ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

POLLUTION
Pollution is define as an undesirable change in physical, chemical or biological Characteristics of air, land, water or
soil.
Pollutants are the agents which bring about an undesirable change in the properties of air, water and soil.
The government of India has passed the Environmental (protection) Act,1986 to protect and improve the quality of
environment.

AIR POLLUTION
Any undesirable change in the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of air that exert adverse effects
on human beings is defined as air pollution.
Causes
(a) Smoke from forest fibre, volcanic eruption, etc.
(b) Decomposition of garbage resulting in release of unwanted gases into the atmosphere.
(c) Burning of fossil fuels in automobiles and industries release particulate and air pollutants.
(d) Use of leaded petrol.
(e) Gaseous wasted or particulate by-products of various industries.

Air Pollutants
Air pollutants can be classified into two groups
a) Particulate pollutants, e.g., metallic particles, dust particles, soot, aerosol and smoke.
b) Gaseous pollutants,e.g.,carbon monoxide (CO),nitrogen dioxide (NO
2
), hydrogen sulphide(H
2
S), sulpher dioxide
(SO
2
),etc.

Harmful effects
(a) Carbon monoxide causes giddiness,headache,decreased vision,cardiovascular malfunction and asphyxia.
(b) Hyrogen sulphide causes nausea,eye and throat irritation.
(c) Sulphur dioxide causes respiratory tract diseases like asthma,bronchitis,cancer,emphysema,etc.
(d) In plants,air pollution causes reduced growth and yield and leads to premature death.
(e) Fine particulates cause breathing and respiratory symptoms,irritation,inflammations and damage to the lungs.

Control method of air pollution.

(a)Electrostatic precipitor (ESP)
It is an electrical device to remove particulate matter present in the exhaust of thermal power plant.
More than 99% particulate matter can be removed by this method.
ESP has electrode wires and a stage of collecting plates.
Electrode wires are provided with an electric current of several thousand volts, which produces a corona that
releases electrons.
These electrons attach to dust particles and give them a negative charge within a very small fraction of a second.
Collecting plates are earthed so that they attract charge dust particles.
The velocity of passing through plates is slow enough to allow the dust particles to fall.

(b) Scrubber
It is use to remove gases like sulphur dioxide from industrial exhaust.
The exhaust is passed through a spray of water or lime.
Water dissolves gases and lime react with sulphur dioxide to form a precipitate of calcium sulphate and
sulphide.

(c) Catalytic converters
These are fitted into automobiles for reducing emission of poisonous gases like NO
2
and CO.
They have expensive metals like platinum-palladium and rhodium as catalysts.
As the exhaust emission passes through catalytic converter, nitric oxide splits into nitrogen and oxygen; carbon
monoxide is oxidized to carbon dioxide and un burnt hydrocarbon get burnt completely into CO
2
and H
2
O.
Motor vehicles fitted with catalytic converter should use unleaded petrol as leaded petrol inactivates the catalyst.

Control of air pollution in delhi
All buses of Delhi were converted to run onCNG by the end of 2002 as per thedirectives of supreme courts.
Advantages of CNG over diesel/petrol:
a) CNG burns most efficiently without leaving any unburnt remnant behind.
b) CNG is cheaper than petrol or diesel.
c) CNG annot be siphoned off by theieves and adulterated like petrol or diesel.


Some other step to reduced vehicular pollution:
(a) phasing out of old vehicles.
(b) Use of unleaded petrol and diesel.
(c) Use of low-sulphur petrol and diesel.
(d) Use of catalytic converters in vehicles.
(e) Applying stringent pollution level norms for vehicles.
Auto Fuel Policy
Euro II norms were stipulated to control sulphur content at 350 ppm in diesel and 150 ppm in petrol and
auromatic hydrocarbons are to be containd at 42%.
According to it ,all automobiles have to meet the Euro III emission specifications in eleven Indian cities by April
1,2005.
The same eleven cities have to meet the Euro IV norms by April 1, 2010.

NOISE POLLUTION
Noise is defined as undesired high level of sound.
Causes
Loudspeakers and music systems used for entertainment.
Jet planes and rockets.
Industrial noises, etc.
Harmful effects
a) Sleeplessness
b) Stress
c) Increase rate of heartbeat.
d) Breathing problems
e) Damage of ear drums impairing hearing ability permanently.
Control Methods
a) Industrial noise can be reduced by using sound absorbent materials or by muffling noise.
b) Delimitation of horn-free zone around hospitals and schools.
c) Stringent laws should be laid for permissible sound levels of crackers and loudspeakers.
d) Setting timing after which loudspeakers cannot be played.

WATER POLLUTION
Water pollution is defined as any undesirable change in the physical, chemical and biological properties of
water that may affect the human beings and domestic species.
The Government of India has passed the water (Prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1974, to safeguard
our water resources.






























(a) Domestic sewage
It includes everything that comes from residential area to common public sewage system.
Domestic sewage contains
Suspended solids, e.g., sand, silt and clay.
Colloidal materials e.g., feacal matter, bacteria, paper and cloth fibres.
Dissolved materials, e.g., nitrates, ammonia phosphate, sodium, calcium salt.
Domestic sewage mainly contains biodegradable organic wastes which are readily decomposed with the help
of decomposers.
(b) Industrial wastes
Industrials like petroleum, paper manufacturing, metal extraction and processing, etc., release waste water
containing heavy metals like mercury and many organic compounds.
Mercury and DDT are well known for biological magnification.
Biological magnification or biomagnifications is defined as increase in concentration of toxicants at successive
tropic levels.
Toxin substances cannot be metabolized or excreted, therefore they get accumulated in an organism and pass
on to higher tropic levels.
Effect of DDT accumulation in birds: Calcium metabolism in birds is disturbed which results in thinning of
eggshell. This lead to decline in bird population.

SOME IMPORTANT TERMS
EUTROPHICATION
It is defined as the natural aging of a water body by biological enrichment of its water.
Water in a young lake is cold and clear to support life.
With time, it is enrich with nutrients by streams draining into it.
This encourages growth of aquatic life-plant and animal life.
Organic remains deposits at the bottom of the lake and with time makes the water warmer.
Eventually, floating plants develop in the lake , finally converting into land.
The accelerated aging of lakes due to sewage and agricultural and industrials wastes is called cultural or
accelerated eutrophication.
BOD (Biochemical oxygen demand)
The amount of oxygen required for microbial breakdown of biodegradable organic matter is called BOD.
It is higher in polluted water and lesser in drinking water.
ALGAL BLOOM
Domestic sewage contains nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus which favour the excessive growth of
planktonic (free-floating) alga called an algal bloom.
Algal bloom causes fish mortality and deterioration of water quality.
Excessive growth of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crispes), the world most problematic aquatic weed, also called
terror of Bengal, grows abundantly in eutrophic water bodies and imbalances water ecosystem.

INTEGRATED WASTE WATER TREATMENT
In the town of Arcata situated on the Northern cost of California, an integrated waste water treatment
process was developed with the help of biologists from Humboldt State University.
The cleaning occurs in two stages:
a) The conventional sedimentation, filtration and chlorine treatments are given. the treated water still
contains lots of heavy metals and other dangerous pollutants.
b) Appropriate plants, algae, fungi and bacteria were grown in a marshland through which water was
flowed. The various life forms neutralise, absorb and assimilate the pollutants and purify the water
naturally.
Ecosan toilets have been developed in area of Kerala and Sri Lanka for ecological sanitation.
Advantages of ecological sanitation:
a) It is a practical and hygienic and efficient method of waste disposal.
b) It is cost effective.
c) Human excreta can be recycled into natural fertilizer to replace chemical fertilizer.

SOLID WASTES
These are discarded solid materials which are produced due to various human activities.
Solid wastes can be biodegradable, recyclable and non-biodegradable.
Solid wasted can of following types:
(i) Municipal solid wastes: Wastes from home, office, schools, hospitals, etc., that are collected
and disposed by the municipality which generally consists of paper, leather, textile, rubber,
glass, etc.

(ii) Industrial wastes: The wastes like scraps, flyash, etc,. generated by industries.
(iii) Hospital wastes: Hazardous wastes containing disinfectants and other chemicals generated by
hospitals.
(iv) Electronic wastes: These are the damage electronic goods and irreparable computers.
Methods of solid waste disposal
a) Open burning: Municipal waste is reduced by burning in open dumps but the unburnt waste serve as the
breeding ground for rats and flies.
b) Sanitary landfills: Wastes re dumped in a depression or trench after compaction and covered with dirt. Seepage
of chemical from these landfills can pollute underground water resources.
c) Rag-pickers and Kabadiwallahs: Wastes are collected and separated out into reusable or recyclable categories.
d) Natural breakdown: The biodegradable materials are kept into deep pits in the ground for natural breakdown.
e) Recycling: E-wastes can be recycled in specifically built facilities or manually to recover important materials
f) Incineration: Majority of e-wastes generated in developed world is exported to developing world where they
are incinerated.

Remedy for plastic waste
A fine powder of recycle modified plastic is called Polyblend. Polyblend has been mixed with bitumen to lay
road in Bangalore.
Polyblend enhanced bitumens water repellant properties and helped increase the life of roads.

SOIL POLLUTION
Undesirable changes in soil profile affecting its productivity is called soil pollution.
Causes
Chemical seepage from industries
Inorganic fertilizers and pesticides etc.
Harmful effect
Non-target organisms in the soil are killed.
Soil becomes unfertile.
Pesticides can result in biomagnification.

Control methods
a) Safe disposal of industrial wastes.
b) Organic farming: It is a cyclical zero-wastes procedure where waste product from one process are cycled in a
nutrients for other processes, allowing maximum utilization of resources and increasing the efficiency of
production.

Case study of Organic farming
Ramesh Chandra Dagar includes bee-keeping dairy management, water harvesting, composting agriculture in
chain of processes.
Chemical fertilizer are not required as cattle excreta is used as manure.
Crop waste is used for making compost which is used as natural fertilizer.
Compost generates natural gas which is used for energy needs on farm.

RADIOACTIVE POLLUTION
Nuclear energy was assumed to be a natural, non-polluting way of electricity generation till the incidents at
Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. It is now consider as the most potent pollutant.
Causes
Leakage of radioactive materials from power plants.
Unsafe disposal of radioactive wastes.

Harmful effects
Radiation from nuclear wastes causes mutation at very high rate.
At high doses, nuclear radiations are lethal.
At low doses, radiations cause disorder and cancer.

Disposal of radioactive waste
Nuclear waste should be pre-treated and stored in shielded containers and then buried about 500m deep
within rocks.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT
The phenomenon of keeping the earth warm due to presence of certain gases in the atmosphere is called
greenhouse effect.

One-fourth of the incoming solar radiation is reflected by the atmospheric gases and clouds and only half of the
incoming solar radiation fall on the earths surface heating it. Of this, only a small portion is reflected back.
Greenhouse gases (CO
2
, CH
4
, N
2
O, chlorofluorocarbon or CFC
s
) allow the solar radiations to enter but prevent
the escape of heat radiations of longer wavelength.
The absorbed radiations again come to earths surface and heat it up. This cycle is repeated many times,
considerably heating the earth.

GLOBAL WARMING
The gradual continuous increase in average temperature of surface of the earth as a result increase in average
temperature of surface of the earth as a result of increasing in concentration of gases is termed as global
warming.
Causes
Increase in the level of green house gases (CO
2
, CFC
s
, etc.) in the atmosphere. These gases allow the heat
waves to reach earth but prevent their escape and thus the earth becomes warm.

Effects
The temperature of the earth has increase by 0.6 degree Celsius in last three decades, which will lead to
changes in precipitation patterns.
Rise in temperature leads to deleterious change in environment resulting in odd climatic changes called EI
Nino effect.
The rise in temperature will lead to increase melting of polar ice caps which will cause the rise in sea level
and many coastal areas will be submerged.
Increase temperature will lead to increase weed growth, eruption of diseases and pests. Thus crops
productivity will decrease.

Control of global warming
Global warming can be controlled by :
Reducing deforestation
Planning trees (afforestation)
Slowing down the growth of human population
Reduction of emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere
Cutting down the use of fossil fuels
Improving efficiency of energy usage.

OZONE DEPLETION
Ozone Depletion
a. Bad ozone: form in troposphere and is harmful to plants and animals.
b. Good ozone: formed in stratosphere and absorbs harmful UV radiation from the sun.
The thickness of ozone is measured in Dobson units(DU).
Formation of ozone.
Nascent oxygen combines with molecular oxygen (O
2
) to form ozone by the action to UV rays.
O
2


[O] + [O] (Nascent) oxygen
O
2
+ [O] O
3
(ozone)
Ozone is degraded into molecular oxygen in the stratosphere by UV action to maintain a balance between
production and degradation.
O
3

UV
O
2
+ [O]
O
2
+ [O]
UV
O
3

Cause of ozone depletion
(a) Ozone degradation has increased due to CFC
s
.
(b) CFC
s
are refrigerants which react with UV in stratosphere to release chloride atoms.
(c) Over the Antarctic region, there has been t5hinning of large area of ozone layer that has resulted in
formation of ozone hole.
(d) CFC
s
have permanent and continued effect as chloride atoms are not consumed

Harmful effects
(a) UV-B damage DNA and proteins of living organisms causing mutation
(b) It causes skin aging, skin cell damage and skin cancers
(c) UV-B is absorbed by human eye and at high dose it causes inflammation of cornea. This is called snow-
blindness cataract.

Control of ozone depletion
(a) An international treaty, Montreal Protocol, was signed at Montreal, Canada, in 1987 to curb the emission of
ozone depleting substances.
(b) More protocol have been laid down in controlling emission of CFC
s
.


DEGRADATION BY IMPROPER RESOURCE UTILISATION AND MAINTENANCE
Soil erosion and desertification
The fertile top soil is removed by human activities like over-cultivation, unrestricted grazing, deforestation and
poor irrigation practices.
This leads to formation of arid patches of land.
These are large barren patches when left for a long time, form deserts.
Desertification has become a major problem due to increased urbanization.

Water logging and soil salinity
Water logging in soil results from irrigation without proper drainage of water.
This affects the plants and draws salt to the soil surface.
The salt is either deposited as a layer on land surface or collects at roots of plants.
Increase salt concentration damages agriculture.

DEFORESTATION
Deforestation is defined as the conversation of forested areas to non forested area.
Removal of forest areas to fulfil the need of growing population is clled deforestation.
Almost 40% per cent forests have been lost in the tropics and 1 per cent forest in the temperate region.
In India, at the beginning of the twentieth century, forest covered about 30% per cent of land whereas by the
end of the century, it shrunk to 19.4 per cent.
The National Forest Policy (1988) of India has recommended 33 per cent forest cover for the plains and 67 per
cent for the hills.

Causes for deforestation
(a) Human settlements
(b) Hydroelectric projects
(c) Forest fire
(d) Over-grazing by livestock
(e) Demand for wood
(f) Jhum cultivation or slash and burn agriculture: The farmers cut the forest trees and burn the plant
remains. The land is then used for farming or cattle grazing. After cultivation, the land is left barren for
years.

Effects of Deforestation
(a) Increase in carbon dioxide concentration in atmosphere.
(b) Los of biodiversity due to habitat destruction.
(c) Disturbance in hydrologic cycle.
(d) Soil erosion that may lead to desertification.


REFORESTATION
It is the proce3ss of restoring a forest that once existed but was removed at some point of time in the past. It may occur
naturally in a deforested area.

Peoples participation in conservation of forests:
In 1731, a Bishnoi woman Amrita Devi, showed exemplary courage by hugging a tree in order to prevent its
cutting. Her three daughters and hundreds of other Bishnois followed her and were killed by soldiers of king of
Jodpur.
The Government of India has instituted Amrita Devi Bishnoi wildlife Protection Award for individuals or
communities from rural areas that shows extraordinary courage and dedicating in protecting wildlife.
Chipko Movement was stared in Garhwal, Himalayas in 1974 by Shri Sundar Lal Bahunguna to prevent cutting
down of trees. Local women hugged trees to prevent their cutting by the contractors.
In 1980, the Government of India has introduced the concept of Joint Forest Management (JEM) to work
closely with the local communities for proctecting and managing forests on mutual benefits.