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One
key question that is proposed in regards to the topic of soil
contamination is, is it the same as soil pollution? Before one can
specifically address the issue of soil contamination one must
distinguish it from soil pollution. It is often assumed that soil
pollution and soil contamination are entirely the same, but that is
not a correct assumption to have. According to the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) pollution is
defined as the, “introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of
substances or energy into the environment (including estuaries)
resulting in such deleterious effects as harm to living resource and
hazards to human health”whereas contamination is defined as,“the
presence of elevated concentrations of substances in the environment
above the natural
background
level for the area and for the organism” (FAO, 2000). Soil
contamination follows the provided definition of contamination but
pertains to the specific topic of soil. Some key characteristics of
soil contamination is that it results from human activity and when
contamination begins to harm living organisms it can then be defined
as a soil pollution. The FAO gives key examples of soil
contamination types such as: pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals
(FAO, 2000). It is important to distinguish the difference between
soil pollution and soil contamination to fine tune possible solution
to the problem as well as to be able to properly asses the risk of
soil contamination.
By:
Maryah Jackson, Portland State University
Works
Cited:
Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2011, May 5).
Assessing Soil Contamination: A Reference Manual. Retrieved January
15, 2015 from http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x2570e/x2570e00.htm
Sciortino,
J., & Ravikumar, R. (2000, March 3). Fishery Harbour Manual on
the Prevention of Pollution - Bay of Bengal Programme. Retrieved
January 15, 2015, from http://www.fao.org
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