Soil Pollution Polltuion of the soil arises from mining, the use of agricultural chemicals such as herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, the excessive use of fertilisers, the burial of industrial waste and the settling of dusts. Cotaminated water can also play its part. Frequently problems do not occur directly in the soil, but in waterways when pollutants are leached out of the soil. Polluted soil may contaminate plants, which take the pollutants up through their roots. Animals, including humans may then eat the plants and ingest toxic chemical pollutants. If the plants die and decay, trace elements taken into the plants are redistributed so the top layer soil is re-enriched with the pollutants.