Substance and pollutant

Discharge of effluents or pollutants into the sea.

Discharge of effluents or pollutants into watercourses.

Amount of money paid by fishermen at the issuing of the fishing license. It is levied by the departmental or interdepartmental federations of approved associations for fishing and the protection of aquatic environments, from approved associations of amateur fishermen with gear and nets and from approved associations of professional fishing in freshwater.

Amount of money paid by producers of plant protection products. This fee takes into account the level of toxicity and dangerousness of substances used in agricultural and gardening activities. It encourages users to choose less polluting products.

Amount of money paid by the industrialists according to the volume of the discharged pollution. This fee aims to encourage companies and manufacturers to reduce their discharges. The charge rates are set according to the pollutant elements and can be modulated by zone, to take into account the status of the natural environment.

Risk of infiltration of pollutants from the surface, through the soil and unsaturated zone. The vulnerability of aquifers is intrinsic: it depends on the topographic (ground slope), pedological (permeability), geological context (permeability, thickness). A confined aquifer, covered by a low permeability formation (often clays) is not very vulnerable as compared to an unconfined aquifer.

Migration of a polluting substance within an environment or between different environments. Pollutant transfer is influenced by many factors, such as the intrinsic chemical properties of pollutants and the nature of the environment in which they are.

Pollution occurring seasonally, mainly as a result of specific human activities (road salting in winter, soil improvement, tourism...).

Pollution of rainwater. If rainwater is naturally polluted (drops of water can only reach a sufficient size to fall to the ground when there are solid particles in the atmosphere to initiate the nucleation process, part of the urban air pollutants is therefore driven to the ground during rainy periods), the pollutant concentrations are however extremely low, and in most situations, rainwater is of drinking water quality when it reaches the ground. The most common limiting factor is pH (acid rain), but this acidity is very quickly buffered by the materials on which water flows or passes through.

Environmental contamination caused by the excessive amount of various metals, such as aluminium, arsenic, chromium, cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, zinc, etc., or even of heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury or lead, that are more toxic than the previous ones.