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ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION:
IMPACT ON HEALTH AND ECONOMYAN OVERVIEW STUDY
B. Suresh Lal, Ravinder. M
INTRODUCTION
The earth is a victim of on slaughter of a materialistic
civilization and industrialization. As a result there is rapid
depletion of natural resources. Life on the earth being posed
to severe threats, nature has started sending us warning
signals in the form of droughts, floods, tsunamis, vast changes
in climatic patterns, global warming, acid rains, sprawling
desertification, depletion of atmospheric ozone shield and
many hitherto unheard diseases.1 In the last 100 years
mankind managed top destroy much of what took nature
millions of years to create on the earth. At no point of time in
the history of our planet has so much damage been done.
Mankind has poisoned the river systems through out the
world and this, in turn, has upset the ecological balance of
the rivers and oceans. Trees are indiscriminately being
chopped down because of the greed of man.2 Our enormously
productive economy demands that we make consumption our
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way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into
rituals, that we seek our spiritual or ego satisfaction in
consumption. We need things consumed, burnt up, worn out,
replaced and discarded at an even increasing rate.3 John
Bellamy Foster points out that the literacy of ecological
complaints plaguing the world today encompasses a long list
of urgent problems. These include: over population,
destruction of ozone layer, global warming, extinction of
species, loss of genetic diversity, acid rains, nuclear
contamination, tropical deforestation, the elimination of
claiman forests, wet land destruction, soil erosion,
desertification, floods, famines, the despoliation of lakes
streams and rivers, the drawing down and contamination of
ground water, the pollution of coastal waters and estuaries,
the destruction of coral reefs, oil spills, over fishing, expanding
land fills, toxic wastes, the poisonous effects of pesticides and
herbicides, exposure to hazards on job, urban congestion and
the depletion of non-renewable resources are to name few.4
The above facts tell about the over consumerism of man
kind regardless of environmental degradation resultant of
rapid exploitation of resources to satisfy greed. The present
disastrous environmental degradation is the result of
excessive
human action in exploiting natural resources to achieve
rapid
economic development. This grim reality once again
necessitates and to refresh our understanding of environment
in relation to economic development, severity of
environmental degradation and impact of environmental
degradation on health and economy.
OBJECTIVES
The major objectives of this paper are as follows:
1.
2.
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plants, coal mines, offshore oil wells, surface run off from
agriculture fields, overflowing of small drains, rain water
sweeping roads and fields atmospheric deposition etc are some
main sources of water pollution. Sewage water, industrial
water containing toxic chemicals, acids, alkalis, metallic salts,
phenols, cyanides, ammonia radioactive substances, synthetic
detergents used in washing and cleaning, Agro chemicals etc
are mainly responsible for surface water pollution. In India
ground water is used extensively. A variety of land and water
based human activities are causing pollution of this precious
resource. Septic tanks, deep well injections, mining etc are
responsible for ground water pollution. Ground water quality
is being increasingly threatened by agriculture, urban and
industrial wastes which leads or ejected into underlying
aquifers. It has been established that once pollution has
entered the surface environment, it may remain concealed
for years being dispersed over wide areas of ground water
aquifers and reducing ground water quality.
A wide variety of both inorganic and organic pollutants
are present in effluents from breweries, tanneries, dying
textiles, paper and pulp mills, steel industries, mining
operations etc. These cause serious ground water pollution.
Modern agriculture is heavily relying on wide range of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Nitrates fertilizers used
on soil enter wells causing this water nitrates rich. The
pollution of surface water and ground water is very much
severe in and around large cities and industrial areas. A
variety of industries located on the banks or catchment areas
of main rivers in India. Pollution River waters to such an
extent that any attempt to control the pollution will have no
significant effect. The incidence of fluoride above permissible
levels of 1.5 ppm occurs in 14 Indian states- Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Uttar
Pradesh and West Bengal. High levels of salinity are reported
from all these states except West Bengal. High levels of arsenic
above permissible levels of 50 parts per billion (ppb) are
founds in the alluvial plains of the Ganges covering six districts
of West Bengal. Presence of heavy metals in ground water is
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problems, they increase soil acidity, thus affect land flora and
fauna, cause acidification of lakes and streams there by affect
aquatic life, affects crop productivity and human health,
corrode buildings, bridges. Due to acidity levels of heavy
metals increase beyond safe limits. Thousands of lakes in USA,
Canada, and Norway have become unproductive due to
acidity. Fish population decreased tremendously.
The acid rain is fast spreading to developing world where
tropical soils are more vulnerable than those n Europe. Due
to SO2 from coal based thermal power plants and petroleum
refinery pH value of rain water is below the critical level in
Delhi, Nagapur, Pune, Bombay and Calcutta. Increase in O3
(Ozone) concentration near the earths surface reduce crop
yields significantly, has adverse impact on human health. In
California, U.S.A fruits and vegetables yields have reduced
due to O3 pollution. In U.S.A. air pollution causes a crop loss
worth 2 billion dollars. Ozone is alone and in combination
with SO2 and NO2 causing GNP losses of 50% in several
European countries. In Denmark O3 is affecting potato, clover,
spinach, alfalfa etc. On the other hand depletion of ozone
layer in stratosphere increase UV radiation on earth results
in many skin diseases including cancer to human beings.
Destruction of aquatic life and vegetation and loss of
immunity are disastrous of effects of ozone depletion.8
Increase in the green house gases in the atmosphere,
particularly CO2, gradually warming the earths atmosphere
is termed as global warming or green house effect that is
harmful to the environment and human health and
biodiversity. The green house gases- CO2, Methane, CFCs,
NO and O3, which are main cause of global warming, present
in the atmosphere in small amount but play major role in heat
balance of atmosphere and bring changes in climate. Evidences
show that there are abrupt changes in the climate due to rapid
increase in green houses gases. The Inter Governmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that forests are
highly sensitive to climate change and that up 1/3 of current
forested areas could be affected in some way. As forests harbor
most of the biodiversity, this indicates increasing threat to
biodiversity.
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