some common types of pollution[43][44][45]
Pollution affects humans in every part of the world. An October 2017 study by the
Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health found that global pollution, specifically toxic
air, water, soil and workplaces, kills nine million people annually, which is triple the
number of deaths caused by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and 15 times
higher than deaths caused by wars and other forms of human violence.[46] The study
concluded that "pollution is one of the great existential challenges of
the Anthropocene era. Pollution endangers the stability of the Earth's support systems
and threatens the continuing survival of human societies."[47]

Adverse air quality can kill many organisms, including humans. Ozone pollution can
cause respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, throat inflammation, chest pain,
and congestion. A 2010 analysis estimated that 1.2 million people died prematurely
each year in China alone because of air pollution.[48] China's high smog levels can
damage the human body and cause various diseases.[49] In 2019, air pollution caused
1.67 million deaths in India (17.8% of total deaths nationally).[50] Studies have estimated
that the number of people killed annually in the United States could be over 50,000. [51] A
study published in 2022 in GeoHealth concluded that energy-related fossil fuel
emissions in the United States cause 46,900–59,400 premature deaths each year and
PM2.5-related illness and death costs the nation $537–$678 billion annually.[52] In the US,
deaths caused by coal pollution were highest in 1999, but decreased sharply after 2007.
The number dropped by about 95% by 2020, as coal plants have been closed or
have scrubbers installed.[53]

In 2019, water pollution caused 1.4 million premature deaths.[54] Contamination of

drinking water by untreated sewage in developing countries is an issue, for example,
over 732 million Indians (56% of the population) and over 92 million Ethiopians (92.9%
of the population) do not have access to basic sanitation.[55] In 2013, over 10 million
people in India fell ill with waterborne illnesses, and 1,535 people died, most of them
children.[56] As of 2007, nearly 500 million Chinese lack access to safe drinking water.[57]
Acute exposure to certain pollutants can have short and long term effects. Oil spills can
cause skin irritations and rashes. Noise pollution induces hearing loss, high blood
pressure, stress, and sleep disturbance. Mercury has been linked to developmental
deficits in children and neurologic symptoms. Older people are significantly exposed
to diseases induced by air pollution. Those with heart or lung disorders are at additional
risk. Children and infants are also at serious risk. Lead and other heavy metals have
been shown to cause neurological problems, intellectual disabilities and behavioural
problems.[58] Chemical and radioactive substances can cause cancer and birth defects.

Socio economic impacts

The health impacts of pollution have both direct and lasting social consequences. A
2021 study found that exposure to pollution causes an increase in violent crime.[59] A
2019 paper linked pollution to adverse school outcomes for children.[60] A number of
studies show that pollution has an adverse effect on the productivity of both indoor and
outdoor workers.[61][62][63][64]

Environment

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Pollution has been found to be present widely in the natural environment. A 2022 study
published in Environmental Science & Technology found that levels of anthropogenic
chemical pollution have exceeded planetary boundaries and now threaten entire
ecosystems around the world.[5][6]

There are a number of effects of this:

 Biomagnification describes situations where toxins (such as heavy metals) may

pass through trophic levels, becoming exponentially more concentrated in the
 process. Global carbon dioxide emissions by jurisdiction,
2023
 Carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean acidification, the ongoing decrease in the pH
of the Earth's oceans as CO2 becomes dissolved.
 The emission of greenhouse gases leads to global warming which affects
ecosystems in many ways.
 Invasive species can outcompete native species and reduce biodiversity. Invasive
plants can contribute debris and biomolecules (allelopathy) that can alter soil and
chemical compositions of an environment, often reducing native
species competitiveness.
 Nitrogen oxides are removed from the air by rain and fertilise land which can change
the species composition of ecosystems.
 Smog and haze can reduce the amount of sunlight received by plants to carry
out photosynthesis and leads to the production of tropospheric ozone which
damages plants.
 Soil can become infertile and unsuitable for plants. This will affect
other organisms in the food web.
 Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can cause acid rain which lowers the pH value of
soil.
 Organic pollution of watercourses can deplete oxygen levels and reduce species
diversity.
Regulation and monitoring
This section is an excerpt from Regulation and monitoring of pollution.[edit]
To protect the environment from the adverse effects of pollution, many nations
worldwide have enacted legislation to regulate various types of pollution as well as to
mitigate the adverse effects of pollution. At the local level, regulation usually is
supervised by environmental agencies or the broader public health system. Jurisdictions
often have different levels regulation and policy choices about pollution. Historically,
polluters will lobby governments in less economically developed areas or countries to
maintain lax regulation to protect industrialisation at the cost of human
and environmental health. [citation needed]

The modern environmental regulatory environment has its origins in the United States
with the beginning of industrial regulations around Air and Water pollution connected to
industry and mining during the 1960s and 1970s.[65]
Because many pollutants have transboundary impacts, the UN and other treaty bodies
have been used to regulate pollutants that circulate as air pollution, water
pollution or trade in wastes. Early international agreements were successful at
addressing Global Environmental issues, such as Montreal Protocol, which banned
Ozone depleting chemicals in 1987, with more recent agreements focusing on broader,
more widely dispersed chemicals such as persistent organic pollutants in the Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants created in 2001, such as PCBs, and
the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 which initiated collaboration on addressing greenhouse
gases to mitigate climate change. Governments, NPOs, research groups, and citizen
scientists monitor pollution with an expanding list of low-cost pollution monitoring tools.
[66][67]

Control

A litter trap catches floating waste in the Yarra River,

east-central Victoria, Australia. Air pollution control

system, known as a thermal oxidizer, decomposes hazard gases from industrial air
streams at a factory in the United States. A dust
collector in Pristina, Kosovo
Pollution control is a term used in environmental management. It refers to the control
of emissions and effluents into air, water or soil. Without pollution control,
the waste products from overconsumption, heating, agriculture, mining, manufacturing,
transportation and other human activities, whether they accumulate or disperse, will
degrade the environment. In the hierarchy of controls, pollution prevention and waste
minimization are more desirable than pollution control. In the field of land
development, low impact development is a similar technique for the prevention of urban
runoff.

Policy, law and monitoring/transparency/life-cycle assessment-

attached economics could be developed and enforced to control pollution.[68] A review
concluded that there is a lack of attention and action such as work on
a globally supported "formal science–policy interface", e.g. to "inform intervention,
influence research, and guide funding".[4]

In September 2023 a Global Framework on Chemicals aiming to reduce pollution was

agreed during an international conference in Bonn, Germany. The framework includes
28 targets, for example, to "end the use of hazardous pesticides in agriculture where the
risks have not been managed" by 2035.[69]

Practices

 Recycling
 Reusing
 Waste minimisation
 Mitigating
 Pollution prevention
 Compost
Devices

 Air pollution control

 Green wall
 Smog Tower
  Thermal oxidizer
 Bioremediation
 Dust collection systems
 Baghouses
 Cyclones
 Electrostatic precipitators
 Scrubbers
 Baffle spray scrubber
 Cyclonic spray scrubber
 Ejector venturi scrubber
 Mechanically aided scrubber
 Spray tower
 Wet scrubber
 Sewage treatment
 Sedimentation (Primary treatment)
 Activated sludge biotreaters (Secondary treatment; also used for industrial
wastewater)
 Aerated lagoons
 Constructed wetlands (also used for urban runoff)
 Industrial wastewater treatment
 API oil-water separators[27][70]
 Biofilters
 Dissolved air flotation (DAF)
 Powdered activated carbon treatment
 Ultrafiltration
 Vapor recovery systems
 Phytoremediation
Cost
Pollution has a cost.[71][72][73] Manufacturing activities that cause air pollution impose health
and clean-up costs on the whole of society. A manufacturing activity that causes air
pollution is an example of a negative externality in production. A negative externality in
production occurs "when a firm's production reduces the well-being of others who are
not compensated by the firm."[74] For example, if a laundry firm exists near a polluting
steel manufacturing firm, there will be increased costs for the laundry firm because of
the dirt and smoke produced by the steel manufacturing firm.[75] If external costs exist,
such as those created by pollution, the manufacturer will choose to produce more of the
product than would be produced if the manufacturer were required to pay all associated
environmental costs. Because responsibility or consequence for self-directed action lies
partly outside the self, an element of externalization is involved. If there are external
benefits, such as in public safety, less of the good may be produced than would be the
case if the producer were to receive payment for the external benefits to others. Goods
and services that involve negative externalities in production, such as those that
produce pollution, tend to be overproduced and underpriced since the externality is not
being priced into the market.[74]

Pollution can also create costs for the firms producing the pollution. Sometimes firms
choose, or are forced by regulation, to reduce the amount of pollution that they are
producing. The associated costs of doing this are called abatement costs, or marginal
abatement costs if measured by each additional unit.[76] In 2005 pollution abatement
capital expenditures and operating costs in the US amounted to nearly $27 billion. [77]

Dirtiest industries
The Pure Earth, an international non-for-profit organization dedicated to eliminating life-
threatening pollution in the developing world, issues an annual list of some of the
world's most polluting industries. Below is the list for 2016:[78][needs update]

 Lead–acid battery recycling

 Mining and extractive metallurgy
 Lead smelting
 Tanning
 Artisanal mining
 Landfills
 Industrial parks
 Chemical industry
 Manufacturing
 Dyeing
A 2018 report by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and GRAIN says that the
meat and dairy industries are poised to surpass the oil industry as the world's worst
polluters.[79]

Textile industry
This section is an excerpt from Chemical waste § Textile industry.[edit]

Indigo color water pollution in Phnom Penh,

Cambodia, 2005
The textile industry is one of the largest polluters in the globalized world of mostly free
market dominated socioeconomic systems.[80] Chemically polluted textile wastewater
degrades the quality of the soil and water.[81] The pollution comes from the type of
conduct of chemical treatments used e.g., in pretreatment, dyeing, printing, and
finishing operations[82] that many or most market-driven companies use despite "eco-
friendly alternatives". Textile industry wastewater is considered to be one the largest
polluters of water and soil ecosystems, causing "carcinogenic, mutagenic, genotoxic,
cytotoxic and allergenic threats to living organisms".[83][84] The textile industry uses over
8000 chemicals in its supply chain,[85] also polluting the environment with large amounts
of microplastics[86] and has been identified in one review as the industry sector producing
the largest amount of pollution.[87]

A campaign of big clothing brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma to voluntarily reform their
manufacturing supply chains to commit to achieving zero discharges of hazardous
chemicals by 2020 (global goal)[88][89] appears to have failed.

The textile industry also creates a lot of pollution that leads to externalities which can
cause large economic problems. The problem usually occurs when there is no division
of ownership rights. This means that the problem of pollution is largely caused because
of incomplete information about which company pollutes and at what scale the damage
was caused by the pollution.
Fossil fuel related industries
Outdoor air pollution attributable to fossil fuel use alone causes ~3.61 million deaths
annually, making it one of the top contributors to human death, beyond being a major
driver of climate change whereby greenhouse gases are considered per se as a form of
pollution (see above).[90]

Socially optimal level

See also: Right to a healthy environment
Society derives some indirect utility from pollution; otherwise, there would be no
incentive to pollute. This utility may come from the consumption of goods and services
that inherently create pollution (albeit the level can vary) or lower prices or lower
required efforts (or inconvenience) to abandon or substitute these goods and services.
Therefore, it is important that policymakers attempt to balance these indirect benefits
with the costs of pollution in order to achieve an efficient outcome.[91][additional citation(s) needed]
 A visual comparison of
the free market and socially optimal outcomes
It is possible to use environmental economics to determine which level of pollution is
deemed the social optimum. For economists, pollution is an "external cost and occurs
only when one or more individuals suffer a loss of welfare". There is a socially optimal
level of pollution at which welfare is maximized.[92] This is because consumers derive
utility from the good or service manufactured, which will outweigh the social cost of
pollution until a certain point. At this point the damage of one extra unit of pollution to
society, the marginal cost of pollution, is exactly equal to the marginal benefit of
consuming one more unit of the good or service.[93]

Moreover, the feasibility of pollution reduction rates could also be a factor of calculating
optimal levels. While a study puts the global mean loss of life expectancy (LLE; similar
to YPLL) from air pollution in 2015 at 2.9 years (substantially more than, for example,
0.3 years from all forms of direct violence), it also indicated that a significant fraction of
the LLE is unavoidable in terms of current economical-technological feasibility such as
aeolian dust and wildfire emission control.[94]

In markets with pollution, or other negative externalities in production, the free

market equilibrium will not account for the costs of pollution on society. If the social
costs of pollution are higher than the private costs incurred by the firm, then the true
supply curve will be higher. The point at which the social marginal cost and
market demand intersect gives the socially optimal level of pollution. At this point, the
quantity will be lower and the price will be higher in comparison to the free market
equilibrium.[93] Therefore, the free market outcome could be considered a market
failure because it "does not maximize efficiency".[74]

This model can be used as a basis to evaluate different methods of internalizing the
externality, such as tariffs, a Pigouvian tax (such as a carbon tax) and cap and
trade systems.
History
Further information: History of environmental pollution and Legacy pollution
Prior to 19th century
Air pollution has always accompanied civilizations. Pollution started from prehistoric
times, when humans created the first fires. According to a 1983 article in the
journal Science, soot found on ceilings of prehistoric caves provides ample evidence of
the high levels of pollution that was associated with inadequate ventilation of open fires.
[95]

Metal forging appears to be a key turning point in the creation of significant air pollution
levels outside the home. Core samples of glaciers in Greenland indicate increases in
pollution associated with Greek, Roman, and Chinese metal production.[96]

The burning of coal and wood, and the presence of many horses in concentrated areas
made the cities the primary sources of pollution. King Edward I of England banned the
burning of mineral coal by proclamation in London in 1306, after its smoke became a
problem;[97] the fuel was named seacoal at the time, getting its name from the fact that it
was delivered from overseas (as opposed to charcoal, which was referred to as "coal").

19th century
The Industrial Revolution gave birth to environmental pollution as we know it today.
London also recorded one of the earliest extreme cases of water quality problems with
the Great Stink on the Thames of 1858, which led to the construction of the London
sewerage system soon afterward. Pollution issues escalated as population growth far
exceeded the ability of neighborhoods to handle their waste problem. Reformers began
to demand sewer systems and clean water.[98]

In 1870, the sanitary conditions in Berlin were among the worst in Europe. August
Bebel recalled conditions before a modern sewer system was built in the late 1870s:

Waste-water from the houses collected in the gutters running alongside the curbs and
emitted a truly fearsome smell. There were no public toilets in the streets or squares.
Visitors, especially women, often became desperate when nature called. In the public
buildings the sanitary facilities were unbelievably primitive....As a metropolis, Berlin did
not emerge from a state of barbarism into civilization until after 1870. [99]

20th and 21st century

The primitive conditions were intolerable for a world national capital, and the Imperial
German government brought in its scientists, engineers, and urban planners to solve
the deficiencies and forge Berlin as the world's model city. A British expert in 1906
concluded that Berlin represented "the most complete application of science, order and
method of public life," adding "it is a marvel of civic administration, the most modern and
most perfectly organized city that there is."[100]
The emergence of great factories and consumption of immense quantities of coal gave
rise to unprecedented air pollution, and the large volume of industrial chemical
discharges added to the growing load of untreated human
waste. Chicago and Cincinnati were the first two American cities to enact laws ensuring
cleaner air in 1881. Pollution became a significant issue in the United States in the early
twentieth century, as progressive reformers took issue with air pollution caused by coal
burning, water pollution caused by bad sanitation, and street pollution caused by the
three million horses who worked in American cities in 1900, generating large quantities
of urine and manure. As historian Martin Melosi notes, the generation that first saw
automobiles replacing horses saw cars as "miracles of cleanliness".[101] By the 1940s,
automobile-caused smog was a significant issue in Los Angeles.[102]

Other cities followed around the country until early in the 20th century when the short-
lived Office of Air Pollution was created under the Department of the Interior. The cities
of Los Angeles experienced extreme smog events and Donora, Pennsylvania, in the
late 1940s, serving as another public reminder.[103]

Air pollution would continue to be a problem in England, especially later during the
Industrial Revolution, and extending into the recent past with the Great Smog of 1952.
Awareness of atmospheric pollution spread widely after World War II, with fears
triggered by reports of radioactive fallout from atomic warfare and testing.[104] Then a
non-nuclear event—the Great Smog of 1952 in London—killed at least 4000 people.
[105]
This prompted some of the first major modern environmental legislation: the Clean
Air Act of 1956.

Air pollution in the US, 1973

Pollution began to draw significant public attention in the United States between the
mid-1950s and early 1970s, when Congress passed the Noise Control Act, the Clean
Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.[106]

Smog pollution in Taiwan

Severe incidents of pollution helped increase consciousness. PCB dumping in
the Hudson River resulted in a ban by the EPA on consumption of its fish in 1974.
National news stories in the late 1970s—especially the long-term dioxin contamination
at Love Canal starting in 1947 and uncontrolled dumping in Valley of the Drums—led to
the Superfund legislation of 1980.[107] The pollution of industrial land gave rise to the
name brownfield, a term now common in city planning.

The development of nuclear science introduced radioactive contamination, which can

remain lethally radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. Lake Karachay—named
by the Worldwatch Institute as the "most polluted spot" on earth—served as a disposal
site for the Soviet Union throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Chelyabinsk, Russia, is
considered the "Most polluted place on the planet".[108]

Nuclear weapons continued to be tested in the Cold War, especially in the earlier stages
of their development. The toll on the worst-affected populations and the growth since
then in understanding the critical threat to human health posed by radioactivity has also
been a prohibitive complication associated with nuclear power. Though extreme care is
practiced in that industry, the potential for disaster suggested by incidents such as those
at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima pose a lingering specter of public
mistrust. Worldwide publicity has been intense on those disasters.[109] Widespread
support for test ban treaties has ended almost all nuclear testing in the atmosphere.[110]

International catastrophes such as the wreck of the Amoco Cadiz oil tanker off the coast
of Brittany in 1978 and the Bhopal disaster in 1984 have demonstrated the universality
of such events and the scale on which efforts to address them needed to engage. The
borderless nature of the atmosphere and oceans inevitably resulted in the implication of
pollution on a planetary level with the issue of global warming. Most recently, the
term persistent organic pollutant (POP) has come to describe a group of chemicals such
as PBDEs and PFCs, among others. Though their effects remain poorly understood
owing to a lack of experimental data, they have been detected in various ecological
habitats far removed from industrial activity, such as the Arctic, demonstrating diffusion
and bioaccumulation after only a relatively brief period of widespread use.
 Litter on the coast of Guyana
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a concentration of plastics in the North Pacific Gyre.
It and other garbage patches contain debris that can transport invasive species and that
can entangle and be ingested by wildlife.[111] Organizations such as 5 Gyres and the
Algalita Marine Research Foundation have researched the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
and found microplastics in the water.[112]

Pollution introduced by light at night is becoming a global problem, more severe in

urban centres, but contaminating also large territories, far away from towns.[113]

Growing evidence of local and global pollution and an increasingly informed public over
time have given rise to environmentalism and the environmental movement, which
generally seek to limit human impact on the environment.

See also
 Biological contamination
 Brain health and pollution
 Chemical contamination
 Environmental health
 Environmental racism
 Hazardous Substances Data Bank
 Overpopulation
 Neuroplastic effects of pollution
 Pollutant release and transfer register
 Polluter pays principle
 Pollution haven hypothesis
 Regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act
 Pollution is Colonialism
 Sacrifice zone
Air pollution Soil contamination Water pollution Other
 Air dispersion  Environmental soil  Environmental  Alkaline
modeling science impact of shipping precipitation
 Arden Pope  List of solid waste  Marine debris  Citizen science
 Atmospheric treatment  Marine pollution  Climate change
chemistry technologies  Ship pollution  Contamination
observational  List of waste  Stormwater control
databases – links management  Municipal  Earth Day
to freely available companies wastewater  Electromagnetic
data.  List of waste  Industrial radiation and health
 Emission standard management topics wastewater  Externality
 Greenhouse gas  Wastewater quality  Genetic pollution
 List of least indicators  Heat pollution
polluted cities by  Light pollution
particulate matter  List of
concentration environmental issues
 Smoke abatement  Noise health effects
 Space debris
 Radioactivity
 Effects of Climate
Change
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Further reading
 Rome, Adam W. "Coming to Terms with Pollution: The Language of Environmental
Reform, 1865-1915" Environmental History (1996) 1#3 pp. 6-28 JSTOR 3985154
External links
 OEHHA proposition 65 list
 National Toxicology Program – from US National Institutes of Health. Reports and
studies on how pollutants affect people
 TOXNET – NIH databases and reports on toxicology
 TOXMAP – Geographic Information System (GIS) that uses maps of the United
States to help users visually explore data from the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory and Superfund Basic Research
Programs
 EPA.gov – manages Superfund sites and the pollutants in them (CERCLA). Map the
EPA Superfund
 Toxic Release Inventory – tracks how much waste US companies release into the
water and air. Gives permits for releasing specific quantities of these pollutants each
year.
 Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry – Top 20 pollutants, how they
affect people, what US industries use them and the products in which they are found
 Chelyabinsk: The Most Contaminated Spot on the Planet Documentary Film
by Slawomir Grünberg (1996)
 Nieman Reports | Tracking Toxics When the Data Are Polluted
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