212 Chapter5

Use rechargeable batteries. atteries wil reduce

Rechargeable batteries witt .

metal pollution.
chemicals wherever their applicatio
m
Use less hazardous
be afforded. Baking soda, vinegar and borax can help can
in
cleaning, bleaching and softening. Baking soda can Teplace

modern deodorants.

The solid waste generated during one manufacturing proo

can be used as a raw material for
some
other processes
D o not litter polythene bags. These
do notdegrade in the
environment and choke sewers, spoil soil qualityafterthev
mix
brittie, cause death of cows whickh
up with soil on becoming ich
consume these alongwith the garbage contained in them,
Use low phosphate, phosphate-free or biodegradable di
washing liquid, laundry detergent and shampoo. This will
bodies.
reduce eutrophication of water
Use organic manure instead of commercial inorganic fertilizer
D o not put pesticides, paints, solvents, oils or other harmful
chemicals into the drain or ground water.
. Use only the minimum required amount of water for various

activities. This will prevent fresh water from pollution.

.Whenbuilding a home, save (don't cut) as many trees as possible

in the area.
Plant more trees, as trees can absorb many toxic gases and can
purify the air by releasing oxygen.
Check population growth so that demand of materials is under
control.

POLLUTION CASE STUDIES

There have been many episodes or accidents resulting in air pollution,
waterpollution or nuclear pollution. Some of such cases are discussed
below:
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy
The world's worst industrial accident occurred in Bhopal, M.P,
India on the night of 2nd and morning of 3rd December, 1984.t
happened at Union Carbide Company which used to manuBacture
Carbaryl (Carbamate) pesticide using Methyl isocyanate (MIC.
Due to accidental entry of water in the tank, the reaction mixture
(Contd.)
 k
Environmental Pollutiont 213
ot overheated and exploded because its
Failed. Other safety devices also did not workcooling
failed. Oth system had
or were not in the
working condition. Forty tons of MICleaked into the
which might have contained 40 kg of atmosphere
MC gas at lower concentrations afects phosgene as an impurity.
in the skin. lungs and eyes and causes
ritation in
ritation Higher amounts remove the
ngs and can cause death. In the winter
oxygen from
night of December
ere were fog like clouds over south and
east of
the plant. The
as spread over 40
km' area. About
5100 persons were killed
2600 due to direct exposure to
MIC and other 2500 due to
ter effects of exposure) accordingto Indian officials. About
50,000 persons got exposed to MIC. An estimated 65,000
people suffered from severe eye, respiratory, neuromuscular,
gastrointestinal and gynecological disorders. About 1000 persons
became blind. Without counting the damage of human lives, it
cost about $ 570 million in clean up and
damage settlement.
This tragedy could have been averted had the
company spend
about $ 1 milion onsafety improvement.

Arsenic Pollution in Ground water

West Bengal and Bangladesh are severely contaminated by toxic
arsenic (a metalloid). The first report of arsenic pollution in West
Bengal came in 1978 and that of Bangladesh in 1993, where it
was found to beeven more widespread. Arsenic poisoning has
far reaching consequences. The local people were found to be
ingesting low doses of arsenic for 10-14 years after which
suddenly white or black spots called melanosis started mottling
the skin. The spots were later found to get converted into leprosy
like skin lesions encrusting the palms and soles, eventually rotting
into gangrenous ulcers. Long exposures often led to bladder and
lung cancer. Children are more badly affected by arsenicosis,
the affected people are socially isolated, children barred from
attending schools and young women remain single or have broken
marriage. The WHO has prescribed the maximum permissible
limits of arsenic as 10 mg/L. In West Bengal 40 million out of
90 million people are feared to have likely exposure to arsenic
threat due to contaminated water. The 24 Paraganas, Hooghly

(Contd.)
214 Chapter 5

and Murshidabad districts as also Behala and South Eas.

Risk Zone. Earlier it
astern
fringes of Kolkata lie in Arsenic was
into ground water d
postulated that the arsenic has entered to
geologic reasons in the Ganga Delta. Recently, however. i it is
causes.
being linked with anthropogenic
Excessive use of lead arsenate and copper arsenite
as
pesticides in high yielding varieties of summer paddy and jute
crop seems to be the major cause of arsenic pollution. Now tha
arsenic contaminated tubewells in the state are being painted red
while safe water tubewells are painted green for use by people.
Arsenic pollution in surface and ground water has also been
reported from Andhra Pradesh. It is clear that the source of arsenic
is not natural rock but the industrial eftiuents brought by 110
industries in industrial development area near Hyderabad for
treatment in the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP). The
stream receiving the treated effluents meets the river Manjira that
is one of the sources of drinking water for Hyderabadcity. Arsenic
released by CETP migrates vertically and horizontally and
contaminates the ground water of wells of adjoining villages.

Fluoride Pollution in Ground Water

Fluoride is present in varying levelsin almost all types of waters.
Ground water may havefrom low to high values depending upon
nature of rock and fluoride bearing minerals in the bedrock.
Fluoride may enterin thepublic water system from natural source
i.e., run-off from weathering of fluoride containing rock and soils
or leaching from solid to ground water Industrial discharges may
also contaminate water supply.
Some amount of fiuoride is required in drinking water to
prevent tooth decay. Therefore, fluoride is intentionally added to
public drinking water supply where natural fluoride is low. Optimal
level which can prevent tooth decay is from 0.7 to 1.2 mg/L.
As per a rough estimate total daily fluoride intake in
temperate climate would be approximately 0.6 mg per adult per
day where no fuoride is added to drinking water and 2 mg per
adult per day in a fluoridated area.
(Contd)
 Environmental Pollution 215
Fluoride problem may be endemic, i.e., restricted to
areas with high fluoride levels. However, the problem is
tne
prevalent
in various geographical areas of the world. The occurrence of
high levels observed in the areas with
are

() Sediments of marine origin in mountain areas.

i) Volcanic rocks.
(iii) Igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Fluoride in ground water comes due to dissolution of fluorite,
apatite and topaz from local bedrock. Presence of calcium limits
fluoride concentration in water. High concentration of fluoride
has been observed in aquifers poor in calcium and rich in fluoride
bearing minerals.
In India fluorosis is a serious national problem. The seriously
affected areas are villages in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana,
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat
The highest concentration, to date, has been reported from
Rewari district of Haryana ie., 48 mg/L. An estimated 62 million
people including 6 million children in India are affected by various
types of fluorosis.
Although it is difficult to assess exact extent of affected people
as the monitoring of ground water of wells and handpumps is not
uniform i.e., all villages of the district are not monitored or samples
are taken from some handpumps in a particular locality ignoring
others. As per WHO estimates about 10 to 25% of rural population
of various states is at risk.
Fluoride expose may lead to dental (enamel) fluorosis and
skeletal fluorosis. Severity of fluorosis depends on fluoride
exposure and period of development during exposure. Dental
fluorosis may vary from mild discoloration of tooth surface to
severe yellow or brown striations or mottling, loss of enamel and
dental cavities. In the U.S. prevalence of severe enamel fluorosis
is very low below 2 mg/L of fluoride in drinking water. High
fluoride exposure in terms of high levels in drinking water and
high duration of exposure may lead to crippling skeletal fluorosis
characterised by osteosclerosis, calcification of ligaments and
tendons and extreme bone deformities.

(Contd.)
216 Chapter 5
fluoride in the tests on
Carcinogenicity of experime
nental
animals could not be established. No effects have been observed
on reproductive organs or foetus developmeed
reproduction, development
fluoride in drinking wa
WHO has set the value of water at
Howeves, this guideline
value WH is not a
of HO is nota
1.5 mg/1. fixed
one but is supposcd to be adopted in consideration with the l
ocal
conditions.
Where alternative source of drinking water is not available,
detuoridation of drinking water is the only remedy. It can be dond
with the help of bone charcoal. Nalgonda process developed and
adopted by National Environmental Engineering Institute (NEEn
can be used at community and household level. The process n
uses
aluminium sulfate to remove fluoride. The flocs of aluminium
hydroxide formed in the process takes a few hours to settle which
may be discarded.

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

Chernobyl nuclear accident is the worst nuclear disaster in the
history of human civilization which occurred at Chernobyl,
Ukraine in the erstwhile USSR (now CIS). On 26 April, 1986 the
accident occurred at the reactor of the Chernobyl power plant
designed to produce 1000 MW electrical energy. The reactor had
been working continuouslyfor 2 years. It was shut down on April
25, 1986 for intermediate repairs. This period coincided with the
period when people including the top executives were busy in the
preparations for national holiday, the May Day. During shutdown
control rods were withdrawn and water supply was also reduced
so that small amount of water would have produced steam to run
the turbine. In the absence of controlrods and liquid water coolant
the neutron absorption reduced and dueto these projectile neutrons
fission increased many times resulting in explosions at reactor 4.

The explosion was so severe that the 1000 tonne steel concrete
lid of the reactor 4 blew off. Fire started at the reactor due to

combustion of graphite rods. The reactor temperature soared

more than 2000°C. Fuel and radioactive debris spewed out in a
volcanic cloud of molten mass of the core and gases. The debr
(Contad)
 217
Environmental Pollution

Polana,
hemisphere.
drifted over most of the northern
and gases
and Norway were affected.
Denmark, Sweden and 239 people
of the accident 31 persons died
On first day lodine-131,
Cesium
Sincethe plume was rich in
were hospitalized. people
5,76,000
it was feared that some of the
134 and Cesium-137, thyroia
radiations would suffer from cancer specially
exposed to the were more
susceptible as lodine
leukemia. Children Since
cancer and products.
mainly through milk and milk the
131 is ingested are in
more milk and their
thyroid glands
children c o n s u m e areas
cancer in
children from
an increase in thyroid
growing stage, died. People
was More than 2000 people
registered.
near Chernobyl and anemia.
ulcerating skin, loss of hair,
nausea
suffered from Intense

Agricultural produce
damaged for years.
was
Flora
several fields, trees, shrubs,
plants etc.
radiations destroyed hemorrhagic
abnormalities,
and fauna were destroyed. Blood reproductive
changes in lungs, eye diseases, cataract,
diseases, banned
c a n c e r cases increased.
Sweden and Denmark
failure and
Russian products.
the import of contaminated and non-polluting
inexhaustible
Nuclear energy is a cheap, and
the absence of proper care
source of energy. However, in
can rock the society.
caution, disasters like Chernobyl

Fukushima Daiichi Disaster, Japan

which occurred
Fukushima Nuclear reactor
disaster (Fig. 5.13)
nuclear disaster in the world
on 11 March, 2011 is the biggest
occurred due to equipment failure,
core
after Chernobyl disaster. It 9.0
radioactive material. In fact the
meltdown and release of
occurred on 11 March,
magnitude earthquake tsunamiwhich
and
caused damage to the reactors
2011 resulted in 15 m high wave,
to withstand a 5.7 metre tsunami.
which were protected by seawall
switchgears and
There was large scale flooding of generators,
of cooling water. Connections to electric
pumps used for supply
was obstructed and the reactors started
grid were broken. Cooling
Reactors 1, 2, 3 and 4 were
overheating due to fission products.
of radioactivity in
badly damaged. There was a fear spread
of
radiation exposure and were
about 20 km area. People suffered
evacuated temporarily.
(Contd.)
218 Chapter5 been ported
reported in
in areis
has
caesium

due to reactors. 131 and

Iodine-131

from the
radioactivity

High 30-50
km was not recommen

water
Japan
high. Pipe ofsoil has also
northern
of were c o n t a m i n a t i o n

levels
Caesium-137

food.
Plutonium
sn
and rain water spread
to cook due to wind
by officials fall out and ingested
Radioactive
when inhaledland ingeste
threat
been reported. health
and posed
assessed

disasters
are at
c o n t a m i n a t i o n

Chernobyl
nuclear Nuclea.
Fukushima
and the
International
ear
on
maximum
scale value
level 7, the
Event Scale (INES).

at Fukushima
nuclear accident
Fig. 5.13 The

areas of India as identified by CPCB

Pollution problem
State/U.T.
S. No. Name
Karnataka
1. Bhadravati
Chembur Maharashtra
2.
Assam
3. Digboi
4. Dhanbad Bihar
Durgapur W.B.
6. Govindgarh Punjab
Greater Cochin Kerala
8. Howrah W.B
9. Jodhpur Rajasthan
10. Kala-Amb HP
11. Korba M.P.

(Cont
 Enoironmenmtal Pollution 219

12. Manali T.N.

13. Nagda-Ratlam M.P
14 Najafgarh Drain Basin Delhi
15. North Arcot T.N.
16. Pali
Rajasthan
17. Parwanoo H.P
18. Patancheru-Bollaram A.P
19. Singrauli U.P.
. Talcher Orissa
21. Vapi Gujarat
22 Vishakhapatnam A.P.
23 Tarapur Maharashtra
24. Ankleshwar Gujarat
Source: Annual Report CPCB, 2002-2003.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has developed the

concept of Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEP). CEPI
depicts the environmental quality and is calculated on the basis of air,
water and land pollution. Higher the value of CEPI more is the
environmental pollution. CPCB published the first list in 2009.
The two industrial clusters around Mumbai-Tarapur and
Dombivali are among the top 10 most polluted industrial clusters in
the country.
Vapi in Gujarat and Sukinda in Odisha are among the world's top
10 most polluted places.
The CPCB depending on the air quality reported Gobindgarh
(Punjab), Ludhiana, Raipur, Lucknow, Faridabad, Agra, Ahmedabad,
Indore, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Banguluru as the most
polluted cities of India.

WHAT IS DISASTER MANAGEMENT?

Geological processes like earthquakes, volcanoes, floods and landslides
are normal natural events which have resulted in the formation of the
carth that we have today. They are, however, disastrous in their impacts
When they affect hunman settlements. Human societies have witnessed