Environmental Control and Pollution in Nigeria

Civilization has been overwhelmed with fearful reports that mankind is steadily working towards self – destruction through the process of uncontrolled pollution of the environment. A casual look at our surroundings shows reckless attitude of people towards environmental preservation. Due to this development, regulations and standards have been set to ensure cleaner and safer environment.

These regulations are enforced by agencies like National Environmental Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency (ENSURE), Federal Environmental Protection Agency (PAPA) and State Environmental Protection Agencies (Seeps). There are environment regulations currently in place which include regulation on noise, erosion, flood, for manufacturers of beverages and tobacco, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electrical, electronics, sanitation, emissions that that have to do with air pollution.

There are also regulations on pollution, hazards, waste, air, soil, surface and subsurface water that constitute contamination of the environment. We have major forms of pollution such as water, noise, air, land/soil and thermal pollutions which sources include natural disaster, industries, motor vehicles, generation sets amongst others.

Without pollution intro, the waste products from extraction, production, distribution, heating, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation and other human activities, whether they accumulate or disperse, will degrade the environment. In the hierarchy of environmental control, pollution prevention and minimization of wastes are more desirable to pollution control. Most industries and individuals in this country have erroneously claimed that why they are not able to treat or control their wastes or reduce pollution is that government has not provided the necessary facilities for the management of such wastes.

Apart from the basic facilities the government has to provide, each waste generator is responsible for the safe disposal of his or her waste, except when government insists on a particular system.

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No government builds toxic waste incinerators or chemical treatment plants but all the government can do is to encourage entrepreneurs interested in such ventures by granting special concession, tax relief, removal of duty on imported pollution control equipment. The purpose of setting environmental regulations is to reduce or eliminate health and environmental hazards that induce harm. The African Centre for Environmental protection (ACCEPT) defines environment as the totality of surrounding condition and its features. Scientifically, it is described as the combination of physical, chemical, biological and social factors in which a living organism exists that affect the organism, community and influences its development or existence.

Environment can simply be considered as the surrounding in which we live, work and enjoy leisure, which consists of air, soil, surface and surface water, providing habitat for mankind and other animals, plant species and serving as a source for food, water, fuel, away materials and breathing air. Environmental Problems Environmental imbalance gives rise to various environmental problems. Some of the environmental problems are pollution, soil erosion leading to floods, salt deserts and sea recedes, desertification, landslides, change of river directions, extinction of species, and vulnerable ecosystem in place of more complex and stable ecosystems, depletion of natural resources, waste accumulation, deforestation, thinning of ozone layer and global warming. Environmental pollution is defined as the undesirable change in physical, Heimlich, and biological characteristics of our air, land and water. It can also be described as the deliberate or accidental contamination of the environment with Waste that is created by human action’.

As a result Of over – population, rapid industrialization, and other human activities like agriculture and deforestation etc. , earth became loaded with diverse pollutants that are released as by-products. A pollutant is a substance or effect which adversely alters the environment by changing the growth rate of species, interferes with the food chains, is toxic or interferes with health, comfort, amenities or property values of people. Pollutants are introduced into the environment in significant amounts in the form of sewage, waste, accidental discharge, or as a by-product of a manufacturing process or other human activity. The damage caused to the biosphere may be briefly summarized as follows:

1. Damage to human health caused by specific chemical substances present in the air, food, water and radioactivity materials.
2. Damage to the natural environment which affects vegetation, animals, crops, soil and water.
3. Damage to the aesthetic quality of the environment caused by smoke, chemical fumes, dust, and noise, the dumping of solid waste and waste water.
4. Damage caused by long term pollution effects which are not immediately apparent.

The dangerous effects are caused by low level pollution absorbed into the body over long periods of time, for example carcinogenic substances, radioactivity and excessive noise Types of Pollution Water Pollution Water pollution occurs due to the presence of dissolved inorganic materials, organic materials such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other substances found in domestic and industrial waste waters.

It also gets polluted due to physical factors such as turbidity, color, temperature Of effluent, associated radioactivity etc. Decorating pollutants Organic pollution is due to the presence of high molecular weight compounds such as sugars, oils and fats, and proteins obtained from distillery, canning, sugar and other food processing industries. They impart a high Biological Oxygen Demand (BODY) load to the liquid waste. These organic compounds are readily degraded in aqueous medium by soil and microorganisms present in the sewage. During this process, Dissolved Oxygen (DO) in the stream is used up.

When the DO is reduced below a certain limit, aquatic life is affected adversely. Oil spillage from tankers and ships leads to the pollution of caches. Some wastes from pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries and coke-ovens contain phenols which are toxic to fish, microorganisms and other aquatic life. Liquid effluents from industries manufacturing drugs, dyestuffs, pesticides and detergents can also be toxic. Usage of anionic detergents which are not biodegradable leads to a lot of foaming and frothing.

Ignorance pollutants and heavy metal pollution Alkalis, acids, inorganic salts and other chemicals formed during processing lead to inorganic pollution. Besides being the cause of corrosion of metals, these chemicals are toxic to aquatic life. Industries like paper and pulp, tanneries, textiles and coke-ovens among many Others, discharge these chemicals. Inorganic chemicals such as free chlorine, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and other sulfides, salts of metals like Car, In, Zen, Cd, Cue, Gag etc. Are usually found in metal plating liquid wastes, alkali producing units, polyvinyl chloride, coke-oven and fertilizer industries.

Pharmaceutical industries also produce large quantities of free acids and neutralized chemicals during different unit processes. Chromate’s, phosphates, ammonia and urea are typical chemicals found in effluents from fertilizer industries. Pollution due to mercury in color-alkali industries has forced to switch from mercury to diaphragm cells although there are many operating difficulties in the latter. Transportation is a phenomenon that occurs due to the presence of inorganic matter in the water. Though it is a natural process in lakes and rivers, human activities can accelerate the rate at which nutrients enter these water bodies.

Inorganic pollutants containing nitrates and phosphates are essential for plants. When these compounds are present in excess in water body there is an over growth of plant matter creating an imbalance in the aquatic environment. Apart from these factors, effluent waters can have pathogenic micro organisms and harmful substances like reconsolidates, phenols and benzenes compounds that cause various types of acute and chronic diseases among living beings. Therefore, it is most desirable that industrial liquid effluents are pretreated or reduced with undesirable chemicals before being thrown on the land and in rivers, seas or public sewers. If discharged into public sewers they can corrode the pipe lines and treatment queue moment as well as reduce biological activity due to the presence of toxic materials.

Air pollution Apart from natural causes, pollution of air occurs due to increased industrialization and arbitration. In nature, thousands of tones of dust, sand and obnoxious gases are carried from one place to another by wind, cyclones, volcanic eruptions and forest fires. A healthy man inhales about 16. 5 keg air/day. If this air is polluted, intake of oxygen is reduced.

Corrosion of materials by acid mist and acid gases like SYS, CO and oxides of nitrogen can be very significant. Pollution of air occurs from process industries such as sulfuric acid plants, power station boilers, nitric acid plants, cement plants, undress, color-alkali industries and plastics industries among many others. It is broadly due to particulate matter dispersed in it or gaseous pollutants completely miscible with it in all proportions. Dusts refer to coarser sizes of solids (1-100 microns) that are carried away due to the turbulent forces of flow. Aerosols refer to particles smaller than 1 micron.

Smoke is obtained during incomplete combustion of organic matter. The sizes of particles vary between 0. 1-1 microns. Fumes, mists and fog are other forms of pollution which could occur due to various operations in chemical industry. Gaseous Laotians are gaseous solutes such as SYS, CO, Knox, CO, CO, mercury or organic vapor dispersed in air.

Another source of ambient air pollution is the emission from automobiles. The pollutants in this case are CO. Knox, hydrocarbons, particulate matter and trace quantities of SYS, formaldehyde and lead. Effects of air pollution Colloidal warming (Green house effect) – This is the observed increase in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans in recent decades. The increased amounts of carbon dioxide (CO) and other greenhouse gases (CHI, 03) are the primary causes.

They are released by the ruining of fossil fuels, land clearing and agriculture, etc. And lead to an increase in the greenhouse effect. њDacca rain (SOX, Knox) – Acid rain occurs when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are emitted into the atmosphere. These substances undergo chemical transformations and are absorbed by water droplets in clouds. The droplets then fall to earth as rain or snow.

This can increase the acidity of the soil, and affect the chemical balance of lakes and streams. Codependent of the ozone layer (CIFS, Which etc. ) Ozone layer prevents most harmful CIVIC wavelengths (270-315 NM) of ultraviolet light from assign through the earth is atmosphere. The decrease in ozone is due to the production of CIFS and ozone depleting chemicals such as carbon tetrachloride and tetrachloride. It is suspected that a variety of biological consequences, including, for example, increases in skin cancer, damage to plants, and reduction of plankton in the ocean result from the increased IV exposure due to ozone depletion.

јphotochemical smog ; air borne toxic substances – Photochemical smog is due to the chemical reaction of sunlight, nitrogen oxides (Knox) and volatile organic compounds (Voss) in the atmosphere, which leaves a yellow brown haze that reduces visibility. Nitrogen oxides are released in the exhaust of fossil fuel-burning engines in cars, trucks, coal power plants, and industrial manufacturing factories. Vic’s are vapors released from gasoline, paints, solvents, pesticides, and other chemicals.

The greatest land pollution by far occurs due to arbitration and concentration of population, garbage, waste paper, packing materials and rejects from households and industries form solid wastes. Land pollution also occurs when deforestation is carried out on a large scale; agricultural operations are extended to forest and mountainous areas, large areas covered with green vegetation are submerged in water by the construction of dams.

It can also get polluted when coal, oil, ores, stones, sand and other construction materials are mined and transported. All these operations adversely affect ecological aspects of the environment. Ever increasing demands for paper, fuel, furniture and packing materials due to exploding populations combined with increasing arbitration have aggravate the unhappy situation. The result is that we now live in a rapidly changing environment, the effects of which are not easily predictable.

Noise Of all the pollutions, it is the most insidious and a menace in thickly populated areas. There is ample medical evidence that it affects speech, hearing and the general health and behavior of people exposed to it over extended periods of time. The measurements designed to determine noise levels include the intensity and frequency of noise periods of exposure and duration of noise. The community noise levels are expressed as a weighted sound-pressure level in decibels db. The sources of noise in environs of industries include metal fabrication processes, high pressure burners in furnaces, rotary equipment like turbines, compressors, pumps etc. Pipelines carrying high velocity fluids and solids and vibrating and grinding equipment among many others.

Pollution can be controlled by proper choice of preventive and remedial measures. Technically, solutions exist for all pollution problems, but economically they may not be favorable. Good housekeeping and maintenance of process equipment go a long way towards reducing pollution of water and air and increasing the life of the plant. Air Pollution Control One method of disposing of air pollutants is to make use of meteorological ramset’s to dilute and dispose them, to get ground level concentrations within acceptable limits by using tall stacks. This is a rather costly method and no recovery of useful chemical is possible.

A better way to handle the pollution control problem is to reduce the concentration of pollutants, at the source, by incorporating process changes and making careful choices Of raw materials. Particulate matter can be separated from gases by making use of gravity, centrifugal force, inertia and diffusion, adhesion and cohesion, thermal and electrostatic forces acting on the particles. In many cases one as to use a combination of equipment for separation if the size distribution of the particles is wide. Wastewater Treatment Preventive Measures:

• Volume Reduction of wastewater.
• Strength reduction Curative Measures.

Diabolical Methods Physical methods aim at removing solid or liquid pollutants based on their density difference from water. They are essentially wastewater clarification methods and remove suspended or floating solids or liquids. Physical methods of treatment are reverse Osmosis, electro dialysis, filtration, foam separation, porous-bed filtration, adsorption etc. They help remove fine particles, and organic and inorganic dissolved materials, resulting in better water quality for re-use or disposal. Speleological Wastewater Treatment In this method, colloidal and dissolved solids are converted into settle-able solids by microorganisms under favorable environmental conditions.

Anaerobic treatment takes place in the total absence of oxygen and is a rather slow process. Aerobic biological treatment methods include the activated sludge process, trickling filter process and stabilization ponds. Duodecimal Wastewater Treatment Industrial effluents usually contain acids, alkalis, undesirable chlorides, phenols, sulfates, chromate’s, phosphates and salts of mercury, lead, calcium, barium, zinc etc. The best way to remove these is to incorporate in plant changes in process design and operation. Acids are neutralized with caustic soda or lime.

Naturalization of alkalis is done with calculated quantity of sulfuric or hydrochloric acid. Flocculation and precipitation can help reduce the organic and inorganic load by settling the sludge or precipitates formed. More than 90% of the dissolved phosphates and 55-70% of the BODY load of domestic sewage can be removed if domestic wastewater clarification is combined with iron and aluminum salts. Oxidation with chlorine and sodium hypochlorite is used for killing pathogenic organisms in the treated liquid waste as well as for treating industrial wastes. Solid Waste Management The first objective of solid waste management is to remove discarded materials from inhabited places in a timely manner to prevent the spread Of disease, minimize the likelihood of fires, and reduce aesthetic insults arising from putrefying organic matter.

The second objective which is equally important is to dispose of the discarded material in a manner that is environmentally acceptable. The following should be addressed in an effective solid waste management program:

• Storage.
• Collection.
• Transfer.
• Treatment.
• Disposal.

The prevention of waste generation and the productive use of waste material are ways of alleviating some of the problems of solid waste management. Some of the materials that can be recovered are copper, lead, aluminum, paper, plastics, glass etc. Segregation is quite important in implementing solid waste management.