Pollution of the Hydrosphere

The most important interferences with the components of the biosphere are the changes of the chemical composition of air, particularly reduction of oxygen and increase in the amount of carbon dioxide and air pollution with solid materials which result in changes in the quantity of solar radiation falling on the earth s surface, thermal pollution of the atmosphere, changes in the water cycle in nature, and pollution of the hydrosphere and soil, etc. 

The very extensive problems of the pollution of the hydrosphere by organic substances have been elaborated from different aspects in books, for example [24-29] and in numerous papers. Not all organic pollutants of the environment are considered here. For example, organic dyestuffs are missing, and so are the chlorinated dioxins and related derivatives [35] which are so topical from the environmental viewpoint [30-34], the chemical transformations of organic pollutants of the hydrosphere [36] whose importance is illustrated by few examples only from the field of photochemical transformations of pesticides, asbestos in waters [37] and other important groups of organic pollutants of the hydrosphere. 

The source of the pollution of the hydrosphere by constituents of the oil are of different origin. They begin at the site of petroleum exploitation itself (on land as well as in the sea), then during transport, when the water of oceans is polluted by fairly frequent breakdowns and occasional ship-wrecks. For example, in the wreck of the oil-tanker Torrey Canyon in 1967, 118,000 t of oil was spread on the surface of the English Channel. Within this ecological disaster 25,000 sea birds died. The use of cleaning preparations turned out to be even more harmful for the sea life than the... 

Organic pollutants of the hydrosphere are regularly analysed and the results are published systematically [120-125]. The immense quantity of papers dealing with identification of organic pollutants of the hydrosphere, e.g. [126-130], shows the considerable development of analytic methods in this field. A good example of the progress in this interdisciplinary field is the monograph [120]. 

In order to cope with water scarcity and pollution of the hydrosphere, two main strategies of water treatment are applied (1) chemical treatment of polluted drinking water, surface water, groundwater and (2) chemical treatment of waste-waters containing biocidal or non-biodegradable components. 

On this basis, Bowen states that only in the case of the elements, chromium, copper, lead and tin, would the mean concentration in fresh water rise significantly, while the change in concentration of all elements in ocean water would be immeasurably small. Of these four elements, copper is asserted to be potentially the most dangerous, since the dissolution of the world output of copper in the total mass of fresh water would raise its concentration above the toxic limit for some algae. Mercury must also be considered as a candidate for the distinction of being the most hazardous metal pollutant of the hydrosphere, since it is highly toxic and the amount produced annually is greater than the amount added to the ocean in fresh water (Table 40). 

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