How to successfully clean soil polluted with organic pollutants?

Many organic pollutants, such as oil, pollute soil. Traditional option to clean soil polluted with organic pollutants is to treat soil by composting, and though this is rather successful in dealing with oil, it is far less effective when put against other organic pollutants.

The researchers have estimated that soil polluted with organic pollutants different than oil accounts for as much as 45% of excavated contaminated soil, and thus finding the effective cleaning solution for this soil is very important.

The latest study conducted by Finish scientists showed that this soil which is usually found in areas with plenty of sawing or with significant distribution of fuels, waste treatment and various kinds of industry, can be successfully cleaned with fungi.

Taking soil to a landfill is anything but a sustainable practice. In fact, a lot more sustainable solution would be to clean the polluted soil with fungi instead. However, many countries choose the landfill option because this is cheap and easy to do.

Fungi such as mycellium break down soil polluting substances very successfully. The laboratory tests showed efficiency higher than 90% in breaking down soil-polluting compounds.

As already stated above, landfills are still the No.1 option but in years to come new methods will be necessary such as this one that involves using fungi.

Soil pollution facts

Soil pollution refers to an increased level of harmful human-made chemicals in the natural soil environment.

Industrial pollutants and pesticides are two major soil pollution sources.

Soil pollution can lead to serious water contamination and therefore create huge health issues.

Cleaning soil pollution is expensive and (usually) long-term process because it requires advanced geology, hydrology, chemistry, and even computer modeling skills.

Heavy agricultural machinery used by many formers makes soil more susceptible to pollution because it negatively affects the density and compactness of soil.

If not treated properly soil pollution could significantly reduce crop yields in years to come which could lead to future food shortages and more hunger in the world.

Soil pollution is especially big issue in China where contaminated water is often being used to irrigate very large amount of arable land.

If soil is polluted with heavy metals such as chromium and lead this can lead to higher incidence of cancer and leukemia in people.

The excessive soil pollution can also cause major problem for ecosystems by affecting the lower pyramid levels of the food chain and disrupting its proper functioning.

There are several different options used to clean polluted soil. These include excavating soil and taking it to a disposal site, aeration of soils, thermal and bio remediation, etc.

Soil pollution can also lead to soil erosion by decreasing the level of natural nutrients in the soil. Such decrease would cause reduced plant life in given region and without enough plants this would further result in soil erosion.

Even the short term exposure to some harmful chemicals in soil can lead to headaches, nausea, fatigue and skin rashes.

Contaminated soil isn't a safe place to grow food on because the poisonous chemicals may reach into human body once people digest the affected food.

Preventing soil pollution is much easier than to clean it. This is the main reason why soil needs to be constantly tested for dangerous chemicals. Only clean and healthy soil can produce healthy food.