Emerging Concerns

in Environmental UNIT 7 OIL POLLUTION AND ITS

Pollution
IMPACT

Structure
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Objectives
7.3 Oil Pollution: Sources and Effects
7.4 Control and Management
7.5 Case Studies
7.6 Let Us Sum UP
7.7 Keywords
7.8 Answers to Check Your Progress

7.1 INTRODUCTION
Oil pollution is addition of oil into ecosystems due to anthropogenic causes
leading to contamination, and negative impacts on flora, fauna, and natural
cycles. Oil pollution is one of the most dangerous forms of threat to the
marine environment. Oil enters into the sea in various forms as crude oil and
in separate fractions. Contamination of water due to an oil pour caused by
accident or human error is termed as oil spill. Oil is toxic in nature. After
causing hazardous effect on aquatic life, are carried to the different stages of
food chain. This unit deals with the concept, sources, impacts, fate of oil
spillage, protective measures and case studies of oil pollution reported from
different parts of the world.

7.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
• Understand oil pollution and oil spill
• Describe sources of oil spillage and effects
• Discuss control and management of spills
• Discuss case studies on oil pollution

7.3 OIL POLLUTION: SOURCES AND EFFECTS

Oil Pollution is the resultant contamination of environment due to the
dispersion of oil in excessive quantity. It is most common in large water
bodies like seas and oceans and causes worse effect in the oceans than on
land. Contamination of sea water due to an oil pour caused by accident or
human error is termed as oil spill. Oil spills are known to constitute about
12% of the oil that enters the ocean. The rest come from ships, drains as well
as dumplings. As oil does not get dissolved, it forms a thick sludge in the
water surface. This causes suffocation in fish and other aquatic organisms,
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destroy flying ability of marine birds and disturbs the process of Radioactive
Pollution and Its
photosynthesis by blocking passage of light. The effects of oil pollution Impact
might be dramatic in short term, but in long term it results in decreased liver
function, slow reproductive and growth rates in fishes and other forms of
aquatic life.
Source
The main sources of oil pollution are as follows:
• Carelessness or Human error: Majority of the oil spill cases are the
result of human error, carelessness and mistakes made during checkup
and maintenance of petroleum refineries, barrages, tankers, storage
facilities and pipelines.
• Accidental breakdown or failure of equipments: Many a times, in
petroleum industry, accidental failure or sudden breakdown of any
equipments like drilling rig, mechanical breakdown or malfunction of
pipe lines or machineries , leads to oil spills resulting in to oil pollution.
• Natural disasters: Natural disasters like heavy storms, hurricanes, earth
quakes etc. contribute to oil tanker, ship accident or breakage/leakage of
underground pipelines thereby causing colossal oil spills.
• Deliberate acts: Sometimes marine habitats as well as inland water
systems are attacked and polluted by oil spills especially by acts of
vandalism, sabotage or terror activities to harm the perceived enemy’s
economic status.
• Illegal dumping: Some industries do not to follow right channels for
dumping of oil based waste and they simply dump or discharge the waste
directly into water bodies causing oil pollution.
• Transportation of oil through tankers constitute around ninety percentage
of all oil movements around the globe. During this movement the
accidents such as collisions of tankers and resulting oil spillage is an
issue of great concern. The recent collision of Iranian Sanchi tanker with
a tanker of Hongkong in 2018 near Yangtze River Estuary spilled over
one lakh tonnes of fuel oil and condensate together. As per one study, six
major accidents between 1960 and 2010 caused an oil spillage of around
11 lakh tonnes across the globe. The spill amounts to around Sixty lakh
tonnes up to 2015, if all major and minor spills are included. Tankers
cause around ten percent of oil pollution into oceans, although there has
been a decreasing trend in spills over last five decades. For example,
number of accidents (for above 7 tonnes per spill) in European seas have
decreased from around 18 per years to around 4, from 1990 to 2005. The
exact causes of spillage vary in different situation which may range from
collision between tankers due to faulty ship maneuvering, faulty engine,
collision of tankers with reef, wreckage due to turbulent winds and
waves, cracks in ship due to earthquakes, and sabotage.
Oil pollution effects:
Oil is made up of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, and heavy
metals. A large part of oil which is mixed in ocean water gets evaporated
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Emerging Concerns while some are dissolved. Some part of oil gets emulsified in the water
in Environmental
Pollution leading to formation of ‘mousse’, where water drops enter into oil, which
pose difficulty in recovering. Oil also spread like a thin film known as slick
which undergoes weathering (e.g. photooxidation) due to different reasons.
Photooxidation produces toxic compounds too. Dispersion with mixed
consequences may help in both reducing the negative impacts of oil on water
surface and increase in toxins under water. Biodegradation, particularly with
the help of bacteria leads to natural cleaning of oil from water.
The physical characteristics (such as consistency) and chemical
characteristics (toxicity) of oil effects differentially such as suffocation and
accumulation in the body. Oil may affect insulation of bird’s body through
feathers, or make them sticky affecting flying and swimming, or may be
consumed by birds which may damage internal body parts. Oil may affect the
reproduction of birds by hampering egg shell. Oil slick prevents sun light to
enter ocean which may affect photosynthesis and overall food chain which
depends on this photosynthesis. Gills of fishes get blocked due to oil in
water, and oil toxicity may affect their rates of respiration, size of livers, fin
sizes, and behavior. Biomagnification of oil toxicant is also observed through
fish and other species in the food chain. Prey-predator relationship is affected
as fishes and other prey accumulates oil and toxicants which affects their
utility as food for predators.
Oil pollution adversely affects industries such as fisheries and tourism. The
impact may vary depending upon exact location and extent, exact constituent
type of pollutant, associated winds and waves, season and or timing,
proximity to and vulnerability of receiving environment.
Impact of oil pollution on biota is tremendous, for e.g., deviation of historical
reproduction patterns. In a recent Sanchi oil tanker accident in 2018 over 32
people died in east China sea.
Environmental effects:
• Oil pollution mostly effects aquatic life residing in marine ecosystems.
Oil spill makes its way through the fur of ocean mammals, which affects
the way they block out the cold. They find it harder to float in the water
or regulate their body temperatures and finally die.
• Birds dive into the oceans in search of food and in this process sticky oil
spread over the water surface covers their feathers and impairs their
ability to fly. In struggle to clean themselves, they ingest toxic oil on
their bodies leading to death.
• Loads of new born animals and birds die out of starvation as their
parents fail to detect their body scent. In struggle to get rid of oil, many
birds swallow the oil accidentally and die out of its toxicity. Due to
regular exposure to oil, large no. of animals like dolphins, otters, marine
birds etc. lose their eye sight.
• Introduction of gases by oil spills in ocean water changes its chemical
composition, which in turn makes water more acidic and leads to the
degradation of fragile ocean habitats like the coral reefs.
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• Mangroves being highly sensitive to oil pollution are known to take up to Radioactive
Pollution and Its
50 years to recover from oil pollution. Impact
• In order to clean up oil pollution, sometimes it is considered preferable
to burn it and this imparts high intensity damage on the habitat of that
localized area.
• Exposed rocky and sandy shores are the relatively less sensitive to oil
pollution as oil deposited is cleared swiftly by wave action however over
long period of time, oil spills can change composition of biological
communities.
• For sandy beaches the impact of oil pollution depends primarily on the
structure of beach.
• Coral reefs, sections of coastline with soft substrates, sandbanks and
mangroves are highly sensitive to oil pollution.
Effect on Economy
As a result of oil spills , oil prices have already gone up and they are likely to
stay high as demand continues to increase where as supplies grow less
quickly. With the incidents of oil spill disaster, the danger of offshore drilling
has become more apparent, approval of new projects have become more
difficult, leading to slow economic growth , unemployment , poverty and
many such issues.
Effect on Tourism
Oil pollution imparts huge setbacks on tourism industry as tourists stay away
from such places where dead bodies, sticky oil and huge tar balls are
common sight. Due to floating dead bodies of animals and birds, sticky oils
etc. activities like swimming, rafting, fishing, parachute gliding are generally
stopped until the spots are cleaned up.
Check Your Progress Exercise 1
Note: a) Write your answer in about 50 words
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the
unit.
1) Discuss oil pollution due to marine tankers.
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7.4 CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT

Appropriate system for navigational safety plays an important role in
preventing oil spills on busy routes. This may incorporate regular
maintenance, setting up of navigation facilities, regulating speeds during bad
weather, improving safety protocols in oil tankers, and appropriate 135
Emerging Concerns supervision by experts, to reduce human errors. The Maritime and port
in Environmental
Pollution authority of Singapore for example, has implemented traffic separation
system in Singapore strait. Legislations leading to penalties and fines against
discharging pollutant also act as a deterrent, such as Merchant shipping (oil
pollution) act in Singapore. Regional cooperation such of Singapore with
Malaysia and Indonesia can prevent any untoward incidences and provision
for adequate fund can help in mitigating adverse situations.
Several mechanisms are suggested by experts such as risk analysis of
maritime transport systems, oil spills risk models and ship and oil platform
detection using remote sensing and GIS, application of bioindicators such
corals, and mussels, and their mortality, for simulation of oil spills and
ecological risks. In a study it was found that some gastropod mollusk such as
Turbo cornutus can be used as bioindicator of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbon (PAH) during oil pollution as they can accumulate it in their
body and excrete it when removed from the polluted water. Some other
measures are spatial risk assessment of spill, and collision probability
measures of tankers. In a study of risk prediction model in Luoyuan Bay (off
the coast of Fujian province in China) it was observed that oil spill may occur
in every ten years, and management plan for prevention of oil spill
beforehand may be of great help.
At international levels there are conventions, rules, and regulations such as
United Nations convention on the laws of the sea (UNCLOS) which
proposed exclusive economic zoning, International convention for the
prevention of pollution from ships (also known as MARPOL) and Oil
pollution act (OPA) 1990 of US, which prevents use of single hull oil tankers
(hull is the protective cover or skin of ships).
Primary processes effecting fate of spilled oil are spreading, evaporation,
dispersion, dissolution, and emulsification. These weathering process,
dominate during first few days to weeks of a spill where as oxidation,
sedimentation and biodegradation are the long term processes that determine
the ultimate fate of the oil spilled. Some oils weather rapidly with extensive
changes in characters where as some others, take longer period of time. Rapid
weathering is mainly caused by hydrocarbons with lower molecular weights
where as degradation of the higher weight fraction is slower and occurs
through hydrocarbons with lower molecular weights. The fate of spilled oil
depends upon the oil properties as well as environmental conditions.
Spreading reduces the bulk quantity of oil present in the vicinity of the spill
but increases the spatial area. Thus oil in flowing systems becomes less
concentrated but cause impacts, though reduced in intensity, but over a larger
area. Evaporation is the primary mechanism for loss of low molecular weight
constituents. As lighter components evaporate, the remaining petroleum
product becomes denser and more viscous leading to low toxicity but
enhanced persistence. Dispersion of oil increases with increasing surface
turbulence which leads to increase the surface area of oil susceptible to
dissolution and degradation processes and thereby limiting the potential for
physical impacts. Dissolution is one of the primary processes affecting the
toxic effects of a spill, especially in confined water bodies. Dissolution
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increases with decrease in molecular weight, increase in temperature, Radioactive
Pollution and Its
decrease in salinity, and increase in concentration of dissolved organic Impact
matter. Emulsification is the process of incorporation of water into oil
.External energy from wave action is required for emulsification of oil i.e.,
heavier oils emulsify more rapidly than lighter oils.
Oxidation is the process in which oils reacts chemically with oxygen, either
breaking down into soluble products or forming persistent compounds. These
persistent compounds are known as Tar. Tar forms an outer protective
coating of heavy compounds, that makes oil more persistent in nature oil.
When floating oil gets close to the shore, sedimentation occur. After
evaporation of all lighter compounds are over and weathering of slick into the
sea, some oils still remain close to the density of seawater. When floating,
semi submerged or dispersed oil comes into contact with suspended
sediment, the sediment gets bound to it. If the contamination is heavy, then
dense ‘tar-mats’ can form on the seabed near shore.
Sea water contains different types of micro-organisms that use hydrocarbons
as a source of energy and can partially or completely degrade oil to water
soluble compounds and finally to carbon dioxide and water. Photo
degradation of oil increases with greater solar intensity. Photo degraded
petroleum constituents are more soluble and more toxic than original
compounds. Microbial populations must become established before
biodegradation can proceed at any appreciable rate.
The fate of released oil is mainly controlled by different environmental
factors and their persistence is impossible to predict with accuracy. Some of
these factors are as follows:
• Type of product
• Spill volume
• Spill rate
• Temperature of the oil
• Terrain
• Receiving environment
• Time of year and weather

7.5 CASE STUDIES

Some case studies on oil pollution are as follows:
Case study 1: Macondo blowout
This is an example of oil spillage due to failure of blowout protector (an
emergency cap) of oil drilling in ocean, where, in April 2010 after a blast in
Deepwater Horizon oil rig, around 80 crore liters of oil got spilled in the
ocean in next around 3 months after the blast. The spillage covered around
13000 square kilometers in the ocean. This is considered to be the biggest oil
spillage accident in the history of USA which resulted into death of around
eleven workers. Oil spilled into marsh areas along the coast which compelled 137
Emerging Concerns authorities to remove marsh grass to clean it up. This had disastrous impact
in Environmental
Pollution on the ecosystem as these marshes were breeding and nursing grounds for
many marine animals. The operator of the well, British Petroleum
Exploration and Production company, had to settle with US a penalty amount
of 5.5 and 8.8 US billion dollars respectively under Clean water Act and
natural resource damages.
Case study 2: Gulf war of 1991
This is not an example of accident but a deliberate attempt of sabotage by a
country due to political reasons, where around 200 crore liters of oil is spilled
into the ocean. This is the example of worlds largest oil spill into the ocean
where Iraq released oil and ignited hundreds of wells in Kuwait’s seas due to
war situations.
Case study 3: Mikuni oil spill
A Russian oil tanker accident caused oil spill of around 2 crore liters on sea,
hitting Honshu coast near Mikuni village and adjacent areas in January 1997.
The spill destroyed the marine ecosystem with flora and fauna such as
seaweed, fishes, and shellfishes. Socio economic impact increased manifold
because of being harvest season. The oil killed sea urchin which was part of
harvest by villagers during usual times. It also threatened the nuclear reactors
situated along the coast. 5 volunteers who were helping in cleaning the
sludge died during cleaning due to fatigue.
Case study 3: UAE, oil pollution, and water scarcity
In UAE, oil pollution concerns water availability, as around sixty percent of
water comes from desalination plants using sea water. An oil spill of around
4000 tonnes led to closure of 2 desalination plant in 1998. The spill also
impacted the spawning areas for shrimps. The spill extended up to eighty
kilometers of coastline including one resting area for migratory birds.
Case study 4: Lakeview gusher, California
This was an accident on land in California which cased oil spillage of over
100 crore liters during eighteen months of years 1910 and 1911. A lake of
crude oil was formed surrounding the drilling area. A large part of the oil
seeped into the ground, while some other part is contained using a pipeline
into a storage tank.
Case study 5: Oil spills in Singapore Strait
The strait of Singapore is one of the busiest routes for movement of oil in the
world and hence has also witnessed number of oil spills in last couple of
decades. The strait is also dubbed as “World’s hot spot of oil spills”. In last
over five decades, the region has witnessed around forty oil spills. In year
2014, at least three collisions happened between oil transporting ships
leading to a spill of around 800 tonnes. In the year 2000, seven thousand
tonnes of crude oil was spilled on the beaches of Sentosa. In 1972, around
1000 tonnes of oil was leaked in Pulau Bukom region.
Case study 6: Mumbai tankers collision
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In 2010 an oil spill occurred in Arabian sea along coast of Maharashtra state Radioactive
Pollution and Its
of India due to a collision between two containers. The accident created a Impact
hazard of contaminating through pesticide and lubricant oil which it was
carrying. The oil slick also threatened Bhabha atomic research centre
(BARC), and heritage sites such as Elephanta caves, along with other
important ecosystems such as mangroves.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2
Note: a) Write your answer in about 50 words
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the
unit.
2) Discuss about international institutions and convention in prevention of
oil spill.
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3) Discuss briefly the oil spill incident of Singapore Strait.
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7.6 LET US SUM UP

Oil is toxic in nature. After causing hazardous effect on aquatic life, often
they are carried to the different stages of food chain. Oil pollution is one of
the most dangerous form of threat to the marine environment. It is the
resultant contamination of environment due to the dispersion of oil in
excessive quantity .It is most common in large water bodies like seas and
oceans and causes worse effect in the oceans than on land. Contamination of
sea water due to an oil pour caused by accident or human error is termed as
oil spill. Oil spills are known to constitute about 12% of the oil that enters the
ocean. The rest come from ships, drains as well as dumplings. Carelessness
or Human error, accidental breakdown or failure of equipments, Natural
disasters, Deliberate acts, Illegal dumplings are some of the causes of oil
pollution. Oil pollution mostly effects aquatic life residing in marine
139
Emerging Concerns ecosystems. Oil spill makes its way through the fur of ocean mammals,
in Environmental
Pollution which affects the way they block out the cold. They find it harder to float in
the water or regulate their body temperatures and finally die. Birds dive into
the oceans in search of food and in this process; sticky oil spread over the
water surface covers their feathers and impairs their ability to fly.
Introduction of gases by oil spills in ocean water changes its chemical
composition, which turn makes water more acidic and leads to the
degradation of fragile ocean habitats like the coral reefs. As a result of oil
spills , oil prices have already gone up and they are likely to stay high as
demand continues to increase where as supplies grow less quickly. With the
incidents of oil spill disaster, the danger of offshore drilling has become more
apparent, approval of new projects have become more difficult, leading to
slow economic growth , unemployment , poverty and many such issues. Oil
pollution imparts huge setbacks on tourism industry as tourists stay away
from such places where dead bodies, sticky oil and huge tar balls are
common sight. Primary processes effecting fate of spilled oil are spreading,
evaporation, dispersion, dissolution, and emulsification. These weathering
process, dominate during first few days to weeks of a spill where as
oxidation, sedimentation and biodegradation are the long term processes that
determine the ultimate fate of the oil spilled. The fate of released oil is
mainly controlled by different factors such as type of product, spill volume,
spill rate, temperature of the oil, terrain, receiving environment, time of year
and weather. Gulf of Mexico oil spill dated 20th April ,2010 is the largest
marine oil spill in history. The oil well leaked about 4.9 million barrels of oil
before it was controlled nearly 3 months later on July 15, 2010. Marshes and
estuaries were the worst places where oil could end up. It was impossible to
clean without killing the marsh grasses that serve as nurseries for newborn
marine animals. In heavily oiled areas of marsh, erosion rates doubled in the
years after the incident. In India, On 7th August, 2010 two cargo ships MSC
Chitra and MV Khalijia collided off the Mumbai coast resulting in an oil
spill, quickly spreading through Maharastra’s coast line. The vessel was
containing about 1,200 tons of fuel oil in its tanks of which 800 tones spilled
into the Arabian Sea. Though it was much lesser than the one in the Gulf of
Mexico in April but it was major threat to the marine ecology of the area and
the coast.

7.7 KEY WORDS

Spillage : Loss of output (esp. oil) due to any accident
Photoxideation : Oxidation occuring because of the action of light.

7.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check Your Progress 1
1) Transportation of oil through tankers constitute around ninety percentage
of all oil movements around the globe. During this movement the
accidents such as collisions of tankers and resulting oil spillage is an
issue of great concern. The recent collision of Iranian Sanchi tanker with
140
 a tanker of Hongkong in 2018 near Yangtze River Estuary spilled over Radioactive
Pollution and Its
one lakh tonnes of fuel oil and condensate together. As per one study, six Impact
major accidents between 1960 and 2010 caused an oil spillage of around
11 lakh tonnes across the globe. The spill amounts to around Sixty lakh
tonnes up to 2015, if all major and minor spills are included. Tankers
cause around ten percent of oil pollution into oceans, although there has
been a decreasing trend in spills over last five decades.
2) At international levels there are conventions, rules, and regulations such
as United Nations convention on the laws of the sea (UNCLOS) which
proposed exclusive economic zoning, International convention for the
prevention of pollution from ships (also known as MARPOL) and Oil
pollution act (OPA) 1990 of US, which prevents use of single hull oil
tankers (hull is the protective cover or skin of ships).
3) The strait of Singapore is one of the busiest routes for movement of oil in
the world and hence has also witnessed number of oil spills in last couple
of decades. The strait is also dubbed as “World’s hot spot of oil spills”.
In last over five decades, the region has witnessed around forty oil spills.
In year 2014, at least three collisions happened between oil transporting
ships leading to a spill of around 800 tonnes. In the year 2000, seven
thousand tonnes of crude oil was spilled on the beaches of Sentosa. In
1972, around 1000 tonnes of oil was leaked in Pulau Bukom region.

7.9 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

• Loya, Y., &Rinkevich, B. (1980).Effects of oil pollution on coral reef
communities. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser, 3(16), 180.
• Zhang, B., Matchinski, E. J., Chen, B., Ye, X., Jing, L., & Lee, K.
(2019). Marine oil spills—oil pollution, sources and effects. In World
seas: an environmental evaluation (pp. 391-406). Academic Press.

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