Oil spill incidents are always the biggest concern for the environment because of its harms to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. These are some effects of oil spills on the environment.

Impact of oil spill on marine environment

Vietnam has an open sea which connecting the Pacific and Indian oceans, this is one of the maritime axes with a huge traffic volume, of which 70% are oil tankers.

However, from 1989 until now, Vietnam's sea have had about 200 oil spills due to ship accidents, all of which poured into the sea from several tens to hundreds of tons of oil.

On January 26, the Hoang Gia Railway 46 belonging to the Hoang Gia Shipping Company Limited (Hai Phong) with a total of 11 crew members, carrying more than 2,700 tons of rice, departed from My Thoi port (An Giang) to Hai Phong. When arriving in the sea area of Quang Ngai province, the cargo ship crashed into the reef, leading to a hole in the bottom, the water overflowed into the ship and the ship drifted into Sa Huynh sea, about  150 m from the mainland of Pho Thanh Ward (Duc Pho Town).

The functional units were present and brought vehicles from Quang Nam to suck oil, but because the waves were still too big, the vehicles still could not approach the Hoang Gia 46 ship to suck 8,000 liters of oil ashore.

Through many studies and statistics, oil spills pollute the marine environment and seriously affecting ecosystems. Especially the ecosystems of mangroves, seagrasses, tidal flats, lagoons and coral reefs. Oil pollution reduces the flexibility and resilience of ecosystems. The oil content in the water increases, the oil films prevent the exchange of oxygen between the air and the water, upset the balance of oxygen regulation in the ecosystem.

It is alarming that the oil spread on the sea and washed ashore for a long time without being collected will reduce the number of organisms, causing damage to the fishing and aquaculture industry. Oil pollutes the water environment causing mass fish deaths due to lack of dissolved oxygen. Oil clings to the soil, rock embankments, and island banks, causing loss of beauty and unpleasant odors, leading to heavy losses in the revenue of the tourism industry. Oil spills also affect the operation of fishing ports, shipbuilding and repair facilities. Due to floating oil damage machinery and equipment for resource extraction and water transportation.

Impact of oil spill on soil environment

Besides affecting the water environment, oil spills also pose a risk of heavy soil pollution. Just a layer of oil spilled on the ground, even though it is very thin, will also cause the ground to "suffocate" because of the lack of air, the gas exchange process is interrupted.

Living in a lack of oxygen, whether people or animals, microorganisms lead to death. This oil spill, too, will prevent the exchange of solar energy to the soil environment.

Oil is also insoluble in water, so when spilled on the soil, oil also pushes water out, causing the soil environment to lose water and occupy all the air spaces in the soil, making the soil reduce oxygen and water. This causes serious damage to the ecosystem. The texture and physico-chemical properties of the soil are changed, causing the colloidal particles to become inert and lose their ability to absorb and exchange.

It can be seen that oil spills not only cause socio-economic losses, but also pollute the environment, seriously affecting terrestrial and marine ecosystems. To contribute to effective prevention, response and containment of incidents, we need to capture and organize regular oil spill response drills in localities.

Stop oil and chemical spills while they are small before they turn into major disasters.

Bignanotech always accompanies customers in providing products to respond to oil and chemical spills. We always bring you the best products with the best quality