The Impacts Of Oil Pollution
When an oil rigs machinery malfunctions it can often result in thousands of tons of oil being spilled into the environment. Oil spills effects on our planet can be catastrophic killing plants and animals, disturbing pH levels, polluting air/water and more.
Oils impact on bodies of water is damaging in a variety of ways. When oil spills in the ocean or freshwater, it does not blend with the water instead the oil floats on the surface of salt and freshwater. This can block sunlight from reaching oceanic environments, which impacts producers and, thus, the entire food chain of an ecosystem.
The most visual part of the damage caused by oil spills might be the images of birds and wildlife you see online but oil covers everything even the smallest grain of sand. Every rock, piece of driftwood, grass, sand, soil and microscopic habitat is affected or worse due to the thick oil that washes ashore after a spill.
In the event of an oil spill getting to the shore, it will stay on shore until weather and time break the oil down. This process is extremely slow.
Since 2014 a company reportedly had 820 spills in the Niger Delta, with 26,286 barrels or 4.1 million litres lost. Since 2011, another company reported 1,010 spills, with 110,535 barrels or 17.5 million litres lost all in the same area.