ENVIRONMENTAL

POLLUTION
Pollution is the introduction of pollutants (chemical substances, noise, heat, light,
energy and others) into the environment which results in deleterious effects of such
a nature as to endanger human health, harm living resources and ecosystems, and
impair or interfere with amenities and other legitimate uses of the environment.
Major forms of pollution
The major forms of pollution are listed below along with the particular pollutants
relevant to each of them
• Air pollution, the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. Common
examples include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and
nitrogen oxides produced by industry and motor vehicles. Photochemical ozone and smog
are created as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react to sunlight.
• Water pollution via surface runoff, leaching to groundwater, liquid spills, wastewater
discharges, Eutrophication and littering.
• Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are released by spill or underground storage
tank leakage. Among the most significant soil contaminants are hydrocarbons, heavy
metals, herbicides, pesticides and chlorinated hydrocarbons.
• Radioactive contamination, added in the wake of 20th-century discoveries in atomic
physics.
• Noise pollution, which encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise, industrial noise as
well as high-intensity sonar.
• Light pollution, includes light trespass, over-illumination and astronomical
interference.
• Visual pollution, which can refer to the presence of overhead power lines, motorway
billboards, scarred landforms (as from strip mining), open storage of trash or municipal
solid waste.
• Thermal Pollution is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused by human
influence.
AIR POLLUTION
• Definition: the presence in the air of substances generally originating from manmade/natural activities in
concentrations that interfere with the health, comfort, and safety of living beings. It can be indoor as well outdoor
Air pollution. However our discussion will be restricted to Outdoors type.
• CLASSIFICATION OF AIR POLLUTANTS
[a] Origin of pollutants
• Primary pollutants: emitted directly from source, say, release of SO2 from burning of coal.
• Secondary Pollutants: Formed due to interaction of 2 or more primary and secondary pollutants,
• say for instance Acid rain, Ozone, PAN, Smog etc.
[b] States of Matter
• Particulates: composed of solid-liquid --- inert/reactive particles sized 2x10-4 – 500 microns. e.g.,
• dust/smoke
• Gaseous: SO2, CO, H2S, CH4, CO2 and O3
[c] Chemical composition
• Organic: Aldehydes, Esters, ethers, and amines
• Inorganic: NOx, SO2, NH3, H2S and O3
[d] Characteristics
• Physical: Dust, fly ash, spray, pollen, smoke, mist and fumes
• Chemical: Organic – Inorganic
• Biological: Protozoa, Bacteria, Fungi and Virus.
 Chernobyl Nuclear disaster
• April, 27, 1986, a major accident had occurred at an atomic reactor at
Chernobyl in the Ukraine area of the erstwhile Soviet Union. This had
resulted in clouds of radioactive smoke over a large area in
Scandinavian countries about 2000 km away, and in the Russian
region itself. 1stexplosion occurred at reactor number 4 at the
Chernobyl complex occurred on April 26, 1986 and resulted in a
massive and uncontrollable fire.
• The explosion was followed by a second explosion on May 5th.
Majority of radiation [about 10.19 Bq. of radio nuclides] escaped was
released in span of 10 days between 2 explosions. Theexplosion and
fire was caused by failure of emergency cooling system in the light
water graphite reactor, due to human error
• The explosion and subsequent hot fire (about 25000C) blew large
amounts of radionuclides high into the atmosphere. Four main
radionuclides released include I-131 [half-life 8.5 years], Cesium-137
[half-life 30 years], C-14 [half-life 5730 years] and Sr-90 [half-life 28
years].During the first 10 days over 400 million people were exposed
to the radiation. In the immediate vicinity 30 soviet citizens died from
radiation poisoning. Over 1,50,000 were evacuated from an area of
radius 30km.
• The chronic health impacts include blood abnormalities, hemorrhagic
diseases, thyroid changes, mutagenic and somatic alterations, bone
necrosis, skin cancer, failure of reproductive organs etc
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
• On the fateful night of December 02, 1984 and the early hours of December 03, 1984, more than
one million residents of Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh, India, reported irritation of eyes that
quickly lead to macabre death dancing. A cloud of poisonous gas was released from the union
carbide factory, a pesticide manufacturing plant owned by UNION CARBIDE INDIA Ltd., a
subsidiary of union carbide, USA. The factory was licensed to produce Methyl Iso Cynate,
CH3NCO, an extremely hazardous chemical, which is used in the manufacture of several
pesticides like Sevin Carbaryl and Temik 10-G.Carbon monoxide, obtained by partial oxidation
of coal is combined with chlorine gas in presence of activated carbon to produce phosgene,
COCl2. Phosgene gas and methyl amene combine to form MIC. The product is stored in tanks for
further production carbomite insecticides.
COCl2 + CH3NH2 → CH3NCO +2HCl
• Bhopal gas tragedy was as well associated with thick winter fog and thermal
inversion, which did not allow the pollutants to disperse and dilute. It was
alleged that MIC is stored up to a purity of 99.5% and 0.1% phosgene is
permitted as impurity.

• MIC shall not be stored more than 1 month, but due to sheer negligence and
ignorance, it was stored for more than 3 months, as a result of which there
was pressure built-up, and the tank couldn’t resist the extreme pressure
generated and exploded releasing as into atmosphere.

• About 40 tons of MIC AND 40 kg of phosgene was vaporized and released.

In such a scenario, there is a provision of burning up the gas, by control
equipment called flare tower, on whose failure the gas can be neutralized by
caustic soda using vent scrubber. Unfortunately both control devices failed
to work as they were maintained. This was sheer case of human negligence.

• MIC is a toxic gas that is denser than air and even at low concentrations is
fatal causing death due to anoxia. MIC is a very reactive chemical that can
react with itself unless maintained at a specific temperature [15 degree C].
Liquid nitrogen was used to maintain this, but device circulating it had
failed to operate and situation worsened.

• The next day entire Bhopal railway station was filled with corpses of people
who tried to fled the place, had it not been for presence of 2 lakes that came
in way of escaping gas, the disaster would have been multifold
Impacts of Air Pollution

• Health issues, Soiling of clothes, buildings and plants, Lack of appetite, rapid loss of weight,
lameness, death and Masking of human performance. In plants causes collapse of tissues
[necrosis], reduction in chlorophyll [chlorosis] and dropping of leaves [abscission].

CONTROL MEASURES AND PREVENTITION MEANS

• Control techniques:-
• At Source: Modification of process / equipment / exhaust / products.
• At Receiver: Proper zoning / planning of industrial area.
• At Transmission: Operation/maintenance of vehicles / forest belt.
• Alternative Fuel resources: bio fuel/ eco-friendly fuel/ low Sulphur % coals
• Norms & Regulations: Emission tests, Penalties, Stringent enforcements & monitoring
• Dilution of pollutants concentration at source by use of tall stacks and control equipment’s.
• Some of the control equipment’s used are settling chamber, cyclonic separator, filter,
• electrostatic precipitator and wet collector, the choice depends on characteristics of air pollutant.
NOISE POLLUTION
• Noise can be defined as the wrong sound at wrong place at wrong time. It is
derived from the Latin word Nausea.
• Noise is any sound independent of loudness producing undesirable effects
on individual. Amplitude [loudness] and frequency [intensity] are its two
properties
• Sources of noise
Indoor source: baby crying, door banging, audio systems
Outdoor source: loud speakers, brawling
Natural sources: birds, thunder, earthquake, volcanic eruptions
Man-made sources: automobiles
Industrial sources: drilling, rotary machinery, mining,
Traffic: aircrafts, railways
• Time of exposure, Frequency, intensity are certain factors under which effect of noise is biased.
Noise can affect auditory, circulatory and nervous system of human body.

• Speech interference, masking, effect on human performance acoustic trauma [sudden permanent
aural damage due to short exposure], temporary and permanent threshold shift are effects on
auditory system observed in humans. Human hearing mechanism comprise ear drum, cochlea
and hair cells.

• Shrinking of blood vessels, low blood flow to organs, blood pressure, cardio-vascular death, heart
attack and digestive spasms are effects on circulatory system while ear drum rupture,
aggressiveness, fatigue, insanity are symptoms of effects on nervous system.

• Noises can seriously damage and effect physiological and psychological health. Noise also make
species communicate louder (which is called Lombard Vocal Response).
• Noise pollution limits at residential area 55 dB, Industrial area 65 dB,
Commercial area 60 dB
• and Silent zone is 45 dB. Tolerant noise level in city levels is 65 dB, while
normal permissible is
• 45 dB.
• Control of noise is to be achieved not only at the source but also at receiver
end, via transmission
• route, via application of rules and regulations, maintenance of vehicular
condition, utilization of
• silencers, ban on shrill horns, eco-friendly zoning, green belt development
and proper town
• planning
WATER POLLUTION
• About 97% of earth’s water supply is in the oceans which is unfit for human
consumption and the other uses due to salinity. Of the remaining, 2.3% is locked
in the polar ice caps and hence out of bounds. The balance 0.7% is available as
fresh water but the bulk of it 0.67 exist as ground water, and the rest 0.03% is
available to us as fresh water, rivers, lakes and streams. The breakup of this 0.03%
freshwater is 0.01% as lakes & rivers, 0.01 as water vapor, 0.0003 as streams and
the remaining0.0187 confined in plants and animal tissues. Mass balance of
annual rainfall shows about 70 % loss by evapo-transpiration, while reminder is
stream flow.
USES OF WATER
Productive use: water is primarily used for irrigation of food crops, fodder crops, medicinal
herbs, etc.
Consumptive use:
water is consumed in exhaustive quantities for domestic purposes such as
drinking, cooking, washing etc. water find its application in almost all the processes in industries,
starting from the manufacturing processes to housekeeping activities.

Commercial use: Water consumed for carrying out commercial and recreational activities.
Many uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental
activities. Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water. The framework for allocating
water resources to water users (where such a framework exists) is known as water rights.
Agricultural
It is estimated that 69% of world-wide water use is for irrigation. In some areas of the world
irrigation is necessary to grow any crop at all, in other areas it permits more profitable crops to
be grown or enhances crop yield.
Industrial
It is estimated that 15% of world-wide water use is industrial. Major industrial users include
power plants, which use water for cooling or as a power source (i.e. hydroelectric plants), ore
and oil refineries, which use water in chemical processes, and manufacturing plants, which
use
water as a solvent. The portion of industrial water usage that is consumptive varies widely,
but as
a whole is lower than agricultural use.
Household Drinking water
It is estimated that 15% of world-wide water use is for household purposes. These include
drinking water, bathing, cooking, sanitation, and gardening. Basic household water
requirements
have been estimated at around 50 liters per person per day, excluding water for gardens.
Recreation
Recreational water use is usually a very small but growing percentage of total water use.
Recreational water use is mostly tied to reservoirs. If a reservoir is kept fuller than it would
otherwise be for recreation, then the water retained could be categorized as recreational
usage.
Other examples are anglers, water skiers, nature enthusiasts and swimmers.
 WATER BORNE DISEASES
Waterborne diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms which are directly
transmitted when contaminated drinking water is consumed. Contaminated drinking water
used in the preparation of food can be the source of food borne disease through
consumption of the same microorganisms.
Waterborne disease can be caused by protozoa, viruses, bacteria, and intestinal parasites.
Bacterial Infections
• Cholera - Vibrio cholerae bacteria - gastro-intestinal often waterborne
• Diarrhoeal diseases - caused by the water contamination of Cryptosporidium parvum
[E.Coli].
• Dysentery - Shigella/Salmonella bacteria - gastro-intestinal food/water
• Typhoid - Salmonella typhi bacteria - gastro-intestinal water/food borne
• Viral Infections
Adenovirus infection - its serotypes are typically waterborne.
Hepatitis A - Hepatitis A virus - gastro-intestinal water/food borne
Polio - polioviruses - gastro-intestinal exposure to untreated
WATER INDUCED DISEASES
On the other hand Water Induced Diseases are those which are not transmitted directly by
water but facilitate its propagation such as Malaria that for instance support as breeding
grounds for mosquitoes. Vivax & Plasmodium Falciparum are the 2 major strains of the 4
which affect humans globally, carried by female anopheles mosquitoes. Incidentally Malaria
means Bad Air in Italy [ Mal-aria], Salaria means healthy air.
Sources of water pollution
1] industrial effluent
2] domestic sewage
3] fertilizers/pesticides from agricultural land as runoff
4] leachate from solid waste disposal sites.
Water pollution caused by domestic sewage amounts to 84% while industrial sewage
contributes 16%. The previous exerts oxygen demand while latter is toxic and hazardous
despite that the load is less. Industrial effluents contribute color [textile firms], heavy metals
[electroplating], microbes [pharmacy-distillery] and organic load [paper and pulp industry]
Types of sources
• Types of sources
• 1] Point sources: sources, which discharge pollutants at specific locations through pipelines,
sewers into water bodies. E.g., factory outlets, STP [sewage treatment plant] because they are at
specific places hence they are fairly easy to identify, monitor and regulate.
• 2] Non-point sources: sources, which include run off from urban, sub urban , agricultural farms,
livestock, animal husbandry, crop lands etc. Difficulty is in controlling non-point source as it is
almost impossible in identifying and controlling discharges from so many diffuse sources.
• Basic Terminologies
• 1] Sewer: pipeline/conduit carrying sewage.
• 2] Sewage: the wastewater flowing in sewers, comprises > 99% water, < 1% solids.
• Generally referred as domestic sewage when water arises from both kitchen & toilets.
• 3] Sullage: wastewater arising only from kitchen areas.
• 4] Storm drainage; water entering a sewer due to rainfall. This increases load on treatment plant
• as well dilutes the waste quality.
• 5] Sewerage: art of collection, treatment and disposal of sewage.
• 6] Dry weather flow: in summer season, quantity of sewage in sewers is less as due to scanty
• rainfall.
Types of treatment offered
• 1] separate treatment: here individual and specific treatment is followed for industrial
and domestic sewage separately. This treatment saves space and is process specific w.r.t.
pollutant removal.
• 2] Joint treatment: here domestic sewage is mixed with industrial sewage. This helps in
diluting
• the toxicity of industrial wastes but also increases the load on STP.(sewage treatment
plant)
• 3] Partial treatment: only a portion of domestic sewage is mixed with industrial waste.
This is
• design specific based on characteristic of wastewaters.
Characteristic of Sewage
• DO [dissolved oxygen] is the amount of free oxygen available to aquatic species
necessary for their existence.
• Situations can arise where in presence of organic matter in waters body necessitates
situations where in presence of organic matter utilizes DO as oxidizing element. Organic
matter is food for microbes.
• Fresh sewage is grey in color, as time progresses DO depletes, and color turns black, and
its termed Septic.
• COD i.e., chemical oxygen demand can be defined as the amount of dissolved oxygen
required by chemical compounds for oxidation process.
Effects of Water Pollution
• Eutrophication, destruction of aquatic species, threats to coral reefs and
endangered species,
• depletion of dissolved oxygen, spread of water borne, carrying diseases,
ecological imbalance,
• recreational and tourism impacts, loss of water bodies
Pollution Control Acts in India
Wildlife protection act, 1972
Water act, 1974
Forest conservation act, 1980
Air act, 1981
Environmental protection act [EPA], 1986
Hazardous wastes rules, 1989
Public liability insurance act, 1991
Bio-medical waste rules, 1998
Noise pollution rules, 2000
 Radon and fluoride concentration in drinking
water and potential health risks
• Only about 1-2 percent of radon in the air comes from drinking water. However
breathing radon increases the risk of lung cancer over the course of your lifetime.
Some radon stays in the water; drinking water containing radon also presents a
risk of developing internal organ cancers, primarily stomach cancer.
• Fluoride contamination has become a considerable threat to our society
worldwide. Fluoride in drinking water is primarily due to rich fluoride soil,
volcanic activity, forage, grasses and grains, and anthropogenic reasons. World
Health Organization has regulated the upper limit for fluoride in drinking water to
be 1.5 mg/L while different countries have set their standards according to their
circumstances. Excess amounts of fluoride ions in drinking water can cause dental
fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis, arthritis, bone damage, osteoporosis, muscular
damage, fatigue, joint-related problems, and chronicle issues. In extreme
conditions, it could adversely damage the heart, arteries, kidney, liver, endocrine
glands, neuron system, and several other delicate parts of a living organism
Environmental Toxicology

• Environmental toxicology is related to the study of various effects of

synthetic and natural pollutants in the environment. It is mainly related to
the study of anthropogenic origin environmental chemicals. Environmental
toxicology is categorized into two types namely Ecotoxicology and
Environmental Health Toxicology.

• Ecotoxicology: It is the study of the harmful effects of the toxic chemicals

on biological organisms. It effect mainly the community, biosphere and
ecosystem level.
• Environmental Health Toxicology: It mainly deals with the study of adverse
and harmful effects of environmental chemicals on human health.