CHAPTER

09
Environmental
issues
 pollution
Pollution is any undesirable change in physical, chemical or biological characteristics
of air, land, water or soil. Human population explosion increases the demand for food,
water, home, electricity, automobiles etc. It leads to pollution. The Government of India
has passed The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to control environmental pollution
and protect and improve the quality of our environment.

AIR POLLUTION AND ITS CONTROL

1. Causes of air pollution
• Particulate & gaseous air pollutants from smokestacks of thermal power plants,
smelters etc.
According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), particulate size of less than
2.5µm in diameter (PM 2.5) causes greatest harm to human health.
• Pollutants fromautomobiles.

2. harmful effects of air pollution

• Particulates cause respiratory problems, irritation, inflammations &
damage to lungs and premature deaths.
• Reduction in growth and yield of crops and premature death of plants.

3. control of air pollution

• Separate/filter out particulate matters before releasing the harmless gases into the
atmosphere.
• Use of lead-free petrol or diesel.
• Use of catalytic converters.
• Phasing out of old vehicles.
• Use of low-sulphur petrol and diesel.
• Application of pollution-level norms for vehicles, etc.
• Use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). It is used in Delhi, in public transport (buses).

Advantages of CNG:
o It is better and cheaper than petrol & diesel. It burns almost completely.
o It cannot be siphoned off by thieves and adulterated.

Main problem of CNG: Difficulty of laying down pipelines to deliver CNG through
distribution points/pumps.

Catalytic converter: It is the device to reduce emission of poisonous gases. It has

platinum-palladium & rhodium as catalysts. This converts
• Unburnt hydrocarbons – CO2+ water
• Carbon monoxide – CO2
• Nitric oxide – Nitrogen
Motor vehicles having catalytic converter should use unleaded petrol because
lead in petrol inactivates the catalyst.

Electrostatic precipitator: (For figure see TB page: 271)

• It isthe device to remove particulatematter
• It can remove over 99% particulate matter present in the exhaust from a thermal powerplant.
• The electrons released from electrode wires (at several thousand volts) attach to dust particles
giving a negative charge. The collecting plates attract charged dust particles.
• The velocity of air between the plates must be low enough to allow the dust to fall.
• A scrubber removes gases like SO2. In this, the exhaust is passed through a spray of water or lime.
• Very small particulates are not removed by this precipitator.

noise POLLUTION and its control

Noise is undesired high level of sound. In India, the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act (1981) was
amended in 1987 to include noise as an air pollutant.

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 1. Sources of noise pollution:
• Music instruments, loudspeaker, crackers, industries etc.

2. Harmful effects of noise:

• Noise causes psychological and physiological disorders.
• The sound level above 150 dB (generated by takeoff of a jet plane or rocket) may
damage ear drums.
• Chronic exposure to relatively lower noise may damage hearing abilities of humans.
• Sleeplessness, increased heartbeat & breathing, stress etc.

3. Control of noise pollution:

• Use of sound absorbent materials in industries.
• Delimitation of horn-free zones around hospitals & schools.
• Permissible sound-levels of crackers and loudspeakers.
• Delimit the timings of using loudspeakers.

Laws & policies in India to control vehicular pollution:

• Auto fuel policy: To cut down vehicular pollution in Indian cities.
• Euro II norms:
• Control sulphur content at 350 ppm (parts per million) in diesel and 150 ppm in petrol.
• Level of aromatic hydrocarbonsis to be at 42% of the fuel.
• In future: Reduce sulphur to 50 ppm in petrol & diesel and bring down the level to35%.
• Upgrade vehicle engines.

Water POLLUTION AND ITS CONTROL

1. Domestic Sewage and Industrial Effluents
• 0.1 % impurities make domestic sewage unfit for human use. They include
o Suspended solids: Sand, silt, clay etc.
o Colloidal materials: Faecalmatter, bacteria, cloth, paper fibres etc
o Dissolved materials: Nutrients like nitrate, NH3, phosphate, Na, Ca etc.
• Removal of dissolved materials, organic compounds and toxic metal ions are most difficult.
• Domestic sewage contains biodegradable organic matter. It is decomposed by microorganisms.
• The amount of biodegradable organic matter in sewage water is estimated by measuring
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD).
• During biodegradation, microbes consume O2. It results in a sharp decline in dissolved O2. This
causes death of aquatic organisms.
• Presence of more nutrients in water causes excess growth of planktonic algae (algal bloom). It
imparts a distinct colour to the water bodies and deteriorates the water quality resulting in
death of fishes. Some bloom-forming algae are extremely toxic to human beings and animals.
• Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is the most problematic aquatic weed (‘Terror of Bengal’). They
grow abundantly in eutrophic water bodies.
• Sewage from homes & hospitals contain pathogens that cause dysentery, typhoid, jaundice, cholera, etc.
• Industrial waste water contains toxic substances like DDT, heavy metals (mercury, cadmium, copper,
lead, etc.) and organic compounds

2. Biological magnification (Biomagnification)

• It is the accumulation of the toxicant (mercury, DDT etc.) at successive trophic levels of a foodchain.
• Organisms cannot metabolize or excrete the toxicant. So, it is passed on to the next trophiclevel.
Biomagnification of DDT in an aquatic food chain:
Water (DDT: 0.003 ppb) – zooplankton (0.04 ppm) - small fish (0.5 ppm) – large fish (2 ppm) – birds (5 ppm).
DDT disturbs calcium metabolism in birds, which causes thinning of eggshell and their premature breaking.
It causes decline in bird populations.

3. Eutrophication
• It isthe natural aging of a lake by nutrient enrichment.
• In a young lake, water is cold and clear. With time, streams draining into the lake introduce nutrients (N2, P etc.). It
increases lake’s fertility.

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 • Thus plants & animals grow rapidly, and organic remains are deposited on the lake
bottom. So, the lake grows shallower and warmer, with warm-water organisms.
• Marsh plants take root in the shallows and fill in the original lake basin. Eventually,
the lake becomes land.
• Depending on climate, size of the lake and other factors, the eutrophication may span
thousands of years. However, pollutants like effluents from industries and homes accelerate
eutrophication. This phenomenon is called Cultural or Accelerated Eutrophication.
• The prime contaminants are nitrates & phosphates. They overstimulate the growth of algae.
It causes unsightly scum and unpleasant odors, and robs the water of dissolved oxygen. It
leads to death of otherorganisms.
• Heated (thermal) wastewater from electricity-generating units (e.g. thermal power plants)
eliminates organisms sensitive to high temperature. It may enhance the growth of plants
and fish in extremely cold areas but, only after causing damage to the indigenous flora and fauna.

4. Integrated Waste Water Treatment

It includes artificial and natural processes. The townspeople of Arcata (northern coast of California)
and biologists from the Humboldt State University created an integrated waste water treatment
process. The cleaning occurs in 2 stages:
• Sedimentation, filtering & chlorine treatments : After this, remaining pollutants like dissolved heavy
metals were removed using an innovative approach.
• Biologists developed a series of six connected marshes over 60 hectares of marshland. Appropriate
plants, algae, fungi & bacteria were seeded into this area. They neutralize, absorb & assimilate
pollutants. Thus, as the water flows through marshes, it gets purified naturally.
Friends of the Arcata Marsh (FOAM) is a citizens group for the up keep and safeguarding of this project.

5. Ecological sanitation
• It is a sustainable system for handling human excreta, using dry composting toilets.
• This is a practical, hygienic, efficient and cost-effective solution to human wastedisposal.
• Human excreta can be recycled into a resource (as natural fertilizer). It reduces the need for
chemicalfertilizers.
• There are ‘EcoSan’ toilets in Kerala & Sri Lanka.

Government of India has passed the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 to safeguard
water resources.

WASTES AND THEIR EFFECTS

1. SOLID WASTES
• Solid wastes refer to everything that goes out in trash.
• Municipal solid wastes are wastes from homes, offices, stores, schools, hospitals, etc.
that are collected and disposed by the municipality.
• All solid wastes cannot be completely burnt. Open dumps serve as the breeding
ground for rats and flies.
• Sanitary landfills are the substitute for open-burning dumps. In sanitary landfill,
wastes are dumped in a depression or trench and covered with dirt.

2. Limitations of Landfills:
• Amount of garbage especially in metros has increased so much that these sites are getting filled too.
• Seepage of chemicals, from the landfills pollutes the underground water resources.
Solid wastes are 3 types:
(a) Bio-degradable: They undergo natural breakdown.
(b) Non-biodegradable: E.g. plastic packets, polybags, polystyrene etc.
Eco-friendly packaging can be used instead of plastics. E.g. Carrying cloth, natural fibre carry-bags etc.
(c) Recyclable: E.g. Plastics, e-wastes etc.
Hospital wastes containdisinfectants, harmfulchemicals, and pathogenic micro-organisms. They are incinerated.

3. Ewastes (electronic wastes):

• All irreparable electronic goods are known as e-wastes.

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 • They are buried in landfills or incinerated.
• Recycling isthe only eco-friendly solution for the treatment of e-wastes. But during recycling,
the workers are exposed to toxic substances present in e-wastes.
• Over half of the e-wastes in developed world are exported to developing countries (China, India,
Pakistan etc.), where many metals (Cu, Fe, Si, Ni & Au) are recovered during recycling process.

4. Polyblend: A Remedy for Plastic Waste

• Ahmed Khan (A plastic sack manufacturer in Bangalore) developed Polyblend. It is a fine powder
of recycled modified plastic. Polyblend is mixed with the bitumen and is used to lay roads.
• Blend of Polyblend and bitumen enhances the bitumen’s water repellant properties and helps to
increase road life.

5. AGROCHEMICALS AND THEIR EFFECTS

• Inorganic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc. are toxic to non-target organisms that
are important components of the soil ecosystem. These are biomagnified in the terrestrial ecosystems.
• Chemical fertilisers cause eutrophication.

6. Integrated Organic Farming

• It is a cyclical, zero-waste procedure, where waste products from one process are cycled in as
nutrients for other processes. This allows the maximum utilization of resource and increases
the efficiency of production.
• Ramesh Chandra Dagar (a farmer in Sonipat, Haryana) included bee-keeping, dairy
management, water harvesting, composting & agriculture in Integrated Organic Farming.

Its advantages are given below:

• They support each other and allow an economical and sustainable venture.
• No need of chemicalfertilizers, as dung is used as manure.
• Crop waste is used to create compost (natural fertilizer) or to generate natural gas (provides
energy for the farm).
Dagar has created the Haryana Kisan Welfare Club, with a membership of 5000 farmers to
spread information on the practice of integrated organic farming.

7. RADIOACTIVE WASTES
• Use of nuclear energy has two very serious problems:
• Accidental leakage. E.g. Three Mile Island incident & Chernobyl incident.
• Safe disposal of radioactive wastes.
• Nuclear radiation causes mutations. It is lethal at high doses. At lower doses, it
causes disorders such as cancer.
• It is recommended to store nuclear wastes in shielded containers buried within
rocks, about 500 m deep below the earth’s surface. But, the public opposes this method.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT & GLOBAL WARMING

• Greenhouse is a small glass house used for growing plants during winter. The glass panel lets
the light in, but does not allow heat to escape. Thus the greenhouse warmsup.
• Greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon that causes heating of Earth’s surface and atmosphere.
It maintains the present average temperature (15oC).
• Without greenhouse effect, the average temperature at Earth surface would have been at –18oC.
• Clouds & gases reflect 1/4th of the incoming solar radiation and absorb some of it. But half of it falls
on Earth’s surface heating it, while a small amount is reflected back. Earth’s surface re-emits heat as
infrared radiation. But a part of it is absorbed by atmospheric gases (CO2, CH4 etc.) and so cannot escape
into space. These gases (greenhouse gases) radiate heat energy. It comes to Earth’s surface, heating it
up again. It causes the greenhouse effect.
• Overheating of Earth due to increased level of greenhouse gases is called global warming.
• During the past century, the temperature of Earth has increased by 0.6o C, most of it during the last
3 decades.
• Contribution of greenhouse gases to total global warming: CO2 (60%), CH4 (20%), CFCs (14%) & N2O(6%).

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 1. Impacts of global warming:
• Climatic changes (e.g. El Nino effect).
• Melting of polar ice caps, Himalayan snow capsetc.
• Future impact: Rise in sea level submerging coastal areas.

2. Control of global warming:

• Reduce the use of fossilfuel.
• Improve efficiency of energy usage.
• Reduce deforestation and plant trees.
• Slowing down the growth of human population.

International initiatives are also being taken to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases

OZONE DEPLETION IN THE STRATOSPHERE

• ‘Bad’ ozone is formed in troposphere (lower atmosphere). It harms plants and animals.
• ‘Good’ ozone is found in the stratosphere. It acts as a shield absorbing ultraviolet radiation
from the sun.
• UV rays are highly injurious since they cause mutation.
• The thickness of the ozone (O3) in a column of air from the ground to the top of the atmosphere
is measured in terms of Dobson units (DU).
• In stratosphere, UV rays act on molecular oxygen (O2) causing the production of ozone. UV rays
also causethe degradation of ozone to O2. These processes arebalanced.
• But this balance is disrupted due to ozone degradation by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs- used as refrigerant).
• CFCs move upward and reach stratosphere. UV rays act on them releasing Cl atoms. In presence of Cl
(catalyst) ,ozone degrades to O2. This causes ozone depletion. It has formed Ozone hole over the Antarctic
region.
• UV radiation of wavelengths shorter than UV-B, are almost completely absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere.
But, UV-B causes DNA mutation. It causes aging of skin, damage to skin cells and skin cancers. A high
dose of UV-B causes inflammation of cornea (snow-blindness), cataract etc. It permanently damages
the cornea
• The Montreal Protocol: An international treaty (Canada, 1987) to control emission of ozone depleting
substances.

DEGRADATION BY IMPROPER RESOURCE

UTILISATION & MAINTENANCE
1. Soil erosion and desertification:
• Human activities like over-cultivation, deforestation, grazing and poor irrigation
practices, leads to soil erosion. It results in arid patches of land and
desertification.
• Increased urbanization also creates desertification.

2. Water logging and soil salinity:

• These are the problems as a part of Green Revolution.
• Irrigation without proper drainage of water leads to water logging
in the soil.
• It draws salt to the surface of the soil. The salt is deposited on the
land surface or collects at the plant roots. This damages the agriculture.

DEFORESTATION
• It is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested ones.
• Almost 40% forests have been lost in the tropics, compared to only 1% in the temperate region.
• National Forest Policy (1988) of India hasrecommended 33% forest cover for the plains and 67% for the
hills. But we have only 19.4% of forest cover (it was about 30% at the beginning of 20th century).

1. Reasons of deforestation:
• Conversion of forest to agricultural land.
• For timber, firewood, cattle ranching etc.

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 • Slash & burn agriculture (Jhum cultivation) in the north-eastern states of India. In this,
the farmers cut down the forest trees and burn the plant remains. The ash is used
as a fertiliser and the land is used for farming or grazing. After cultivation, the area is
left for several years to allow its recovery. In earlier days, enough time-gap was given for
recovery. Overpopulation & repeated cultivation decreased the recovery phase, resulting in
deforestation.

2. Consequences of deforestation:
• Atmospheric CO2 is enhanced because trees that could hold a lot of carbon in
their biomass are lost.
• Loss of biodiversity due to habitat destruction.
• Disturbs hydrologic cycle.
• Soil erosion & Desertification.
Reforestation: The process of restoring a forest that once existed in the past. It may occur
naturally in a deforested area. We can speed it up by planting trees.

Peopleˇs Participation in Conservation

of Forests
1. Bishnoi Movement
• In 1731, the king of Jodhpur in Rajasthan asked to arrange wood for constructing a new
palace. The minister and workers went to a forest near a village, inhabited by Bishnois.
The Bishnois thwarted them from cutting down the trees. A Bishnoi woman Amrita Devi
hugged a tree. The king’s men cut down the tree along with Amrita Devi. Her three daughters
and hundreds of Bishnois were also lost their lives saving trees.
• Government of India has instituted the Amrita Devi Bishnoi Wildlife Protection Award for
individuals or communities from rural areas for extraordinary courage and dedication in
protecting wildlife.

2. Chipko Movement of Garhwal Himalayas

• In 1974, local women participated to protect trees from the axe of contractors by hugging them.
Government of India in 1980s introduced the concept of Joint Forest Management (JFM) to work
closely with the local communities for protecting and managing forests. In return for their services,
the communities get benefit of forest products (fruits, gum, rubber, medicine, etc.).

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