Oil pollution: causes, consequences and how to avoid it

While we are very far from stating that oil spills are normal and current, we can say that they happen with some frequency and are mostly product of the human negligence.

Gulf of Mexico

One of the greatest spills in history, as an example of sea ​​pollution By oil, it has been the spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. For a damage on the platform from which oil was extracted, almost spilled 800 million liters of oil to the sea. The consequences of this devastating spill were translated into an environmental catastrophe that left thousands of dead animals and also took the lives of 11 workers.

Here you can learn more about causes and consequences of sea pollution.

Napo and Coca Rivers of Ecuador

Although the most appointed cases about oil pollution occur in the sea, there is also the river pollution For oil, as was the pollution suffered by the Napo and Coca rivers of Ecuador in 2021. As a result of a pipe break, they were the sink of more than 57 thousand liters of oil unleashing a considerable socio -environmental crisis in the country.

Also read contamination of lakes and rivers: causes, consequences and how to avoid it in this other post of ecology to be so that you can form more on the subject.

Vaca Muerta oil deposit

Continuing with the examples, we cannot ignore the soil pollution For oil. An example of this is the Argentine oil site called Vaca Muerta. In just 10 months, during 2018, they registered More than 900 oil spillsalerting environmental organizations around the world.

If you are interested, we recommend this article on soil pollution: causes, consequences and solutions.

There are multiple examples of causes of oil pollution, but to better understand them we will divide them into two large groups that we will develop below.

Human negligence

This cause groups those oil spills that occur by carelessness or involuntary errors of people in charge of oil exploitation. Here are also the breakage of equipment and pipes due to lack of maintenance, for example. Human negligence is main cause of environmental catastrophes caused by oil. Here you can read 7 natural disasters caused by man.

Other causes

In this category we include all those causes that have nothing to do with human negligence or inaction. Rather, we relate these causes to oil extraction procedures by themselves, to the deliberate acts that can occur during wars or other war conflicts and, also, to the damage of pipes due to natural disasters, among other factors.

There are no doubt that oil contaminates. For this reason, we will dedicate this section to speaking specifically what damage oil causes in the environment.

Consequences of oil and ocean oil pollution

To begin to know what problems oil generates in the water we will go in parts. First, when the oil reaches a body of water Create a superficial film that prevents the passage of light towards lower strata. This directly affects photosynthetic organisms and, consequently, the entire trophic chain.

Second, when animals come into contact with oil, it is permeated on its surface and, due to their viscosity, prevents them from moving in the water, flying in the case of birds, and even eating. For this reason, many animals die For toxicity of oil and, in addition, because they have been in contact with oil, in the long term, animals can be infertile.

Finally, rivers are a fresh water source of which populations are sustained. An oil spill in a river can leave No access to drinking water to a lot of people.

Consequences of oil pollution in soils

Here they come into play, not only oil spills, but also everything that implies the oil exploitation such as weeding, the transfer of heavy machinery, the lands of land and other processes that are carried out to obtain oil. As a result, the microbiological, physical and chemical properties They look deeply affected from the ground.

Consequences of oil pollution in the air

One of the main consequences of oil refineries is based on the large amounts of Greenhouse gases that emit to the atmosphere. These gases, as we know, are the cause of current climate change. Here you can learn more about how to reduce greenhouse gases.

We recommend this other ecology article on the environmental impact of oil and natural gas so that you know more things on the subject.

Without going into technicalities, there are three basic points to avoid pollution of the oil industry:

• Maintain the good condition and the correct operation of equipment and pipes.
• Automate as many processes as possible, in order to avoid human errors.
• Allocate funds to research on bioremediation processes.

These three points are typical of the oil industries. Now, as citizens who consume goods and services produced from oil, there are not too many actions to directly avoid oil pollution. Even so, governments can promote and Develop regulation and audit of this type of industry to avoid future disasters. They can also carry out the development and inclusion of clean energies such as solar energy, wind and hydraulics, for example. In this way, we will not only avoid oil pollution, but also We will mitigate the effects of climate change. If you want to know more about what are clean or green energies, do not hesitate to read this ecology article that we recommend.

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