Facts About Cleaning Up Soil Pollution

When the soil is so full of contaminants that it adversely impacts the health of animals and plants, it is known as soil pollution. Cleaning up soil pollution is a complex process with several steps that may vary depending on the contaminant(s). Preventing soil pollution starts with identifying the cause(s).

Remediation

Cleaning up soil contamination can be time-consuming and expensive. In many areas, soil sampling Orange County NY must be conducted, and the soil analyzed before clean-up can begin. This helps identify the contaminants and how far the pollution has spread in the ground. Laboratories that conduct soil sample analysis report their results within varying time frames but expect several days to weeks before work can begin.

The remediation can be expensive because not only does the source of contamination need to be removed and disposed of, so does all the contaminated soil. Depending on what the soil is contaminated with, disposal costs could be very high.

Prevention

The main cause of soil pollution is human-made waste, which can come in the form of industrial, agricultural, human waste disposal, and others. Prevention can include reducing the amount of chemicals used in industries such as mining and manufacturing and agriculture fertilizers and pesticides.   

Humans use the mined and manufactured products produced by industry and eat the food grown from agricultural activities. It only makes sense that human waste contains some of these same chemicals.    Diapers end up in landfills, and many municipal sewer systems also dump some human waste in landfills where it can pollute the soil. If less of these chemicals are used by industry and agriculture, less may be consumed by humans and end up in the landfill.

Soil pollution can be devastating to plant and animal health. Remediating polluted soil is only one part of the process. Identifying and preventing future soil pollution is possible and can benefit life on earth.