Given below is a representation of a kind of pollution (a scene showing heavy traffic, horns and loudspeakers). Study the same and answer the questions that follow: Given below is a representation of a kind of pollution (a scene showing heavy traffic, horns and loudspeakers). Study the same and answer the questions that follow:
Explain the term ‘Pollutant’.
Topic: Pollutant
Answer
A POLLUTANT is any constituent — solid, liquid, gaseous or even a form of energy — whose addition to the air, water or land DETERIORATES the natural quality of the environment and causes harm to living organisms.
Two elements make the definition: it ALTERS the natural quality of the environment, and it causes HARM.
THE POINT WORTH ADDING: many pollutants are harmless or even necessary in small amounts. Carbon dioxide is essential to photosynthesis and becomes a pollutant only in excess. So it is the QUANTITY and the PLACE that make a substance a pollutant, not the substance itself.
Note that noise shows a pollutant need not be a SUBSTANCE at all — it is energy — which is why the definition is worded as "any constituent" rather than "any chemical".
Pollutants divide into BIODEGRADABLE (sewage, paper) and NON-BIODEGRADABLE (plastics, heavy metals, DDT). The second kind is the more dangerous, since it persists and accumulates along food chains.