A point source of pollution is a single identifiable source of air, Water pollution, thermal, noise or light pollution. A point source has negligible extent, distinguishing it from other pollution source geometries. The sources are called point sources because in mathematical modeling, they can be approximated as a mathematical point to simplify analysis. Pollution point sources are identical to other physics, engineering, optics, and chemistry point sources and include:

• Air pollution from an industrial source, rather than an airport or a road, considered a line source or a forest fire which is considered an area source, or volume source.
• Water pollution from an oil refinery wastewater discharge outlet
• Noise pollution from a jet engine
• Disruptive seismic vibration from a localized seismic study
• Light pollution from an intrusive street light
• Thermal pollution from an industrial process outfall
• Radio emissions from an interference-producing electrical device