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Unit II
Environmental Pollution:
(a) Air Pollution: Source, Types, effects on biosphere and Meteorology, Air Quality
,Control.(b) Water Pollution: Types and Sources. (c) Soil Pollution: Types and Control.
(d) Noise Pollution: Effect, Control (e) Thermal Pollution. (f) Radiation Pollution (g)
Solid waste Management, (h) Pollution Prevention, (i) Disaster Management
Environmental Pollution & Control: Pollution is derived from Latin word ‘polluere’
which means ‘to contaminate’ any feature of environment.
Environmental pollution: It is defined as an undesirable change in the physical,
chemical and biological characteristics of any component of the environment (water, soil,
air) that can cause harmful effect on various forms of life and property.
Pollution can be primary (effects immediately on release to the environment) or
secondary (product of interaction after release with moisture, sunlight, other pollutants
etc.).Pollution may be local, regional, trans - boundary or global. The agent which causes
pollution is called pollutant.
Pollutants can be classified as:
1. Degradable or non persistent pollutants: These can be rapidly broken by natural
processes. eg. Domestic sewage, discarded vegetables etc.
2. Slowly degradable or persistent pollutants: These remain in the environment for
many years in an unchanged condition and take decades or longer to degrade. eg: DDT 3.
3. Non degradable pollutants: These cannot be degraded by natural processes. eg: Toxic
elements like lead or mercury and nuclear wastes.
Types of Environmental pollution: Various types of pollutions namely:
(i) Air pollution
(ii) Water pollution
(iii) Soil pollution
(iv) Noise pollution
(v) Thermal pollution
(vi) Radiation pollution
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1. Air Pollution
It is the presence of undesirable solid or gaseous particles in the air in quantities and
duration that are harmful to human health and environment.
Air Pollutants:- The undesirable solid or gaseous particles in the air are known as air
pollutants.
Types of Air Pollutants: Air pollutants are of two types namely:
i. Primary pollutants.
ii. Secondary pollutants.
i. Primary pollutants: Pollutants that are emitted directly from identifiable sources are
produced by natural events can be in the form of particulate matter or gaseous form.
These are called primary pollutants eg. Dust storms and volcanic eruptions and
through human activities like emission from vehicles, industries etc.
There are five primary pollutants that contribute to 90% of global air pollution. These
are carbon oxides (CO & CO2), NOx (oxides of Nitrogen), SOx (oxides of sulphur),
volatile organic compounds and suspended particulate matter.
ii. Secondary pollutants: The pollutants which are produced by the chemical reactions
among the primary pollutants and with others in the atmosphere are called secondary
air pollutants. eg. Acid rain, smog etc.

Sources of Air pollution: The sources can be classified into two major categories.

1. Anthropogenic (man-made) sources:

i. Stationary sources: include smoke stacks of power plants, manufacturing facilities
(factories) and waste incinerators, as well as furnaces and other types of fuel-burning
heating devices. In developing and poor countries, traditional biomass burning is the
major source of air pollutants; traditional biomass includes wood, crop waste and dung.
ii. Mobile sources: include motor vehicles, marine vessels, and aircraft.
iii. Controlled burn practices in agriculture and forest management: Controlled or
prescribed burning is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming,
prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement.
iv. Mining: Adds undesirable solid and toxic gases to air.
v. Agricultural: The activities like use of insecticides & pesticides add vapours of these
toxic substances to air.
vi. Infrastructure development i.e. construction, housing and settlements.
vii. Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents
viii. Waste deposition in landfills:It generate methane. Methane is highly flammable
and may form explosive mixtures with air. Methane is also an asphyxiant and may
displace oxygen in an enclosed space. Asphyxia or suffocation may result if the
oxygen concentration is reduced to below 19.5% by displacement.
ix. Military resources, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and rocketry
2. Natural sources:
i. Dust from natural sources, usually large areas of land with little or no vegetation.
ii. Methane, emitted by the digestion of food by animals, for example cattle
iii. Radon gas from radioactive decay within the Earth's crust. Radon is a colorless,
odorless, naturally occurring, radioactive noble gas that is formed from the decay of
radium. It is considered to be a health hazard. Radon gas from natural sources can
accumulate in buildings, especially in confined areas such as the basement and it is the
second most frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking.
iv. Smoke and carbon monoxide from wildfires
v. Vegetation, in some regions, releases significant amounts of Volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) on warmer days. These VOCs react with primary anthropogenic
pollutants—specifically, NOx, SO2, and anthropogenic organic carbon compounds —
to produce a seasonal haze of secondary pollutants. Black gum, poplar, oak and willow
are some examples of vegetation that can produce abundant VOCs.
vi. Volcanic activity produces sulfur, chlorine, and ash particulates.

Effects of Air Pollution:

1. Effects on human health:
i. Particulates cause carcinogenic effects, accumulate in lungs and interfere with
ability of lungs to exchange gases. Prolongeal exposure causes lung cancer and
asthma.
ii. Exposure to air containing CO for several hours can cause collapse, coma and
even death. As CO remains attached to heamoglobin in the blood for a long time,
it accumulates and reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of blood. This impairs
thinking, causes headaches, drowsiness and nausea.
iii. SO2 irritates the respiratory tissues.
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iv. NO2 can irritate lungs, aggravate asthma and susceptibility to influenza and
common colds.
v. Many volatile organic compounds (benzene and formaldehyde) and toxic
particulates can cause mutations and cancer.
2. Effects on plants: Gaseous pollutants enter the leaf pores and damage the leaves of
crop plants, interfere with photosynthesis and plants growth and reduces nutrient
uptake and causes the leaves to turn yellow, brown or drop off altogether.
3. Effects on materials: Air pollutants break down the exterior paint on cars and
houses.
4. Effect on stratosphere: The upper stratosphere consists of considerable amounts of
ozone, which works as an effective screen for UV light. This region is called ozone
layer, which extends up to 60km above the surface of the earth. Ozone is a form of
oxygen with 3 atoms instead of 2. It is produced naturally in the atmosphere.
Presence of certain pollutants can accelerate the breakdown of ozone. Depletion of
ozone effects human health, food productivity and climate as given below.
5. Effect on Food Production: UV radiation affects the ability of plants to capture light
energy during the process of photosynthesis. This reduces the nutrient content and
growth of plants mostly in legumes and cabbage. Plants and animals are damaged by
UV radiations.
6. Effects on climate: Contribute to global warming, a phenomenon which is caused
due to the increase in concentration of certain gases like CO 2, NO2 methane and
chloroflorocarbons (CFCs).
Control measures for air pollution:
1. Dispersion of source: Shifting of polluting industries away from cities and heavily populated
areas
2. Dilution: increasing the height of chimneys.
3. Reduction at Source: Industrial pollution can be greatly reduced by:
a. Use of cleaner fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) in power plants, fertilizer plants
etc. which is cheaper in addition to being environmentally friendly.
b. Employing environment friendly industrial processes so that emission of pollutants and
hazardous waste is minimized.
c. Installing devices which reduce release of pollutants. Devices like filters, electrostatic
precipitators, inertial collectors, scrubbers, gravel bed filters or dry scrubbers are
described below:
(i) Filters – Filters remove particulate matter from the gas stream. The medium of a filter
may be made of fibrous materials like cloth, granular material like sand, a rigid material
like screen, or any mat like felt pad. Baghouse filtration system is the most common
one and is made of cotton or synthetic fibres(for low temperatures) or glass cloth
fabrics (for higher temperature up to 290oC).
(ii) Electrostatic precipitators (ESP)- The emanating dust is charged with ions and the
ionized particulate matter is collected on an oppositely charged surface. The particlesare
removed from the collection surface by occasional shaking or by rapping the
surface. ESPs are used in boilers, furnaces, and many other units of thermal power
plants, cement factories, steel plants, etc.
(iii)Inertial collectors – It works on the principle that inertia of SPM in a gas is higher
than its solvent and as inertia is a function of the mass of the particulate matter this
device collects heavier particles more efficiently. ‘Cyclone’is a common inertial collector
used in gas cleaning plants.
(iv) Scrubbers – Scrubbers are wet collectors. They remove aerosols from a stream of
gas either by collecting wet particles on a surface followed by their removal, or else
the particles are wetted by a scrubbing liquid. The particles get trapped as they travel
from supporting gaseous medium across the interface to the liquid scrubbing medium.
(v) Adsorption- The gaseous pollutants can be removed by absorption in a liquid using a wet
scrubber and depends on the type of the gas to be removed e.g. for removal of sulphur dioxide
alkaline solution is needed as it dissolves sulphur dioxide. Gaseous pollutants may be absorbed
on an activated solid surface like silica gel, alumina, carbon, etc. Silica gel can remove water
vapour. Condensation allows the recovery of many by products in coal and petroleum
processing industries from their liquid effluents.
Apart from the use of above mentioned devices, other control measures are-
 Closing industries which pollute the environment.
 Development and maintenance of green belt of adequate width.
4. Control of vehicular pollution

 The emission standards for automobiles have been set which if followed will reduce
the pollution. Standards have been set for the durability of catalytic converters which
reduce vehicular emission.
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 In cities like Delhi, motor vehicles need to obtain Pollution Under Control (PUC)
certificate at regular intervals. This ensures that levels of pollutants emitted from vehicle
exhaust are not beyond the prescribed legal limits.
 The price of diesel is much cheaper than petrol which promotes use of diesel. To
reduce emission of sulphurdioxide, sulphur content in diesel has been reduced to 0.05%.
 Earlier lead in the form of tetraethyl lead was added in the petrol to raise octane level
for smooth running of engines. Addition of lead in petrol has been banned to prevent
emission of lead particles with the vehicular emission.
 Alternate fuels like CNG is being encouraged for use in public transport
vehicles.

Introduction to meteorology: The earth is surrounded by a large envelope of gases called

atmosphere. The condition of the atmosphere and the changes it undergoes influence all
physical, chemical and biological activities over the earth.
Definition: The study pertaining to lower atmosphere and its changes is called atmosphere
physics or meteorology.
In modern usage, meteorology denotes the science of weather and includes the study of
atmospheric phenomena.
Divisions of Meteorology:
i. Marine meteorology: Meteorology pertaining to the sea and ocean is called
marine meteorology.
ii. Aeronomy: The science of aeronomy investigates both the chemical and
physical properties of the atmosphere and the changes that occur in these as the
result of external and internal forces.
iii. Bio-meteorology: The scientific study of the interactions between living
organisms and their atmospheric environment called biometeorology.
What is investigated under Meteorology?
i. Temperature.
ii. Wind speed & direction.
iii. Clouds-Types, extent & altitude.
iv. Precipitation- Type, amount & location.
v. Visibility- Fog, haze.
vi. Humidity.
vii. Future trend of above mentioned properties.
Techniques/ Methods used in for Meteorology forcasting:
i. Persistence method
ii. Climatology
iii. Analogue method
iv. Numerical weather prediction.
Why Meteorology?: It answers the following questions:
i. Is it safe for an aircraft to take off?
ii. Is it safe for a ferry to leave harbour?
iii. Is it safe to go yachting/ potholing/ skiing today?
iv. How much rain fell over Delhi yesterday?
v. There is fire in a thermal plant-where is the pollution going?
vi. Warning for severe weather.
vii. Weather forecast for farmers.

What is air quality index?

The Air Quality Index is acquired by measuring emissions of eight major pollutants present
in the air: Particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), Ozone (O3), Carbon Monoxide (CO),
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Lead (Pb) and Ammonia (NH3)
emissions. Readings are noted every hour. Each country has their air quality indexes based
on its air quality standards.

Air Quality Index India

The government agencies are responsible for communicating to the public about the health
hazards and how to keep a check on them. Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the National
Air Quality Index was launched in September 2014 in New Delhi to measure India’s air
quality index.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has formed an expert group of medical
professionals, air quality experts, academia, advocacy groups, and SPCBs. Also, a technical
study was awarded to IIT Kanpur. In 2014, the IIT Kanpur and the expert group
recommended an AQI scheme for India. Six cities of India- New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai,
Pune, and Ahmedabad have a continuous monitoring system that records data in real-time.
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Instrument to Measure Air Quality

Few instruments that are used for measuring air quality are:
1. PCE-RCM 05
2. PCE-RCM 8
3. PCE-HFX 100
Calculation of AQI
The computation of the AQI is based on the average air pollutant concentration over a
specified period, which is obtained from an air monitor or model. The AQI increases
because of an increase in the emission of air pollutants; for example, during heavy traffic or
forest fire, a high value of AQI is observed. In addition, due to anticyclone or temperature
inversion, Stagnant air leads to high concentrations of pollutants in the air. This results in
chemical reactions between air pollutants and hazy conditions, thus increasing the AQI.
Particulate Matter or PM: A substantial pollutant
PM 2.5 and PM 10 is the most common method of measuring air quality. It measures the
particles in micrograms per cubic metre. As a UPSC 2023 aspirant, you must know about
Particulate Matter or PM. It is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets present in the
air. While some particles such as dust, smoke and soot are visible through naked eyes,
numerous others are visible only through an electron microscope. Pollutants emitted by
power plants, industries, automobiles, etc., form complex chemical reactions in the air, thus
producing particulate matter.
Categories of Air Quality Index
The National Air Quality Index has set up six AQI categories: Good, Satisfactory,
Moderately polluted, Poor, Very Poor, and Severe. Each category specifies health impacts
associated with it as mentioned below given table:

AQI Category Health impact

0-50 Good/ Safe Minimal impact
51-100 Satisfactory Sensitive people may feel discomfort
101-200 Moderately polluted Lung patients feels discomfort
201-300 Poor Breathing discomfort , heart patients feels discomfort
301-400 Very poor Respiratory illness, lung & heart disease
401-500 Severe While healthy people may experience respiratory problems, lung
or heart disease patients can have severe health impacts. Even
during light physical activity, people may experience health
impacts.

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