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Pollution

Pollution is the release of environmental contaminants. The major forms of pollution include:

Sources and causes

Motor vehicle emissions are likely the leading cause of air pollution. China, United States, Russia, Mexico, and Japan are the world leaders in air pollution emissions; however, Canada is the number two country, ranked per capital. Principal stationary pollution sources include chemical plants, coal-fired power plants, oil refineries,[1] petrochemical plants, nuclear waste disposal activity, incinerators, large animal farms, PVC factories, ****ls production factories, plastics factories, and other heavy industry.
Some of the more common soil contaminants are chlorinated hydrocarbons (CFH), heavy ****ls (such as chromium, cadmium–found in rechargeable batteries, and lead–found in lead paint, aviation fuel and still in some countries, gasoline), MTBE, zinc, arsenic and benzene. Ordinary municipal landfills are the source of many chemical substances entering the soil environment (and often groundwater), emanating from the wide variety of refuse accepted, especially substances illegally discarded there, or from pre-1970 landfills that may have been subject to little control in the U.S. or EU.
Pollution can also be the consequence of a natural disaster. For example, hurricanes often involve water contamination from sewage, and petrochemical spills from ruptured boats or automobiles. Larger scale and environmental damage is not uncommon when coastal oil rigs or refineries are involved. Some sources of pollution, such as nuclear power plants or oil tankers, can produce widespread and potentially hazardous releases when accidents occur.
In the case of noise pollution the dominant source class is the motor vehicle, producing about ninety percent of all unwanted noise worldwide.
Effects on human health

Adverse air quality can kill many organisms including humans. Ozone pollution can cause respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, throat inflammation, chest pain and congestion. Water pollution causes approximately 14,000 deaths per day, mostly due to contamination of drinking water by untreated sewage in developing countries. Oil spills can cause skin irritations and rashes. Noise pollution induces hearing loss, high blood pressure, stress and sleep disturbance.

Effect on ecosystems

  • Sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen can cause acid rain which reduces the pH value of soil.
  • Soil can become infertile and unsuitable for plants. This will affect other organisms in the food web.
  • Smog and haze can reduce the amount of sunlight received by plants to carry out photosynthesis.
  • Invasive species can out compete native species and reduce biodiversity. Invasive plants can contribute debris and biomolecules (allelopathy) that can alter soil and chemical compositions of an environment, often reducing native species competitiveness.

Regulation and monitoring
To protect the environment from the adverse effects of pollution, many nations worldwide have enacted legislation to regulate various types of pollution as well as to mitigate the adverse effects of pollution.
Europe

Generally the European countries lagged significantly behind the United States in meaningful environmental regulation, including air quality standards, water quality standards, soil contamination cleanup, indoor air quality and noise regulations.[3] Despite this, European pollution output is far lower than that of the USA. In the year 2000, UK Air Quality Regulations were established and they were further amended in 2022. There has also been British harmonization with EUregulations.
The EU is presently entertaining use of the (possibly carcinogenic) MTBE as a widespread gasoline additive, a chemical which has been in the process of phaseout in the U.S. for over a decade.
The United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, it took until the 1840s to bring onto the statute books legislation to control water pollution. It was extended to all rivers and coastal water by 1961. However, currently the clean up of historic contamination is controlled under a specific statutory scheme found in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (Part IIA), as inserted by the Environment Act 1995, and other ‘rules’ found in regulations and statutory guidance. The Act came into force in England in April 2000.
China

China’s rapid industrialization has substantially increased pollution. China has some relevant regulations: the 1979 Environmental Protection Law, which was largely modelled on U.S. legislation. But the environment continues to deteriorate. Twelve years after the law, only one Chinese city was making an effort to clean up its water discharges. This indicates that China is about 30 years behind the U.S. schedule of environmental regulation and 10 to 20 years behind Europe.
International

The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty on global warming. It also reaffirms sections of the UNFCCC. Countries which ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these gases. A total of 141 countries have ratified the agreement. Notable exceptions include the United States and Australia, who have signed but not ratified the agreement. The stated reason for the United States not ratifying is the exemption of large emitters of greenhouse gases who are also developing countries, like China and India.

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Solutions for pollution

I think we can help pollution get better by slowing down a lot of things such as not using the car as much and not littering because littering doesn’t just affect our land but affects animals in the ocean and on land. We are as well but little do we know it we also get affected by pollution it is said that it can give you cancer by inhaling polluted air. You can do your bit by walking from place to place if it is walking distance and don’t litter because we do share the world with other nations and they get affected by pollution as well. If we keep going on the way we are going we are all going to die because the ozone layer will burn away to nothing.

Some pollution will always result from man’s and nature’s activities . The secret is to get the levels down to the natural assimilative capacity of the Earth’s ecosystems.

To this end people should follow all the rules from kindergarten:

  • Pick up after themselves
  • Don’t take more than you need
  • Clean-up the messes you make
  • Don’t wait for someone else to tell you to do the right thing
  • Keep your neighbour’s stuff as neatly as you want to have your0s kept
  • Don’t make promises you can’t keep


And the rule from camping:

  • Leave the campground a little cleaner than you found it


stop trowing away glass cardboard plastic . also stop smoking and using gas cars and stop using gas period to prevent pollution.
We can prevent pollution by recycling and using energy effitioant cars.
One of the most within-reach ways to stop pollution is to increase people’s awareness that their actions are detrimental to the environment. Enough information together with product alternatives should determine more and more people to use only those products with a high safety level for the environment.
There are other little things that you can do to stop pollution from picking up your pet’s litter to reporting illegal dumping of chemical substances. Thus, disposing of motor oils, trash, paint and other chemicals in the storm drains is completely illegal and is punishable by law.
And since we’ve mentioned paints, you can do something to stop pollution here too; water-based paints are the most reliable and environment friendly as compared to oil-based ones, ask at the decoration store department for guidance. You should think about all these aspects that contribute to the international effort to stop pollution. Prevention of pollution is the best policy to prevent lot of diseases.

Pollution is a process of spoiling the air,water,soil and also ecological systems in the surroundings.
We cannot prevent this pollution but we can control the hazardous activities of pollution in surroundings.It can be controlled by sending the waste gases which can affect plants,humans and also the animal lives to the atmosphere from various industries such as plastic,rubber,chemical,m ining,petroleum industries through Chimneys and also using some air cooling techniques.Plastic based materials can be avoided.Hazardous pesticides & insecticides can be avoided.
Dont litter, help clean up an area. Carpool to work. Recycle.
Potentially, a good start would be understand the impact that it is inevitable that humans will one way or another change our planet, just as any major evolution or change in life (from multi-cell organisms to mammals) has done before. With this in mind, the leaders and peoples of the world need to try to curtail activities that are ultimately self-destructive (like burning oil, which pollutes the air and threatens to alter climate patterns that are depended upon) and pursue better overall usage of resources (in how we use and distribute things like water, food, and electricity). There are, of course, many different ways in which one can reach this end result…

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Water pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of pollutants (whether chemical substances, or energy such as noise, heat, or light) into the environment to such a point that its effects become harmful to human health, other living organisms, or the environment.
Water pollution
Water pollution is a large set of adverse effects upon water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater caused by human activities.
Although natural phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water, these are not deemed to be pollution. Water is only called polluted when it is not able to be used for what one wants it to be used for. Water pollution has many causes and characteristics. Increases in nutrient loading may lead to eutrophication. Organic wastes such as sewage impose high oxygen demands on the receiving water leading to oxygen depletion with potentially severe impacts on the whole eco-system. Industries discharge a variety of pollutants in their wastewater including heavy ****ls, resin pellets, organic toxins, oils, nutrients, and solids. Discharges can also have thermal effects, especially those from power stations, and these too reduce the available oxygen. Silt-bearing runoff from many activities including construction sites, deforestation and agriculture can inhibit the penetration of sunlight through the water column, restricting photosynthesis and causing blanketing of the lake or river bed, in turn damaging ecological systems.
Pollutants in water include a wide spectrum of chemicals, pathogens, and physical chemistry or sensory changes. Many of the chemical substances are toxic. Pathogens can produce waterborne diseases in either human or animal hosts. Alteration of water’s physical chemistry include acidity, electrical conductivity, temperature, and eutrophication. Eutrophication is the fertilisation of surface water by nutrients that were previously scarce. Even many of the municipal water supplies in developed countries can present health risks. Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily.

Sources of water pollution

Some of the principal sources of water pollution are:

Accumulation of litter and organic debris in Salford Quays, a section of the Manchester Ship Canal in Greater Manchester, UK.
Contaminants

Contaminants may include organic and inorganic substances.
Some organic water pollutants are:

  • Insecticides and herbicides, a huge range of organohalide and other chemicals
  • Bacteria, often is from sewage or livestock operations
  • Food processing waste, including pathogens
  • Tree and brush debris from logging operations
  • VOCs (Volatile organic compounds), such as industrial solvents, from improper storage
  • Petroleum Hydrocarbons including fuels (gasoline, diesel, jet fuels, and fuel oils) and lubricants (motor oil) from oil field operations, refineries, pipelines, retail service station’s underground storage tanks, and transfer operations. Note: VOCs include gasoline-range hydrocarbons.

Some inorganic water pollutants include:

Transport and chemical reactions of water pollutants

Most water pollutants are eventually carried by the rivers into the oceans. In some areas of the world the influence can be traced hundred miles from the mouth by studies using hydrology transport models. Advanced computer models such as SWMM or the DSSAM Model have been used in many ********s worldwide to examine the fate of pollutants in aquatic systems. Indicator filter feeding species such as copepods have also been used to study pollutant fates in the New York Bight, for example. The highest toxin loads are not directly at the mouth of the Hudson River, but 100 kilometers south, since several days are required for incorporation into planktonic tissue. The Hudson discharge flows south along the coast due to coriolis force. Further south then are areas of oxygen depletion, caused by chemicals using up oxygen and by algae blooms, caused by excess nutrients from algal cell death and decomposition. Fish and ****lfish kills have been reported, because toxins climb the foodchain after small fish consume copepods, then large fish eat smaller fish, etc. Each successive step up the food chain causes a stepwise concentration of pollutants such as heavy ****ls (e.g. mercury) and persistent organic pollutants such as DDT. This is known as biomagnification which is occasionally used interchangeably with bioaccumulation.
The big gyres in the oceans trap floating plastic debris. The North Pacific Gyre for example has collected the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch that is now estimated at two times the size of Texas. Many of these long-lasting pieces wind up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals. This results in obstruction of digestive pathways which leads to reduced appetite or even starvation.
Many chemicals undergo reactive decay or chemially change especially over long periods of time in groundwater reservoirs. A noteworthy class of such chemicals are the chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene (used in industrial ****l degreasing and electronics manufacturing) and tetrachloroethylene used in the dry cleaning industry (note latest advances in liquid carbon dioxide in dry cleaning that avoids all use of chemicals). Both of these chemicals, which are carcinogens themselves, undergo partial decomposition reactions, leading to new hazardous chemicals (including dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride).
Groundwater pollution is much more difficult to abate than surface pollution because groundwater can move great distances through unseen aquifers. Non-porous aquifers such as clays partially purify water of bacteria by simple filtration (adsorption and absorption), dilution, and, in some cases, chemical reactions and biological activity: however, in some cases, the pollutants merely transform to soil contaminants. Groundwater that moves through cracks and caverns is not filtered and can be transported as easily as surface water. In fact, this can be aggravated by the human tendency to use natural sinkholes as dumps in areas of Karst topography.
There are a variety of secondary effects stemming not from the original pollutant, but a derivative condition. Some of these secondary impacts are:

Regulatory framework

In the UK there are common law rights (civil rights) to protect the passage of water across land unfettered in either quality of quantity. Criminal laws dating back to the 16th century exercised some control over water pollution but it was not until the River (Prevention of pollution )Acts 1951 – 1961 were enacted that any systematic control over water pollution was established. These laws were strengthened and extended in the Control of Pollution Act 1984 which has since been updated and modified by a series of further acts. It is a criminal offense to either pollute a lake, river, groundwater or the sea or to discharge any liquid into such water bodies without proper authority. In England and Wales such permission can only be issued by the Environment Agency and in Scotland by SEPA.
In the USA, concern over water pollution resulted in the enactment of state anti-pollution laws in the latter half of the 19th century, and federal legislation enacted in 1899. The Refuse Act of the federal Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 prohibits the disposal of any refuse matter from into either the nation’s navigable rivers, lakes, streams, and other navigable bodies of water, or any tributary to such waters, unless one has first obtained a permit. The Water Pollution Control Act, passed in 1948, gave authority to the Surgeon General to reduce water pollution.
Growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led to enactment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. As amended in 1977, this law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act. The Act established the basic mechanisms for regulating contaminant discharge. It established the authority for the United States Environmental Protection Agency to implement wastewater standards for industry. The Clean Water Act also continued requirements to set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters. Further amplification of the Act continued including the enactment of the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2022.

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Air pollution

Air pollution is a chemical, particulate matter, or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earth’s ecosystems.
Worldwide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of deaths and cases of respiratory disease. While major stationary sources are often identified with air pollution, the greatest source of emissions is actually mobile sources, mainly automobiles. Gases such as carbon dioxide, which contribute to global warming, have recently gained recognition as pollutants by some scientists.

Sources of air pollution

Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas

Using a controlled burn on a field in South Georgia in preparation for spring planting.

Anthropogenic sources (human activity) related to burning different kinds of fuel

Other anthropogenic sources

Natural sources

Health effects

The World Health Organization states that 4.6 million people die each year from causes directly attributable to air pollution. Many of these mortalities are attributable to indoor air pollution. Worldwide more deaths per year are linked to air pollution than to automobile accidents. Published in 2005 suggests that 310,000 Europeans die from air pollution annually. Direct causes of air pollution related deaths include aggravated asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, lung and heart diseases, and respiratory allergies. The US EPA estimates that a proposed set of changes in diesel engine technology (Tier 2) could result in 12,000 fewer premature mortalities, 15,000 fewer heart attacks, 6,000 fewer emergency room visits by children with asthma, and 8,900 fewer respiratory-related hospital admissions each year in the United States.
The worst short term civilian pollution crisis in India was the 1984Bhopal Disaster. Leaked industrial vapors from the Union Carbide factory, belonging to Union Carbide, Inc., U.S.A., killed more than 2,000 people outright and injured anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others, some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries. The United Kingdom suffered its worst air pollution event when the December 4thGreat Smog of 1952 formed over London. In six days more than 4,000 died, and 8,000 more died within the following months. An accidental leak of anthrax spores from a biological warfare laboratory in the former USSR in 1979 near Sverdlovsk is believed to have been the cause of hundreds of civilian deaths. The worst single incident of air pollution to occur in the United States of America occurred in Donora, Pennsylvania in late October, 1948, when 20 people died and over 7,000 were injured.
The health effects caused by air pollutants may range from subtle biochemical and physiological changes to difficulty in breathing, wheezing, coughing and aggravation of existing respiratory and cardiac conditions. These effects can result in increased medication use, increased doctor or emergency room visits, more hospital admissions and premature death. The human health effects of poor air quality are far reaching, but principally affect the body’s respiratory system and the cardiovascular system. Individual reactions to air pollutants depend on the type of pollutant a person is exposed to, the degree of exposure, the individual’s health status and genetics. People who exercise outdoors, for example, on hot, smoggy days increase their exposure to pollutants in the air.

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Noise pollution (or environmental noise in technical venues) is displeasing human or machine created sound that disrupts the environment. The dominant form of noise pollution is from transportation sources, principally motor vehicles. The word "noise" comes from the Latin word nausea meaning "seasickness", or from a derivative (perhaps Latin noxia) of Latin noceō = "I do harm", referring originally to nuisance noise.
Environment

Noise and other loud sounds can have a detrimental effect on animals by causing stress, increasing risk of mortality by changing the delicate balance in predator/prey detection and avoidance, and by interfering with their use of sounds in communication especially in relation to reproduction and in navigation. Very significantly, acoustic overexposure can lead to temporary or permanent loss of hearing.

WHY NOISE IS A KIND OF POLLUTION

Human health

Principal noise health effects are both health and behavioral in nature. The following discussion refers to sound levels that are present within 30 to 150 meters from a moderately busy highway. Sound is a particular auditory impression perceived by the sense of hearing. The presence of unwanted sound is called noise pollution. This unwanted sound can seriously damage and affect physiological and psychological health. For instance, noise pollution can cause annoyance and aggression, hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, and other harmful effects depending on the level of sound, or how loud it is. Furthermore, stress and hypertension are the leading causes to health problems, whereas tinnitus can lead to forgetfulness, severe depression and at times panic attacks.
Cardiovascular health

High noise levels can contribute to cardiovascular effects and exposure to moderately high levels during a single eight hour period causes a statistical rise in blood pressure of five to ten a clear and measurable increase in stress[10] and vasoconstriction leading to the increased blood pressure noted above as well as to increased incidence of coronary artery disease.

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Noise pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of pollutants (whether chemical substances, or energy such as noise, heat, or light) into the environment to such a point that its effects become harmful to human health, other living organisms, or the environment.
Noise pollution

Noise pollution (or environmental noise in technical venues) is displeasing human or machine created sound that disrupts the environment. The dominant form of noise pollution is from transportation sources, principally motor vehicles. The word "noise" comes from the Latin word nausea meaning "seasickness", or from a derivative (perhaps Latin noxia) of Latin noceō = "I do harm", referring originally to nuisance noise.
Sources of noise pollution

The overarching source of most noise worldwide is generated by transportation systems, principally motor vehicle noise, but also including aircraft noise and rail noise. Hybrid vehicles are the first innovation within the last 100 years to achieve significant widespread noise source reduction. Poor urban planning may also give rise to noise pollution, since juxtaposition of industrial to residential land uses, for example, often results in adverse consequences for the residential acoustic environment.
Besides transportation noise, other prominent sources are office equipment, factory machinery, appliances, power tools, lighting hum and audio entertainment systems. Furthermore, with the popularity of digital audio player devices, individuals in a noisy area might increase the volume in order to drown out ambient sounds. Construction equipment also produces noise pollution.
Noise from recreational vehicles has become a serious problem in rural areas. ATVs, also known as quads, have increased in popularity and are joining the traditional two wheeled dirt motorcycles for off-road riding. The noise produced by these vehicles is particularly disturbing due to the wide variations in frequency and volume.
effects
Human health

Principal noise health effects are both health and behavioral in nature. The following discussion refers to sound levels that are present within 30 to 150 meters from a moderately busy highway. Sound is a particular auditory impression perceived by the sense of hearing. The presence of unwanted sound is called noise pollution. This unwanted sound can seriously damage and affect physiological and psychological health. For instance, noise pollution can cause annoyance and aggression, hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, and other harmful effects depending on the level of sound, or how loud it is. Furthermore, stress and hypertension are the leading causes to health problems, whereas tinnitus can lead to forgetfulness, severe depression and at times panic attacks.
Hearing

The mechanism for chronic exposure to noise leading to hearing loss is well established. The elevated sound levels cause trauma to the cochlear structure in the inner ear, which gives rise to irreversible hearing loss.[4] A very loud sound in a particular frequency range can damage the cochlea’s hair cells that respond to that range thereby reducing the ear’s ability to hear those frequencies in the future. However, loud noise in any frequency range has deleterious effects across the entire range of human hearing.
The outer ear (visible portion of the human ear) combined with the middle ear amplifies sound levels by a factor of 20 when sound reaches the inner ear.
In Rosen’s seminal work on serious health effects regarding hearing loss, one of his findings derived from tracking Maabantribesmen, who were insignificantly exposed to transportation or industrial noise. This population was systematically compared by cohort group to a typical U.S. population. The findings proved that aging is an almost insignificant cause of hearing loss, which instead is associated with chronic exposure to moderately high levels of environmental noise.

Cardiovascular health

High noise levels can contribute to cardiovascular effects and exposure to moderately high levels during a single eight hour period causes a statistical rise in blood pressure of five to ten a clear and measurable increase in stress and vasoconstriction leading to the increased blood pressure noted above as well as to increased incidence of coronary artery disease.
Annoyance

Though it pales in comparison to the health effects noted above, noise pollution constitutes a significant factor of annoyance and distraction in modern artificial environments:

  1. The meaning listeners attribute to the sound influences annoyance, so that, if listeners dislike the noise *******, they are annoyed. What is music to one is noise to another.
  2. If the sound causes activity interference, noise is more likely to annoy (for example, sleep disturbance)
  3. If listeners feel they can control the noise source, the noise is less likely to be annoying.
  4. If listeners believe that the noise is subject to third-party control, including police, but control has failed, they are more annoyed.
  5. The inherent unpleasantness of the sound causes annoyance.
  6. Contextual sound. If the sound is appropriate for the activity it is in context. If one is at a race track the noise is in context and the psychological effects are absent. If one is at an outdoor picnic the race track noise will produce adverse psychological and physical effects.

A 2022 study by Spanish researchers found that in urban areas households are willing to pay approximately four Euros per decibel per year for noise reduction.
Environment

Noise and other loud sounds can have a detrimental effect on animals by causing stress, increasing risk of mortality by changing the delicate balance in predator/prey detection and avoidance, and by interfering with their use of sounds in communication especially in relation to reproduction and in navigation. Very significantly, acoustic overexposure can lead to temporary or permanent loss of hearing.
Habitat reduction

The most significant impact of noise to animal life is the systematic reduction of usable habitat, which in the case of endangered species may be an important part of the path to extinction. Perhaps the most sensational damage caused by noise pollution is the death of certain species of beached whales, brought on by the extremely loud (up to 200 decibels) sound of military sonar.
Other habit changes

Ships may be mistaken by creatures for their predator and of course, either protect themselves, attack, or run away. If they attack, humans might have financial loss, but running away will have an even more deadly result. After they run away several times, it will become part of its habit and start ignoring it. When their natural predators come, they will stay and think that it’s the boat.
Zebra finches become less faithful to their partners when exposed to traffic noise. This could alter a population’s evolutionary trajectory by selecting "***y" traits, sapping resources normally devoted to other activities and thus lead to profound genetic and evolutionary consequences.
Mitigation and control of noise

There is also technology that has been applied with the aim of mitigating or containing noise as much as possible, provided that it has a sufficiently localized source.

  • Roadway noise is the most widespread environmental component of noise pollution worldwide. There are a variety of effective strategies for mitigating adverse sound levels including: use of noise barriers, limitation of vehicle speeds, alteration of roadway surface texture, limitation of heavy duty vehicles, use of traffic controls that smooth vehicle flow to reduce braking and acceleration, innovative tire design and other methods. Thousands of case studies in the U.S. alone have been documented starting in 1970, indicating substantial improvement in roadway planning and design. The most important factor in applying these strategies is a computer model for roadway noise, that is capable of addressing local topography, meteorology, traffic operations and hypothetical mitigation. Costs of building in mitigation is often quite modest, provided these solutions are sought in the planning stage of a roadway project.
  • Aircraft noise can be reduced to some extent by design of quieter jet engines, which was pursued vigorously in the 1970s and 1980s. This strategy has brought limited but noticeable reduction of urban sound levels. Reconsideration of operations, such as altering flight paths and time of day runway use, have demonstrated significant benefits for residential populations near airports. FAA sponsored residential retrofit (insulation) programs initiated in the 1970s has also enjoyed widespread success in reducing interior residential noise in thousands of affected residences across the United States.
  • Exposure of Industrial noise on workers has the longest history of scientific study, having been addressed since the 1930s. This scientific studies have emphasized redesign of industrial equipment, shock mounting assemblies and physical barriers in the workplace. Innovations have had considerable success; however, the costs of retrofitting existing systems is often rather high.

Legal status

Governments up until the 1970s viewed noise as a "nuisance" rather than an environmental problem. In the United States there are federal standards for highway and aircraft noise; states and local governments typically have very specific statutes on building codes, urban planning and roadway development. In Canada and the EU there are few national, provincial, or state laws that protect against noise.
Noise laws and ordinances vary widely among municipalities and indeed do not even exist in some cities. An ordinance may contain a general prohibition against making noise that is a nuisance, or it may set out specific guidelines for the level of noise allowable at certain times of the day and for certain activities.
Most city ordinances prohibit sound above a threshold intensity from trespassing over property line at night, typically between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and during the day restricts it to a higher decibel level; however, enforcement is uneven. Many municipalities do not follow up on complaints. Even where a municipality has an enforcement office, it may only be willing to issue warnings, since taking offenders to court is expensive.
Many conflicts over noise pollution are handled by negotiation between the emitter and the receiver. Escalation procedures vary by country, and may include action in conjunction with local authorities, in particular the police. Noise pollution often persists because only five to ten percent of people affected by noise will lodge a formal complaint. Many people are not aware of their legal right to quiet and do not know how to register a complaint.