Environmental pollution is a global problem and its ability to influence the physiology of humans and their surrounding environment is detrimental and thus deserves attention. Descriptively, environmental pollution is the introduction or insertion of contaminating substances into the natural environment resulting in adverse and debilitating changes to the environment. As a ripple effect, these changes are felt through all levels of the food chain affecting humans at the top. Despite the variant nature and forms of pollutants, there are two major types of environmental pollution with the most impact on human life; air and water pollution. However, pollutants can be in the form of chemical substances, energies, particulate matter, and other soluble substances in water or air. In essence, what makes water and air pollution inherently fundamental in this discourse is their centrality in the survival of living organisms including humans. As such, the paper aims at producing an articulated discourse regarding the health effects of water and air pollution on human growth and development as well as the prevention and conservation of water resources.
Effects of Pollution on Human Growth and Development
Schell, Gallo, Denham, & Ravenscroft (2006) focus on specific pollutants and their effects rather than generalizing them under water or air pollution. For instance, the authors discuss noise as a pollutant and how exposure to it dwarfs human growth. The authors confine these effects within prenatal and postnatal growth asserting that constant exposure to noise results in increased stress levels that in turn affects fetus growth through the endocrine system. The stress caused by noise activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that causes growth-inhibition particularly through the action of corticosteroids, Schell et al., (2006, p104).
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Regarding Lead as a pollutant, Schell, Gallo, Denham, & Ravenscroft (2006) ascertain that it is a ubiquitous pollutant in industrialized nations where it has known effects on the physiology as well as the performance of humans. Thus, Schell, Gallo, Denham, & Ravenscroft (2006) assert that most lead pollutants enter the body through ingestion rather than inhalation as popularly conceived. In this regard, the effects as conceived by the CDC range from neurobehavioral deficits and growth impairments at low levels of exposure to death at high levels. On persistent organic pollutants (POPs), Schell, Gallo, Denham, & Ravenscroft (2006) stipulate that they are produced inadvertently or purposefully by industrial plants. These include pesticides, herbicides, and polychlorinated biphenyls. Their effects include poisoning and spread of pandemic diseases such as the Yusho disease in 1968 Japan and the Yu-cheng poisoning in 1979 Taiwan (p. 105). The authors further assert that given the long half-life of the POPs, they could stay in the fat tissue of organisms and the environment (water) for decades continuously affecting life.
Causes of Water Pollution
Defined as the alteration of the chemical, biological, and physical characteristics of water by Khatun (2017), water pollution is attributed to three major sources. These sources include Home, Agriculture, and Industry all of which encompass pollution elements such as drilling activities, sewage leakages, heavy metals such as lead, poor disposal, and dumping of industrial wastes, erosion, fertilizers, herbicides, animal wastes, failing septic systems, eutrophication, and deforestation among others.
Effects
The effects of water pollution as discussed by Khatun are not marginalized to humans; plants and animals are also affected. The implications on the environment include reduced soil fertility thereby culminating in low and poor crop yields. On the health of organisms, pollution of water reduces the quality and purity of the water thus causing diseases such as jaundice, cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea (Khatun, 2017, p. 271). Regarding aquatic life, water pollution, especially from the industrial dumping of toxic wastes results in eutrophication, which consequently causes algal bloom that deprives the aquatic life of oxygen. Moreover, Khatun indicates that water pollution causes injuries to internal organs of both humans and animals such as the heart and kidneys thereby affecting their health outcomes (p.271).
Prevention
There is great potential for managing or curbing water pollution to manageable levels (Khatun, 2017, p.272). This can be achieved through specific interventions such as proper disposal of wastes, the enforcement of laws and policies to discourage pollution, proper water conservation techniques, avoiding the excessive use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, recycling and reusing of water and the usage of limited chemicals to clean water at home.
Water Conservation and Resource Management
Water is the source of life for all living organisms and further transcends this role in enabling the achievement of basic needs such as hydroelectric power, transportation, and infrastructure necessary for human survival. Dunca (2018) thus provides fundamental approaches to water conservation through a peculiar perspective of Romania. According to Dunca (2018), among the interventions for ensuring water and resource conservation is the revitalization and enforcement of international bilateral agreements in the bid to improve not only the water quality but also the water quantity received downstream and in watersheds. Also, Dunca stipulates that there is a need for conservationists to have knowledge and understanding of anthropogenic pressure formed in water resources to measure the quality of water bodies thereby adopting relevant measures in protecting and conserving waterbodies (2018). Moreover, water resources that are shared by many communities should be conserved and protected by implementing sufficient wastewater management techniques. This phenomenon can be achieved through the construction of not only modernized but also efficient wastewater treatment plants.
Air Pollution
Among the common pollutants identified in the article by Bernstein, Alexis, Barnes, Bernstein, Peden, Diaz-Sanchez, Tarlo, & Williams (2004) include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. However, the main classifications of the pollutants are primary-secondary pollutants, indoor-outdoor pollutants, and gaseous-particulate pollutants.
Health Effects
Specifically, according to Bernstein et al. (2004), particulate matter pollutants such as diesel fumes exacerbate airway inflammation resulting in asthma and other allergies, which are harmful to the lungs of both humans and animals. Moreover, the increased exposure to the diesel exhaust particulates could increase an individual’s susceptibility to respiratory viral and bacterial infections (p.1118). The gaseous pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide increase cardiopulmonary mortality, cardiovascular, and respiratory hospital admissions (p.1120). Other effects of the gaseous pollutants include emergency admissions resultant to stroke and myocardial infarction. Moreover, these pollutants could interact with allergens such as aeroallergens culminating in the genesis and exacerbation of asthma thereby increasing the rates of attacks and hospital admissions (p.1120). Other health effects of air pollution include free radical and oxidative stress, suppression of the alveolar macrophage functions, and adjuvant effects on the immune system (p.1118).
Conclusion
Environmental pollution has taken center stage as a major issue across the globe with its debilitating effects being felt throughout the food chain. The pollution is in the form of two major categories; water pollution and air pollution. As such, the paper has discussed the fundamental interventions and approaches of curbing the adverse effects of both types of pollution following a discussion of their causes and effects on living organisms. As such, environmental conservation should not be misconstrued as a mandate reserved for certain organizations or movements. The best practice and effort of conserving the environment is taking individual responsibility for activities carried out at home, in industries, or agriculture. However, these efforts should be bolstered through government regulation and legislation that outline certain policies and laws for environmental conservation.
In enforcing and ensuring adherence to these laws as mentioned by Khatun (2017, 272), the government should implement stringent penalties for violation. Moreover, as a recognized global phenomenon, nations should encourage innovation and development of clean energies to replace fossil fuels that result in air pollution and the consequent health hazards discussed in the paper. In this regard, the four articles have been insightful and beneficial in not only providing general knowledge of pollution but also articulating the differential causes and effects of both types of pollution. Indeed, while others ascertain the effects from the perspective of growth and development, others fulfill this from a physiological standpoint.
References
Bernstein, J. A., Alexis, N., Barnes, C., Bernstein, I. L., Nel, A., Peden, D., ... & Williams, P. B. (2004). Health effects of air pollution . Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 114 (5), 1116-1123. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2004.08.030
Dunca, A. M. (2018). Water pollution and water quality assessment of major transboundary rivers from Banat (Romania). Journal of Chemistry, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/9073763
Khatun, R. (2017). Water pollution: Causes, consequences, prevention method and role of WBPHED with special reference from Murshidabad District. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 7 (8), 269-277. http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0817/ijsrp-p6832.pdf
Schell, L. M., Gallo, M. V., Denham, M., & Ravenscroft, J. (2006). Effects of pollution on human growth and development: An introduction. Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 25 (1), 103-112. DOI: 10.2114/jpa2.25.103
