Contamination of the environment by manufactured substances or energy that has adverse effects on living or non-living matter. This contamination of air, water, or soil materials interferes with human health, the quality of life, or the natural functioning of ecosystems. In simple terms, pollution can be seen as the wrong substance in the wrong place in the wrong quantities at the wrong time. This implies that harm is caused to the environment, and if the same substance is present at levels too low to cause harm, then it can be considered as contamination. Many substances that can be pollutants also occur naturally, in which case they are not classified as pollution. However, other pollutants result entirely from human activity, such as most toxic organic compounds and artificial forms of radioactivity, particularly from nuclear waste.…
