|
|
|
|
The cost of environmental damage in India would shave 4 percent off of the country's gross domestic product. Lost
productivity from death and disease due to environmental pollution are the primary culprits.
The government agency responsible for environmental affairs is the
Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). Coping with India’s
industrial pollution is perhaps the agency’s top priority. MoEF
recognizes the need to strike a balance between development and
protecting the environment in administering and enforcing the
country’s environmental laws and policies. The government
heightened the Ministry’s powers with the passage of the 1986
Environment Protection Act. This act built on the 42nd amendment to
India's constitution in 1976 that gave the government the right to
step in and protect public health, forests, and wildlife. This
amendment however had little power as it contained a clause that
stated it was not enforceable by any court. India is the first
country in the world to pass an amendment to its constitution
ostensibly protecting the environment. |
Industrial pollution
Fog due to air pollution |
|
Air Pollution
There are four reasons of air pollution are - emissions from vehicles,
thermal power plants, industries and refineries. The problem of indoor air pollution
in rural areas and urban slums has assumed significant attention lately.
India’s environmental problems are exacerbated by its heavy
reliance on coal for power generation. Coal supplies more than half
of the country’s energy needs and is used for nearly
three-quarters of electricity generation. While India is fortunate
to have abundant reserves of coal to power economic development, the
burning of this resource, especially given the high ash content of
India’s coal, has come at a cost in terms of heightened public
risk and environmental degradation. Reliance on coal as the major
energy source has led to a nine-fold jump in carbon emissions over
the past forty years. The government estimates the cost of environmental degradation has been running at 4.5% of GDP in recent
years.
The low energy efficiency of power plants that burn coal is a
contributing factor. India's coal plants are old and are not
outfitted with the most modern pollution controls. Given the
shortage of generating capacity and scarcity of public funds, these
old coal-fired plants will remain in operation for sometime. Power
plant modernization to improve the plant load factor, improvements
in sub-transmission and distribution to cut distribution losses, and
new legislation to encourage end user energy conservation were all
mentioned as part of the energy efficiency effort.
The government has taken steps to address its environmental
problems. As of now the use of washed coal is required for all power
plants.
Vehicle emissions are responsible for 70% of the country’s
air pollution. The major problem with government efforts to
safeguard the environment has been enforcement at the local level,
not with a lack of laws.
Air pollution from vehicle exhaust and industry is a worsening
problem for India. Exhaust from vehicles has increased eight-fold
over levels of twenty years ago; industrial pollution has risen four
times over the same period. The economy has grown two and a half
times over the past two decades but pollution control and civil
services have not kept pace. Air quality is worst in the big cities
like Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi,
Chennai, etc.
Bangalore holds the title of being the asthma capital of the country.
Studies estimate that 10 per cent of Bangalore’s 60 lakh population and over 50 per cent of its children below 18 years suffer from air pollution-related ailments.
These cities are on the World Health Organization's list of top
most
polluted cities. Vehicle exhaust, untreated smoke, and untreated
water all contribute to the problem. Continued economic growth,
urbanization, and an increase in the number of vehicles, together
with lax enforcement of environmental laws, will result in further
increases in pollution levels.
Concern with New Delhi's air quality got so bad that the Supreme
Court recently stepped in and placed a limit on the number of new
car registrations in the capital.
The effects of air pollution are obvious: rice crop yields in
southern India are falling as brown clouds block out more and more sunlight. And
the brilliant white of the famous Taj Mahal is slowly fading to a sickly yellow. |
Poison in the air due to
Power plants.
In India, air pollution is estimated to cause, at the very minimum, 1 lakh excess deaths and 25 million excesses illnesses every year.
Poison in the air due to
vehicle emissions
The brilliant white of the famous Taj Mahal is slowly fading to a sickly yellow.
Multi-storeyed residential buildings stand behind an expanse of slums in Mumbai |
|
River water Pollution
Fully 80 percent of urban
waste in India ends up in the country's rivers, and unchecked urban growth
across the country combined with poor government oversight means the problem is
only getting worse. A growing number of bodies of water in India are unfit for human use, and in the
River Ganga, holy to the country's 82 percent Hindu
majority, is dying slowly due to unchecked pollution.
New Delhi's body of water is little more than a flowing
garbage dump, with fully 57 percent of the city's waste finding its way to the
Yamuna. It is that three billion liters of waste are pumped into Delhi's Yamuna
(River Yamuna)
each day. Only 55 percent of the 15 million
Delhi residents are connected to the city's sewage system. The remainder flush
their bath water, waste water and just about everything else down pipes and into
drains, most of them empty into the Yamuna. According to the Centre for Science and Environment, between 75 and 80 percent
of the river's pollution is the result of raw sewage. Combined with industrial
runoff, the garbage thrown into the river and it totals over 3 billion
liters of waste per day. Nearly 20 billion rupees, or almost US $500 million, has been
spent on various clean up efforts.
The frothy brew is so glaring that it can be viewed on Google Earth.
Much of the river pollution problem in India comes from untreated sewage.
Samples taken recently from the Ganges River near Varanasi show that levels of
fecal coliform, a dangerous bacterium that comes from untreated sewage, were
some 3,000 percent higher than what is considered safe for bathing.
|
Agara city's waste finding its way to the
River
Yamuna |
Groundwater exploitation
Groundwater exploitation is a serious matter of concern today and legislations and policy measures taken till date, by the state governments (water is a state subject) have not had the desired effect on the situation.
Plastic Pollution
Plastic
bags, plastic thin sheets and plastic waste is also a major source
of pollution.
See in detail: Plastic
Bag Pollution in the country
Municipal solid waste
Municipal solid waste is
solid waste generated by households, commercial establishments and offices and does not include the
industrial or agricultural waste. Municipal solid waste management is more of an administrative and institutional mechanism failure problem rather
than a technological one.
Pollution due to Mining
New
Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on December 29,
2007 said mining was causing displacement, pollution, forest
degradation and social unrest. The CSE released its 356-page sixth
State of India’s Environment report, ‘Rich Lands Poor People, is
sustainable mining possible?’ According to the Centre for
Science and Environment ( CSE) report the top 50 mineral producing
districts, as many as 34 fall under the 150 most backward districts
identified in the country.
The CSE report has made extensive analysis of environment
degradation and pollution due to mining, wherein it has said, in
2005-06 alone 1.6 billion tonnes of waste and overburden from coal,
iron ore, limestone and bauxite have added to environment pollution.
With the annual growth of mining at 10.7 per cent and 500-odd mines
awaiting approval of the Centre, the pollution would increase
manifold in the coming years.
Delhi's air is choking with pollutant PM 2.5
PM 2.5 is only 2.5
microns in diameter is very very small particle. The diameter of a
human hair strand is around 40-120. Being so small, it escapes
emission apparatus prescribed by Euro II and III. Any
kind of combustion, especially of vehicular origin, contains this
particle. If PM 2.5 is not regulated it will ensure major health
hazards. The number of Asthma patients will rise and in future there
may huge rise of lung cancer cases also. The toxic value of PM 2.5
is such that metals like lead present in the PM 2.5 get inhaled
deeper into lungs which deposits there. The children are most
affected by depositing lead due to inhaling the poisonous air. The increasing
amount of PM 2.5 is like a poison in the air we breathe. Researchers believe particulates, or tiny particles of soot,
interfere with the respiratory system because they are so small they can be breathed deeply into
the lungs.
Toxic smog is set to engulf New Delhi once again this winter after a six-year respite because of the huge
number of new cars clogging the roads. New Delhi adds nearly 1,000 new cars a day to the existing four million registered in the city, almost twice as many as before 2000. Pollution levels are
up to 350 micrograms per cubic metre in 2006-2007 and the levels of nitrogen oxides
have been increasing in the city to dangerous levels, which is a clear sign of pollution
from vehicles. Of these it is the diesel cars that are responsible for the pollution.
Diesel- run vehicles constituted just two percent of the total number of cars on
Delhi's roads seven years ago compared to more than 30 percent today and a
projected 50 percent by 2010.Diesel is being increasingly used because it is a cheaper fuel.
Diesel emissions can trigger asthma and in the long run even cause lung
cancer.
A survey by the Central Pollution Control Board and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences survey showed that a
majority of people living in Delhi suffered from eye irritation, cough, sore
throat, shortness of breath and poor lung functioning. One in 10 people have asthma in Delhi. Worse, the winter months bring
respiratory attacks and wheezing to many non-asthmatics who are old, who smoke,
have respiratory infections or chronic bronchitis. Across the national capital and its
suburbs, polluted air is killing people, bringing down the quality of life, and
leaving people feeling ill and tired.
Some studies show children are among the worst-affected by the dense haze that
often shrouds the city, and doctors frequently tell parents to keep their
children indoors when smog levels are particularly high. In a survey of almost 12,000 city schoolchildren late last year, 17 percent
reported coughing, wheezing or breathlessness, compared to just eight percent of
children in a rural area.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
India emits the fifth most
carbon of any country in the world. At 253 million metric tons, only
the U.S., China, Russia, and Japan surpassed its level of carbon
emissions in 1998. Carbon emissions have grown nine-fold over the
past forty years. In this Industrial Age, with the ever-expanding consumption of hydrocarbon fuels and the resultant increase in carbon dioxide emissions, that greenhouse gas concentrations have reached levels causing climate change. Going forward, carbon emissions are forecast to
grow 3.2% per annum until 2020. To put this in perspective, carbon
emissions levels are estimated to increase by 3.9% for China and by
1.3% for the United States. India is a non-Annex I country under the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and as such,
is not required to reduce its carbon emissions. An historical
summary of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel use in
India is increasing rapidly and causes global warming.
All inhabitants of our planet have an equal right to the atmosphere, but the industrialized countries have greatly exceeded their fair, per-capita share of the planet’s atmospheric resources and have induced climate change. The most developed countries possess the
capital, technological and human resources required for successful
adaptation, while in the developing countries, a large proportion of the population is engaged in traditional farming,
that is particularly vulnerable to the changes in temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events associated with climate change.
According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol
, the most industrialized countries are mainly responsible for causing climate
change. Thus equity requires that they should sharply reduce their emissions in order to arrest further climate change and allow other countries access to their fair share of atmospheric resources in order to develop.
Pollution of Indian Seas
The first sophisticated Pollution Control Vessel to patrol the seas for oil spills and other environmental exigencies is likely to be ready by October, 2008, Vice Admiral Rusi Contractor, Director-General, Indian
Coast Guard, said in the 11th National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan
(NOSDCP) preparedness meeting on April 23, 2008. Mr. Contractor said the proposed induction of at least three specialised vessels by
mid- 2009 would shorten the response time to an emergency. The Coast Guard chief highlighted the importance of enforcement of maritime laws. He said 90 per cent of trade was essentially sea-borne and substantial
numbers of vessels were old and un-seaworthy or single-hull vessels and raised the risk of significant pollution of Indian waters.
He said pollution remedy measures were being thought of following the various international conventions on environmental pollution that would also include exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions from ships and energy efficiency certification.
He pointed out that none of 10 accidents involving vessels during 2007 in Indian waters had resulted in an oil spill.
NASA research findings
Latest research findings by NASA and Stanford University indicate
that aerosol pollution will slow down winds, impacting normal
rainfall pattern in tropical countries. The unique combination of
meteorology, landscape (relatively flat plains framed by the
Himalayas to the north and open ocean to the south), and the large
population maximize the effects of aerosol pollution in India.
The skies over North India are seasonally filled with a thick soup
of aerosol particles all along the southern edge of the Himalayas,
streaming southward over Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. Most of
this air pollution comes from human activities.
Accumulation of aerosol particles in the atmosphere
also makes clouds last longer without releasing rain. This is
because atmospheric water forms deposits on naturally occurring
particles, like dust, to form clouds. But if there is pollution in
the atmosphere, the water has to deposit on more particles. Thus it
causes lesser rain.
|
|
The most polluted places in India
Vapi in Gujarat and Sukinda in
Orrisa is among the world's top 10 most polluted places, according
to the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based nonprofit group.
Vapi : Potentially affected people: 71,000 -Pollutants: Chemicals and heavy
metals due to its Industrial
estates.
Sukinda: Potentially affected people: 2,600,000.
-Pollutants: Hexavalent chromium due to its Chromite
mines.
The most polluted cities in India
As many as 51 Indian cities have extremely high air pollution, Lucknow, Raipur, Faridabad and Ahmedabad topping the list. An environment and forest ministry report, released
on September 14, 2007 has identified 51 cities that do not meet the prescribed Respirable Particulate Matter (RSPM) levels, specified under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS). In 2005, an Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) placed India at 101st position among 146 countries.
Taking a cue from the finding, the Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB) formulated NAAQS and checked the air quality, which led to the revelation about air quality in leading cities.
According to the report, Gobindgarh in Punjab is the most polluted city, and Ludhiana, Raipur and Lucknow hold the next three positions. Faridabad on the outskirt of Delhi is the 10th most polluted city, followed by Agra, the city of Taj
Mahal. Ahmedabad is placed 12th, Indore 16th, Delhi 22nd, Kolkata 25th, Mumbai 40th, Hyderabad 44th and Bangalore stands at 46th in the list.
The Orissa town of Angul, home to National Aluminium Company (NALCO), is the 50th polluted city of the country.
Emissions of gaseous pollutants: satellite data
Scientists and researchers from around the world gathered at ESRIN, ESA’s Earth
Observation Centre in Frascati, Italy, recently to discuss the contribution of
satellite data in monitoring nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere.
Using nitrogen dioxide (NO2) data acquired from 1996 to 2006 by the Global Ozone
Monitoring Experiment (GOME) instrument aboard ESA’s ERS-2 satellite,
Nitrous oxide emissions over India is growing at an annual rate of 5.5
percent/year. The location of emission hot spots correlates well with the
location of mega thermal power plants, mega cities, urban and industrial
regions.
Emissions of gaseous pollutants have increased in India over the past two
decades. According to Dr Sachin Ghude of the Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology (IITM), rapid industrialization, urbanization and traffic growth are
most likely responsible for the increase. Because of varying consumption
patterns and growth rates, the distribution of emissions vary widely across
India.
Reduce pollutions: suggestions
Reduce tax on incomes and institute a tax on pollution was a suggestion
environmental crusader Al Gore had for India to tackle the issue of global warming effectively. "Reduce tax on employees and employers and put a tax on pollution.
The more carbon dioxide one emits the more he pays in taxes," said Gore in an interactive session at the India Today Conclave here on
March 16, 2008. Replying to a question by Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, Gore also suggested subsidising clean energy generation instead of carbon fuels like kerosene.
|
ETP dicharge at
Vapi
Worst 5 Indian power companies in terms of total emission of CO2
-NTPC LTD.
-Maharastra State Power Gen Co.
- Gujrat Urja Vikas Nigam
- Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyat
- Andhra Pradesh Power Gen Corp. |
|
