Pollution
The introduction of harmful contaminates into the natural environment that can cause adverse changes.
As citizens burn fuel to cook or generate power, smelt metals, process sewage, and engage in countless other necessary industrial activities, a common byproduct is pollution. Pollution is any substance that can act as a contaminant or poison when introduced back into the environment. In Eco there are many sources and several varieties of pollution, some of which are more potent than others. Heavy metals can contaminate soil, affecting available nutrients and the health of plants and animals living on and in it. Water can spread contaminants rapidly and increase the size of their impact. Air pollution can pour invisibly or visibly from a stove or a power plant, adding to greenhouse gasses and impacting the air quality, as well as fall back down into the ground as acid rain.
To ensure the survival of ecosystems and preserve resources like soil and water, players will have to manage and contain the sources of pollution their civilization creates. In some cases, spills or deadly concentrations will be inevitable, and then remediation and storage may be the only option to return the land to an unharmed state.
Ground Pollution
Once released into the soils and water table, ground pollutants are not easy to stop or remove. Various materials in Eco are sources of ground pollution, most notably tailings from mining and garbage from crafting and other player activities. Pollution spreads as a gradient that increases in concentration with time if the source of pollutants remains or increases. When the source of pollutants is removed from contact with the ground, ground pollution spreads and dissipates with time.
Air Pollution
Many player activities can create harmful emissions which if released into the atmosphere act as air pollution. Crafting at objects with CO2 outputs or running generators with them contributes to local and global pollution levels. Over long periods of time, global CO2 levels contributes to a global warming effect which affects sea level in turn. There are natural sinks and intakes for some pollutants like CO2 such as forests.
Concentrations of air pollution will fall back to the ground as acid rain, which we simulate using the air pollution and local rainfall quantities.
Water Pollution
Water is a medium through which pollution spreads more quickly and further, rushing downstream and blossoming out in lakes or oceans. Pollution in the water generally comes from nearby ground pollution sources, but also may be entering the water via the acid rain mechanic in areas with lots of air pollution.
Removal of the source is the only way to currently stop water pollution, but clean-up and remediation strategies are features we are considering for the future.
Containment
In many cases, there is no perfect solution to deal with polluting materials. Space must be made to store various pollutants, and pollutants must be stored in a way that prevents them from re-entering the surrounding environment. This is a challenge that should be key to environmental management of industry in Eco. Currently tailings mechanics require deep underground storage; this will be improved with further development.
Containment mechanics are the forefront of features we want to improve related to the Pollution group of features in Eco. Players should be using containment to deal with the vast quantities of tailings and garbage that their societies produce.