READING MATERIAL

Environmental Issues

What is Pollution?

Any undesirable change in physical, chemical or biological characteristics of air, land, water
or soil.

Pollutants: Agents that bring these undesirable changes

Biodegradable Non-biodegradable

• Market garbage • DDT, BHC

• Livestock wastes • Mercurial salts

• Municipal & domestic sewage • Waste plastic bottles, Polythene bags

• Agricultural wastes • Soft drink cans

Environment ( Protection ) Act,1986

To protect and improve the quality of our environment (air, water , and soil)

Types of Pollution

• Air Pollution
• Water pollution
• Solid waste pollution
• Radioactive waste pollution

Air Pollution

An undesirable change in the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of air.

Pollutants- 1) Gaseous air pollutants- CO,SO2 etc.

2) Particulate air pollutants- dust, mist, aerosol etc.

Types

• Industrial
• Noise from different source
• Automobile exhaust pollution

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1) Industrial Sources

• Thermal power plants: Particulates and gaseous air pollutants along with harmless
nitrogen and oxygen gases.

According to CPCB (central Pollution Control Board) particulate size 2.5 micrometers or less
are responsible for breathing and respiratory symptoms like irritation, inflammations and
damage to the lungs and premature death.

Solution?.....

Electrostatic Precipitator

• Can remove over 99% particulate matter in the exhaust.

Scrubber

• Removes gases like Sulphur dioxide.

• The exhaust is passed through a spray of water or lime.

2) Automobile exhaust wastes

Use of lead free petrol or diesel can reduce vehicular pollution. Proper maintenance of
automobiles and using catalytic converters having metals namely, platinum-palladium
and rhodium as catalysts can reduce automobile pollution.

Controlling Vehicular pollution: A case study of Delhi:

Issues:

• In 1990s, Delhi ranked 4th among the 41 most polluted cities of the world.
• Supreme court of India ask the Govt. of Delhi to reduce the air pollution based on
a PIL(Public interest litigation).

Steps taken

• Use of CNG (compressed natural gas)

• Phasing out old vehicles
• Use of unleaded petrol.
• Use of low-Sulphur petrol and diesel.
• Use of catalytic converter in vehicle.
• Application of strict pollution level norms for vehicle.

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New auto fuel policy to cut down vehicular pollution

AIM: Steadily reducing the Sulphur and aromatic content in petrol and diesel fuels.

Euro-II norms

• Sulphur reduced to 350 ppm in diesel.

• Sulphur reduced to 150 ppm in petrol
• Aromatic hydrocarbon to be reduced to 42 %.
• Upgradation of vehicle engines.

3) Noise pollution

• Undesirable high level of sound is called noise pollution.

• Unit of sound level is decibel (dB), measured by an apparatus- Phonometer.
• Sound level >80 dB = Noise

Effects of Noise

• Psychological and physiological disorders

• Increased heart beat and alters breathing pattern.
• Headache and sleeplessness
• Stress in humans

Control measures

• Sound proof insulating jackets/filters for machines.

• Using ear muffs & sound absorbent materials by industrial workers and people
during heavy traffic.
• ‘Silent zone’- around 100m of hospitals and schools.
• Spreading awareness about the ill effects of Noise.
• Setting the permissible levels for crackers bursting sounds and allotting limited
time for loudspeaker uses.

Water pollution

The undesirable change in the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of

water.

Sources
• Domestic sewage
• Industrial effluents
The Govt. of India has passed the Water(Prevention and control of Pollution) Act,1974 to
safeguard our water resources.

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Domestic sewage

• Major source of freshwater pollution

• Liquid wastes from kitchens, toilets and household waste waters.
• Human and animal excreta, food residues, detergents.
• Mostly contains biodegradable organic matter.

Industrial effluents

• Small scale and large scale industries contribute.

• Industrial effluents are mostly non-biodegradable.
• Thermal pollution: Hot waste water released also is a source of pollution.

Effects of water pollution

1) Effect on aquatic ecosystem

• Dissolved oxygen(DO) content of water is important for the survival of aquatic

organisms.
• Organic and inorganic wastes in water reduces DO.
• Bacteria decomposes the organic waste by consuming oxygen. So the extent of
pollution can be indicated as a function of reduction in DO
• BOD(Biochemical oxygen demand): The amount of oxygen required for oxidizing
all organic matter present in one litre of water.
• Unit of BOD: mg of O2/L of water

Effect of sewage discharge into water

• When the organic waste in water bodies increases, microorganism decomposing

these depletes the DO level and so BOD value rises
• Lack of 02 kills fishes and other aquatic beings.
• But as the sewage is decomposed, DO increases and finally aquatic life reappear.

2) Biological magnification

• The increase in the concentration of the toxicant at successive trophic levels is

called biological/bio magnification.
• These toxicants cannot be metabolized or excreted by the organism.
• Eg: DDT, Cd, Pb, Hg accumulation in various trophic levels in food chain

DDT- case study

• It’s an insecticide
• A study found that due to the continuous use of DDT, Fish eating birds
population was found decreasing.
• The reason was due to the bio magnification of DDT in the aquatic food chain (of
which the bird is at the highest trophic level).

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 • DDT concentration increased from 0.003ppm in water bodies to 5ppm in fish
eating birds.

Why DDT is harmful: High concentration of DDT disturb calcium metabolism in birds, which
leads to eggshell thinning and thus premature breaking of eggs

3) Eutrophication

• Natural aging of water bodies by nutrient enrichment of is called eutrophication.

• Runoff water from lands carry nutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorous etc. to the
water.
• Nutrient enrichment promotes the growth of plants and animals. Over centuries
their debris gets accumulated and pile up.
• Water body becomes shallower and warmer, which supports more marshy
vegetation on its basins and finally the waterbody converts into a land.

Cultural/accelerated eutrophication: Anthropogenically accelerated eutrophication process

due to industrial and domestic wastes

Algal blooms

• Nutrients stimulates profuse growth of planktons like algae in the waterbodies,

forming what is called ‘Algal bloom’.
• Algal bloom leads to distinct colour for the water body.
• They deplete the DO and light availability to the aquatic organism. Some of them
can produce toxic substances even.

Water hyacinth - case study

• Eichhornia crassipes, ‘Terror of Bengal’

• Introduced in India, due to its beautiful flowers (ornamental)
• But being an invasive species, their excessive growth leads great havocs by
creating blocks in our waterways and creating imbalances in the aquatic
ecosystem.

A case study of integrated waste water treatment

• Integrated waste water treatment process: Jointly by the residents of Arcata

town and biologist from the Humboldt State University.
• Waste water is cleaned in two stages:
• Conventional sedimentation, filtering, and chlorine treatments.
• But the dissolved heavy metals still remained.
• Water is allowed to flow through a serious of 6 connected marshes(spread over
60 hectares)

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 • The marshland consists of appropriate plants, algae, fungi and bacteria which
neutralize, absorb and assimilate the pollutants.
• FOAM (Friends of the Arcata marsh) safeguards this project
Advantages of this project

• Purify the waterbodies

• The marshland act as a sanctuary, with a high level of biodiversity.

Ecological sanitation

• A sustainable way of human excreta disposal- Dry composting toilets.

• It is practical, hygienic, efficient and cost effective.
• Human excreta  Natural fertilizer
• Reduces Chemical fertilizer usage.
• ‘Ecosan’ toilets in Kerala and Srilanka.

Solid wastes

Solid materials discarded as trash are called solid wastes.

• 3 types-

 Biodegradable – Discarded food, vegetable, egg shells, farm residues.

 Recyclable – paper, aluminum cans, metals, rubber etc.
 Non-biodegradable – certain plastics, polythene bags, ceramics, asbestos etc.

• Sources of solid wastes-

 Municipal solid wastes

Wastes from homes, offices, stores, schools, hospitals.

 E-wastes
 Irreparable computer and other electronic goods.
 E-wastes are exported from developed to developing countries for recovering
metals like copper, iron, silicon, nickel and gold.
 But it is hazardous for people in developing countries to recycle e-wastes
without proper facility.

Disposal of solid wastes

• Burning

Common practice with bulk wastes. But releases toxic chemicals and open dumps serve as
breeding grounds for rats and flies.

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 • Incineration

Controlled burning of wastes at high temperature (850 0C) in the presence of air. Reduces
the volume of waste and land required for disposal. For the disposal of hazardous hospital
wastes.

• Sanitary landfilling

Wastes are dumbed into trenches or depressions. But can’t accommodate large quantity.
Potential danger of seepage of chemicals.

• Composting

Organic wastes are mixed with sewage sludge to form compost, which can be used as
manures.

• Recycle

Best solution. Kabadiwallahs and rag-pickers play an important role.

Remedy for plastic waste: a case study

Agro-chemicals and their effects

• The success of green revolution lead to a hike in the usage of inorganic fertilizers,
pesticides, herbicides, fungicides etc.
• These can be toxic to non-target organisms.
• Fertilizers are the major cause of eutrophication.
• Irrational use of chemical fertilizers can also contaminate ground water.

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Organic farming- case study

• Integrated organic farming is a zero waste procedure in which waste products of

one process are cycled in as nutrients for other processes.
• Helps in the maximum utilization of resources and increased efficiency of
products.
• Ramesh Chandra Dagar is a progressive farmer from Sonipat, Haryana.
• His chain of activities includes bee-keeping, dairy management, water harvesting,
composting and agriculture.

Radioactive wastes

• Nuclear energy is an important source of energy for various purposes.

• Even though initially thought as non-polluting source, later it was exhibits 2 main
issues.
• Accidental leakage of radioactivity (Three mile Island, Chernobyl)
• Lack of ways for safe disposal of radioactive wastes.

Effects of radioactive wastes

 Nuclear radiation is lethal

 Causes of Cancer, lung tumors, tissue regeneration, sterility.

Disposal measures

Nuclear wastes should be packed in shielded containers and buried within 500m
deep below the earth’s surface.

Greenhouse Effect

The name indicates its analogy to green houses used in temperate regions.

Green house

• Green house is used for growing plants in temperature regions

• They are made of glass panels, which allows them to permit light rays inside but
entrap heat radiations inside. So there is a maintenance of proper temperature
inside of the glass panel.

Positive aspect-Green house effect keep the average temperature of earth at 150C, which
otherwise have been -180C.

How it occurs?

• The effect of glass panels are carried out by greenhouse gases like C0 2, Methane,
CFC’s, and N2O gases.
• About 1/4th of the sunlight reaching earth’s atmosphere are reflected back. Of the
remaining radiations only half of it reaches earth’s surface, heating it up.

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 • Earth surface re-emits this as infrared radiations, but a part of this reemitted
radiations are absorbed by the green house gases and they emit heat radiations
towards earth surface.
• This cyclic process leads to an increase in the average global temperature called
Global Warming.

Global warming

Ozone depletion in stratosphere

• Ozone(O3) layer- upper stratosphere.

• Acts as a shield against harmful UV rays.
• Thickness measured in Dobson units (DU)

Ozone hole : Results from the thinning of ozone layer (occurred in Antarctic region)

Ill effects !!!!!!

• UV-B damages DNA, leading to mutations.

• Aging of skin, damage to skin cells and skin cancers.

• Snow-blindness(inflammation of cornea), cataract.

Montreal Protocol : Signed at Montreal (Canada) in 1987 (effective in 1989)- To control the
emission of ozone depleting substances.

Degradation by Improper resource utilization and maintenance.

• Soil erosion and desertification

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  The process by which the fertile top-soil is removed is called soil erosion.
 Human activities like over-cultivation, unrestricted grazing, deforestation
 and poor irrigation practices.
 Soil erosion leads to the formation of arid patches of land, finally turns into
desert formation by the process of desertification.
 Urbanization accelerates desertification
• Waterlogging and soil salinity
 Irrigation without proper drainage leads to waterlogging in lands.
 Waterlogging affects crop plants(root decay) and also draws salt to the soil
surface which causes osmotic stress to the plant.

Deforestation

• The conversion of forested areas to non-forested areas is called deforestation.

• In India, forests covered 30% of the land at the beginning of 20th century, but by the
end of the century it reduced to 19.4 %.

National Forest Policy, 1988 – Recommended 33% forest cover for plains and 67% for the
hills.

How does deforestation occur ?

• Conversion of forest land into agricultural land.

• Excessive commercial use of timber, fire wood and other forest products.
• Construction of dams, hydroelectric projects etc.
• Cattle grazing
• Industrialization
• Jhum cultivation

Jhum cultivation: Slash and burn agriculture- mostly in north eastern states of India

 In this system, farmers cut down the forest and burned the plant remains. They used
the ash as fertilizer for farming and cattle grazing.

 After cultivation they move to the next land area, leaving the old land to recovery for
many years.

 With the increased population, recovery phase shortened, leading to deforestation.

Consequences of deforestation

• Enhanced CO2 concentration

• Habitat destruction

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 • Loss of biodiversity
• Disturbed Hydrologic cycle
• Soil erosion
• Desertification

Reforestation

• Restoring a forest that once existed but was removed at some point of time in the
past.
• Planting trees accelerate natural reforestation.

Case study of people’s participation in conservation of forests.

• Efforts of Bishnoi community

• In 1731 king of Jodhpur asked his minister to arrange woods for constructing a new
palace.
• The minister and workers went to the forest near a village inhabited by the Bishnoi
community for cutting trees.
• Amrita Devi, a Bishnoi women along with her 3 daughters and other people of the
community stopped the kings men from cutting trees
• They hugged the trees and sacrificed their life for protecting forest.

Amrita Devi Bishnoi Wildlife protection award: An award initiated by Govt. Of India, for
individuals or community showing extreme courage and dedication in protecting wildlife.

Chipko movement

• In the year 1974, Local women of Garhwal Himalayas, showed enormous bravery in
protecting trees from the axe of contractors by hugging them.
• It became a worldwide movement.

Joint Forest Management (JFM)

• In 1980s Govt. of India initiated this concept

• Local communities protecting and managing forests, in return gets benefitted from
various forest products such as fruits, gums, rubber, medicine etc.
• Sustainable forest conservation.

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