One of the major problems facing major cities and towns in the world is pollution; wastes from firms and households are the major causes of pollution. The United States in general is undergoing fast industrialization; the resultant is a country with high rates of pollution. Air and water pollution are the major pollution that occur in the United States cities and towns (Calhoun 68). This paper discusses air and water pollution in Los Angeles, the United Stated second largest city.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is United States of America second largest city; it was discovered by the Chinese in 1781, but upgraded to city status in 1850. It is the home of a number of ethnicity, with the white Americans being the majority at 46.9%. African American follows with 11.2%, Asians at 10.5% other small tribes that include Native American. The diversity of different tribes in the county has created a metropolitan city: the city covers an area of 3,041.3/km2. Population census conducted in 2009n recorded that the city population was four, 094,047 up from 3,694,820 in 2000(The city of Los Angeles Official Web Site).
Air and water pollution in Los Angeles
California Air Resources Board has gauged Los Angeles as one of the most polluted environments in the United States. Air is a natural occurring resource that surround human beings; pure clean air is odourless, colourless and particle free; air pollution is any activity of man or nature, which contaminates the air; contamination mean any element what so ever that is added to the atmosphere and reduces the sanity of air.
Air pollutants may be visible or invisible; the result is that there is pollution of the atmosphere. Breathing air should be pure and “holy”, but the activities of man hinder it to hold these characteristics; Los Angeles is considered as the most air polluted country in the region.
Water pollution on the other hand, involves any activities that affect the degree of purity of the water; clean water is healthy for drinking by both human beings and animals. Water is polluted if any particle whether soluble to insoluble in water has been added to it, in Los angles water can be broadly categorized in naturally flowing or the tapped water in our estates. Human activities are the major causes of water pollution; this is through disposal of solid, gaseous and liquid materials into the water bodies.
When man disposes his wastes into the water bodies, it means that some new elements that have reduced the purity of the water. The water at an ideal situation should be as pure as it is when it is coming out of the rocks. Over 70% of the earth’s service is covered with water and thus its purity is of great concern; human beings and animals for their live hood use it (Mazurek and Clarence 68).
Causes of air pollution
In 2007, a research conducted by South Coast Air Quality Management District came up with a list of possible polluters. They classified them as; household air pollutants, industries and factories air pollutants transport industry gasses emission, Electricity production (electricity is mostly produced from diesel and coal) and construction industry (South Coast Air Quality Management District). All these human factors are in the process of production of goods and services to feed the increasing population (see the graph below for the current trend in air pollution).
Human activity that leads to air and water pollution
Household pollution involve the activities that take place at home as human beings try to have comfort in life, they include cooking gases emissions, burning of fossil fuels , water materials, sewage, dirty waters, burning of plastics and other wastes. When these wastes get their way in to the atmosphere, they pollute the air and water.
The transport industry is quoted as one of the sectors that pollute the environment greatly: this happens because as we move the motor vehicle produces some smoke that gets into the air and cause pollution. The motor vehicles produce carbon monoxide. When this goes into the air, it is immiscible. When in the atmosphere, it remain there for a long time, when it rains the particles are mixed with water and what is referred to as acid rain falls. When the acid rain falls, the entire emission from transport modes finds its way to the water bodies.
Industries and factories pollute air in the course of their operation: they do of through disposal of gaseous wastes, liquid and solid wastes into the environment that finds its way it to the air polluting it. Los Angeles is industrializing fast with industries in different sectors coming up; as they produce goods and services, they have some wastes materials disposed to the environment.
Such materials include smokes, dirty waters, wasted chemicals and other solid wastes disposed on land, water and into the atmosphere. Some of them are soluble in water while others are invisible when in air, thus they cause massive danger to the human beings and animals since when they drink the water they have no clue that the water may have been contaminated (Calhoun 68).
Consequences and effects of air and water pollution
When pollution occurs, it distorts the natural operation of the world resources, when nature is affected, it cuts back to human beings with some negative effects. When air has been polluted, it lacks the salinity and purity for breathing safely. When animals and human beings breathe the impure air, they suffer from disease like cancer and Asthma.
When a population is not healthy, then it will have reduced production and the expense on medical attention increased. Air is used by both animals and plants, carbon dioxide is used in the synthesis process to make plant foods, when air is polluted then the plants cannot make food that animals depend on, thus the pollution threatens life on earth. Another consequence of air pollution is the un-comfort it causes on human beings. Living in a polluted environment is not pleasant thus, people feel uncomfortable.
Water is used for domestic and industrial use, when polluted, this noble use will go unsatisfied, human beings will suffer lack of clean water and when they take, the polluted ones they are likely to suffer from diseases water borne diseases like Cholera. There is life in water, when the waters are polluted, then aquatic life is affected; some aquatic animals and plants are human food thus food is affected. Finally, when living in an area that water is polluted, human beings miss an opportunity to enjoy life to the fullest.
Conclusion
Human activities in Los Angeles have been blamed for causing air and water pollution; the pollutions comes from waste materials disposed into the atmosphere as households, firms, factories and industries conducts their activities. California Air Resources Board in 2010 gauged Los Angeles as one of the United States most polluted city: this has been attributed to its high population and fast industrialization. When water and air are polluted, they have negative effects on human health and threaten life.
Works Cited
Calhoun, Yael. Water Pollution. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2005. Print.
Mazurek, Jan, and Clarence Davies. Pollution control in the United States: evaluating the system. New York: Resources for the Future, 1998. Print.
South Coast Air Quality Management District. Air Quality. Apr. 2010. Web.
The city of Los Angeles Official Web Site. The City of Los Angeles. 2011. Web.