(bShab 14b) Toxic pollution may be regulated, controlled and/or prevented in disparate and inconsistent ways depending on the environmental medium involved, e.g. air, water and solid wastes.
Environmental media were also factored into rabbinic regulations of so-called ritual pollution (taharah vs. tumah). Notably, the 18 Enactments that the Shammai sect achieved were preoccupied with fluids. Drinking, bathing, showering, rinsing hands, the juices flowing from grapes, etc. In general, I gather that liquids were more susceptible to ritual impurity and especially tainted within the impurity system.
Interestingly, the willingness of an owner to accept liquids on products (e.g., grapes) also plays a significant role. (Kant would be pleased.)
Signing off for now, a room temperature liquid (whose fluidity can poison upon contact...), Quicksilver
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