Essay Example on OCEAN AND COASTAL SEDIMENT POLLUTION

OCEAN AND COASTAL SEDIMENT POLLUTION ABSTACT The pollution in the marine or ocean sediments is an irreversible process This paper reviews an overall effects that causes the pollution The main reasons that causes the risk impact on marine life its food chain and the ecosystem are due to the dumping of plastic wastes oil spillage heavy metal interaction dredging etc An case study on is also discussed in this paper The US legislation has taken many acts against the ocean pollution Some of the policies are also noted here Keywords Micro plastics sediment pollution oil spillage legislation 1 INTRODUCTION As per an article published in The Hindu newspaper on 13 February 2015 it was stated that the total amount of plastic waste dumped worldwide are nearly eight million tons China is standing in the 1st position with 8 82 annually whereas India is ranked 12th with 0 6 tons annually As per the survey the total amount of waste generated will be doubled the number calculated by 2010 Even if we believe that The solution of pollution is dilution the recent studies shows a dramatic degradation of shore lines for the past three centuries due to the discharge from industries as well as the runoff from the agricultural lands Due to the increase in the coastal cities the pollution has increased rapidly Initially the dumping was started in rivers and lakes The ocean dumping was difficult due to the distance and hardness in transporting the waste But the waste from the ships were directly dumped in the mid of the sea 

Over the last 150 years all type of lavishes were dumped into the ocean such as military waste radioactive wastes industrial wastes etc These were dumped through pipe lines rivers gas explorations offshore mining and became the ultimate dumping yards for the people Fig 1 plastic waste dumped in Kochi Source http www thehindu com sci tech energy and environment india 2 VARIOUS FORMS OF POLLUTION Pollution is the prolusion of foreign contaminants in the ecosystem The most common pollutants that enters the ocean are oil sewage plastics pesticides chemical fertilizers herbicides and other solid wastes The pollutants are either consumed by the marine animals eventually end up in humans whereas other pollutants causes sediment pollution The nitrogen rich fertilizers caused pollution in ground water and are finally deposited at bays and deltas There causes enormous growth of algae and take up all the oxygen from content Thus leaving the water unfit for the marine growth There are nearly 400 places worldwide which are prone to these kind of pollution The solid wastes are often mistaken as food by the marine animals causing fatal effects 2 1 PLASTIC DUMPING The production use and improper disposal of plastic has raised the impact on the ocean pollution From 1950 s the use has been rapid and by the end of 2010 the dumping of plastic was nearly 4 8 12 7 million tons in the ocean 

This has caused a negative impact on marine animals and their ecosystem as well as in agriculture tourism navigation etc The initial research were done on micro plastics 2 2 OIL SPILLAGE The chemical pollution due to the oil extraction and spillage at various places causes an high health risk on marine ecosystem Many oil industries shows less care while extracting the hydrocarbon petroleum products The high concentration of lead in the blood is the main cause of this kind of pollution At the downstream of the river a high concentration of petroleum products were noticed Thus as it reaches the main source like oceans the effect will be even worse The marine life will be entirely destroyed 2 3 HEAVY METALS Many researchers studied about the effect of heavy metal on ground water surface water sediments etc The water bodies like rivers and lakes are contaminated with heavy metals due to the industrial waste dumping These water bodies end up meeting the ocean water and its sediments causing high degree of pollution The heavy metals from the municipal sewage agricultural residues fertilizers etc will penetrate into the sediment causing a detrimental effect on the biotic life of water 

A tremendous effect on food chain is also occurred due to this 3 US LEGISLATION 1 The National Environmental Policy Act NEPA in 1969 2 The Ocean Dumping Act ODA in 1972 3 The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Clean Water Act CWA in 1972 4 London Convection LC 1972 and came in 1975 combining 8 nations for dumping waste at the sea 5 UN Convection on the Law of the Sea UNCLOS in 1982 4 CASE STUDY 5 CONCLUSION Tons of pollutants are dumped into the sea worldwide To prevent the destruction of the sediments the government should be aware of all the materials that are dumped into the sea The legislations are at national as well as international levels Proper monitoring and enforcement of the rules and regulations should be done REFERNCES 1 Richards Frederick Forrest III 1991 Ocean Dumping An International and Domestic Perspective Journal of Legislation Vol 17 Issue 2 Article 7 2 Antoni Rosell Melé et al Oil pollution in soils and sediments from the Northern Peruvian Amazon Science of the Total Environment 610 611 2018 1010 1019 3 Joan Fabres et al Marine plastic pollution as a planetary boundary threat The drifting piece in the sustainability puzzle Marine policy 7 December 2017 4 Yuxin Ma Crispin J Halsall et al Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ocean sediments from the North Pacific to the Arctic Ocean Environmental Pollution 227 2017 498 504 5 http www thehindu com sci tech energy and environment india 6 https www nationalgeographic com environment oceans critical issues marine pollution 7 http www pollutionissues com Na Ph Ocean Dumping html