How does pollution in our cities affect us?

Air pollution

Pollution can be caused by natural events, such as ash from a volcano, but more often than not, our pollution is caused by human impact on the world, such as transport emissions, chemical waste or plastic pollution. Of all the different types of pollution, air pollution poses the greatest environmental threat to our health.

While it is sometimes possible to see pollution in the air, such as smoke from factory chimneys or exhaust fumes from petrol or diesel vehicles, it is often invisible. But this doesn’t mean its effects are any less damaging. Air pollution can cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, lung cancer, aggravate existing respiratory illnesses such as asthma and reduce life expectancy.

Between 5-9th December 1952, 4,000 people were reported to have died during the “Great Smog of London”, although experts now believe the final total was nearer 12,000. This tragic event led to the Clean Air Act of 1956, which introduced “smokeless zones” and greater controls over domestic and industrial emissions.

While the Clean Air Act of 1956 and subsequent amendments no doubt improved the air quality in our towns and cities, between 28,000 and 36,000 people in the UK still die every year due to air pollution-related illnesses. This sadly includes around 300 people a year in Bristol alone.

In 2019, the government launched its Clean Air Strategy to improve air quality in the UK and one of the ways in which this is being implemented at a local level is through the introduction of Clean Air Zones, such as the one that’s coming to Bristol in 2022. Read our guide on the Clean Air Zone to find out more.

Water pollution

Pollution from our cities eventually makes its way into our water supply, which not only affects the water we drink, but also the food we eat.

How does pollution end up in our water supply? Sources include sewage pollution, which despite strict regulations still accounts for almost a quarter of the serious water incidents in the UK. This is often due to sub-standard infrastructure, adverse weather and illegal waste disposal.

Oil and fuel spillages can easily contaminate our water supply, too - every year there are about 3,000 oil and fuel spills in England and Wales. Oil not only makes water unsafe to drink, it can also destroy wildlife and their habitats. The main causes are from storage facilities, spills during delivery and deliberate disposal of waste oil into our drains. 

In more rural areas, farming has an impact; processes like spreading slurries and manure, disposal of sheep dip, tillage, ploughing, dairy spills, pesticides and fertilisers cause water pollution. 

Radioactive substances used in nuclear power plants, industrial, medical and other scientific processes are incredibly hazardous when disposed of incorrectly. They can be found in things like watches, luminous clocks, TVs and x-ray machinery.

Sadly, lots of people dump trollies, bikes, garden cuttings, electricals and general rubbish into our rivers. River dumping not only causes water pollution, it also harms wildlife and increases the risk of flooding. Fly-tipping (including river dumping) is illegal, and can carry fines of up to £50,000 or a 5 year jail term. 

Pollution in our water cycle is now reaching fish. Mercury levels in fish have risen by a shocking 30% in the last 20 years - this is primarily due to mercury emitted into the air from coal-fired power plants, which enters the water cycle through rain, taking extremely high levels of mercury into our lakes, rivers and oceans. Harmful mercury then builds up in the fish that other wildlife, and many of us, eat.

Other sources of waste in our waterways include plastics and other materials blown or washed from land.