What is Soil Pollution?

The soil pollution is defined as the presence of materials in the soil which are harmful to the living beings when they cross their threshold concentration levels. In this case the factors or substances which affect the soil are not static. It can be positive or negative. In the negative soil pollution there occur an overuse of soil and erosion. The erosion occurs by water and air. The water erosion occurs by the high speed rivers which remove the top layer of soil. It occurs near the hills. The floods are very common in our country. They occur mainly due to the decrease in forest cover area. It leads to overgrazing. It may also occur due to the high speed winds which brings the particles of sand from dry areas. Nearly half of the land has become desert. Once the Thar desert of Rajasthan was a fertile land around few thousand years back. The sand of Gujarat coast made the Thar desert of Rajasthan into desert along with the overgrazing and felling of timber. It converts the land into a desert at the rate of 9 kilo meter per year. The fertile land is also being affected by the roads, houses, unplanned development of houses, garbage, empty bottles, furniture and ash. These materials are dumped in an open area outside the town and they not only affect the land on which they are dumped but also the nearby land. It is also referred as the third pollution or landscape pollution. The best way to deal with this problem is to bury the waste in low lying areas. The garbage is burnt and is changed to the compost and the rubbish is recycled.