Editing Pollutant

{{short description|Substance or energy damaging to the environment}}
[[File: Runoff of soil & fertilizer.jpg|thumb|[[Surface runoff]], also called [[nonpoint source pollution]], from a farm field in Iowa, the United States during a rainstorm. Topsoil, as well as farm fertilizers and other potential pollutants, runoff unprotected farm fields when heavy rains occur.|400x400px]]
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A '''pollutant''' or '''novel entity'''<ref name="Persson_2022">{{cite journal | vauthors = Persson L, Carney Almroth BM, Collins CD, Cornell S, de Wit CA, Diamond ML, Fantke P, Hassellöv M, MacLeod M, Ryberg MW, Søgaard Jørgensen P, Villarrubia-Gómez P, Wang Z, Hauschild MZ | display-authors = 6 | title = Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities | journal = Environmental Science & Technology | volume = 56 | issue = 3 | pages = 1510–1521 | date = February 2022 | pmid = 35038861 | pmc = 8811958 | doi = 10.1021/acs.est.1c04158 | bibcode = 2022EnST...56.1510P }}</ref> is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effect, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. These can be both naturally forming (i.e. minerals or extracted compounds like [[Extraction of petroleum|oil]]) or [[Anthropogenic hazard|anthropogenic]] in origin  (i.e. manufactured materials or [[By-product|byproducts]]). Pollutants result in [[Pollution|environmental pollution]] or become of public health concern when they reach a [[Pollutant concentration|concentration]] high enough to have significant negative impacts. 

A pollutant may cause long- or short-term damage by changing the growth rate of plant or animal species, or by interfering with resources used by humans, human health or wellbeing, or property values. Some pollutants are [[biodegradable]] and therefore will not persist in the [[environment (biophysical)|environment]] in a long term. However, the degradation products of some pollutants are themselves pollutants such as  [[Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene|DDE]] and [[Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane|DDD]] produced from the degradation of [[Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane|DDT]].

[[Pollution]] has widespread negative impact on the environment.<ref name="Persson_2022" /> When analyzed from a [[planetary boundaries]] perspective, human society has released novel entities that  well exceed safe levels.<ref name="Persson_2022" />

== Different types of pollutants in the environment ==
Pollutants can be categorized in a variety of different ways.  For example, it is sometimes useful to distinguish between ''stock pollutants'' and ''fund pollutants''.  Another way is to group them together according to more specific properties, such as organic, particulate, pharmaceutical, et cetera.  The environment has some capacity to absorb many discharges without measurable harm, and this is called “[[assimilative capacity]] (or absorptive capacity); a pollutant actually causes pollution when the assimilative capacity is exceeded.<ref>Lindeburg, Michael. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2hjEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT395 PE Environmental Review]'', p. 395 ([[Simon and Schuster]] 2019): “As long as the assimilative capacity of the environment is not reached, discharges will not lead to pollution.”</ref>

===Stock pollutants===
Pollutants, towards which the environment has low [[absorptive capacity]] are called ''stock pollutants''.<ref name=Tietenberg/> Examples include [[persistent organic pollutant]]s like [[Polychlorinated biphenyl|PCBs]], non-[[biodegradable]] [[Plastic pollution|plastics]] and [[heavy metals]]. Stock pollutants accumulate in the environment over time. The damage they cause increases as more pollutant is emitted, and persists as the pollutant accumulates. Stock pollutants can create a burden for the [[future generations]], bypassing on the damage that persists well after the benefits received from incurring that damage, have been forgotten.<ref name=Tietenberg>{{cite book | vauthors = Tietenberg T | author-link1 = Tietenberg, Tom| date = 2006 | chapter = Chapter 15: Economics of Pollution Control | title = Environmental and Natural Resource Economics | edition = 7th | publisher = Pearson | location = Boston }}</ref> Scientists have officially deemed that the planetary boundaries safe chemical pollutant levels (novel entities) have been surpassed.<ref name="Persson_2022" />

===Fund pollutants===
In contrast to stock pollutants, for which the environment has low absorptive capacity, fund pollutants are those for which the environment has a moderate absorptive capacity. Fund pollutants do not cause damage to the environment unless the emission rate exceeds the receiving environment's absorptive capacity (e.g. carbon dioxide, which is absorbed by plants and oceans).<ref name=Tietenberg/> Fund pollutants are not destroyed, but rather converted into less harmful substances, or diluted/dispersed to non-harmful concentrations.<ref name=Tietenberg/>

=== Specific groups of pollutants ===
Many pollutants are within the following notable groups:

* [[Environmental persistent pharmaceutical pollutant]]s (EPPP)
* [[Pollution#Greenhouse_gas_emissions|Greenhouse gases]] (GHGs)<ref name=NYTimes_20220822>{{cite news |last1=Friedman |first1=Lisa |title=Democrats Designed the Climate Law to Be a Game Changer. Here's How. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/climate/epa-supreme-court-pollution.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=22 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823165028/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/climate/epa-supreme-court-pollution.html |archive-date=23 August 2022 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Particulate matter]] ([[Particulate pollution|PM]])
* [[Persistent organic pollutant]]s (POPs)
* [[Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon]]s (PAHs)
* [[Volatile organic compound]]s (VOCs)

=== Light pollutant ===
[[Light pollution]] is the impact that anthropogenic light has on the visibility of the night sky. It also encompasses [[ecological light pollution]] which describes the effect of [[artificial light]] on individual [[organism]]s and on the structure of [[ecosystem]]s as a whole.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Light Pollution {{!}} National Geographic Society |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/light-pollution |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org}}</ref> 

[[File:In the photo there is one Perseid, Milky Way and Andromega galaxy and light pollution on the horizon - Luhasoo bog in Estonia.jpg|thumb|The night sky viewed from Luhasoo bog, [[Estonia]] with light pollution in the background]]

==Zones of influence==
Pollutants can also be defined by their zones of influence, both horizontally and vertically.<ref name=Tietenberg/>

===Horizontal zone===
The horizontal zone refers to the area that is damaged by a pollutant. Local pollutants cause damage near the emission source. Regional pollutants cause damage further from the emission source.<ref name=Tietenberg/>

===Vertical zone===
The vertical zone refers to whether the damage is ground-level or atmospheric. Surface pollutants cause damage by accumulating near the Earth's surface. Global pollutants cause damage by concentrating on the [atmosphere].

== Measuring concentration ==
{{Excerpt|Measures of pollutant concentration}}

==Regulation==
{{main|Regulation and monitoring of pollution}}

===International===
Pollutants can cross international borders and therefore international regulations are needed for their control. The [[Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants]], which entered into force in 2004, is an international legally binding agreement for the control of persistent organic pollutants. [[Pollutant Release and Transfer Register]]s (PRTR) are systems to collect and disseminate information on environmental releases and transfers of toxic chemicals from industrial and other facilities.

===European Union===
The [[European Pollutant Emission Register]] is a type of PRTR providing access to information on the annual emissions of industrial facilities in the Member States of the [[European Union]], as well as Norway.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-28 |title=The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) |url=https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/industrial-emissions-and-safety/european-pollutant-release-and-transfer-register-e-prtr_en |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=environment.ec.europa.eu |language=en}}</ref>

===United States===
'''Clean Air Act standards.''' Under the [[Clean Air Act (United States)|Clean Air Act]], the [[National Ambient Air Quality Standards]] (NAAQS) are developed by the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA) for six common air pollutants, also called "criteria pollutants": [[particulates]]; [[Smog#Photochemical_smog|smog]] and  [[ground-level ozone]]; [[carbon monoxide]]; [[sulfur oxide]]s; [[nitrogen oxide]]s; and [[lead]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants/naaqs-table |title=NAAQS Table |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2016 |website=Criteria Air Pollutants |publisher=U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> The [[National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants]] are additional emission standards that are set by EPA for toxic air pollutants.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/national-emission-standards-hazardous-air-pollutants-neshap-9 |title=National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants |date=2018-01-25 |publisher=EPA}}</ref>

'''Clean Water Act standards.''' Under the [[Clean Water Act]], EPA promulgated national standards for municipal [[sewage treatment]] plants, also called ''[[publicly owned treatment works]],'' in the ''Secondary Treatment Regulation.''<ref>EPA. "Secondary Treatment Regulation." ''Code of Federal Regulations,'' {{USCFR|40|133}}</ref> National standards for industrial dischargers are called ''[[Effluent guidelines]]'' (for existing sources) and [[New Source Performance Standard#Clean Water Act|New Source Performance Standards]], and currently cover over 50 industrial categories.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.epa.gov/eg |title=Effluent Guidelines |date=2018-02-28 |publisher=EPA}}</ref> In addition, the Act requires [[U.S. states|states]] to publish [[Clean Water Act#Water Quality Standards Program|water quality standards]] for individual water bodies to provide additional protection where the national standards are insufficient.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.epa.gov/standards-water-body-health |title=Standards for Water Body Health |date=2018-02-28 |publisher=EPA}}</ref>

'''RCRA standards.''' The [[Resource Conservation and Recovery Act]] (RCRA) regulates the management, transport and disposal of [[municipal solid waste]], [[hazardous waste]] and [[underground storage tank]]s.<ref>{{uspl|94|580|U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act}}, {{USC|42|6901}} ''et seq.'' October 21, 1976. Amended by {{uspl|98|616|Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984}}, November 8, 1984.</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|Environment}}
*[[Conventional pollutant]] - U.S. Clean Water Act
*[[List of environmental issues]]
*[[Pollutant Standards Index]]
*[[Pollution]]

== References ==
{{wiktionary}}
{{Reflist|30em}}

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[[Category:Pollutants]]
[[Category:Toxicology]]
[[Category:Pollution]]