Chapter Eight: Biosphere and Its

Pollution
 Components of Biosphere
1. Lithosphere

▪ It represents the rocks, sediments and soil in which

organisms live

▪ On the Earth, the lithosphere includes the crust and

the uppermost layer of the mantle

▪ There are two types of lithosphere: oceanic

lithosphere and continental lithosphere

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 2. Hydrosphere
▪ Describes collective mass of water that is found under,

on and over the surface of the Earth.

▪ Includes oceans, and smaller water bodies supporting

life

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 3. Atmosphere
❖ The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies with

altitude

❖ The following are the layers of atmosphere;

Troposphere
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Thermosphere

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 Biosphere Pollution
▪ The atmosphere, fertile soil, freshwater resource, the

oceans and the ecosystems they support, play a key role in

providing humans with shelter, food, safe water and the
capacity to recycle most wastes,

▪ However, pressures exerted by humans, on the

environment, in the form of pollution, resources depletion,

land use changes affect environmental quality

▪ Degradation of environmental quality can, in turn, lead to

adverse human exposures and eventual health effects.

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 A. Household Wastes
▪ Gaseous household wastes arise mainly from heating and

cooking

▪ They contribute substantially to both outdoor and indoor

air pollution

▪ Liquid wastes as the byproducts of domestic activities:

infectious diseases

▪ Solid waste contains hazardous substances including

paints, medicines, solvents, cleaning materials and

batteries, leading to potential chemical exposures
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 B. Freshwater Use and Pollution
▪ The world’s freshwater resources are limited and unevenly
distributed over the globe

▪ The demand for freshwater is increasing

▪ However, they are threatened by overexploitation, poor

management and ecological degradation

▪ Untreated sewage is discharged into rivers and lakes, industrial

wastes are dumped into water bodies; and run-off from agricultural
fields containing pesticides leading to water contamination

▪ Many surface and ground waters are contaminated with nutrients,

heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants

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Awetu river: degraded by untreated liquid and solid waste discharge
from Jimma Town
 C. Land Use and Agricultural
Development
▪ Agricultural production carries several risks

▪ Thus extension and intensification of agricultural

production systems, together with fluctuation in the

supply of and demand for agricultural products are
causing shifts in the environmental determinants of
the health of human and environment

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 D. Industrialization
▪ If proper abatement technology is not used, industry becomes a

major source of air, water and soil pollution, hazardous wastes and
noise

▪ Developed countries have exacerbated the environmental problems

now being experienced by developing countries through transfer of

hazardous wastes

▪ In developing countries, small-scale industry contributes

substantially to economic development, but can create problems

for environment and health if environmental safeguards are not
used. Example coffee processing plants
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 E. Energy
▪ In developing countries, biomass accounts for about

one-third of all energy use, and in some of

least-developed countries, for as much as two-thirds.

▪ Open fires impair indoor air quality, add to the risk of

accidents and jeopardize (put at risk) food hygiene

▪ Burning of fossil fuels

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 Water Pollution
▪ As a consequence of rapidly expanding industrialization

and excessive population growth, most of our rivers, lakes,

stream and other water bodies are being increasingly
polluted.

▪ Water is regarded as “polluted” when it is changed in its

quality or composition, directly or indirectly as a result of

human’s activities so that it becomes less suitable for
drinking, domestic, agricultural, and recreational, fisheries
or other purposes.
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 Source of Water Pollution
Natural Sources

▪ Heavy rainfall and hurricanes lead to

excessive erosion and land slides, which in

turn increase the content of suspended
material in affected rivers and lakes

▪ Seasonal overturn of the water in some

lakes can bring water with little or no

dissolved oxygen to the surface
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▪ The salinization of surface water through
 ▪ Ground water in some regions contain specific ions

(such as fluoride) and toxic elements (such as arsenic

and selenium) in quantities that are harmful to health,

▪ While others contain elements or compounds that

cause other types of problems (such as the staining of

sanitary fixtures by iron and manganese)

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 Anthropogenic Sources
▪ Deforestation, intensive farming and

grazing, application of fertilizers,

application of pesticides, industrialization,
urbanization, different construction works,
automobiles, etc. are examples of major
sources of water pollution

▪ Pollutants from such sources can enter

waterways by a number of different routes.

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 Point Sources: they discharge pollutant
from specific locations
▪ Factories, power plants, sewage treatment
plants, latrines that are directly connected
to water bodies
Non-Point Sources of water pollution are
scattered or diffuse, having no specific
location where they discharge into a
particular body of water.
▪ It include runoff from farm fields and
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 Types and Effects of Water Pollutants
1. Infectious Agents

▪ Are the most serious water pollutants in terms

of human health

▪ Cause waterborne diseases include typhoid

fever, cholera, bacterial and amoebic

dysentery, schistosomiasis…

▪ The main source of these pathogens is from

untreated or improperly treated human

wastes.
17 ▪ Animal feedlots near waterways and food
 2. Oxygen Demanding Wastes
• Sources: sewage effluent, runoff from urban
areas and farms, and some industrial effluents
(e.g. paper, textile, brewery and food
processing industries)

• The organic waste provides a rich substrate for

bacteria

• They multiply rapidly, depleting the amount

of dissolved oxygen present in the water

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• The oxygen-depleting capacity of a given
• In extreme cases, the bacteria use up all the available oxygen and the

aquatic fauna perishes (disappears)

• The aerobic bacteria themselves are replaced by anaerobic bacteria

• These produce foul-smelling toxic products such as hydrogen sulfide

and ammonia

▪ Organic wastes also increases the turbidity of the water, thus

reducing the amount of light available for photosynthesis.

▪ Fish are unable to survive in conditions of severe organic pollution as

the lack of oxygen causes them to suffocate.

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 ▪ Algae and higher plants are also absent

due to turbidity

▪ On the other hand, the decomposition of

organic effluent by bacteria leads to the

eventual recovery of the river.

▪ The natural process is known as

self-purification.

20 ▪ Mostly occurs in rivers (flowing water)

 3. Plant Nutrients and Eutrophication
▪ Severe problem can arise when water

bodies become over-enriched by excessive

nutrient input

▪ The process of nutrient enrichment in

water bodies is known as eutrophication

▪ Eutrophication is a natural aging process

in lakes.

▪ Through time, the lake eventually

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becomes a marsh and ultimately dry land
 4. Toxic Inorganic Chemicals
Toxic inorganic chemicals introduced into
water as a result of human activities have
become the most serious forms of water
pollution

Among the chemicals of greatest concern

are heavy metals, such as mercury, lead
and cadmium

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 Mercury
▪ Used in thermometers, fluorescent light bulbs

▪ In nature, mercury tends to be bound up in rocks and

soil
▪ When humans extract mercury from rocks or burn
fossil fuels, it is released into the atmosphere.
▪ Airborne mercury can eventually settle into soil and rivers,

lakes, and oceans, where aquatic microbes convert it to

methyl mercury through a biochemical reaction.

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 ▪ Fish then absorb methyl mercury from the water as it

passes over their gills and as they feed on other aquatic

organisms.

▪ As larger fish eat smaller ones, concentrations of the

pollutant increase in the bigger fish, a process known as

bioaccumulation.

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 ▪ Bioaccumulation refers to the net uptake of a contaminant

from all possible pathways and includes the accumulation

that might occur by direct exposure to contaminated media
as well as uptake from food

▪ Mercury is among a group of pollutants called persistent

bio accumulative toxins or PBTs

▪ The most common route of mercury exposure in humans

is eating fish contaminated by methyl mercury

▪ Causes Minamata-bay disease

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 5. Organic Chemicals
▪ Many of these chemicals are highly toxic.

▪ Can persist in the environment because they are

resistant to degradation

▪ Important sources of toxic organic chemicals in

water are improper disposal of industrial and

household wastes and runoff or pesticide from
farm fields, forests, roadside and other places
where they are used in large quantities.

▪ Example: manufactured chlorinated

hydrocarbons include a number of pesticides and

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other compounds for example DDT,
 Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Pesticides

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)

▪ Very persistence and toxic

▪ Highly soluble in fat => Biomagnification

▪ Sources: direct application and also from

industrial effluent and agricultural runoff,

aerial crop spraying

▪ In birds, it interferes with their calcium

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metabolism and result in thin-shelled eggs
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 6. Thermal Pollution
▪ Thermal pollution can occur when water is used as a

coolant in industrial plant and then is returned to the

aquatic environment at a higher temperature than it
was originally.

▪ Thermal pollution can lead to a decrease in the

dissolved oxygen level in the water while also

increasing the biological demand of aquatic organisms
for oxygen.

Increases in water temperature can alter aquatic

organisms by;

▪ Decreasing oxygen supply,

30 ▪ Killing fish juveniles who are vulnerable to small

 ▪ Primary producers are affected by thermal pollution

because higher water temperature increases plant

growth rates, resulting in a shorter lifespan and
species overpopulation.

▪ This can cause an algae bloom which reduces the

oxygen levels in the water.

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 Air Pollution
▪ Air pollution occurs through the

contamination of the atmosphere or air

with noxious gases and other undesirable
substances; caused largely as a result of
burning fuels and through release of gases
by various industries and automobiles.

Source of air pollutants

▪ Air can be polluted from natural and

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anthropogenic sources
 Land/Soil Pollution
▪ The problem of solid waste began when first

humans congregate in tribes, villages and

communities. The practice of throwing waste into
the streets, any where in the yard, and vacant
areas led to the breeding of rats and flies

▪ Liquid wastes that are discharged directly to the

land

Ecological impacts of solid waste includes:

▪ Water and air pollution

33 ▪ Liquid that seeps from open dumps or poorly

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