MODULE 2

UNIT 1: BIODIVERSITY AND ITS CONSERVATION

INTRODUCTION
The great variety of life on earth has provided for man’s needs over thousands of years. This diversity of
living creatures forms a support system which has been used by each civilization for its growth and
development. Those that used this “bounty of nature” carefully and
sustainably survived. Those that overused or misused it disintegrated.
Science has attempted to classify and categorize the variability in nature for over a century. This has led to an
understanding of its organization
into communities of plants and animals. This information has helped in utilizing the earth’s biological
wealth for the benefit of humanity and has been integral to the process of ‘development’.
The diversity of life on earth is so great that if we use it sustainably, we can go on developing new products
from biodiversity for many
generations. This can only happen if we manage biodiversity as a precious resource and prevent the
extinction of species.
Definition:
‘Biological diversity’ or biodiversity is that part of nature which
includes the differences in genes among the individuals of a species, the variety and richness of all the plant
and animal species at different
scales in space, locally, in a region, in the country and the world, and various types of ecosystems, both
terrestrial and aquatic, within a defined area.
What is biodiversity?
Biological diversity deals with the degree of nature’s variety in the biosphere. This variety can be observed at
three levels; the genetic
variability within a species, the variety of species within a community, and the organisation of species in an
area into distinctive plant and
animal communities constitutes ecosystem diversity.
Genetic diversity
Each member of any animal or plant species differs widely from other individuals in its genetic makeup
because of the large number of
combinations possible in the genes that give every individual specific characteristics. Thus, for example,
each human being is very different from all others. This genetic variability is essential for a healthy
breeding population of a species. Species diversity
The number of species of plants and animals that are present in a region constitutes its species diversity. This
diversity is seen both in natural
ecosystems and in agricultural ecosystems. Some areas are more rich in species than others. Natural
undisturbed tropical forests have a much
greater species richness than plantations developed by the Forest
Department for timber production. A natural forest ecosystem provides a large number of non-wood products
that local people depend on such as fruit, fuel wood, fodder, fiber, gum, resin and medicines. Timber
plantations do not provide the large variety of goods that are essential for local consumption. In the long-
term the economic sustainable
returns from non-wood forest products is said to be greater than the returns from felling a forest for its
timber.
Ecosystem diversity
There are a large variety of different ecosystems on earth, which have their own complement of distinctive
inter linked species based on the differences in the habitat. Ecosystem diversity can be described for a
specific geographical region, or a political entity such as a country, a State or a taluka. Distinctive
ecosystems include landscapes such as
forests, grasslands, deserts, mountains, etc., as well as aquatic
ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and the sea. Each region also has man- modified areas such as farmland or
grazing pastures.
Evolution and the Genesis of Biodiversity: The origins of life on earth some three and a half billion years
ago are obscure. Life was probably
initiated as a product of organic reactions in the Earth’s primordial seas.
Alternative possibilities such as life beginning in a muddy ooze, or of life having been seeded from outer
space have also been suggested.
Evolution is related to the ability of living organisms to adapt to
changes in their environment. Thus, the abiotic changes in nature such as climatic and atmospheric
upheavals, repeated glaciations, continental drift and the formation of geographical barriers, segregated
different
communities of plants and animals and gradually lead to the formation of new species over millions of
years.
BIOGEOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA
Our country can be conveniently divided into ten major regions, based on the geography, climate and
pattern of vegetation seen and the
communities of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibia, insects and other
invertebrates that live in them. Each of these regions contains a variety of ecosystems such as forests,
grasslands, lakes, rivers, wetlands,
mountains and hills, which have specific plant and animal species. India’s Biogeographic Zones

1. The cold mountainous snow-covered Trans Himalayan region of Ladakh.

2. The Himalayan ranges and valleys of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam and other
North Eastern States.

3. The Terai, the lowland where the Himalayan rivers flow into the plains.
4. The Gangetic and Bhramaputra plains.
5. The Thar Desert of Rajasthan.
6. The semi-arid grassland region of the Deccan plateau Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

7. The Northeast States of India,

8. The Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
9. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
10. The long western and eastern coastal belt with sandy beaches, forests and mangroves.
VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY
Environmental services from species and ecosystems are essential at
global, regional and local levels. Production of oxygen, reducing carbon dioxide, maintaining the water
cycle, protecting soil are important
services. The world now acknowledges that the loss of biodiversity
contributes to global climatic changes. Forests are the main mechanism for the conversion of carbon
dioxide into carbon and oxygen. The loss of forest cover, coupled with the increasing release of carbon
dioxide and other gases through industrialization contributes to the ‘greenhouse effect’. Global warming is
melting ice caps, resulting in a rise in the sea level which will submerge the low-lying areas in the world. It
is causing major atmospheric changes, leading to increased temperatures, serious droughts in some areas
and unexpected floods in other areas.
Biological diversity is also essential for preserving ecological processes, such as fixing and recycling of
nutrients, soil formation, circulation and cleansing of air and water, global life support (plants absorb CO2,
give out O2), maintaining the water balance within ecosystems, watershed
protection, maintaining stream and river flows throughout the year, erosion control and local flood reduction.
Food, clothing, housing, energy, medicines, are all resources that are directly or indirectly linked to the
biological variety present in the
biosphere.
This is most obvious in the tribal communities who gather resources from the forest, or fisherfolk who catch
fish in marine or freshwater
ecosystems. For others, such as agricultural communities, biodiversity is used to grow their crops to suit the
environment. Urban communities
generally use the greatest amount of goods and services, which are all indirectly drawn from natural
ecosystems.
The preservation of ‘biodiversity’ is therefore integral to any strategy that aims at improving the quality of
human life.

1. Consumptive use value

The direct utilisation of timber, food, fuelwood, fodder by local
communities. The biodiversity held in the ecosystem provides forest dwellers with all their daily needs, food,
building material, fodder,
medicines and a variety of other products. They know the qualities and different uses of wood from different
species of trees, and collect a large number of local fruits, roots and plant material that they use as food,
construction material or medicines. Fisherfolk are highly dependent on fish and know where and how to
catch fish and other edible aquatic
animals and plants.
Man, and the Web of Life
The biodiversity of an area influences every aspect of the lives of people who inhabit it. Their living space
and their livelihoods depend on the
type of ecosystem. Even people living in urban areas are dependent on the ecological services provided by
the wilderness in the PAs.
It is linked with every service that nature provides us. The quality of water we drink and use, the air we
breathe, the soil on which our food grows are all influenced by a wide variety of living organisms both
plants and animals and the ecosystem of which each species is linked with in nature.

2. Productive use value

Marketable goods.

Value of MFP>Timber (which is part of sustainable use).

The biotechnologist uses biorich areas to ‘prospect’ and search for potential genetic properties in plants or
animals that can be used to
develop better varieties of crops that are used in farming and plantation
programs or to develop better livestock. To the pharmacist, biological diversity is the raw material from
which new drugs can be identified from plant or animal products. To industrialists, biodiversity is a rich
store-house from which to develop new products. For the agricultural
scientist the biodiversity in the wild relatives of crop plants is the basis for developing better crops.
Genetic diversity enables scientists and farmers to develop better crops and domestic animals through careful
breeding. Originally this was
done by selecting or pollinating crops artificially to get a more
productive or disease resistant strain. Today this is increasingly being done by genetic engineering, selecting
genes from one plant and
introducing them into another. New crop varieties (cultivars) are being developed using the genetic material
found in wild relatives of crop
plants through biotechnology.
Even today, species of plants and animals are being constantly
discovered in the wild. Thus, these wild species are the building blocks for the betterment of human life and
their loss is a great economic loss to mankind. Among the known species, only a tiny fraction have been
investigated for their value in terms of food, or their medicinal or
industrial potential. Preservation of biodiversity has now become
essential for industrial growth and economic development. A variety of industries such as pharmaceuticals
are highly dependent on identifying compounds of great economic value from the wide variety of wild
species of plants located in undisturbed natural forests. This is called biological prospecting.

3. Social values
While traditional societies which had a small population and required less resources had preserved their
biodiversity as a life supporting
resource, modern man has rapidly depleted it even to the extent of
leading to the irrecoverable loss due to extinction of several species. Thus apart from the local use or sale of
products of biodiversity there is the social aspect in which more and more resources are used by affluent
societies. The biodiversity has to a great extent been preserved by
traditional societies that valued it as a resource and appreciated that its depletion would be a great loss to
their society.
The consumptive and productive value of biodiversity is closely linked to social concerns in traditional
communities. ‘Ecosystem people’ value biodiversity as a part of their livelihood as well as through cultural
and religious sentiments.
A great variety of crops have been cultivated in traditional agricultural systems and this permitted a wide
range of produce to be grown and marketed throughout the year and acted as an insurance against the
failure of one crop. In recent years farmers have begun to receive
economic incentives to grow cash crops for national or international markets, rather than to supply
local needs. This has resulted in local food shortages, unemployment (cash crops are usually
mechanised), landlessness and increased vulnerability to drought and floods.
Commonly used modern drugs derived from plant sources:
Atropine Belladonna Anticholinergic: reduces intestinal pain in diarrhoea.
Bromelain Pineapple Controls tissue inflammation due to infection. Caffeine -Tea, Coffee Stimulant of the
central nervous system.

Camphor- Camphor tree Rebefacient: increases local blood supply.

Cocaine -Cocoa Analgesic and local anesthetic: reduces pain and prevents pain during surgery.
Codeine- Opium poppy Analgesic: reduces pain. Morphine- Opium poppy
Analgesic: controls pain. Colchicine- Autumn crocus Anticancer agent.

Digitoxin-- Common foxglove Cardiac stimulant used in heart diseases.

Diosgenin Wild yams Source of female contraceptive: prevents pregnancy.

4. Ethical and moral values
Ethical values related to biodiversity conservation are based on the importance of protecting all forms of
life. All forms of life have the right to exist on earth. Man is only a small part of the Earth’s great family
of species.
Apart from the economic importance of conserving biodiversity, there are several cultural, moral and ethical
values which are associated with the sanctity of all forms of life. Indian civilization has over several
generations preserved nature through local traditions. This has been an important part of the ancient
philosophy of many of our cultures.

5. Aesthetic value
Knowledge and an appreciation of the presence of biodiversity for its own sake is another reason to preserve
it. Quite apart from killing
wildlife for food, it is important as a tourist attraction. Biodiversity is a beautiful and wonderful aspect of
nature. Sit in a forest and listen to the birds. Watch a spider weave its complex web. Observe a fish feeding. It
is magnificent and fascinating. Symbols from wild species such as the
lion of Hinduism, the elephant of Buddhism and deities such as Lord Ganesh, and the vehicles of several
deities that are animals, have been venerated for thousands of years. Valmiki begins his epic story with a
couplet on the unfortunate killing of a crane by a hunter. The ‘Tulsi’ has been placed at our doorsteps for
centuries.

6. Option value
Keeping future possibilities open for their use is called option value. It is impossible to predict which of
our species or traditional varieties of crops and domestic animals will be of great use in the future. To
continue to improve cultivars and domestic livestock, we need to return to wild relatives of crop plants and
animals. Thus the preservation of
biodiversity must also include traditionally used strains already in existence in crops and domestic
animals.
INDIA AS A MEGA DIVERSITY NATION
Geological events in the landmass of India have provided conditions for high levels of biological diversity. A
split in the single giant continent around 70 million years ago, led to the formation of northern and southern
continents, with India a part of Gondwanaland - the southern
landmass, together with Africa, Australia, and the Antarctic. Later
tectonic movements shifted India northward across the equator to join the Northern Eurasian continent. As
the intervening shallow Tethis Sea
closed down, plants and animals that had evolved both in Europe and in the Far East migrated into India
before the Himalayas had formed. A
final influx came from Africa with Ethiopian species, which, were adapted to the Savannas and semi-arid
regions.
Thus, India’s special geographical position between three distinctive
centres of biological evolution and radiation of species is responsible for our rich and varied biodiversity.
Among the biologically rich nations,
India stands among the top 10 or 15 countries for its great variety of plants and animals, many of which are
not found elsewhere. India has
350 different mammals (rated eight highest in the world), 1,200 species of birds (eighth in the world), 453
species of reptiles (fifth in the world) and 45,000 plant species, of which most are angiosperms, (fifteenth
in
the world). These include especially high species diversity of ferns (1022 species) and orchids (1082
species). India has 50,000 known
species of insects, including 13,000 butterflies and moths. It is estimated that the number of unknown species
could be several times higher.
It is estimated that 18% of Indian plants are endemic to the country and found nowhere else in the world.
Among the plant species the flowering plants have a much higher degree of endemism, a third of these are
not found elsewhere in the world. Among amphibians found in India, 62% are unique to this country.
Among lizards, of the 153 species recorded, 50% are endemic. High endemism has also been recorded for
various groups of insects, marine worms, centipedes, mayflies and fresh water sponges.
Apart from the high biodiversity of Indian wild plants and animals there is also a great diversity of cultivated
crops and breeds of domestic
livestock. This is a result of several thousand years during which
civilizations have grown and flourished in the Indian subcontinent. The traditional cultivars included 30,000
to 50,000 varieties of rice and a
number of cereals, vegetables and fruit. The highest diversity of
cultivars is concentrated in the high rainfall areas of the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Northern Himalayas
and the North-Eastern hills. Gene- banks have collected over 34,000 cereals and 22,000 pulses grown in
India. India has 27 indigenous breeds of cattle, 40 breeds of sheep, 22 breeds of goats and 8 breeds of
buffaloes.
HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY
The earth’s biodiversity is distributed in specific ecological regions.
There are over a thousand major ecoregions in the world. Of these, 200 are said to be the richest, rarest and
most distinctive natural areas. These areas are referred to as the Global 200. It has been estimated that 50,000
endemic plants which comprise 20% of global plant life, probably occur in only 18 ‘hot spots’ in the world.
Countries which have a relatively
large proportion of these hot spots of diversity are referred to as ‘megadiversity nations’.
The rate at which the extinction of species is occurring throughout our country remains Global species
diversity
Group No. of Described Species

o Bacteria and blue-green algae 4,760

o Fungi 46,983
o Algae 26,900
o Bryophytes (Mosses and Liverworts) 17,000 (WCMC, 1988)
o Gymnosperms (Conifers) 750 (Reven et al., 1986)
o Angiosperms (Flowering plants) 250,000 (Reven et al., 1986)
o Protozoans 30,800
o Sponges 5,000
o Corals and Jellyfish 9,000
o Roundworms and earthworms 24,000
o Crustaceans 38,000
o Insects 751,000
o other arthropods and minor Invertebrates 132,461
o Molluscs 50,000
o Starfish 6,100
o Fishes (Teleosts) 19,056
o Amphibians 4,184
o Reptiles 6,300
o Birds 9,198 (Clements, 1981)
o Mammals 4,170 (Honacki et al., 1982) Total: 1,435,662
SPECIES
Our globally accepted national ‘hot spots’ are in the forests of the North-East and the Western Ghats,
which are included in the world’s most bio rich areas. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are extremely
rich in species and many subspecies of different animals and birds have evolved. Among the endemic species
i.e. those species found only in
India, a large proportion are concentrated in these three areas. The
Andaman and Nicobar Islands alone have as many as 2200 species of flowering plants and 120 species of
ferns. Out of 135 genera of land
mammals in India, 85 (63%) are found in the Northeast. The Northeast States have 1,500 endemic plant
species. A major proportion of
amphibian and reptile species, especially snakes, are concentrated in the Western Ghats, which is also a
habitat for 1,500 endemic plant species.
Coral reefs in Indian waters surround the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Lakshadweep Islands, the Gulf areas of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. They are nearly as rich in species as
tropical evergreen forests.
THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY: HABITAT LOSS, POACHING OF WILDLIFE, MAN-WILDLIFE
CONFLICTS
Man has begun to overuse or misuse most of these natural ecosystems.
Due to this ‘unsustainable’ resource-use, once productive forests and grasslands have been turned into
deserts and wasteland have increased
all over the world. Mangroves have been cleared for fuelwood and
prawn farming, which has led to a decrease in the habitat essential for breeding of marine fish. Wetlands
have been drained to increase
agricultural land. These changes have grave economic implications in
the longer term. The current destruction of the remaining large areas of wilderness habitats, especially in the
CASE STUDY
Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary – Sawai Madhopur, Rajashtan
While conservation efforts are associated with conflicts between villagers and Forest Officials in most Protected Areas
across the country, the Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan has involved local community initiatives for
conservation and regeneration. The Sanctuary was initiated in 1983, over 674 sq km forming a part of the 1334 sq km
Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. It is located within the Karauli and Sapotra blocks of Sawai Madhopur district. The
primary occupation of the predominant Meena and Gujjar communities is pastoralism and subsistence agriculture.
Pressures on the sanctuary included migrant grazers known as the Rabaris, who came from the Mewar region of
Rajasthan with herds of over 150,000 sheep. Other pressures were from exploitation of timber and fuelwood and
mining. The threat poised by the migrant grazers spurred the formation of the “Baragaon ki Panchayat” in 1990,
which in turn initiated a ‘Bhed Bhagao Andolan’.
Human actions could well exterminate 25% of the world’s species within the next twenty or thirty years. Much of this
mega extinction spasm is related to human population growth, industrialization and changes in land-use patterns. A
major part of these extinctions will occur in ‘biorich’ areas such as tropical forests, wetlands, and coral reefs. The loss of
wild habitats due to rapid human population growth and short term economic development are major contributors to the
rapid global destruction of biodiversity.
Island flora and fauna having high endemism in small isolated areas surrounded by sea have so far been most seriously
affected by human activity, which has
already led to extinction of many island plants and animals (the dodo is a famous example). Habitat loss also results
from man’s introduction of species from one area into another, disturbing the balance in existing communities. In the
process, the purposely or accidentally introduced organisms (Eupatorium, Lantana, Hyacinth, Congress grass or
Parthenium) have led to the extinction of many local species.
Loss of species occurs due to the destruction of natural ecosystems, either for conversion to agriculture or industry, or by
over-extraction of their resources, or through pollution of air, water and soil. In India, forests and grasslands are
continuously being changed to agricultural land. Encroachments have been legalized repeatedly. Similarly natural wetland
systems have been drained to establish croplands resulting in loss of aquatic species. Grasslands that were once
sustainably used by a relatively smaller number of human beings and their cattle are either changed to other forms of use
or degraded by overgrazing.
CASE STUDY:
Kokkare Bellure – Karnataka: Co-existence (Man and Wildlife)
The pelican, which is an endangered species breeds in large numbers at Kokkare Bellur which is one of the ten known
breeding sites in India. Kokkare Bellure is a village in Karnataka in Southern India. In December every year, hundreds of
spot billed pelicans, painted storks, ibis and other birds migrate to this area to establish breeding colonies on the tall
tamarind trees in the center of the village. The local people have protected the birds, believing that they bring good
luck with regard to rain and crops. The villagers collect a rich supply of the natural fertilizer that collects below the nests
– the guano. The droppings of fish-eating birds are rich in nitrates.
The owners of the trees inhabited by the birds dig deep pits under the trees, into which the guano falls. Silt from nearby
lakes and ponds is mixed with the guano which is used in their fields and sold as fertilizer. They have now planted trees
around their homes to encourage nesting.
Our natural forests are being deforested for timber and replanted using teak, sal or other single species for their timber
value. Such plantations do not support
the same biological diversity as a multi-storied natural forest, which has a closed canopy and a rich understorey of
vegetation.
When excessive firewood is collected from the forest by lopping the branches of trees, the forest
canopy is opened up and this alters local biodiversity. Foraging cattle retard the regeneration of the
forest as
seedlings are constantly trampled. Increasing human population on the fringes of our Protected Areas
degrade forest ecosystems. This is a
major factor to consider in evaluating the quality of the ecosystem.
Repeated fires started by local grazers to increase grass growth ultimately reduces regeneration and lowers
the diversity of plant
species. Without alternate sources of fodder this pressure cannot be decreased. Another factor that disrupts
forest biodiversity is the
introduction of exotic weeds which are not a part of the natural
vegetation. Common examples in India are lantana bushes, Eupatorium shrubs and ‘congress’ grass. These
have been imported into the country from abroad and have invaded several large tracts of our natural
forests.
UNIT 2: ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION DEFINITION
Pollution is the effect of undesirable changes in our surroundings that have harmful effects on plants,
animals and human beings. This occurs when only short-term economic gains are made at the cost of the
long- term ecological benefits for humanity. No natural phenomenon has led
to greater ecological changes than have been made by mankind. During the last few decades we have
contaminated our air, water and land on which life itself depends with a variety of waste products. Pollutants
include solid, liquid or gaseous substances present in greater than natural abundance produced due to
human activity, which have a
detrimental effect on our environment. The nature and concentration of a pollutant determines the severity
of detrimental effects on human
health. An average human requires about 12 kg of air each day, which is nearly 12 to15 times greater than
the amount of food we eat. Thus even a small concentration of pollutants in the air becomes more
significant in comparison to the similar levels present in food. Pollutants that enter water have the ability to
spread to distant places especially in the marine ecosystem.
From an ecological perspective pollutants can be classified as follows:

• Degradable or non-persistent pollutants: These can be rapidly

broken down by natural processes. Eg: domestic sewage, discarded vegetables, etc.
• Slowly degradable or persistent pollutants: Pollutants that remain in the environment for many
years in an unchanged condition and take decades or longer to degrade. Eg: DDT and most
plastics.
•Non-degradable pollutants: These cannot be degraded by natural processes. Once they are
released into the environment, they are difficult to eradicate and continue to accumulate. Eg:
toxic
elements like lead or mercury.
CAUSES, EFFECTS AND CONTROL MEASURES OF POLLUTION

1. Air Pollution
History of air pollution: The origin of air pollution on the earth can be traced from the times when man
started using firewood as a means of cooking and heating. Hippocrates has mentioned air pollution in
400
BC. With the discovery and increasing use of coal, air pollution became more pronounced especially in urban
areas. It was recognized as a
problem 700 years ago in London in the form of smoke pollution, which prompted King Edward I to make
the first antipollution law to restrict
people from using coal for domestic heating in the year 1273. In the
year 1300 another Act banning the use of coal was passed. Defying the law led to imposition of capital
punishment. In spite of this air pollution became a serious problem in London during the industrial
revolution
due to the use of coal in industries. The earliest recorded major disaster was the ‘London Smog’ that
occurred in 1952 that resulted in more than 4000 deaths due to the accumulation of air pollutants over the
city for
five days. In Europe, around the middle of the 19th century, a black form of the Peppered moth was
noticed in industrial areas.
Air pollution began to increase in the beginning of the twentieth century with the development of the
transportation systems and large-scale use of petrol and diesel. The severe air quality problems due to the
formation of photochemical smog from the combustion residues of diesel and petrol engines were felt for
the first time in Los Angeles.
Pollution due to auto-exhaust remains a serious environmental issue in many developed and developing
countries including India. The Air
Pollution Control Act in India was passed in 1981 and the Motor
Vehicle Act for controlling the air pollution, very recently. These laws are intended to prevent air from
being polluted. The greatest industrial disaster leading to serious air pollution took place in Bhopal where
extremely poisonous methyl isocyanide gas was accidentally released
from the Union Carbide’s pesticide manufacturing plant on the night of December 3rd 1984. The effects of
this disaster on human health and the soil are felt even today.
Types and sources of Air Pollution
Air pollution occurs due to the presence of undesirable solid or gaseous particles in the air in quantities that
are harmful to human health and the environment. Air may get polluted by natural causes such as volcanoes,
which release ash, dust, sulphur and other gases, or by forest fires that
are occasionally naturally caused by lightning. However, unlike
pollutants from human activity, naturally occurring pollutants tend to
remain in the atmosphere for a short time and do not lead to permanent atmospheric change.
Pollutants that are emitted directly from identifiable sources are produced both by natural events
(for example, dust storms and volcanic eruptions) and human activities (emission from vehicles, industries,
etc.). These are called primary pollutants. There are five primary
pollutants that together contribute about 90 percent of the global air pollution. These are carbon oxides (CO
and CO2), nitrogen oxides,
sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds (mostly hydro-carbons) and suspended particulate matter.
Pollutants that are produced in the atmosphere when certain chemical reactions take place among the
primary pollutants are called secondary pollutants. Eg: sulfuric acid, nitric acid, carbonic acid, etc. Carbon
monoxide is a colourless, Odor-less and toxic gas produced when organic materials such as natural gas, coal
or wood are incompletely burnt. Vehicular exhausts are the single largest source of carbon
monoxide. The number of vehicles has been increasing over the years
all over the world. Vehicles are also poorly maintained and several have inadequate pollution control
equipment resulting in release of greater
amounts of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is however not a
persistent pollutant. Natural processes can convert carbon monoxide to other compounds that are not
harmful. Therefore, the air can be cleared
of its carbon monoxide if no new carbon monoxide is introduced into the atmosphere. Sulphur oxides are
produced when sulphur containing fossil fuels are burnt. Nitrogen oxides are found in vehicular exhausts.
Nitrogen oxides are significant, as they are involved in the production of secondary air pollutants such as
ozone. Hydrocarbons are a group of
compounds consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms. They either
evaporate from fuel supplies or are remnants of fuel that did not burn completely. Hydrocarbons are washed
out of the air when it rains and
run into surface water. They cause an oily film on the surface and do not as such cause a serious issue until
they react to form secondary
pollutants. Using higher oxygen concentrations in the fuel-air mixture and using valves to prevent the escape
of gases, fitting of catalytic
converters in automobiles, are some of the modifications that can reduce the release of hydrocarbons into the
atmosphere.

✓ What happens to pollutants in the atmosphere?

Once pollutants enter the troposphere, they are transported downwind, diluted by the large volume of air,
transformed through either physical or chemical changes or are removed from the atmosphere by rain during
which they are attached to water vapour that subsequently forms rain or
snow that falls to the earth’s surface. The atmosphere normally disperses pollutants by mixing them in the
very large volume of air that covers the earth. This dilutes the pollutants to acceptable levels. The rate of
dispersion however varies in relation to the following aspects:
Topography Normally as the earth’s surface becomes warmed by
sunlight the layer of air in contact with the ground is also heated by
convection. This warmer air is less dense than the cold air above it, so it rises. Thus pollutants produced in
the surface layer are effectively dispersed. However on a still evening, the process is reversed. An hour or
two before sunset after a sunny day, the ground starts to lose heat and the air near the ground begins to cool
rapidly. Due to the absence of wind, a static layer of cold air is produced as the ground cools. This in turn
induces condensation of fog. The morning sun cannot initially
penetrate this fog layer. The cold air being dense cannot rise and is
trapped by the warm air above. It cannot move out of the area due to the surrounding hills. The topographic
features resemble a closed chemical reactor in which the pollutants are trapped. This condition often
continues through the cool night and reaches its maximum intensity before sunrise. When the morning sun
warms the ground the air near the ground also warms up and rises within an hour or two. This may be
broken up by strong winds. In cold regions this situation can persist for several days. Such a situation is
known as smog (smoke + fog).
Effects of air pollution on living organisms
Our respiratory system has a number of mechanisms that help in
protecting us from air pollution. The hair in our nose filters out large particles. The sticky mucus in the lining
of the upper respiratory tract
captures smaller particles and dissolves some gaseous pollutants. When the upper respiratory system is
irritated by pollutants sneezing and
coughing expel contaminated air and mucus. Prolonged smoking or exposure to air pollutants can overload
or breakdown these natural defences causing or contributing to diseases such as lung cancer,
asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Elderly people, infants, pregnant women and people with heart
disease, asthma or other
respiratory diseases are especially vulnerable to air pollution. Cigarette smoking is responsible for the
greatest exposure to carbon monoxide.
Exposure to air containing even 0.001 percent of carbon monoxide for several hours can cause collapse,
coma and even death. As carbon
monoxide remains attached to haemoglobin in blood for a long time, it accumulates and reduces the oxygen
carrying capacity of blood. This
impairs perception and thinking, slows reflexes and causes headaches, drowsiness, dizziness, and nausea.
Carbon monoxide in heavy traffic causes headaches, drowsiness, and blurred vision. Sulphur dioxide
irritates respiratory tissues. Chronic exposure causes a condition like
bronchitis. It also reacts with water, oxygen and other material in the air to form sulfur-containing acids. The
acids can become attached to
particles which when inhaled are very corrosive to the lung. Nitrogen
oxides especially NO2 can irritate the lungs, aggravate asthma or chronic bronchitis and also increase
susceptibility to respiratory
infections such as influenza or common colds. Suspended particles aggravate bronchitis and asthma.
Effects of air pollution on materials
Every year air pollutants cause damage worth billions of rupees. Air
pollutants break down exterior paint on cars and houses. All around the world air pollutants have
discoloured irreplaceable monuments, historic buildings, marble statues, etc.
Effects of air pollution on the stratosphere
The upper stratosphere consists of considerable amounts of ozone, which works as an effective screen for
ultraviolet light. This region called the ozone layer extends up to 60 kms above the surface of the earth.
Though the ozone is present upto 60 kms its greatest density
remains in the region between 20 to 25 kms. The ozone layer does not consist of solely ozone but a mixture
of other common atmospheric
gases.
Ozone depletion
Changes in the ozone layer have serious implications for mankind.
Effects on human health: Sunburn, cataract, aging of the skin and skin cancer are caused by increased ultra-
violet radiation. It weakens the
immune system by suppressing the resistance of the whole body to
certain infections like measles, chicken pox and other viral diseases that elicit rash and parasitic diseases
such as malaria introduced through the skin.
Food production: Ultra violet radiation affects the ability of plants to capture light energy during the
process of photosynthesis. This reduces the nutrient content and the growth of plants. This is seen especially
in
legumes and cabbage. Plant and animal planktons are damaged by ultra- violet radiation.
Effect on materials: Increased UV radiation damages paints and fabrics, causing them to fade faster.
Effect on climate: Atmospheric changes induced by pollution
contribute to global warming, a phenomenon which is caused due to the increase in concentration of certain
gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, methane and CFCs. Observations of the earth have shown
beyond doubt that atmospheric constituents such as water vapour,
carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and Chloro Fluro Carbons
trap heat in the form of infra-red radiation near the earth’s surface. This is known as the ‘Green-house
Effect’. The phenomenon is similar to what happens in a greenhouse. The glass in a greenhouse allows solar
radiation to enter which is absorbed by the objects inside. These objects radiate heat in the form of terrestrial
radiation, which does not pass out through the glass. The heat is therefore trapped in the greenhouse
increasing the temperature inside and ensuring the luxuriant growth of plants.
There could be several adverse effects of global warming.

• With a warmer earth the polar ice caps will melt causing a rise in ocean levels and flooding of
coastal areas.

• In countries like Bangladesh or the Maldives this would be

catastrophic. If the sea level rises by 3m., Maldives will disappear completely beneath the waves.

• The rise in temperature will bring about a fall in agricultural produce.

• Changes in the distribution of solar energy can bring about changes in habitats. A previously productive
agricultural area will suffer severe droughts while rains will fall in locations that were once deserts. This
could bring about changes in the species of natural plants, agricultural crops, insects, livestock and micro-
organisms.

• In the polar regions temperature rises caused by global warming would have disastrous effects. Vast
quantities of methane are trapped beneath
the frozen soil of Alaska.
Air pollution in India
The World health Organization (WHO) which rates only mega cities of the world has rated Delhi the fourth
most polluted city ion the world.
However, compared to other cities in India, Delhi is not at the top of the list of polluted cities. Our country
has several pollution hotspots. The
recent release from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB),
Parivesh, January 2003 states that Ahmedabad’s air is most noxious
flowed by Kanpur, Solapur and Lucknow with small particulate levels (PM10) 3-4 times the standard of 60
microgram per cubic meter
(mg/m3 ). The report has ranked 29 cities according to Respirable
Particulate Matter (RSPM) levels recorded during the year 2000. This report thus confirms the fact that
Indian cities show high particulate
pollution with 14 cities hitting critical levels. The Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB) initiated its own national Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (NAAQM) program in
1985.
Legal aspects of air pollution control in India The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was
legislated in 1981. The Act provided for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution. In areas notified
under this Act no industrial pollution causing activity could come up
without the permission of the concerned State Pollution Control Board.
But this Act was not strong enough to play a precautionary or a corrective role. After the Bhopal disaster, a
more comprehensive Environment Protection Act (EPA) was passed in 1986.

2. Water Pollution
Introduction:
Water is the essential element that makes life on earth possible. Without water there would be no life. We
usually take water for granted. It flows from our taps when they are turned on. Most of us are able to bathe
when we want to, swim when we choose and water our gardens. Like good health we ignore water when
we have it. Although 71% of the
earth’s surface is covered by water only a tiny fraction of this water is
available to us as fresh water. About 97% of the total water available on
earth is found in oceans and is too salty for drinking or irrigation. The remaining 3% is fresh water. Of this
2.997% is locked in ice caps or glaciers.
Thus only 0.003% of the earth’ total volume of water is easily available to us as soil moisture, groundwater,
water vapour and water in lakes,
streams, rivers and wetlands. In short if the world’s water supply were only 100 litres our usable supply of
fresh water would be only about
0.003 litres (one-half teaspoon). This makes water a very precious
resource. The future wars in our world may well be fought over water.
By the middle of this century, almost twice as many people will be
trying to share the same amount of fresh water the earth has today. As freshwater becomes more scarce
access to water resources will be a major factor in determining the economic growth of several countries
around the world. Water availability on the planet: Water that is found in streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands and
artificial reservoirs is called surface water.
Causes of water pollution
There are several classes of common water pollutants. These are
disease-causing agents (pathogens) which include bacteria, viruses, protozoa and parasitic worms that
enter water from domestic sewage and untreated human and animal wastes. Human wastes contain
concentrated populations of coliform bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Streptococcus faecalis. These
bacteria normally grow in the large
intestine of humans where they are responsible for some food digestion and for the production of vitamin K.
These bacteria are not harmful in low numbers.
Large amounts of human waste in water, increases the number of these bacteria which cause gastrointestinal
diseases. Other potentially harmful bacteria from human wastes may also be present in smaller numbers.
Thus the greater the amount of wastes in the water the greater are the chances of contracting diseases from
them.
Another category of water pollutants is oxygen depleting wastes. These are organic wastes that can be
decomposed by aerobic (oxygen
requiring) bacteria. Large populations of bacteria use up the oxygen present in water to degrade these wastes.
In the process this degrades
water quality. The amount of oxygen required to break down a certain amount of organic matter is called
the biological oxygen demand (BOD). The amount of BOD in the water is an indicator of the level of
pollution. If too much organic matter is added to the water all the
available oxygen is used up. This causes fish and other forms of oxygen dependent aquatic life to die. Thus
anaerobic bacteria (those that do not require oxygen) begin to break down the wastes. Their anaerobic
respiration produces chemicals that have a foul odour and an unpleasant taste that is harmful to human
health.
A third class of pollutants are inorganic plant nutrients. These are water soluble nitrates and phosphates that
cause excessive growth of algae and other aquatic plants. The excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants
due to added nutrients is called eutrophication.
A fourth class of water pollutants is water soluble inorganic chemicals which are acids, salts and compounds
of toxic metals such as mercury and lead. High levels of these chemicals can make the water unfit to drink,
harm fish and other aquatic life, reduce crop yields and accelerate corrosion of equipment that use this water.
Another cause of water pollution is a variety of organic chemicals, which include oil, gasoline, plastics,
pesticides, cleaning solvents,
detergent and many other chemicals. These are harmful to aquatic life and human health. They get into the
water directly from industrial
activity either from improper handling of the chemicals in industries and more often from improper and
illegal disposal of chemical wastes.
Groundwater pollution: While oil spills are highly visible and often get a lot of media attention, a much
greater threat to human life comes from our groundwater being polluted which is used for drinking and
irrigation. While groundwater is easy to deplete and pollute it gets
renewed very slowly and hence must be used judiciously. Groundwater flows are slow and not turbulent
hence the contaminants are not
effectively diluted and dispersed as compared to surface water.
Moreover, pumping groundwater and treating it is very slow and costly. Hence it is extremely essential to
prevent the pollution of groundwater in the first place. Ground water is polluted due to:

• Urban run-off of untreated or poorly treated waste water and garbage

• Industrial waste storage located above or near aquifers
• Agricultural practices such as the application of large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides, animal
feeding operations, etc. in the rural sector

• Leakage from underground storage tanks containing gasoline and other hazardous substances
• Leachate from landfills
• Poorly designed and inadequately maintained septic tanks
• Mining wastes Severe cases of arsenic poisoning from contaminated groundwater have been reported
from West Bengal in what is known today as the worst case of groundwater pollution.
Control measures for preventing water pollution
While the foremost necessity is prevention, setting up effluent treatment plants and treating waste through
these can reduce the pollution load in the recipient water. The treated effluent can be reused for either
gardening or cooling purposes wherever possible. A few years ago a new technology called the Root Zone
Process has been developed by
Thermax. This system involves running contaminated water through the root zones of specially designed
reed beds. The reeds, which are
essentially wetland plants have the capacity to absorb oxygen from the surrounding air through their
stomatal openings. The oxygen is pushed through the porous stem of the reeds into the hollow roots where
it
enters the root zone and creates conditions suitable for the growth of
numerous bacteria and fungi. These micro-organisms oxidize impurities in the wastewaters, so that the water
which finally comes out is clean.

3. Soil Pollution
Introduction: We can no more manufacture a soil with a tank of
chemicals than we can invent a rain forest or produce a single bird. We may enhance the soil by helping its
processes along, but we can never recreate what we destroy. The soil is a resource for which there is no
substi◻tute. (Environmental historian Donald Worster reminds us that
fertilizers are not a substitute for fertile soil). Soil is a thin covering over the land consisting of a mixture of
minerals, organic material, living
organisms, air and water that together support the growth of plant life.
Several factors contrib◻ute to the formation of soil from the parent material. This includes mechanical
weathering of rocks due to
temperature changes and abra◻sion, wind, moving water, glaciers,
chemical weathering activities and lichens. Climate and time are also important in the development of
soils. Extremely dry or cold climates develop soils very slowly while humid and warm climates
de◻velop
them more rapidly. Under ideal climatic conditions soft parent material may develop into a centimeter of soil
within 15 years. Under poor
climatic conditions a hard parent material may require hundreds of years to develop into soil.
Causes of soil degradation
Erosion : Soil erosion can be defined as the movement of surface litter and topsoil from one place to
another. While erosion is a natural process often caused by wind and flowing water it is greatly accelerated
by
human activities such as farming, construction, overgrazing by
livestock, burn◻ing of grass cover and deforestation. Loss of the topsoil makes a soil less fertile and reduces
its water holding capacity. The
topsoil, which is washed away, also contributes to wa◻ter pollution
clogging lakes, increasing turbidity of the water and also leads to loss of aquatic life. For one inch of topsoil
to be formed it nor◻mally requires 200-1000 years depending upon the climate and soil type. Thus if the
topsoil erodes faster than it is formed the soil becomes a non-renewable resource. Thus it is essential that
proper soil conservation measures are used to minimize the loss of top soil. There are several techniques that
can pro◻tect soil from erosion. Today both water and soil are conserved through integrated treatment
methods. Some of the most commonly
em◻ployed methods include the two types of treat◻ment that are generally used.

• Area treatment which involves treating the land

• Drainage line treatment which involves treating the natural water courses (nalas) Continuous
contour trenches can be used to enhance
infiltration of water reduce the run◻off and check soil erosion. These
are actually shallow trenches dug across the slope of the land and along the contour lines basically for the
purpose of soil and water
conservation.
Excess use of fertilizers: Approximately 25 percent of the world’s crop yield is estimated to be directly
attributed to the use of chemical
fer◻tilizers. The use of chemical fertilizes has in◻creased significantly over the last few decades and is
expected to rise even higher. Fertilizers are very valuable as they replace the soil nutri◻ents used up by
plants. The three primary soil nutrients often in short supply are potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen
compounds. These are commonly referred to as macronutrients.
Problems with pesticide use : Pesticides not only kill the pests but also a large variety of living things
including humans. They may be
persistent or non-persistent. Persistent pesticides once applied are
effective for a long time. However as they do not break down eas◻ily they tend to accumulate in the soil
and in the bodies of animals in the food chain. For example, DDT which was one of the first synthetic
organic insecticide to be used was thought to be the perfect insecticide. During the first ten years of its use
(1942-1952) DDT is es◻timated to have saved about five million lives primarily because of its use to
control disease carrying mosquitoes. However after a period of use
many mosquitoes and insects became tol◻erant of DDT, thus making it lose its effective◻ness. DDT in
temperate regions of the world has a
half life (the amount of time required for half of the chemical to
decompose) of 10 to 15 years. This means that if 100 kilograms of DDT were to be sprayed over an area, 50
kilograms would still be present in
the area 10 to 15 years later. The half-life of DDT varies according to the soil type, temperature, kind of
soil organ◻isms present and other
factors. In tropical parts of the world the half life may be as short as six months. The use of DDT has been
banned in some countries. India still however permits the use of DDT though for purposes of mosquito
control only.
Excess salts and water: Irrigated lands can produce crop yields much higher than those that only use
rainwater. However this has its own set of ill effects. Irrigation water contains dissolved salts and in dry
climates much of the water in the saline solution evaporates leaving its salts such as sodium chloride in
the topsoil. The accumulation of these salts is called salinization, which can stunt plant growth, lower
yields
and eventually kill the crop and ren◻der the land useless for agriculture.
These salts can be flushed out of the soil by using more water. This
practice however increases the cost of crop production and also wastes enormous amounts of water. Flushing
salts can also make the
downstream irrigation water saltier.

4. Marine Pollution
Marine pollution can be defined as the introduction of substances to the marine environment directly or
indirectly by man resulting in adverse effects such as hazards to human health, obstruction of marine
activities and lowering the quality of sea water. While the causes of marine
pollution may be similar to that of general water pollution there are some very specific causes that pollute
marine waters:

• The most obvious inputs of waste is through pipes directly discharging wastes into the sea. Very often
municipal waste and sewage from
residences and hotels in coastal towns are directly discharged into the sea.

• Pesticides and fertilizers from agriculture which are washed off the land by rain, enter water courses
and eventually reach the sea.

• Petroleum and oils washed off from the roads normally enter the sewage system but stormwater
overflows carry these materials into rivers and eventually into the seas.

• Ships carry many toxic substances such as oil, liquefied natural gas,
pesticides, industrial chemicals, etc. in huge quantities sometimes to the capacity of 350,000 tonnes. Ship
accidents and accidental spillages at
sea therefore can be very damaging to the marine environment. Shipping channels in estuaries and at the
entrances to ports often require frequent dredging to keep them open. This dredged material that may
contain heavy metals and other contaminants are often dumped out to
sea.

• Offshore oil exploration and extraction also pollute the seawater to a large extent.
Pollution due to organic wastes
The amount of oxygen dissolved in the water is vital for the plants and animals living in it. Wastes, which
directly or indirectly affect the oxygen concentration, play an important role in determining the quality of the
water. Normally the greatest volume of waste discharged to
watercourses, estuaries and the sea is sewage, which is primarily
organic in nature and is degraded by bacterial activity. Using the oxygen present in the water these wastes are
broken down into stable inorganic compounds.
This process results in the formation of an anoxic zone which is low in
its oxygen content from which most life disappears except for anaerobic bacteria, fungi, yeasts and some
protozoa. This makes the water foul
smelling.
Control measures:
One way of reducing the pollution load on marine waters is through the introduction of sewage treatment
plants. This will reduce the biological oxygen demand (BOD) of the final product before it is discharged to
the receiving waters. Various stages of treatment such as primary, secondary or advanced can be used
depending on the quality of the effluent that is required to be treated.
Pollution due to oil:
Oil pollution of the sea normally attracts the greatest attention because of its visibility. There are several
sources though which the oil can reach the sea. Tanker operations Half the world production of crude oil
which is close to three billion tones a year is transported by sea. After a tanker has unloaded its cargo of oil
it has to take on seawater as ballast for the return journey. This ballast water is stored in the cargo
compartments
that previously contained the oil. During the unloading of the cargo a
certain amount of oil remains clinging to the walls of the container and this may amount to 800 tonnes in a
200,000 tonne tanker. The ballast water thus becomes contaminated with this oil. When a fresh cargo of oil
is to be loaded, these compartments are cleaned with water, which discharges the dirty ballast along with
the oil into the sea.
Two techniques have substantially reduced this oil pollution. In the
load-on-top system, the compartments are cleaned by high pressure jets of water. The oily water is retained
in the compartment until the oil
floats to the top. The water underneath that contains only a little oil is then discharged into the sea and
the oil is transferred to a slop tank. At
the loading terminal, fresh oil is loaded on top of the oil in the tank and hence the name of the technique. In
the second method called ‘crude oil washing’, the clingage is removed by jets of crude oil while the cargo is
being unloaded.
Dry docking : All ships need periodic dry docking for servicing, repairs, cleaning the hull, etc. During this
period when the cargo
compartments are to completely emptied, residual oil finds its way into
the sea. Bilge and fuel oils As ballast tanks take up valuable space,
additional ballast is sometimes carried in empty fuel tanks. While being pumped overboard it carries oil into
the sea. Individually the quantity of oil released may be small but it becomes a considerable amount when
all the shipping operations are taken into consideration.
Tanker accidents: A large number of oil tanker accidents happen every year. Sometimes this can result in
major disasters such as that of the Exxon Valdez described in the section on water pollution. Offshore oil
production Oil that is extracted from the seabed contains some water.
Even after it is passed through oil separators the water that is discharged contains some oil, which adds to
marine pollution. Drilling muds which are pumped down oil wells when it is being drilled normally contain
70 to 80 percent of oil. They are dumped on the seabed beneath the
platform thus heavily contaminating the water. Uncontrolled release of oil from the wells can be catastrophic
events resulting in oil pollution.
Control measures for oil pollution:
Cleaning oil from surface waters and contaminated beaches is a time- consuming labour-intensive process.
The natural process of
emulsification of oil in the water can be accelerated through the use of
chemical dispersants which can be sprayed on the oil. A variety of slick- lickers in which a continuous belt
of absorbent material dips through the oil slick and is passed through rollers to extract the oil have been
designed. Rocks, harbour walls can be cleaned with high◻pressure steam or dispersants after which the
surface must be hosed down.
Effects of marine pollution:
Apart from caus◻ing eutrophication a large amount of organic wastes
can also result in the development of red tides. These are phytoplankton blooms of such intensity that the
area is discolored. Many important
commercially important marine spe◻cies are also killed due to clogging of gills or other structures. When
liquid oil is spilled on the sea it
spreads over the surface of the water to form a thin film called an oil
slick. The rate of spreading and the thickness of the film depends on the sea tem◻perature and the nature of
the oil. Oil slicks damage marine
life to a large extent. Salt marshes, mangrove swamps are likely to trap oil and the plants, which form the
basis for these ecosystems thus suffer. For salt marsh plants, oil slicks can affect the flowering, fruit◻ing and
germination. If liquid oil contaminates a bird’s plumage its water
repellent properties are lost.

5. Noise Pollution
Noise may not seem as harmful as the contami◻nation of air or water but it is a pollution prob◻lem that
affects human health and can
contribute to a general deterioration of envi◻ronmental quality.
Noise is undesirable and unwanted sound. Not all sound is noise. What may be considered as music to one
person may be noise to another. It is not a substance that can accumulate in the environment like most other
pollutants. Sound is measured in a unit called the ‘Decibel’. Decibel
levels of common sounds dB: 0 Threshold of
hearing

10 Rustle of leaves

20 Broadcasting studio 30
Bedroom at night 40 Library

50 Quiet office

60 Conversational speech (at 1m) 70 Average radio

74 Light traffic noise 90 Subway
train

100 Symphony orchestra

110 Rock band

120 Aircraft takeoff 146
Threshold of pain
There are several sources of noise pollution that contribute to both indoor and outdoor noise pollution.
Noise emanating from factories,
vehicles, playing of loudspeakers during various festivals can contribute to outdoor noise pollution while
loudly played radio or music systems, and other electronic gadgets can contribute to indoor noise pollution.
A study conducted by researchers from the New Delhi based National Physical Laboratory show that noise
generated by firecrackers
(presently available in the mar◻ket) is much higher than the prescribed levels. The permitted noise level is
125 decibels, as per the Environment (Protection) (second amendment) Rules, 1999. The differences
between sound and noise is often subjective and a matter of personal opinion.
There are however some very harmful effects caused by exposure to high sound lev◻els. These effects can
range in severity frombeing
extremely annoying to being extremely painful and hazardous.
Effects of noise pollution on physical health
The most direct harmful effect of excessive noise is physical damage to the ear and the tempo◻rary or
permanent hearing loss often called a
temporary threshold shift (TTS). People suffer◻ing from this condition are unable to detect weak sounds.
However hearing ability is usually
recovered within a month of exposure. In Maharashtra people living in close vicinity of Ganesh mandals that
play blaring music for ten days of the Ganesh festival are usually known to suffer from this phenomenon.
Permanent loss, usually called noise induced permanent threshold shift (NIPTS) represents a loss of
hear◻ing ability from which there is no
recovery.

Effects of noise pollution on mental health:

Noise can also cause emotional or psychological effects such as
irritability, anxiety and stress. Lack of concentration and mental fatigue are significant health effects of noise.
It has been observed that the
performance of school children is poor in comprehension tasks when schools are situated in busy areas of a
city and suffer from noise
pollution. As noise interferes with normal auditory communication, it may mask auditory warning signals
and hence increases the rate of
accidents especially in industries. It can also lead to lowered worker efficiency and productivity and higher
accident rates on the job. Thus noise is just more than a mere nuisance or annoyance. It affects the
quality of life. It is thus important to ensure mitigation or control of noise pollution.

6. Thermal Pollution
Sources: The discharge of warm water into a river is usually called a thermal pollution. It occurs when an
industry removes water from a
source, uses the water for cooling purposes and then returns the heated water to its source. Power plants heat
water to convert it into steam, to drive the turbines that generate electricity. For efficient functioning of the
steam turbines, the steam is condensed into water after it leaves the
turbines. This condensation is done by tak◻ing water from a water body to absorb the heat. This heated
water, which is at least 15oC higher than the normal is discharged back into the water body.
Effects: The warmer temperature decreases the solubility of oxygen and increases the metabolism of fish.
This changes the ecological balance of the river. Within certain limits thermal additions can promote the
growth of certain fish and the fish catch may be high in the vicinity of a power plant. However sudden
changes in temperature caused by periodic plant shutdowns both planned and unintentional can change result
in death of these fish that are acclimatized to living in warmer waters.
Control measures: Thermal pollution can be controlled by passing the heated water through a cooling pond
or a cooling tower after it leaves
the condenser. The heat is dissipated into the air and the water can then be discharged into the river or
pumped back to the plant for reuse as
cooling water. There are several ways in which thermal pollution can be reduced. One method is to construct
a large shallow pond. Hot water is
pumped into one end of the pond and cooler water is removed from the other end. The heat gets dissipated
from the pond into the atmo◻sphere. A second method is to use a cooling tower. These structures take up
less land area than the ponds. Here most of the heat transfer occurs through evaporation. Here warm waters
coming from the condenser is sprayed down◻ward over vertical sheets or baffles where the water flows in
thin films. Cool air enters the tower through the water inlet that encircles the base of the tower and rises
upwards causing evaporative cooling.
Nuclear Hazards:

Nuclear energy can be both beneficial and harm◻ful depending on the way in which it is used. We routinely
use X-rays to examine bones for fractures, treat cancer with radiation and diag◻nose diseases with the help
of radioactive iso◻topes. Approximately 17 % of the electrical
energy generated in the world comes from nuclear power plants.
However on the other hand it is impossible to forget the destruction that nuclear bombs caused the cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The
radioactive wastes from nuclear energy have caused serious
envi◻ronmental damage. Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of the atom. The resulting energy can
be used for a variety of purposes. The first controlled fission of an atom was carried out in Germany in 1938.
However, the United States was the first country to develop an atomic bomb which was subsequently
dropped on the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world’s first electricity generating reactor was constructed in the United
States in 1951 and the Soviet Union built its first reactor in 1954.
There were of course immediate fatalities, but the long-term
consequences were devastating. 116,000 people were evacuated of which 24,000 had received high
doses of radiation. Even today many
people suffer from illnesses they feel are related to their exposure to the fallout from Chernobyl. In 1996 ten
years after the accident, it was clear that one of the long-term effects was the increased frequency of thyroid
cancer in children. The degree and the kind of damage from nuclear accidents vary with the kind of
radiation, the amount of radiation, the
duration of exposure and the types of cells irradiated. Radiation can also cause mutations which are changes
in the genetic makeup of the cells.
Mutations can occur in the ovaries or the testes leading to the formation of mutated eggs or sperms which in
turn can lead to abnormal off◻spring. Mutations can also occur in the tissues of the body ad may manifest
themselves as abnormal tissue growths known as cancer. Two common cancers that are linked to increased
radiation exposure are
leukaemia and breast cancer.
POLLUTION CASE STUDIES
A case study of groundwater pollution in India
An example of groundwater pollution caused by excessive extraction is that fluoride contami◻nation.
Fluorisis is not a localized problem. It has spread across 19 states and across a variety of ecological regions
ranging from the Thar desert, the Gangetic plains and the Deccan
plateau. Each of these regions are distinct in terms of rainfall, soil type, groundwater recharge regime,
climatic conditions and hydrology. High fluoride concentration in groundwater is a natural phenomenon in
several countries such as China, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Spain, Holland, Italy and Mexico. Experts claim that
a fluoride belt stretches across the Middle East across Pakistan and India and then into Southeast Asia and
the South of China. According to a report of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water mission, the bedrock
of the Indian peninsula consists of a number of fluoride bearing minerals.
When the bedrock weathers the fluoride leaches into water and the soil. Although the Indian peninsular
bedrock has always been the same, this problem has only surfaced during the last three decades. This is
related to the over extraction of groundwater which has resulted in the tapping of aquifers with high
fluoride concentrations. The beginnings of this
phenomenon can be traced back to the 1970s and the 1980s when there was massive state investment in
rural water development for irrigation
as well as for drinking. Encouraged by state subsidies on diesel and
electricity, people invested in diesel and submersible pumps in a bid to extract ground◻water through
borewells. This policy aggravated the
fluoride problem. Fluoride mainly enters the human body through
drinking water where 96 to 99 percent of it combines with the bones as it has an affinity for calcium
phosphate in the bones. Excess intake of
fluoride can lead to dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis or non-skeletal fluorosis. Dental fluorosis is
characterized by discoloured, blackened, mottled or chalky white teeth. Skeletal fluorosis leads to severe
and permanent bone and joint deformities. Non-skeletal fluorosis leads to gastro-intestinal problems and
neurological dis◻orders. Fluoride can
damage the foetus and adversely affect the IQ of children. Once fluoride is detected in water, the only
solution is to defluorinated it. Various
technologies are available for this process. However the type of
technology to be selected depends upon the fluoride levels in the water and the volume of water to be
deflouridated. None of the Indian
technologies are however fool-proof.
Deflouridation plants and household water treat◻ment kits are stop-gap solutions. A case study of pesticide
pollution in India One of the most
terrifying effects of pesticide contamination of ground water came to
light when pesticide residues were found in bottled water. Between July and December 2002, the Pollution
Monitoring Laboratory of the New Delhi based Center for Science and Environment (CSE) analysed 17
brands of bottled water both packaged drinking water and packaged natural mineral water commonly sold in
areas that fall within the
national capital region of Delhi. Pes◻ticide residues of organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides
which are most commonly used in
India were found in all the samples. Among organochlorines,
gammahexachlorocyclohexane (lindane) and DDT were prevalent while among organophosphorus
pesticides, Malathion and Chlorpyrifos were most common. All these were present above permissible limits
specified by the European Economic Community, which is the norm, used all over Europe. One may
wonder as to how these pesticide residues get
into bottled water that is manufactured by several big companies. This can be traced to several facts. There is
no regulation that the bottled
water industry must be located in ‘clean’ zones. Currently the
manufacturing plants of most brands are situated in the dirtiest industrial estates or in the midst of
agricultural fields. Most companies use bore
wells to pump out water from the ground from depths varying from 24m to even 152 m below the ground.
The raw water samples collected from the plants also reveled the presence of pesticide residues. This clearly
indicated that the source of pesti◻cide residues in the polluted
groundwater are used to manufacture the bottled water. This is despite
the fact that all bottled water plants use a range of purification methods.
Thus obviously the fault lies in the treatment methods used. These
plants use the membrane technology where the water is filtered using membranes with ultra-small pores to
remove fine suspended solids and all bacteria and protozoa and even viruses. While nanofiltration can
remove insec◻ticides and herbicides it is expensive and thus rarely used. Most industries also use an
activated charcoal adsorption process, which is effective in removing organic pesticides but not heavy
metals.
To remove pesticides the plants use re◻verse osmosis and granular
activated charcoal methods. Thus even though manufacturers claim to use these process the presence of
pes◻ticide residues points to the fact that either manufacturers do not use the treatment pro◻cess
effectively or only treat a part of the raw water. The low concentration of pesticide residues in bottled
water do not cause acute or immediate effect.
However repeated exposure even to ex◻tremely miniscule amounts can result in chronic effects like cancer,
liver and kidney damage, disorders of the nervous system, damage to the immune system and birth defects.
Similarly six months after CSE reported pesti◻cide residues in bottled water it also found these pesticides in
popular cold drink brands sold
across the country. This is because the main in◻gredient in a cold drink or a carbonated non◻alcoholic
beverage is water and there are no
standards specified for water to be used in these beverages in India.
There were no standards for bottled water in India till on September 29,
2000 the Union Min◻istry of Health and Family Welfare issued a
noti◻fication (no759(E)) amending the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, 1954. The BIS (Bureau of
Indian Standards) certification mark
became mandatory for bottled water from March 29, 2001. However the parameters for pesticide residues
remained ambiguous. Following the report published by CSE in Down to Earth, Vol 11, no. 18, a series of
Committees were estab◻lished and eventually on 18th July 2003
amend◻ments were made in the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules stating that pesticide residues
considered individually should not exceed 0.0001mg.lit and the total pesticide residues will not be more than
0.0005 mg/lit that the analy◻sis shall be conducted by using
internationally established test methods meeting the residue limits
specified herein. This notification came into force from January 1, 2004.
A case study of river pollution in India
Almost all the rivers in India are polluted. The causes of pollution may also be more or less simi◻lar. This
is a case study of the river Damodar as reported in Down to Earth. The 563 km long Damodar river
originates near Chandwa village in the Chhotanagpur hills in Bihar’s Palamau district. It flows through one
of the richest min◻eral belts in the world before draining into the Hooghly, about 50 km south of
Calcutta. In◻dian industry depends heavily on this region as 60 percent of the coal consumed in our country
comes from the Chhotanagpur belt.
Coal based industries of all types dot the area because of locational advantages and the easy availability of
water and power. In addition
various indus◻tries such as the steel, cement, fertilizer and explosive plants are also located here. The river
Damodar is polluted with
minerals, mine rejects and toxic effluents. Both its water and its sand are infested by coal dust and waste
from these industries. There are seven
thermal power plants in the Damodar valley. The states of Bihar and West Bengal depend almost entirely on
this area for their power
requirements. These power plants not only consume a lot of water but
also dump ash in the valley. Mining As underground mines cannot keep pace with the rising demand, 60
percent of the coal ex◻tracted from the
area comes from open cast mines which are responsible for serious land degradation.
The disposal of rock and soil ex◻tracted along with the coal only adds to the problem. Industries The
industries in the area do not have proper effluent treatment plants. Among the big coal based industries the
washeries account for the bulk of the pollution in terms of the total sus◻pended solids (TSS), oil and grease.
About 20 percent of the coal handled goes out in the form of slurry which is deposited in the ponds
out◻side. After the slurry settles, coalfine (the sedi◻ment) is collected manually. Due to inadequate retrieval
methods very often the water
dis◻charges into the river from the pond carries high amounts of fine coal particles and oil thus pol◻luting
the river.
The other major coal based pol◻luters are the coke oven plants that heat coal to temperatures as high as
1100o C in the absence of oxygen to
prepare it for use in blast furnaces and foundries. The volatile
components in the coal are removed, leaving hot, non-volatile coke in the oven which is washed with huge
quanti◻ties of water. This water that contains oil and suspended particles is then discharged into the
river. Flyash from the thermal power plants Only one of the thermal power plants has an electrostatic
precipitator to collect the fly ash while the other just make do with mechanical dust collectors. As most of
these plants are lo◻cated on the banks of the river the fly ash even◻tually finds its way into the river. The
bottom ash from the boilers is mixed with water to form a slurry which is then drained into ash ponds. Most
of the ponds are full and in several cases the drainage pipes are choked.
The slurry is therefore directly discharged into the river. Effects The
river and its tributaries are the largest source of drinking water for the huge population that lives in the
valley.
On April 2, 1990 about 200,000 litres of furnace oil spilled into the river from the Bokaro Steel Plant. This
oil traveled 150 km downstream to Durgapur. For a week after the incident five million people drank
contaminated water in which the oil levels were 40 to 80 times higher
than the permissible value of 0.03 mg/l. The Damodar Action Plan an end-of-the pipe pollution treatment
scheme seeks to tackle ef◻fluents.
One viable option could be to switch to less polluting industries and
cleaner technology. This would need strong Government initiative and also a mass movement by people.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT: FLOODS, EARTHQUAKES, CYCLONES, LANDSLIDES
The Indian subcontinent is very vulnerable to droughts, floods,
cyclones, earthquakes, land◻slides, avalanches and forest fires. Among the 36 states and Union territories
in the country, 22 are prone to
disasters. Among all the disasters that occur in the coun◻try, floods are the most frequently occurring
natural disasters, due to the irregularities of the Indian monsoon. About 75 percent of the an◻nual rainfall
in
India is concentrated in three to four months of the monsoon season. As a re◻sult there is a very heavy
discharge from the rivers during this period causing widespread floods. Approximately 40 million hectares
of land in the country has been identified as being prone to floods. Major floods are mainly caused in the
Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin
which carries 60 percent of the total river flow of our coun◻try. India has a long coastline of 5700 kms,
which is exposed to tropical cyclones arising in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian sea. The Indian Ocean is
one of the six major cyclone prone regions of the world.
In India, cyclones occur usually between April and May and also
between October and December. The eastern coastline is more prone to cyclones as it is hit by about 80
percent of the total cyclones generated in the region. Droughts are a perennial feature in some states of
India.
Sixteen percent of the country’s total area is drought prone. Drought is a significant environmental problem
as it is caused by a lower than
average rainfall over a long period of time. Most of the drought prone
areas identified by the Government lie in the arid and semi-arid areas of the country. Earthquakes are
considered to be one of the most
destructive natural hazards.
Mitigation means lessening the negative impact of the natural hazards. It is defined as sustained action
taken to reduce long term vulnerability of human life and property to natural hazards. While the
preparatory,
response and the recovery phases of emergency management relate to specific events, mitigation
activities have the potential to produce
repetitive benefits over time. Certain guidelines if followed can result in an effective mitigation program.

• Pre-disaster mitigation can help in ensuring faster recovery from the impacts of disasters.
• Mitigation measures must ensure protection of the natural and cultural assets of the community.
• Hazard reduction methods must take into account the various hazards faced by the affected community
and their desires and priorities.

• Any mitigation program must also ensure effective partnership between Government,
scientific, private sector, NGOs and the
community.
Floods and mitigation measures
The lower plain regions of India in particular Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal in respect of the
Ganga and Assam in respect of the
Brahmaputra suffer from the adverse effects of floods every year. The Ganga Brahmaputra basin
receives maximum run off within the three monsoon months. Based on hydrological studies carried out,
it is
estimated that only 18 percent of the rainwater can be stored in dams, reservoirs, etc. while 82 percent of
the rainwater flows through rivers ultimately into the sea.
Floods are therefore a recurring phenomenon in our country. Floods can be caused by natural, ecological or
anthropogenic factors either
individually or as a combined result. Anthropogenic activities such as deforestation and shifting cultivation
can also contribute to floods.
Forests on the hill slopes normally exert a sponge effect soaking up the abundant rainfall and storing it
before releasing it in small amounts over
a period of time. However when the forests are cleared the rivers turn muddy and swollen during the wet
monsoon season and run dry later on in the year during the drier periods. An increasing proportion of the
rainfall is therefore released shortly after precipitation in the form of floods. The mitigation measures for
floods include both structural and non-structural measures.
The structural measures include:

• Reservoirs for impounding monsoon flows to be released in a regulated manner after the
peak flood flow passes.

• Prevention of over-bank spilling by the construction of embankments and floodwalls.

• Improvement of flow conditions in the channel and anti-erosion measures.
• Improved drainage.
The non-structural measures include:

• Flood plain management such as Flood Plain Zoning and Flood Proofing including Disaster
Preparedness

• Maintaining wetlands
• Flood forecasting and warning services
• Disaster relief, flood fighting and public health measures
• Flood insurance Earthquakes and mitigation measures It has been
several years since the earthquake struck Gujarat on January 26, 2001.
Earthquakes and mitigation measures
It has been several years since the earthquake struck Gujarat on January 26, 2001. In these years
rehabilitation has been done on a massive scale.
Gujarat’s experience has taught that build◻ing shelters with less
vulnerability to earthquakes should also take into consideration the
specific needs of the victims instead of being a top down approach. The role of NGOs in this is very
im◻portant. Their strength lies in their
manpower, informality in operations and valuable human resources. Their ability to reach out to the
com◻munity and sensitivity to local traditions is an asset in such situations. A report on the various
initiatives in Gujarat reported in Down to Earth (Vol 12, No. 2) by Mihir Bhatt throws light on the various
developments that have taken place
after the earthquake. According to the report the initiatives of the
International Fund forAgriculture Development in supporting the Self Employed Women’s Association and
the Government’s initiative in
community based live◻lihood security for earthquakes and drought vic◻tims have the potential to shape
future disaster response and
development projects in Gujarat. Similarly the Gujarat Woman’s
Economic Devel◻opment Corporation initiative in reviving women’s businesses after the calamity also
pro◻vides many practical lessons in regenerating lo◻cal economies and artisan markets. This project
supported by the Asian Development Bank, puts premium on
investments in income generation and asset building after a natural disaster. The farming kits provided to
affected farmers by Gujarat’s
agriculture ministry is also showing promising results after two seasons. The author however states that
coordination between Gov◻ernment,
local NGOs and local community ini◻tiatives both for rescue as well as rehabilitation needs to be
strengthened as this can cause de◻lays,
overlaps and waste of relief material and efforts.
Cyclones and mitigation measures
Tropical cyclones are the worst natural hazards in the tropics. They are large revolving vortices in the
atmosphere extending horizontally from
150 to1000 km and vertically from the surface to 12 to 14 km. These are intense low-pressure areas. Strong
winds spiraling anti clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere blow around the cyclone center at the lower
level. At the higher levels the sense of rotation is just opposite to that at the lower level. They generally
move 300 to 5000 km per day over the
ocean. While moving over the ocean they pick up energy from the warm water of the ocean and some of
them grow into a devastating intensity.
On an average about 5 to 6 tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal
and the Arabian Sea every year out of which 2 to 3 may be severe. More cy◻clones form in the Bay of
Bengal than in the Arabian Sea. The main dangers from cyclones are very strong winds, torrential rains and
high
storm tides. Most of the causalities are caused by coastal inundation by storm tides. This is of◻ten followed
by heavy rainfall and floods. Storm surges cause the greatest destruction. Although one cannot control
cyclones, the ef◻fects of cyclones can be mitigated through ef◻fective and efficient mitigation policies and
strategies.
Installation of early warning systems: Such sys◻tems fitted along the coastlines can greatly as◻sist
forecasting techniques thus helping in early evacuation of people in the storm surge areas.
Developing communication infrastructure: Com◻munication plays a vital role in cyclone disaster mitigation
and yet this is one of the first ser◻vices that gets disrupted during cyclones. Ama◻teur Radio has today
emerged as a second line unconventional communications
systems and is an important tool for disaster mitigation. Developing
shelter belts: Shelter belts with plan◻tations of trees can act as effective wind and tide breakers. Apart from
acting as effective windbreakers and protecting soil crops from being damaged they prevent soil erosion.
Developing community cyclone shelters: Cyclone shelters at strategic locations can help minimiz◻ing
the loss of human life. In the normal course these shelters can be used as public utility build◻ings.
Construction of permanent houses: There is a need to build
appropriately designed concrete houses that can withstand high winds and tidal waves.
Training and education: Public awareness pro◻grams that inform the population about their response to
cyclone warnings and preparedness can go a long way in reducing causalities.
Landslides and mitigation measures
Landslides are recurring phenomena in the Himalayan region. In the recent years however intensive
construction activity and the
destabilizing forces of nature have aggravated the problem. Landslides occur as a result of changes on a
slope, sudden or gradual, either in its composition, structure, hydrology or vegetation. The changes can be
due to geology, climate, weathering, land-use and earthquakes. A significant reduction in the hazards caused
by landslides can be
achieved by preventing the exposure of population and facilities to
landslides and by physically controlling the landslides. Developmental programs that involve modification of
the topography, exploitation of natural resources and change in the balance load on the ground should not be
permitted. Some critical measures that could be undertaken to
prevent further landslides are drainage measures, erosion control
measures such a bamboo check dams, terracing, jute and coir netting and rockfall control measures
such as grass plantation, vegetated dry masonry wall, retaining wall and most importantly preventing
deforestation and improving afforestation.
UNIT 3: ENVIRONMENT RELATED SOCIAL ISSUES
Until two decades ago the world looked at economic status alone as a
measure of human development. Thus, countries that were economically well developed and where people
were relatively richer were called
advanced nations while the rest where poverty was widespread and were economically backward were called
developing countries. Most
countries of North America and Europe which had become
industrialized at an earlier stage have become economically more
advanced. They not only exploited their own natural resources rapidly
but also used the natural resources of developing countries to grow even larger economies. Thus, the way
development progressed, the rich countries got richer while the poor nations got poorer. However, even
the developed world has begun to realise that their lives were being
seriously affected by the environmental consequences of development
based on economic growth alone. This form of development did not add to the quality of life as the
environmental conditions had begun to
deteriorate.
URBAN PROBLEMS RELATED TO ENERGY
Urban centers use enormous quantities of en◻ergy. In the past, urban housing required rela◻tively smaller
amounts of energy than we use at present. Traditional housing in India required very little temperature
adjustments as the ma◻terials used, such as wood and bricks handled temperature changes better than the
current concrete, glass and steel of ultra modern build◻ings. Embodied energy Materials like iron, glass,
aluminium, steel, cement, marble and burnt bricks, which are used in urban housing, are very energy
in◻tensive. The process of extraction,
refine◻ment, fabrication and delivery are all energy consuming and add to pollution of earth, air and water.
This energy consumed in the
pro◻cess is called embodied energy. Until the 1950s many urban
kitchens were based on fuelwood or charcoal. This was possible and
practical when homes had chimneys and kitch◻ens were isolated from
the rest of the house. Smoke became a problem once this changed to apartment blocks. Kerosene thus
became a popular urban fuel. This
changed to electrical energy and increasingly to natural gas by the 1970s in most parts of urban India. Urban
centers in hot climates need energy for cooling. The early systems of fans changed into air-conditioning,
which consumes enormous quantities of energy. New buildings in our
coun◻try have taken to using large areas covered by glass. While in
cold climates this uses the green house effect to trap the warmth of the sun in◻side, in our hot climate this
adds several degrees to the
temperature inside. Thus it requires even more energy to run large
central air condition◻ing units. High rise buildings in urban centers also depend on energy to operate lifts and
an enormous number of lights.
WATER CONSERVATION, RAINWATER HARVESTING, WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
Water Conservation: Conserving water has become a prime
environ◻mental concern. Clean water is becoming in◻creasingly scarce globally. With deforestation surface
runoff increases and the sub soil
water table drops as water has no time to seep slowly into the ground once vegetation is cleared. As many
areas depend on wells, it has
become necessary to go on making deeper and deeper wells. This adds to the cost and further depletes
underground stores of water. This could take years to recharge even if the present rate of extraction is
reduced which seems hardly pos◻sible in most situations. As deforestation and desertification spreads due
to extensive changes in land use the once
pe◻rennial rivers are becoming increasingly seasonal. In many areas the small streams run dry soon after the
monsoon as the water table drops
fur◻ther and further below the surface. To this is added serious
problems caused by rapid surface flow of water during the rains, which leads to extensive floods with loss
of life and property. When we waste water, we do not realise that it is affecting the lives of all of us in so
many dif◻ferent ways. Water has to be equitably and fairly distributed
so that household use, agriculture and industry all get a share of the
water. It’s over use and misuse due to various activities that waste water or cause pollution has led to a
seri◻ous shortage of potable drinking
water. Thus water conservation is linked closely with overall human well being. Traditional systems of
collecting water and us◻ing it
optimally have been used in India for many generations. These have been forgotten in the recent past.
CASE STUDY
Pani Panchayat – Pune District, Maharashtra
Mahur village in Pune District of Maharashtra is situated in a drought prone area. People were not able to grow a good
crop in most years. Clean drinking water was also scarce. Vilasrao Salunkhe initiated a movement known as Pani
Panchayat, to conserve wa ter in this drought prone area. Watershed development was initiated on a barren and
uncultivated piece of land belonging to a temple. Conservation of soil and water har vesting through a comprehensive
micro watershed management program gradually led to a surplus of water. Out of the 16 hect ares of land in the village,
9.6 hectares were brought under irrigation, 2.4 hectares was afforested and 4 hectares was converted into percolation
tanks. Wells and field bunds were built. While 200 quintals of grains were pro duced on 24 acres of Salunkhe’s land, 40
acres in the same area yielded only 10 quin tals. This made other villagers follow suit.
The area rapidly turned green and productive. Chapter6.p65 169 4/9/2004, 5:21
PM 170 Environmental Studies for Undergraduate Courses 6.3.2 Rain water Harvesting As our world faces serious water
shortages, ev ery drop of water we can use efficiently becomes of great value. One method is to manage rain water in
such a way that it is used at the source. If as much water as possible is collected and stored this can be used after the
rainy season is over. In many parts of the world especially in very dry areas this has been traditionally prac
ticed. However the stored water has to be kept pollution free and clean so that it can be used as drinking water. Stored
water can grow algae and zooplankton (microscopic animals). This can be pathogenic and cause infections. Thus keep
ing the water uncontaminated is of great im portance.
Current technologies of rainwater harvesting require that all roof and terrace water passes down into a covered tank
where it can be stored for use after the monsoon. This is most advan tageous in arid areas where clean water is very
scarce. However there are practical difficulties such as constructing large storage tanks which are expensive.
CASE STUDY
Mewar, Rajasthan
The Mewar region of Rajasthan has a rich legacy of traditional water harvesting systems to share the available water for
cultivation. There are various types of rainwater harvest ing systems. Medhbandi: This is a stone embankment built on
a hill slope to help create a level field for cultivation. It controls erosion and conserves moisture. Naada/bandha: These
are stone check dams across streams or gullies that are constructed to capture runoff on a stretch of fertile land that is
submerged in water during the mon soon. The land not only becomes more fertile after trapping silt, but also retains
substantial quantities of water in the soil. These dams are constructed in phases over several years.
The height is slowly increased up to the right height of the check dam which determines the size of the naada. Hembar:
These are small temporary dams con structed with stones, twigs and mud over a seasonal stream when water flows in
it is re duced to a point that it cannot be taken di rectly to the fields for irrigation. Chak: Chak is a big plot of land, usually
a charnot or village pasture land, enclosed by a stone boundary wall called kot. Tree planta tions, seeding of grass for
fodder, contour bunds with trenches and loose stone check dams are developed in the chak. The chak is used for
fodder and fuel wood. It reduces soil erosion and enhances recharge of ground water. Talab: The Mewar region is
well-known for its built reservoirs (talabs). Udaipur City is fa mous for its large number of talabs, and is called the
lake city. A small
reservoir of less than five bighas is called talai, a medium sized lake is called
bandh or talab and a bigger lake is called sagar or samand. Saza kuva: This is an open dug well which has several
owners. In Mewari language, saza means partner. This is an important method for irrigation in the Aravalli hills. About
70,000 wells in the Udaipur District provide water for 80% of the area under irrigation and provide water for their owners.
Watershed Management: Rivers originate in streams that flow down mountains and hill slopes. A group of
small streams flow down hillsides to meet larger streams in the valley which forms the tributar◻ies of
major rivers. The management of a single unit of land with its water
drainage system is called watershed management. It is a technique that has several components. This
includes soil and water management and developing veg◻etative cover. The natural drainage pattern of a
watershed unit if managed appropriately can bring about local
prosperity by a year round abundance of water that improves the quality of human life in the area. As it
provides water throughout the year, this
improves health in the community, as clean water becomes available. Watershed manage◻ment enhances the
growth of agricultural crops and even makes it possible to grow more than one crop in a year in dry
areas. Watershed management begins by taking con◻trol over a
degraded site through local partici◻pation. People must appreciate the need to improve the availability of
water both in quan◻tity and quality for their own area.
Once this is adequately demonstrated, the community be◻gins to understand the project, people begin to
work together in the activities that lead to good watershed management. The first technical step is to take
appropriate soil conservation measures. This is done by
con◻structing a series of long trenches and mounds along contours of the hill to hold the rainwater and
allow it to percolate into the ground. This ensures that underground stores of water are fully recharged.
This is enhanced by allowing grasses and shrubs to grow and by planting
trees (mainly local species) which hold the soil and prevents it from being washed away in the monsoon.
Local grass cover can however only increase if free grazing of domestic animals is prevented by stall
feeding. The next measure is to make ‘nala’ plugs in the streams so that the water is held in the stream and
does not rush down the hillside. In
selected sites, several small check dams are built which together hold
back larger amounts of water. All these measures constitute sound watershed management. It
improves the water table and keeps the streams and nalas flowing through◻out the year.
CLIMATE CHANGE, GLOBAL WARMING, ACID RAIN,
OZONE LAYER DEPLETION, NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS AND HOLOCAUST
Climate change: The average temperature in many regions has been increasing in recent decades. The global
average surface temperature
has increased by 0.6° + 0.2° C over the last century. Globally, 1998 was the warmest year and the 1990s the
warmest decade on record. Many
countries have experienced increases in rainfall, particularly in the
countries situated in the mid to high lati◻tudes. In some regions, such as parts of Asia and Africa, the
frequency and intensity of droughts have been observed to increase in recent de◻cades. Episodes of El
Niño, which creates great storms, have been more frequent, persistent and
intense since mid-1970s compared with the pre◻vious 100 years. All these are signs that the earth is sick. Its
climate is changing, making it
more difficult for mankind to survive. The earth is los◻ing its ability to balance itself due to the imbalances
created by human activities.
Projections of future climate change are derived from a series of
experiments made by computer based global climate models. These are worked out on estimates of aspects
such as future popu◻lation growth and energy use. Climatologists of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) have reviewed the results of several
ex◻periments in order to estimate changes in cli◻mate in the course of this century. These studies have
shown that in the near future, the global mean surface temperature will rise by 1.4° to 5.8°C. Warming will
be
greatest over land ar◻eas, and at high latitudes. The projected rate of warming is greater than has occurred in
the last 10,000 years. The
frequency of weather ex◻tremes is likely to increase leading to floods or drought. There will be fewer cold
spells but more heat waves. The
frequency and intensity of El Niño is likely to increase. Global mean sea
level is projected to rise by 9 to 88 cm by the year 2100. More than half of the world’s population now lives
within 60km of the sea. They are
likely to be seriously impacted by an ingress of salt water and by the rising sea. Some of the most vulnerable
regions are the Nile delta in Egypt, the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, and many small
islands including the Marshall Islands and the Maldives, (WHO, 2001).
Human societies will be seriously affected by extremes of climate such as droughts and floods. A changing
climate would bring about changes in the frequency and/or intensity of these extremes. This is a major
concern for human health. To a large extent, public health depends on safe drinking water, sufficient food,
secure shelter, and good social
conditions. All these factors are affected by climate change. Fresh water supplies may be seriously affected,
reducing the availability of clean
water for drinking and washing during drought as well as floods. Water can be contaminated and sewage
systems may be damaged. The risk of spread of infectious diseases such as diarrhoeal diseases will increase.
Food production will be seriously reduced in vulnerable regions directly and also indirectly through an
increase in pests and plant or animal
diseases.
The local reduction in food production would lead to starvation and mal◻nutrition with long-term health
consequences, especially for
children. Food and water short◻ages may lead to conflicts in vulnerable regions, with serious implications for
public health. Climate change
related impacts on human health could lead to displacement of a large number of people, creating
environmental refugees and lead to further health issues. Changes in climate may affect the distribution
of vector species (e.g. mosquitoes) which in turn will increase the spread of
disease, such as malaria and filariasis, to new areas which lack a strong public health infrastructure.
Global warming: About 75% of the solar energy reaching the Earth is absorbed on the earth’s surface which
increases its temperature. The rest of the heat radiates back to the atmosphere. Some of the heat is trapped
by greenhouse gases, mostly carbon dioxide. As carbon dioxide is
released by various human activities, it is rapidly increasing. This is causing global warming. The average
surface temperature is about
15°C. This is about 33°C higher than it would be in the absence of the
greenhouse effect. Without such gases most of the Earth’s surface would be frozen with a mean air
temperature of -18°C. Human activities during the last few decades of industrialisation and population
growth
have polluted the atmosphere to the extent that it has begun to seriously affect the climate. Carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere has increased by 31% since pre-industrial times, causing more heat to be trapped in the lower
atmosphere.
Global warming is accelerating faster than what climatologists had calculated a few years ago. In 1995, the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change predict that global warming would rise temperatures by
3.5 to 10 degrees Centigrade during the 21st century, if the present
trends continue. It is now believed that this could be much greater. This would lead to not only temperature
changes but in the amount of
rainfall. India may see great annual fluctuations in rainfall leading to floods and drought.
Acid rain:
When fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are burned, chemicals like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen
oxides are produced. These chemicals
react with water and other chemicals in the air to form sulfuric acid, nitric acid and other harm◻ful
pollutants like sulfates and nitrates.
These acid pollutants spread upwards into the atmo◻sphere, and are
carried by air currents, to finally return to the ground in the form of acid rain, fog or snow. The corrosive
nature of acid rain causes many forms of environmental damage. Acid pollutants also occur as dry particles
and gases, which when washed from the ground by rain, add to the acids in the rain to form a more corrosive
solution. This is called acid
deposition. Damage from acid rain is widespread in North America,
Europe, Japan, China and Southeast Asia. In the US coal burning power
plants con◻tribute to about 70% of sulfur dioxide. In Canada oil
refining, metal smelting and other industrial activities account for 61% of sulfur dioxide pollution. Motor
vehicle exhaust fumes are the main source of nitrogen oxides. The acids in acid rain chemically react with
any object they come in contact with. Acids react with other chemicals by giving up hydrogen atoms.
Effects: Acid rain is known to cause widespread environmental damage.
1. Acid rain dissolves and washes away nutri◻ents in the soil which are needed by plants. It can also dissolve
naturally occurring toxic
substances like aluminium and mercury, freeing them to pollute water or poison plants.
Acid rain indirectly affects plants by remov◻ing nutrients from the soil in which they grow. It affects trees
more directly by cre◻ating holes in the waxy coating of leaves, causing brown dead spots which affect the
plant’s photosynthesis. Such trees are also more vulnerable to insect
infestations, drought and cold. Spruce and fir forests at higher elevations seem to be most at risk. Farm crops
are less affected by acid rain than
forests. 3. Acid rain that falls or flows as ground wa◻ter to reach rivers, lakes and wetlands, causes the water
in them to become acidic. This
affects plant and animal life in aquatic ecosystems. 4. Acid rain also has far reaching effects on wildlife. By
adversely affecting one species, the entire food chain is disrupted, ultimately endangering the entire
ecosystem. Differ◻ent aquatic species can tolerate different levels of acidity. For instance clams and mayflies
have a high mortality when water has a pH of 6.0, while frogs can tolerate more acidic water,
although with the de◻cline in supply of mayflies, frog populations may also decline.
Acid rain and dry acid deposition damages buildings, automobiles, and other structures made of stone or
metal. The acid corrodes the materials causing extensive damage and ruins historic buildings. For instance
the Parthenon in Greece and the Taj Mahal in India have been affected by acid rain. 6. Although surface
water polluted by acid rain does not
directly harm people, the toxic sub◻stances leached from soil can
pollute water supply. Fish caught in these waters may be harmful for human consumption. Acid, along with
other chemicals in the air,
pro◻duces urban smog, which causes respira◻tory problems.
Solutions: The best way to stop the formation of acid rain is to reduce the emissions of sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides into the
atmo◻sphere. This can be achieved by using less en◻ergy from fossil fuels in power plants, vehicles and
industry. Switching to cleaner
burning fu◻els is also a way out. For instance using natural gas which is cleaner than coal, using coal with
lower sulfur content, and developing more effi◻cient vehicles. If the pollutants have already been formed by
burning fossil fuels, they can be pre◻vented from entering the
atmosphere by using scrubbers in smokestacks in industry. These spray a mixture of water and limestone
into the pol◻luting gases, recapturing the sulfur. In catalytic converters, the gases are passed over metal
coated beads that convert harmful chemi◻cals into less harmful ones. These
are used in cars to reduce the effects of exhaust fumes on the atmosphere.
Ozone layer depletion:
Ozone is formed by the action of sunlight on oxygen. It forms a layer 20 to 50kms above the surface of the
earth. This action takes place
naturally in the atmosphere, but is very slow. Ozone is a highly poisonous gas with a strong odour. It is a
form of oxygen that has three at◻oms in each molecule. It is considered a pollut◻ant at ground level and
constitutes a health hazard by causing respiratory ailments like
asthma and bronchitis. It also causes harm to vegetation and leads to a deterioration of cer◻tain materials
like plastic and rubber. Ozone in the
upper atmosphere however, is vital to all life as it protects the earth from the sun’s harm◻ful ultraviolet
radiation.
The ozone layer in the upper atmosphere absorbs the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, preventing it from reaching
the earth’s surface. This layer in the atmosphere protects life on earth from the dangerous UV radiation
from the sun. In the 1970s, scientists discovered that chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, which
were used as refrigerants and
aerosol spray propellants, posed a threat to the ozone layer. The CFC molecules are virtually indestructible
until they reach the stratosphere, where UV radiation breaks them down to release chlorine atoms. The
chlorine atoms react with ozone molecules which break down into oxygen molecules, which do not absorb
UV radiations. Since the early 1980s, scientists detected a thinning of the ozone layer in the
atmosphere above Antarctica. This phenomenon is now being detected in other places as well including
Australia. Although the use of CFCs has been reduced and now banned in most countries, other chemicals
and industrial compounds such as bromine, halocarbons and nitrous
oxides from fertilizers may also attack the ozone layer. The destruction of the ozone layer is seen to cause
increased cases of skin cancer and
cataracts.
Nuclear holocaust:
The use of nuclear energy in war has had devastating effects on man and earth. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki
incident during World War II, the only use of nuclear power in war in history, is one of the worst disasters in
history. In 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs in Japan over the towns of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. These two atomic bombs
killed thousands of people, left many thousands injured and devastated everything for miles around. The
effects of the radiation from these
nuclear bombs can still be seen today in the form of cancer and genetic mutations in the affected children and
survivors of the incident.
CONSUMERISM AND WASTE PRODUCTS
Modern societies that are based on using large amounts of goods,
especially those that are manufactured for one time use, are extremely wasteful. The increasing consumption
of natural resources has lead to serious environmental problems around the world. Current consumption
patterns are depleting non-renewable resources, poisoning and
degrading ecosystems, and altering the natural processes on which life
depends. The present pattern of consumption, especially in affluent societies, is mainly responsible for the
high level of utilization of
resources. People in the industrialized countries make up 20% of the world population but consume 80% of
the world’s resources and
produce 80% of wastes. This is due to a pattern of economic
development that ensures that people go on consuming even more than they actually need. India is rapidly
moving into this unsustainable
pattern of economic growth and development. The rich in such a society get richer often at the cost of the
poor whose lives are not improved by
the process of development. It is seen that today’s consumption patterns are depleting natural resources at a
rapid rate and widening the
inequalities in consumption in different societies.
Consumerism causes wasteful use of energy and material far beyond
that needed for everyday living at a comfortable level. Money is not the only way to measure the cost of an
item that we use. When one adds up all the raw material and energy that goes into the manufacture of goods
or the services provided by nature that one uses during a day’s activities, the toll on the environment is large.
When this cost is multiplied over a lifespan, the amount is staggering. If one considered the overutilisation in
each family, city or a country, the
impacts are incredibly high. For example: two hundred billion cans,
bottles, plastic cartons and paper cups, are thrown away each year in the “developed” world. “Disposable”
items greatly increase this waste.
Rather than compete on quality or reliability, many industrial consumer products are made for one-time use.
Buying quality products that are
warranteed against failure or wearing out, learning about the raw
materials that things are made of, and an appreciation of their origin from nature’s storehouse, as well as
knowing the conditions of the
workers that make them, are some ways of resisting consumerism and decreasing waste.
The problems of waste management in the urban and rural sectors are different. Rural communities that were
smaller, once had a limited
amount of waste which was recycled as the communities used them effectively. With the advent of an
industrial civilization the highly
complex technological processes for production of goods has rapidly increased problems due to inadequate
waste disposal. This creates a heavy burden on natural resources, degrades the environment and
creates health hazards.
With the rapid increase in population, the amount of waste in terms of quantity and quality has increased
waste management pressures many fold in recent years. If the high quantities of waste generated continues,
mankind will be drowned under heaps of garbage, and streams of
sewage. His health will be affected by dangerous industrial effluents, and he will be smothered by clouds of
smoke and unhealthy gases.
Human civilisation will run out of resources, preventing further
development. The increasing demands of consumption on the finite
resources of the planet, increasing level of environmental pollution, and the problems of waste disposal must
be changed to the care◻ful
utilization of resources, recovery of used material by waste recycling. Therefore reuse of goods and waste
utilization should become a part of the production -consumption cycle.
Utilizing various forms of waste must be made a part of the planning and development process. Current
patters in the industrial sector have
led to the disposal of waste in a careless uneconomical manner. Burning or dumping wastes into streams and
oceans, or creating more landfills
damages the environment. For example it is estimated that the per capita production of domestic waste is
many times higher in a developed
country when compared to a developing country. Unfortunately, many developing countries are now working
out similar wasteful trends through development, but do not have the same economic potential to handle the
waste this new unsustainable strategy produces. Large
quantities of solid, liquid and gaseous waste is produced by urban
industrial communities in the form of plastic, paper, leather, tin cans, bottles, mineral refuse, and pathological
waste from hospitals.
THE ENVIRONMENT (PROTECTION) ACT
The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 not only has important
constitutional implications but also an international background. The
spirit of the proclamation adopted by the United Nations Conference on Human Environment which took
place in Stockholm in June 1972, was implemented by the Government of India by creating this Act.
Although there were several existing laws that dealt directly or indirectly with
environmental issues it was necessary to have a general legislation for environmental protection because the
existing laws focused on very
specific types of pollution, or specific categories of hazardous
substances or were indirectly related to the environment through laws
that control landuse, protect our National Parks and Sanctuaries and our wildlife.
However there were no overarching legislation and certain areas of
environmental hazards were not covered. There were also gaps in areas that were potential environmental
hazards and there were several
inadequate linkages in handling matters of industrial and environmental safety. This was essentially related
to the multiplicity of regulatory
agencies. Thus there was a need for an authority which could assume the lead role for studying,
planning and implementing long term
requirements of environmental safety and give directions to, as well as coordinate a system of speedy and
adequate response to emergency
situations threatening the environment.
This Act was thus passed to protect the environment, as there was a growing concern over the deteriorating
state of the environment. As
impacts grew considerably environmental protection became a national priority in the 1970s. The decline in
the environmental quality, was
evidenced by increasing pollution, loss of forest cover and an increasing threat to biodiversity. The presence
of excessive concentrations of
harmful chemicals in the atmosphere and aquatic ecosystems leads to
the disruption of food chains and a loss of species. These are symptoms
of a rapidly deteriorating environment. The growing risks of
environmental accidents and threats to life support systems now looms threateningly over our civilisation.
The decision taken at the conference in Stockholm strongly voiced these environmental concerns and several
measures were made possible for environmental protection. While the
need for a wider general legislation to protect our environment is now in place, it has become increasingly
evident that our environmental
situation continues to deteriorate. We need to implement this Act much more aggressively if our
environment is to be protected. Public concern and support is crucial for implementing the EPA. This must
be supported by an enlightened media, good administrators, highly aware policy makers, informed judiciary
and trained technocrats who together can influence and prevent further degradation of our environment.
Each of us has a responsibility to make this happen.
THE AIR (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION) ACT
The Government passed this Act in 1981 to clean up our air by
controlling pollution. Sources of air pollution such as industry, vehicles, power plants, etc. are not permitted
to release particulate matter, lead,
carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, volatile organic
com◻pounds (VOCs) or other toxic substances beyond a prescribed
level. To ensure this, Pollution Control Boards (PCBs) have been set up by Government to measure pollution
levels in the atmosphere and at
certain sources by testing the air. This is measured in parts per million or in milligrams or micrograms per
cubic meter.
The particulate matter and gases that are released by industry and by cars, buses and two wheelers is
measured by using air sampling
equipment. However, the most important aspect is for people
themselves to appreciate the dangers of air pollution and reduce their own potential as polluters by seeing
that their own vehicles or the industry they work in reduces levels of emissions. This Act is created ‘to take
appropriate steps for the preservation of the natural resources of the
earth which among other things includes the preservation of high quality air and ensures controlling the level
of air pollution.
The main objectives of the Act are as follows:

(a) To provide for the Prevention, Control and abatement of air pollution.
(b) To provide for the establishment of Central and State Boards with a view to implement the Act.
(c) To confer on the Boards the powers to implement the provisions of the Act and assign to the Boards
functions relating to pollution. Air
pollution is more acute in heavily industrialized and urbanized areas, which are also densely populated. The
presence of pollution beyond certain limits due to various pollutants discharged through industrial
emission are monitored by the Pollution Control Boards set up in every State.
Powers and Functions of the Boards Central Board:
The main function of the Central Board is to implement legislation created to improve the quality of air and
to prevent and control air
pollution in the country. The Board advises the Central Government on matters con◻cerning the
improvement of air quality and also coordinates activities, provides technical assistance and guidance to
State Boards and lays down standards for the quality of air. It collects and disseminates information in
respect of matters relating to air
pollution and performs functions as prescribed in the Act.
State Pollution Control Boards:
The State Boards have the power to advice the State Government on any matter concerning the prevention
and control of air pollution. They have the right to inspect at all reasonable times any control equipment,
industrial plant, or manufacturing process and give orders to take the
necessary steps to control pollution. They are expected to inspect air pollution control areas at intervals or
whenever necessary. They are empowered to provide standards for emissions to be laid down for
different industrial plants with regard to quantity and composition of emission of air pollutants into the
atmosphere. A State Board may
establish or recognize a laboratory to perform this function. The State Governments have been given powers
to declare air pollution control
areas after consulting with the State Board and also give instructions for ensuring standards of emission from
automobiles and restriction on use of certain industrial plants.
Penalties:
Persons managing industry are to be penalized if they produce
emissions of air pollutants in excess of the standards laid down by the State Board. The Board also makes
applications to the court for
restraining persons causing air pollution. Whoever contravenes any of the provision of the Act or any order
or direction issued is punishable
with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with a fine of Rs.10,000 or with both,
and in case of continuing offence with an additional fine which may extend to Rs 5,000 for every day during
which such contravention continues after conviction for the first
contravention.
What can an individual do to control air pollution?

1) When you see a polluting vehicle take down the number and send a letter to the Road Transport
Office (RTO) and the Pollution Control Board (PCB).

2) If you observe an industry polluting air, in◻form the Pollution Control Board in writing and
ascertain if action is taken.

3) Use cars only when absolutely necessary. Walk or cycle as much as possible instead of using fossil
fuel powered vehicles.

4) Use public transport as far as possible, as more people can travel in a single large vehicle rather than
using multiple small vehicles which add to pollution.

5) Share a vehicle space with relatives and friends. Carpools minimise the use of fossil fuels.
6) Do not use air fresheners and other aerosols and sprays which contain CFCs that deplete the ozone layer.
7) Do not smoke in a public place. It is illegal and endangers not only your own health but also that of
others.
8) Coughing can spread bacteria and viruses. Use a handkerchief to
prevent droplet infection which is air borne. It endangers the health of other people.
It is a citizen’s duty to report to the local authorities such as the
Collector or the Pollution Control Board, and the press about offences made by a polluter so that action can
be taken against the offender. It is equally important to prevent and report to the authorities on cutting down
of trees, as this reduces nature’s ability to maintain the carbon
dioxide and oxygen levels. preventing air pollution and preserving the quality of our air is a responsibility
that each individual must support so that we can breathe air that will not destroy our health.
THE WATER (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION) ACT
The Government has formulated this Act in 1974 to be able to prevent pollution of water by industrial,
agricultural and household wastewater that can contaminate our water sources. Wastewater with high
levels of pollutants that enter wetlands, rivers, lakes, wells as well as the sea are serious health hazards.
Controlling the point sources by monitoring
levels of different pollutants is one way to prevent pollution by giving a punishment to a polluter.
However, it is also the responsibility of people in general to inform the
relevant authority when they see a likely source of pollution. Individuals can also do several things to reduce
water pollution such as using
biodegradable chemicals for household use, reducing use of pesticides in gardens, and identifying
polluting sources at workplaces and in
industrial units where oil or other petroleum products and heavy metals are used. Excessive organic matter,
sediments and infecting organisms
from hospital wastes can also pollute our water. Citizens need to
develop a watchdog force to inform authorities to take appropriate
actions against different types of water pollution. A polluter must pay for his actions. However,
preventing pollution is better than trying to cure the problems it has created, or punishing offenders.
The main
objectives of the Water Act are to provide for prevention, control and abatement of water pollution and the
maintenance or restoration of the wholesomeness of water. It is designed to assess pollution levels and
punish polluters. The Central Government and State Governments have set up Pollution Control Boards that
monitor water pollution.
Functions of the Pollution Control Boards:
The Government has given the necessary powers to the PCBs to deal with the problems of water pollution
in the country. The Government has also suggested penalties for violation of the provisions of the Act.
Central and State water testing laboratories have been set up to enable the Boards to assess the extent of
water pollution and standards have been laid down to establish guilt and default. The Central and State
Boards are entitled to certain powers and functions which are as
follows:
Central Board: It has the power to advise the Central Government on any matters concerning the prevention
and control of water pollution.
The Board coordinates the activities of the State Boards and also
resolves disputes. The Central Board can provide technical assistance and guidelines to State Boards to carry
out investigations and research
relating to water pollution, and organizes training for people involved in the process. The Board organizes a
comprehensive awareness program on water pollution through mass media and also publishes data
regarding water pollution. The Board lays down or modifies the rules in consultation with the State Boards
on standards of disposal of waste.
The main function of the Central Board is to promote the cleanliness of rivers lakes streams and wells in the
country. State Boards: They have
the power to advise the State Government on any matters concerning
water pollution. It plans a comprehensive program for the prevention of water pollution. It collects and
disseminates information on water
pollution and participates in research in collaboration with the Central Board in organizing training of people
involved in the process. The Board inspects sewage or trade effluents, treatment plants, purification plants
and the systems of disposal and also evolves economical and
re◻liable methods of treatment of sewage and other effluents. It plans
the utilization of sewage water for agriculture. It ensures that if effluents are to be discharged on land the
waste is diluted. The State Board
advises State Governments with respect to location of industries.
Laboratories have been established to enable the Board to perform its
functions. The State Boards have the power to obtain information from officers empowered by it who make
surveys, keep records of flow,
volume, and other characteristics of the water. They are given the power to take samples of effluents and
suggest the procedures to be followed in connection with the samples. The concerned board analyst is
expected to analyze the sample sent to him and submit a report of the result to the concerned Board.
The Board is required to send a copy of the result to the respective industry. The Board also has the power of
inspecting any plant record, register, document or any material object, and can conduct a search in any place
in which there is reason to believe that an offence has been
conducted under the Act. Penalties are charged for acts that have caused pollution. This includes failing to
furnish information required by the Board, or failing to inform the occurrence of any accident or other
unforeseen act.
An individual or organisation that fails to comply with the directions given in the subsections of the law can
be convicted or punished with imprisonment for a term of three months or with a fine of Rs10,000 or both
and in case failure continues an additional fine of Rs.5,000 every
day. If a person who has already been convicted for any offence is found guilty of the same offence again,
he/she after the second and every
subsequent conviction, would be punishable with imprisonment for a
term not less than two years but which may extend to seven years with fine.
What can individuals do to prevent water pollution?

1. Inform the Pollution Control Board of any offender who is polluting water and ensure that appropriate
action is taken. One can also write to the press.

2. Do not dump wastes into a household or industrial drain which can directly enter any water body,
such as a stream, river, pond, lake or the sea.

3. Do not use toilets for flushing down waste items as they do not disappear but reappear at other
places and cause water pollution.

4. Use compost instead of chemical fertilizers in gardens.

5. Avoid use of pesticides at home like DDT, Melathion, Aldrin, and use alternative methods like paste of
boric acid mixed with gram flour to
kill cockroaches and other insects. Use dried neem leaves to help keep away insects.
THE WILDLIFE PROTECTION ACT
This Act passed in 1972, deals with the declaration of National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries and their
notification. It establishes the
structure of the State’s wildlife management and the posts designated for Wildlife Management. It provides
for setting up Wildlife Advisory Boards. It prohibits hunting of all animals specified in Schedules I to IV of
the Act. These are notified in order of their endangered Ness. Plants
that are protected are included in schedule VI. The Amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act in 2002 is
more stringent and prevents the
commercial use of resources by local people. It has brought in new concepts such as the creation of
Community Reserves. It has also altered several definitions. For instance, in animals, fish are now
included. Forest produce has been redefined to ensure protection of ecosystems. While there are several
changes, the new Act still has
serious issues concerned with its implementation. Laws are only as good as the ones that can be complied
with. The Act is expected to deter people from breaking the law. However, there are serious problems due to
poaching. One cannot expect to use the Act to reduce this without
increasing Forest Staff, providing weapons, jeeps, radio equipment, etc. for es◻tablishing a strong deterrent
force.
Penalties: A person who breaks any of the conditions of any license or permit granted under this Act shall be
guilty of an offence against this Act. The offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to three years or with a fine of Rs 25,000 or with both. An
offence committed in relation to any animal specified in Schedule I, or Part II of Schedule II, like the use of
meat of any such animal, or animal articles like a trophy, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term
not less than one year and may extend to six years and a fine of Rs 25,000. In the case of a second or
subsequent offence of the same nature mentioned in this sub-section, the term of imprisonment may extend
to six years and not less than two years with a penalty of Rs.10,000. What can an individual do?

1) If you observe an act of poaching, or see a poached animal, inform the local Forest Department
Official at the highest possible level. One can also report the event through the press. Follow up to check
that
action is taken by the concerned authority. If no action is taken, one must take it up to the Chief Wildlife
Warden of the State.

2) Say ‘no’ to the use of wildlife products and also try to convince other people not to buy them.
3) Reduce the use of wood and wood products wherever possible.
4) Avoid misuse of paper because it is made from bamboo and wood, which destroys wildlife habitat.
Paper and envelopes can always be reused.

5) Create a pressure group and ask Govern◻ment to ensure that the biodiversity of our country is
conserved.
6) Do not harm animals. Stop others from in◻flicting cruelty to animals.
7) Do not disturb birds nests and fledglings.
8) When you visit the Zoo do not tease the animals by throwing stones or feeding them, and prevent
others from doing so.

9) If you come across an injured animal do what you can to help it.
10) If the animal needs medical care and expert attention contact the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals in your city.

11) Create awareness about biodiversity conservation in your own way to family and friends.
12) Join organizations, which are concerned with protection of
biodiversity, such as Worldwide Fund For Nature –India (WWF◻I),
Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), or a local conservation NGO.
FOREST CONSERVATION ACT
To appreciate the importance of the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, which was amended in 1988, it is
essential to understand its historical
background. The Indian Forest Act of 1927 consolidated all the previous laws regarding forests that were
passed before the 1920’s. The Act gave the Government and Forest Department the power to create
Reserved Forests, and the right to use Reserved Forests for Government use
alone. It also created Protected Forests, in which the use of resources by local people was controlled. Some
forests were also to be controlled by a village community, and these were called Village Forests.
The Act remained in force till the 1980s when it was realised that
protecting forests for timber production alone was not acceptable. The other values of protecting the services
that forests provide and its
valuable assets such as biodiversity began to overshadow the
importance of their revenue earnings from timber. Thus a new Act was essential. This led to the Forest
Conservation Act of 1980 and its
amend◻ment in 1988. India’s first Forest Policy was enunciated in
1952. Between 1952 and 1988, the extent of defor◻estation was so great that it became evident that there
was a need to formulate a new policy on forests and their utilisation. Large tracts of forestland had already
been diverted to other uses. The earlier forest policies had
focused attention on revenue generation only. In the 1980s it became clear that forests must be protected for
their other functions such as maintenance of soil and water regimes centered around ecological
concerns. It also provided for the use of goods and services of the forest for its local inhabitants. The new
policy framework made conversion of forests into other uses much less possible.
Conservation of the forests as a natural heritage finds a place in the new policy, which includes the
preservation of its biological diversity and
genetic resources. It also values meeting the needs of local people for food, fuelwood, fodder and non-wood
forest products that they subsist on. It gives priority to maintaining environmental stability and
ecological balance. It expressly states that the network of Protected
Areas should be strengthened and extended. In 1992, the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution
furthered governance through
panchayats.
It gives States the ability to provide power to the local panchayats to
manage local forest resources. The Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was enacted to control deforestation. It
ensured that forestlands could not be de-reserved without prior approval of the Central Government. This
was created as States had begun to de-reserve the Reserved Forests for non- forest use. States had
regularized encroachments and resettled ‘Project Affected People’ from development projects such as dams
in these de-
reserved areas. The need for a new legislation became urgent. The Act made it possible to retain a greater
control over the frightening level of deforestation in the country and specified penalties for offenders.
Penalties for offences in Reserved Forests: No person is allowed to
make clearings or set fire to a Reserved Forest. Cattle are not permitted to trespass into the Reserved Forest.
Felling, collecting of timber, bark or leaves, quarries or collecting any forest product is punishable with
imprisonment for a term of six months, or with a fine which may extend to Rs.500, or both.
Penalties for offences in Protected Forests: A person who commits any of the following offences like
felling of trees, or strips off the bark or leaves from any tree or sets fire to such forests, or kindles a fire
without taking precautions to prevent its spreading to any tree
mentioned in the Act, whether standing or felled, or fells any tree, drags timber, or permits cattle to damage
any tree, shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to six month or with a fine which may extend to Rs.500, or both.
When there is a reason to believe that a forest offence has been committed pertaining to any forest
produce, the produce together with all tools used in committing such offences may be seized by any Forest
Officer or Police Officer. Every officer seizing any property under this section shall put on the property a
mark indicating the seizure and report the seizure to the Magistrate who has the jurisdiction to try the
offence. Any Forest Officer, even
without an order from the Magistrate or a warrant, can arrest any person against whom a reasonable
suspicion exists.
What can an individual do to support the Act?

1) Be alert to destructive activities in your local green areas such as Reserved Forests and Protected
Forests, and in Protected Areas
(National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries). Report any such act to the Forest Department as well as the Press.
Report of viola◻tions can be
made to the Conservator of Forest, District Forest Officer, Range Forest Officer, Forest Guard or the District
Com◻missioner, or local civic body.

2) Acquaint yourself with the laws, detailed rules and orders issued by the Government.
3) Be in touch with concerned local NGOs and associations. Organize one with other like minded
people if none exist in your area.
4) Create awareness about the existence and value of National Parks and Sanctuaries and build up a
public opinion against illegal ac◻tivities in the forest or disturbance to wild◻life.

5) Pressurize the authorities to implement the forest and wildlife laws and rules to protect green areas.
6) Take legal action if necessary and if pos◻sible through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against
the offending party. Use the help of NGOs who can undertake legal action.

7) Help to create public pressure to change rules laws and procedures when necessary.
8) Use better, ecologically sensitive public transport and bicycle tracks. Do not litter in a forest area.
9) Participate in preservation of greenery, by planting, watering and caring for plants.
ISSUES INVOLVED IN ENFORCEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
Environmental legislation is evolved to protect our environment as a whole, our health, and the earth’s
resources. The presence of a
legislation to protect air, water, soil, etc. does not necessarily mean that the problem is addressed. Once a
legislation is made at the global,
National or State level, it has to be implemented. For a successful environmental legislation to be
implemented, there has to be an
effective agency to collect relevant data, process it and pass it on to a
law enforcement agency. If the law or rule is broken by an individual or institution, this has to be punished
through the legal process.
Information to law enforcement officials must also come from
concerned individu◻als. In most situations, if no cognizance is given,
the interested concerned individual must file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for the protection of the
environment.
There are several NGOs in the country such as WWF-I, BEAG and the BNHS which take these matters to
court in the interest of conservation.
Anyone can request them to help in such matters. There are also legal experts such as MC Mehta who
have successfully fought cases in the courts to support environmental causes. A related issue is the fact
that
there are several irregular practices for which a bribe to an unscrupulous official is used to cover up an
offence. Thus the general public must act as a watch dog not only to inform concerned authorities, but also
to see that actions are taken against offenders.
Environment Impact Assessment (EIA): For all development projects, whether Govern◻ment or Private, the
MoEF requires an impact assessment done by a competent organisation. The EIA must look into
physical, biological and social parameters. EIAs are expected to indicate what the likely impacts could be if
the project is passed. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has identified a large number of
projects that need clearance on environmental grounds. The EIA must define what impact it would have on
water, soil and air. It also requires that a list of flora and fauna identified in the region is documented and to
specify if there are any endangered species whose habitat or life
could be adversely affected.