Definition of air pollution

Read more Examples of Air Pollutants In most cases, air pollutants cannot be seen or smelled. However, that does not mean that they do not exist in high enough amounts to be a health hazard! Additionally, a number of gases are linked to the so-called "greenhouse effect", which means that those gases retain more heat and thus contribute to the overall global warming.

Air pollution - Wikipedia

DictionaryThesaurusMedicalEncyclopedia. Air Pollution Air pollution has plagued communities since the industrial revolution and even before. Airborne pollutants, such as gases, chemicals, smoke particles, and other substances, reduce the value of and ability to enjoy affected property and cause significant health and environmental problems.

Despite the long history and significant consequences of this problem, effective legal remedies only began to appear in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Only as cities continued to grow, Definition of air pollution pollution and health concerns with them, did federal standards and a nationwide approach to air quality begin to emerge.

What Is the Definition of Air Pollution? | regardbouddhiste.com

These disputes were handled through the application of the Nuisance doctrine, which provides that possessors of land have a duty to make a reasonable use of their property in a manner that does not harm other individuals in the area.

A person who Definition of air pollution the air and caused harm to others was liable for breaching this duty and was required to pay damages or was enjoined stopped through an Injunction issued by a court from engaging in the activities that created the pollution.

Courts often denied injunctions because the economic damage suffered by the defendant—and, by extension, the surrounding community if the defendant was essential to the local economy—in trying to eliminate the pollution often outweighed the damage suffered by the plaintiff.

Thus, in many cases, the plaintiff was left only with the remedy of money damages—a cash payment equal to the estimated monetary value of the damage caused by the pollution—and the polluting activities were allowed to continue. Using a nuisance action to control widespread air pollution proved inadequate in other ways as well.

At Common Lawonly the attorney general or local prosecutor could sue to abate a public nuisance one that damages a large number of persons unless a private individual could show "special" damage that was distinct from and more severe than that suffered by the general public.

The private plaintiff with special damages had the necessary standing legally protectible interest to seek injunctive relief. In some states, the problem of standing has been corrected through laws that allow a private citizen to sue to abate public nuisances such as air pollution, though these laws are by no means the norm.

Moreover, with the nuisance doctrine the plaintiff has the burden of showing that the harm she or he has experienced was caused by a particular defendant. However, since pollutants can derive from many sources, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to prove that a particular polluter is responsible for a particular problem.

Last, nuisance law was useful only to combat particular polluters; it did not provide an ongoing and systematic mechanism for the regulation and control of pollution. Early in the nineteenth century, a few U. Pittsburgh, inwas one of the first to institute air quality laws.

Others, like Chicago and Cincinnati, passed smoke control ordinances inand bytwenty-three U. Though the early court cases usually addressed polluted air as an interference with the enjoyment of property, scientists quickly discovered that air pollution also poses significant health and environmental risks.

It is believed to contribute to the incidence of chronic diseases such as emphysema, bronchitis, and other respiratory illnesses and has been linked to higher mortality rates from other diseases, including cancer and heart disease.

The first significant legislation concerning air quality was the Air Pollution Control Act, enacted in 42 U. Also known as the Clean Air Act, it gave the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare the power to undertake and recommend research programs for air pollution control.

Amendments passed during the s authorized federal agencies to intervene to help abate interstate pollution in limited circumstances, to control emissions from new motor vehicles, and to provide some supervision and enforcement powers to states trying to control pollution.

By the end of the s, when it became clear that states had made little progress in combating air pollution, Congress toughened the Clean Air Act through a series of new laws, which were known as the Clean Air Act Amendments of Pub.

The amendments greatly increased federal authority and responsibility for addressing the problem of air pollution. They provided for, among other things, uniform national emissions standards for the hazardous air pollutants most likely to cause an increase in mortality or serious illness.

Under the amendments, each state retained some regulatory authority, having "primary responsibility for assuring air quality within the entire geographic area comprising such state.

In addition, the amendments directed the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency EPAwhich was also established into institute national standards regarding ambient air quality for air pollutants endangering public health or welfare, in particular sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and photo-chemical oxidants in the atmosphere.

The EPA was also granted the authority to require levels of harmful pollutants to be brought within set standards before further industrial expansion would be permitted.

Despite the ambitious scope of the legislation, many of its goals were never attained.

Use 'air pollution' in a Sentence

As a result, the Clean Air Act was extensively revised again in Pub. One significant component of the amendments was the formulation of programs designed to inspect, control, and monitor vehicle emissions.air pollution The addition of harmful chemicals to the atmosphere.

The most serious air pollution results from the burning of fossil fuels, especially in internal-combustion engines. Air pollution, then, is the release of these particles and gases into the air. For the previous example, the germs would be the pollutants, but the air wouldn't be polluted until those germs are.

air pollution Contamination of the air, especially by smoke or gases from vehicles, factories, and power stations. It can cause disease, kill plants, and damage structures. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Switch to new thesaurus Noun 1. air pollution - pollution of the atmosphere; "air pollution reduced the visibility" pollution.

Quick Answer. Air pollution occurs when the air contains pollutants such as gases, fumes and dust in harmful amounts. Air pollution can be harmful to the health of humans and animals if left unchecked. When there is pollution, the water or air in a place is dirty, impure, and dangerous, usually because poisonous chemicals have got into regardbouddhiste.coms in the climate due to pollution of the atmosphere.

Pollution is an uncount noun. You do not talk about 'pollutions' or 'a . Air Pollution. Air pollution has plagued communities since the industrial revolution and even before.

Airborne pollutants, such as gases, chemicals, smoke particles, and other substances, reduce the value of and ability to enjoy affected property and cause significant health and environmental problems.