Impact and Prevention of Oil Spills



From the use of fungus to decompose the contaminants from hydrocarbons to machines to process hydrocarbons, scientific advances aim to find better methods to collect oil spilled.
Unfortunately, in multiple occasions, oil spills happen due to accidents or inadequate practices; extremely dangerous when it happens in the sea, giving origin to the term ‘black tide’. The damage to the marine and land ecosystem once the oil reaches the shores deeply affects marine fauna and fishing. And its damaging effects can last over time.

 
The black tide affects land and marine ecosystem

When the oil penetrates the marine environment in small doses, nature can handle it wisely by itself; however, big scale oil spills remain on the surface of the water giving it a pasty consistency that can easily spread due to sea currents and wind. Birds and sea creatures are attracted to the black tide by the similarity with what they eat; this can damage their skin or feathers. It can cause hypothermia, asphyxia, and even deter their movement. It can also contaminate sea weed and various species’ food source.

The impact of oil spills includes human beings because they can be in contact or consume toxic substance, just like the animals. It impacts as well the derive costs of the decrease of fishing, tourism, and the costs of collecting the oil spilled; rightfully named ‘natural disaster.’
Before the catastrophic event that is an oil spill, prevention is a factor that gains importance in all stages of hydrocarbon production with each passing day. In first place, early detection mechanisms allow automatic diagnosis and immediate actions, like the Heads system (hydrocarbon early automatic detection system) developed by Repsol and Indra; it is capable of giving an answer in less than two minutes.

Preventing is the best way to avoid damages by oil spills
Moreover, other actions that can be taken are: swiftly managing spills means fewer consequences from this natural disaster. And using effective techniques to collect wastes before they settle on the sea bed or they expand the black tide.
Like with any other aspect of human activity, prevention is the best way to tackle oil spills by insisting in strict maintenance of the systems, and the development of technologies that allow securing the processes involved in the oil industry.

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