Environmental pollution is the discharge of material or contaminants in any physical state that is dangerous to the environment or human health.
It is one of the main threats to our country. Pollution destroys the living environment and endangers human existence on earth. Broadly, environmental pollution consists of six basic types of pollution, i.e. air, water, land, soil, noise, and light. Pollution in Ghana has led to high incidents of diseases such as dysentery, cholera, heart diseases, asthma and lung infections.
This essay seeks to discuss briefly the major causes and effect of environmental pollution and propose potential solutions to solving this issue.
The most identified causes of environmental pollution in Ghana are as follows;
1. Industries: Industries have been polluting our environment especially since the beginning of the industrial revolution, notably due to the increasing use of fossil fuels. In the 19th century and for a significant part of the 20th century, coal has been use to make machines work faster, replacing human force.
Smoke from industrial companies in Ghana like Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Tema Steel works, plastic manufacturing companies in Accra (North Kaneshie), GRIDco, Volta River Authority and the like produce large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere causing respiratory diseases to residents.
2. Transportation: Ever since men abandoned animal power to travel, pollution of the environment has become higher and higher. Its levels have only been increasing until now. Similarly to industries, pollution caused by transport can mainly be attributed to fossil fuels. Indeed, humans went from horse carriages to cars, trains, and airplanes. As the traffic is increasing every day, pollution follows that evolution. The fume from the commercials cars and the heavy load trucks on our roads also pollutes the environment.
3. Agricultural Activities: Agriculture is mainly responsible for the contamination of water and soil. This is caused by the increased use of pesticides, as well as by the intensive character of its production. Almost all pesticides are made from chemical substances and are meant to keep diseases and threatening animals away from the crops. However, by keeping these forms of life away, harm is almost always made to the surrounding environment as well.
Furthermore, as agriculture gets more and more intensive to feed the increasing Ghanaian population, more environments and ecosystems are destroyed to make space for the crops. Some of them, like rapeseed –used to make oil – demand a lot of space for a relatively small output.
4. Trading Activities: Trading activities including the production and exchange of goods and services. Concerning goods, pollution can be caused by packaging (which often involves the use of plastic, which is made from fossil fuels) or transport, mainly.
5. Residences: Finally, residential areas provide their fair share of pollution as well. First, to be able to build homes, natural environment has to be destroyed in one way or another. Wildlife and plants are driven away and replaced by human constructions. As it requires the work of industries, construction itself is also a source of contamination of the environment. Then, when people settle in, they will produce waste every day, including a part that cannot be processed by the environment without harm yet.
6. Water pollution is the contamination of the water bodies. Activities by Ghanaians such as dumping refuse in gutters and streams, allowing raw sewage to run into lakes or streams, run off from farms into nearby streams. Polluted water poses a number of health problems. Water-borne pathogens can cause diseases such as typhoid, fever, cholera, and hepatitis. Mostly, the point infection is through drinking or swimming the contaminated water.
7. Illegal mining- There is no qualm that illegal mining have caused a great harm to our environment in Ghana. Dust from mining sites pollutes the air and also water bodies are destroyed due to the activities of the miners. . Toxic chemicals such as mercury that have long term health effects on societies for generations are released into these water bodies.
8. Deforestation – It involves the clearing of the forest leading to cutting down of trees. As we increase each day, trees are cut down to create settlement for humans. People also cut down trees and sell them as logs on the timber market. Unfortunately, we do not practice afforestation i.e. replanting trees after cutting them.
9. Inadequate waste management companies – improper disposal of waste. Increase population means increased in waste. The recent sanitation law which states that every first Saturday of the month must be used to clean our communities, is obeyed by citizens. However, due to inadequacy of waste management companies, waste are collected from gutters alright but the waste management team do not come for it, so waste dries up ,goes back into the gutter and the cycle continues.
10. Noise from nightclub and pub operators – In as much as the government putting in much effort in developing Accra, the issue of noise pollution is still on the rise. Noise pollution is caused by the noise from manufacturing companies, noise from construction sites, clubs, horning by commercial cars (Trotro), heavy trucks and places where the population is dense like the Kaneshie market or Makola market both in Accra.
In places like Lapaz, Nii Boi, Fadama, Circle where there are chain of pubs and nightclubs, workers barely sleep soundly at night as operators of the mentioned facilities increase the volumes of their speakers.
Effects
Dust from mining and construction site contaminate the air causing air borne diseases to residents.
Gutters chocked with plastic materials and other waste produce unpleasant smell making living in such areas difficult.
Depletion of the ozone layer due to the introduction of harmful ozone layer is chemicals into the atmosphere.
Health problems caused by noise pollution are stress, poor concentration, fatigue from lack of sleep, and to more serious issues such as cardiovascular disease.
Soil erosion due to deforestation
High rate of death of the youth at illegal mining sites.
Solution
1. Education on the harmful of pollution- NGOs together with the environmental protection agency must educate Ghanaians on the harmful effects of pollution on the society and on their health.
2. Practicing reuse and recycling- plastic items that hardly decompose must be reuse or recycled. Example, the use of sachet water rubbers for plastic chairs and buckets.
3. Carpooling – This is the arrangement made between a group of people who usually lives in the same neighborhood going in the same direction to use one car instead of numerous cars. This practice reduce the number of cars on our roads hence reducing the amount of harmful substance released into the atmosphere through the exhaust pipes.
4. Cover crops – Farmers in Ghana also have a role to play to prevent water pollution. They have to plant cover crops such as grasses, grains or cloves to help reduce the run off that causes soil erosion during heavy rainfall.
5. Afforestation after deforestation.
6. EPA setting rules against improper waste disposal by industries.
7. Implementation of laws against noise making.
8. Creating of job opportunities -the government must create employment opportunities within districts and towns for habitants to help the youth employed and help them earn a living. This way they are not urged to engage in practices such as illegal mining, which does not promote or help in building a better nation