Pollution in India

India is a country with a high pollution problem. 6 out of the top 10 most polluted Cities in the world are based in India, these include;

• Bandhwari, at number 10 on the list,

• Greater Noida, at number 9,

• Gurugram, at number 7

• Noida, at number 6

• Delhi, at number 5

• Ghaziabad, taking the spot of the worlds most polluted city.

I will be discussing the three following pollutions which effect India the most.

• Air Pollution - The release of chemicals and particles being pumped into the atmosphere.

• Water Pollution - Industrial waste, untreated sewage and more are being thrown and spilt into our oceans and rives.

• Land Pollution - Waste materials contaminating the soils both on land and underground, this can contaminate groundwater also.

The History of Pollution in India

The World Health Organisation has only been charting India's pollution history since 1967, which in comparison to other countries, is still fairly new. There is still history of India from other sources.

India came under British ruling in 1858 before becoming independent in 1947. During the time of British ruling in the country, India was already having pollution problems. The British ruling saw one of India's earliest 'Acts' to help the environment which were the Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolaba) Act of 1853 and the Oriental Gas Company Act of 1857 along with others being introduced at laters dates. These Acts that the British helped introduce didn't do a lot to help India with their pollution problems, but they did help with the growth of environmental regulations in the country.

Newer Acts include the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974, the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980, and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981

At present, India still struggles severely with its pollution problems, and currently stands at being the third most polluted country on the planet. A quote from the World population review found here, quotes;

India's unhealthy pollution levels are from sources such as vehicles, the burning of coal and wood, dust storms, and forest fires. Delhi, India's capital region, is notorious for some of the worst air in India, forcing flight cancellations, causing traffic accidents, closing of schools, and even turning the white marble walls of the Taj Mahal yellow and green. Rural areas are also heavily affected by pollution in India, as people rely on fuels such as wood and dung for cooking and heating and still practice the burning of crop stubble

Looking at other sources, Indias leading causes of Pollution include; transportation, with 295million registered vehicles, other causes include industries, agriculture, power, waste treatment, biomass burning, residential, construction, and demolition waste.

Air pollution

Air Pollution is India's biggest threat, contributing to the 2 million premature deaths a year in the country and lowering the life expectancy by 6.3 years. Below is a map of of India's pollution levels, as you can see, almost the entire country falls into 'Unhealthy for sensitive group' or higher;

Photo from forbisindia.com

Air pollution in India is caused by a range of problems, these causes include;

Fuels and Biomass burning. Fuel and Biomass burning is used for heating homes and cooking. This can include preparing cooking fuel being prepared with dried grasses, fuelwood, hay, and livestock waste. These items are mixed together to create a 'cake' which is then lit to produce heat but unfortunately this produces a thick smock and causes pollutants to go into the air.

This type of 'cake' is used by over 100 million homes in India a day, and most homes use up to 3 per day. This type of burning is used as electricity and cleaner burning fuels are not widely available in India, especially in rural and urban parts of the country.

Another issue caused by burning is that many farmers in India will burn their crops to get rid of any left overs, this is the easiest way clear fields quickly, this also creates large amounts of smoke which can travel far distances.

Fuel and Transportation. Many Indian vehicles run on fuel blends which are cheaper than typical fuels found throughout Asia. Many of these fuel blends put out harmful pollutants. Many of these fuel blends are used by lower-income people as they tend to be much cheaper and allow the people to save money.

Traffic congestion. With the amount of traffic on the roads in India, it is understandable that this would be an issue towards pollution. In larger cities there is a lot of traffic congestion which can cause traffic to move at slower speeds. Typically slower moving vehicles produce a higher amount of pollution.

Greenhouse Gasses. Greenhouse gases is one of the leading causes for climate change and climate change is effecting India at a rate faster than other countries. The country is the cause of 7% of all global emissions.

India is trying to reduce Air Pollution but unfortunately it isn't working as well as many hoped with pollution numbers not reducing much. Some ways India is trying to reduce pollution numbers include;

• The government in Delhi launched an Odd-Even Rule in November, 2017 which is based on the Odd-Even rationing method: This meant that cars running with number plates ending in Odd digits could only be driven on certain days of the week, while the Even digit cars could be driven on the remaining days of the week.

• Local governments of various states also implemented measures such as tighter vehicle emissions' norms, higher penalties for burning rubbish and better control of road dust.

• The Indian government has committed to a 50% reduction in households using solid fuel for cooking

• Some goals set for future are:

  • Clean up the transportation sector by introducing 1,000 electric public transport buses to its existing 550 busses.

  • Upgrade all fossil fuel combustion engine vehicles to BS6 emission standards

  • Meet a goal of 25% of private vehicles to be electricity powered by 2023

  • Renewable energy in all power plants

  • Provide farmers with a machine called a Happy Seeder which converts agricultural residue to fertilizer

  • Analyze health data and study the efficiency of different room filtration systems in areas where indoor air pollution is highest.

  • Identify effective ways to inform the public about air pollution data

  • Launch new citizen science programs to better document exposures

  • Reduce Carbon Emissions: "According to Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, to limit warming well below 2 degree Celsius, CO2 emissions should decline by about 20 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero around 2075; to limit warming below 1.5 degree Celsius, CO2 emissions should decline by 50 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero by around 2050."

Water Pollution

Roughly 70% of surface water in India is unfit for digestion and 40million litres of wastewater enters rivers each day, with the majority of it being untreated. Most waters in India also act as a 'dumping ground' for solid and liquid waste. These include, Industrial waste, bathing in water, oil leaks and dead animals/people in the water.

The biggest contributors which are causing Water pollution in India include;

Sewage Waste - Sewage waste in India is a big issue. The reason behind this is that India struggles to run treatment plants, due to not keeping them maintained well enough or just not operating them. Some of the major cities in India and produce up to 39000 million litres of sewage waste a day, with much of this having run off into rivers and water.

Solid Waste Disposal - Garbage and litter is also a major problem for Water pollution in India. Items such as glass, plastic, styrofoam and house hold waste is ofter dumped into water areas as an 'easy' way of disposal. Although not all Solid water ends in the water, Indian cities produce over 100 million tonnes of water a year. This also leads to many street corners being pilled high with trust, many of Indias land fill sites are overflowing, meaning people are disposing of rubbish in ways that are 'convenient'.

Liquid Waste Disposal - Spillage such as oils and other chemical wastes from industrial industries can be dumped into water, again as a 'cheap and easy' disposal, these chemicals and liquids are infecting the waters through particles and toxic matter.

This issue can also cause infectious bacteria and diseases to pollute crops and cause them to stop growing which can effect farmers badly. 38 million Indias suffer waterborne diseases a year including typhoid and cholera and roughly 200,000 Indias die a year because of this.

All of these contributors also effect aquatic wildlife, ecosystems and plant life.

Two of the largest polluted waters in India include The Ganges where 500 million people live and 2 million people bathe in the waters daily. The Yamuna is also heavily polluted by solid and liquid waters

Monsoon season also increases Indias water pollution as rain water can drag contaminated soil from farms and local areas which have fertilisers and pesticides into the rivers.

The country is looking at slowly helping the Water Pollution issue by constructing more water treatment plants which rely on newer techniques for removing toxic chemicals and contaminations in the water. The country is also in the process of updating one of its largest water treatment plants which can help produce more than 19 million cubic meters of water a day.