Pollution Summary

Pollution Pollution can be defined as a change in the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of the air, water, soil, or other parts of the environment that adversely affects the health, su... Read more

Toxic Pollutants, Measuring The amount of pollution in our environment continues to pose a challenge for industry, business, and decisionmakers. Some of the major chemicals of concern are those that h... Read more

Pollutants The term pollution is derived from the Latin pollutus, which means to be made foul, unclean, or dirty. Pollutants, then, are factors that corrupt, degrade, or make something less valuable o... Read more

Pollution Pollution can be defined as unwanted or detrimental changes in a natural system. Usually, pollution is associated with the presence of toxic substances in some large quantity, but pollution ... Read more

Contaminated Soil The presence of pollutants in soils at concentrations above background levels that pose a potential health or ecological risk. Soils can be contaminated by many human actions inclu... Read more

Criteria Pollutant Criteria pollutants are air pollutants which, at certain levels of exposure, do not threaten human health and meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards. There are two types of sta... Read more

Emission Release of material into the environment either by natural or human-caused processes. This term is used especially in describing air pollution for volatile or suspended contaminants that resu... Read more

Nondegradable Pollutant A pollutant that is not broken down by natural processes. Some nondegradable pollutants, like the heavy metals, create problems because they are toxic and persistent in the env... Read more

Pollution Pollution can be defined as unwanted or detrimental changes in a natural system. Usually, pollution is associated with the presence of toxic chemicals in some large quantity, but pollution... Read more

Transboundary Pollution The most common interpretation of transboundary pollution is that it is pollution not contained by a single nation-state, but rather travels across national borders at varyin... Read more

Abatement Abatement is a general term used for methods or technologies that reduce the amount of pollutant generated in a chemical or other manufacturing facility. In contrast, the terms cleanup and r... Read more

Consumer Pollution Consumer pollution refers, in part, to traces of numerous consumer products, including pain relievers, prescription drugs, antibiotics, insect repellent, sunscreens, and fragrances&... Read more

Education Environmental regulatory organizations such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have historically dealt with pollution problems through control or remediation, as opposed to th... Read more

Pollution Prevention One key to achieving a sustainable society and tackling the complex environmental challenges of the twenty-first century is pollution prevention (P2), reducing or eliminating poll... Read more

Technology, Pollution Prevention A pollution prevention (P2) technology is one that creates less pollution in its life cycle than the one it replaces. P2 can be achieved in many ways, from better hous... Read more

“[Effluent] trading is an innovative way for community stakeholders … to develop more ‘common sense’ solutions to water quality problems in their watersheds.” Environm... Read more