Ocean Pollution

Pollution can be reduced a number of ways. Many communities have beach-clean-up days. Recycling reduces the amount of trash that is available to go into the ocean. Care should be taken to make sure that oil from cars, suds from washing, and other pollutants do not go down your storm drain. Any landscaping should be protected until it is stable so that silt does not get washed into rivers and streams. Party balloons should be popped and never released into the air. Always pick up your trash when you leave the beach.Marine pollution can start as far away as middle-America. Any toxic materials that are put into rivers and bodies of water can flow eventually to the oceans. Run-off from drains and areas adjacent to the ocean is also a severe problem, bringing all kinds of materials into the sea. Toxic pollutants in the ocean have considerable impacts on plants and animals. Heavy metal poisoning from elements such as lead and mercury, caused by industry, builds up in the tissues of top predators such as whales and sharks, causing birth defects and nervous system damage. Dioxins from pulp and paper mills, and poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's) from oil pollution and burning wood and coal cause genetic problems in marine animals. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) from electrical equipment can cause birth problems in most marine organisms. Sewage can cause massive nutrient loading in the oceans, which leads to algal blooms, effectively decreasing the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water and many organisms die from lack of oxygen. Sewage also introduces parasites and bacteria, which can cause beach and shellfish harvesting closures. Garbage has always been discarded into the ocean, but since the 1940s, plastic use has increased dramatically, resulting in a huge quantity of nearly indestructible, lightweight material floating in the oceans and eventually deposited on beaches worldwide. Marine garbage includes fishing nets, plastics, party balloons, beach toys, general household garbage. Animals eat this garbage and it strangles them or blocks their digestive system causing starvation. Entanglement can also constrict growth and circulation, causing eventual slow death, or trap marine animals within large debris, leading to drowning, starvation or attack by predators. Even if just attached, it slows the animals’ ability to move through the water, and animals starve due to their inability to catch prey. Pollution can be reduced a number of ways. Many communities have beach-clean-up days. Recycling reduces the amount of trash that is available to go into the ocean. Care should be taken to make sure that oil from cars, suds from washing, and other pollutants do not go down your storm drain. Any landscaping should be protected until it is stable so that silt does not get washed into rivers and streams. Party balloons should be popped and never released into the air. Always pick up your trash when you leave the beach.

Ocean Pollution

Marine pollution can start as far away as middle-America. Any toxic materials that are put into rivers and bodies of water can flow eventually to the oceans. Run-off from drains and areas adjacent to the ocean is also a severe problem, bringing all kinds of materials into the sea.
Toxic pollutants in the ocean have considerable impacts on plants and animals. Heavy metal poisoning from elements such as lead and mercury, caused by industry, builds up in the tissues of top predators such as whales and sharks, causing birth defects and nervous system damage. Dioxins from pulp and paper mills, and poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's) from oil pollution and burning wood and coal cause genetic problems in marine animals. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) from electrical equipment can cause birth problems in most marine organisms. Sewage can cause massive nutrient loading in the oceans, which leads to algal blooms, effectively decreasing the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water and many organisms die from lack of oxygen. Sewage also introduces parasites and bacteria, which can cause beach and shellfish harvesting closures.
Garbage has always been discarded into the ocean, but since the 1940s, plastic use has increased dramatically, resulting in a huge quantity of nearly indestructible, lightweight material floating in the oceans and eventually deposited on beaches worldwide. Marine garbage includes fishing nets, plastics, party balloons, beach toys, general household garbage. Animals eat this garbage and it strangles them or blocks their digestive system causing starvation. Entanglement can also constrict growth and circulation, causing eventual slow death, or trap marine animals within large debris, leading to drowning, starvation or attack by predators. Even if just attached, it slows the animals’ ability to move through the water, and animals starve due to their inability to catch prey.

Soil Contamination

Soil contamination- one of the most dangerous forms of contamination- is caused by the presence of xenobiotic (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. This type of contamination typically arises from the rupture of underground storage tanks, application of pesticides, percolation of contaminated surface water to subsurface strata, oil and fuel dumping, leaching of wastes from landfills or direct discharge of industrial wastes to the soil. The most common chemicals involved are petroleum hydrocarbons, solvents, pesticides, lead and other heavy metals. This occurrence of this phenomenon is correlated with the degree of industrialization and intensities of chemical usage.

The concern over soil contamination stems primarily from health risks, from direct contact with the contaminated soil, vapors from the contaminants, and from secondary contamination of water supplies within and underlying the soil. Mapping of contaminated soil sites and the resulting cleanup are time consuming and expensive tasks, requiring extensive amounts of geology, hydrology, chemistry and computer modeling skills.

It is in North America and Western Europe that the extent of contaminated land is most well known, with many of countries in these areas having a legal framework to identify and deal with this environmental problem; this however may well be just the tip of the iceberg with developing countries very likely to be the next generation of new soil contamination cases.

Most polluting cities in the world

The list of ten most polluted places in the world was developed according to the following technical criteria: the size of the affected population, severity of the toxins in the contamination involved, the impact on health and child development, the explicit presence of pollution sources in the area and the evidence (and reliable) on the health impact of contaminants. The results of the study ranks that China, India, Russia, Peru-are on the list of the 10 most polluted cities in the world.

• Linfen, China. Air and water pollution by particles and gases in the mining industry and food processing.


• Ranipet, India. Water and soil contamination by industrial chemicals for dyeing.


• Mailuu Suu, Kirjistán. Soil and water pollution by radioactive waste from uranium nuclear industry (Russia).


• Dzerzhinsky, Russia. Water and soil pollution by chemical weapons production.


• Norilsk, Russia. Pollution of air, soil and water with sulfur dioxide, cesium and other elements from the production of platinum.


• Rudnaya Pristan, Russia. Soil contamination from lead, derived from mining.


• Chernobyl in the Ukraine. Water and soil pollution by radioactive waste arising after the nuclear plant accident.


• Kabwe, Zambia. Soil contamination by lead, resulting from their mining.


• Oroya, Peru. Air and soil pollution by lead, resulting from their mining.


• Haina, Dominican Republic. Soil contamination from lead, derived from the recycling of batteries.

The Metropolitan District of Quito and Environmental Health Corporation Life for Quito manage the 25% tax on income donated by the inhabitants of the capital and destined for environmental projects such as the recovery of the river Machángara, adequacy of parks and recreation Itchimbía in the park, purchase of Metropolitan Park, among others.

We have to konw that the contamination is not only in Quito, we dont know what city is more contaminated, it could be Quito or Guayaquil, Cuenca or Riomamba, Esmeraldas or Manabi.

The river discharge Machángara receives 70% of the wastewater from the city, recovery began to run with the adequacy of the first stage of a linear park called the cycle path as the Olympic champion 'Jefferson Perez' and the construction of collectors will put the sewage in order to prevent further contamination. In Cuenca, the public enterprise Municipal Telecommunications, Water and Wastewater (Phase) initiated a project to recover the waters of the rivers crossing the city (Yanuncay Tomebamba Machángara and Tarqui). Among the requirements were the treatment of wastewater to return to the environment pollution free waters and scenic beauty of the rivers. Since 1983, studies were conducted and receivers were built on the banks of rivers and streams that carry the sewage treatment plant stage, functioning since 1999 and has a projected ten years. In addition, plans were implemented recycling industrial liquid waste so that they are not dumped into sewers. The project of the Programme Council (COPO), which is supported by the European Community in Cuenca, started in 2003 and will last four years, with an investment of 14 million euros to promote projects aimed at poverty reduction by improving of the living conditions of people in the basin of Paute, controlling the misuse of water and soil erosion, to prevent accidents like that of Josephine, in 1993. (LGA)

Air Contamination

Pollution-damaged air, environment, water, human beings, for that we must be aware of the problem.

Another strong cause of air contamination is the operation of the factories that contaminate a lot and no one make a control about this process of the factories.

Ozone is one of the top layer of the earth, and helps filter

ultraviolet rays from the sun, but if you are at ground level

becomes a very powerful cleaner.

To have cleaner air, it is need to help improve our

environment, nature is all and in our hands to keep it to

bequeath to our children a healthy environment.

Contamination in Ecuador

In Guayaquil, Malecon 2000 Foundation -one of the most important foundation in Ecuador-is a company that recovered at a contaminated site and turned it into a tourist site. This institution was designed, implemented and manages the Malecon 2000 and the Malecón del Estero Salado, within the Urban Regeneration Plan of the City. The estuary is recovering from environmental pollution and is expected to again be the resort of Guayaquil, in a second golden age. The golden age of the estuary came in 1922, when banks opened in the American Park amusement park. In 1966 he replaced the Parque Guayaquil. Then, the indiscriminate cutting of mangroves, waste industries settled in the foothills north of the river, sewage and garbage dumped by the population of the estuary polluted suburb. The rivers are on track 65% of the waters of the rivers in the Sierra are contaminated because they receive the sewage of cities, have residues of insecticides, detergents and organic waste. The same waters of the rivers were used for the generation of electricity, which caused a second problem, since the pollutants covered up dams which were also the cause of disease in populations that settled on its banks.

Being responsible with the environment, we will eliminate the power of the pollution.